The Sun Devils celebrate after scoring at a home game in Tempe. ASU has won 3 straight games as of late, ending its losing streak from earlier this season. (Photo by Arianna Grainey)
The ASU volleyball team added another victory to its winning streak Wednesday night, defeating the Washington State Cougars (16-10, 3-10 Pac-12) in a straight sets sweep 25-22, 25-22, 25-17.
The Sun Devils (16-9, 5-8 Pac-12) have now won three straight, their longest such streak in Pac-12 play.
Freshman outside hitter BreElle Bailey said the ASU volleyball team is finally finding its identity again.
“We talked about before the second half of conference started how we just need to calm down and just reset and get back to the old us,” Bailey said. “That’s what we’ve been doing.”
All three matches have been with junior setter Shannan McCready directing the Sun Devil offense while sophomore setter Bianca Arellano has been recovering from an ankle injury.
McCready has spread the offense well, but freshman outside hitter BreElle Bailey has benefited the most. Bailey has hit on the left side with sophomore outside hitter Macey Gardner.
Wednesday, Bailey posted her fifth straight match with double-digit kills, her longest streak of that nature of the season.
Coach Jason Watson said being on the left side will always help kill numbers.
“It’s probably by virtue of where she is,” Watson said. “She’s going to see a lot more sets on the left than she does on the right so it’s not unusual that her kill number is higher.”
Bailey, who led all ASU hitters with a .286 hitting percentage, also led both teams with 15 kills.
“One thing we’ve been working on for me in practice is using my height and staying really tall when I swing,” Bailey said. “When I’m up there really tall I have so many options.”
She also said McCready sets a higher ball, something Bailey enjoys.
“(McCready’s) sets are a little higher and I think that’s a little better for me,” Bailey said. “I definitely think our connection was right on tonight.”
Freshman opposite hitter Kizzy Willey, who has split time with junior opposite hitter Nora Tuioti-Mariner on the right, posted seven kills. Tuioti-Mariner has proven to have the defensive edge over Willey, but Willey led all Sun Devils with two block assists Wednesday.
“I thought her block was good,” Watson said. “I think last weekend probably wasn’t so fair to her. Tonight was better.”
Gardner recorded nine kills but hit just .105 because of five attack errors.
“At times, we gave her some tough swings and she kind of errorred out those tough swings,” Watson said. “Most of them came in game one.”
WSU blocked well early in set one, roofing the Sun Devils for four of their first six points. But ASU went on a 6-0 run shortly thereafter and never looked back, taking the set 25-22 despite not blocking the Cougars once and recording seven attack errors.
The second set was more of the same, as WSU started hot early but struggled later on, allowing ASU a 9-1 streak and dropping the set 22-25.
ASU ran away with the third set 25-17 to earn the sweep and guarantee at least a split against the Washington schools.
Saturday’s match against No. 3 Washington will be the ASU volleyball Senior Day. The match begins at 12:00 p.m.
“This will be Washington’s first match of the week and so it’s nice to have a little bit more time to go prepare for them,” Watson said. “We’re pretty thorough and we need a little bit more time to process it.”
Additional Game Notes
– Freshman outside hitter Kyra Holt led all Cougars with 11 kills, but hit just .077.
– Watson said Arellano will jump in practice Thursday, but that her status for Saturday’s match against Washington is still in question. He also talked about trying different rotations to help Arellano back into the system.
“We’ve talked about a 5-1 with (Arellano), we’ve talked about a 6-2 with both of them," Watson said. “So that we can ease (Arellano) back into some stuff.”
Reach the reporter at bmargiot@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @BenMargiott.
