Middle blocker junior Mercedes Binns makes a kill against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Hawkeyes, 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)Furious over a non-call and perhaps his team’s performance, ASU coach Jason Watson called a timeout in the second set. The Sun Devils were down 20-12 in large part due to the court vision and accuracy of the Iowa players.
“We talked to our team a lot this year about the idea that there isn’t any momentum in the game,” Watson said. “You have to just win the point and I like that concept a lot with this group, given that you can be down 20-12 and not care.”
The Hawkeyes increased their lead to 22-13, but ASU fought back one point at a time. A misserve by Iowa gave ASU serving possession. The Sun Devils started with a kill and a block, and freshman libero Halle Harker got a dig. Sophomore outside hitter BreElle Bailey recorded two blocks and a kill. Suddenly, the nine-point deficit was cut to a 22-21 match.
“Our team is always all about finishing strong,” Bailey said. “I knew my teammates around me were working as hard as they can to finish this game and I knew that I needed to do my part.”
ASU resumed their streak of sloppy play followed by great attacks. The Sun Devils left a gaping hole in their defense that was exploited for a kill, but senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns followed it with a rocket kill. Junior setter Bianca Arellano and Harker didn’t communicate and gave up another point, but Harker recorded five digs during the stretch.
"It’s not just that she digs it, I think she digs it and puts it in a place that she allows us to go return it,” Watson said. “Her being in the right spot, her making some of those plays was pretty instrumental.”
Outside hitter sophomore BreElle Bailey dives for the ball against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Hawkeyes, 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)Finally, ASU pulled ahead. They played Iowa correctly for the final two points and walked away with a 32-30 point set two victory.
“My goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something where you’re down, I think it was 20-12, and come back to win it,” Watson said. “That says a lot about this group.
The whole match was close, and ASU was never able to sustain leads. In the first set, ASU was up 18-11, but a mishit from sophomore opposite hitter Kizzy Willey was the beginning of sloppy play that allowed Iowa to creep back in.
The score got as close as 23-21 from unformed ASU attacks and relentless net presence from the Hawkeyes before ASU pulled away and won 25-21.
Macey Gardner comes up big with the match-clinching kill for ASU from The State Press on Vimeo.
In set three, Iowa went up 5-2 but the Sun Devils fought back. Led by a pair of aces from junior outside hitter Macey Gardner, ASU took an 11-5 lead. They couldn’t expand upon this lead though, and Iowa began playing catch-up.
The Hawkeyes had great height on their team. Freshman Taylin Alm stood at 6’5”, and finished the match with seven kills on 12 attempts. Freshman Jess Janota, at 6’3”, finished with 10 kills and five block assists.
They were able to use their height to finesse the balls into difficult places on ASU’s side of the court. Junior middle blocker Whitney Follette said ASU was used to practicing against height, though.
Outside hitter sophomore McKenzie Willey hits the ball against Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils swept the Hawkeyes, 3-0. (Photo by Ben Moffat)“We have some tall girls on our team too and I think we’re used to that,” she said.
The key was treating them the same way as other players, and not getting tricked into going up for a block too early.
When all was said and done, ASU eked out a 25-23 third set victory and a 3-0 match win.
"The fact that we won is pretty great, but I think the fact that we came back so far in game two and pushed through that and really fought in game three — it was a battle the whole game,” Bailey said. “I think that’s more rewarding to us than the actual win. That just kind of shows us that we can do hard things and that we can come back from a long ways.”
The victory gave ASU a sweep of the Residence Inn Challenge and left with a 6-0 record on the season.
“We’re pretty happy with where we’re at,” Watson said. “You never want to project, but these are significant wins for us.”
After the game, it was announced that Binns had been named tournament MVP. Over the course of the three games she had 24 hits including a team-high seven in the opening game of the tournament against the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter
