ASU volleyball’s season has come to a close in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Sun Devils were swept 3-0 by second-seed Texas (19-25, 20-25, 22-25).
“They’re a really remarkable volleyball team and extremely well coached,” ASU coach Jason Watson said.
A day after withstanding the Texas A&M middle blocker attack, Longhorn middles became ASU’s worst enemy. Sophomore Chiaka Ogbogu recorded 10 kills on 14 attempts with zero errors, hitting an incredible .714.
Senior Khat Bell also posed an issue against ASU. She plays middle and outside hitter and though ASU contained her reasonably well. She had seven kills and three errors, hitting .267 percent.
Junior middle blocker Molly McCage hit .364, nailing six kills.
ASU’s middles were also the most efficient on the team, but neither were superb. Whitney Follete hit .267 and Mercedes Binns hit .231. They combined for nine kills.
Junior outside hitter Macey Gardner had 10 kills, but she also hit nine errors and a .032 percent.
Gardner was only six kills away from breaking the ASU single-season record for kills. She finished with 594.
In both of the first two sets, Texas took early leads and maintained them. The Longhorns went up 5-4 in game one on a Gardner error and then went on a 7-1 run before winning 25-19 on a hitting error from sophomore outside hitter Kizzy Willey.
It was one of Willey’s six errors. She hit -.048 on the night.
Junior setter Bianca Arellano put the blame for the outside’s struggles on herself.
“I think it was going a little bit fast for Macey and Kizzy,” she said. “They didn’t even have time to look at the blocks.”
This came during the break between sets two and three; in set two, Texas went up 5-1 before a service error by Ogbogu. After this ASU hung in and didn’t allow the deficit to grow. They catching up when a Follette kill cut Texas’ lead to 16-15 and then tied it at 18 on a Gardner kill, but Texas blocked her next attempt. Texas finished on a 7-2 run to take game two.
ASU has a tendency to fight back, even when down two sets. Watson has joked about the massive amount of five-set matches ASU has gone through as of late. They took a quick 5-1 lead but Texas caught up 10-10 after a Willey error and a Gardner error.
“We started off strong, then they caught up with us,” Arellano said. “It was just a matter of who was going to win the serve-receive.”
This has been the detrimental aspect to ASU’s game all season. They are inconsistent with serve and frequently err on returns. Texas never relinquished the lead, effectively ending ASU’s season on a pair of kills by Texas kill-leader senior outside hitterHaley Eckerman.
“We’ve played against some particularly good teams this year within our conference, clearly, and outside of our conference, and they’re as good as any team that we’ve played,” Watson said.
The hitting percentage discrepancy was the main issue for ASU in the match. As a team, the Longhorns hit .266; ASU stood at .131. This was reflected in the hitting errors: ASU had 21 and Texas had 16. The hitting percentage was also reflected in the dig totals.
After a masterful stretch to end Pac-12 play, freshman libero Halle Harker totaled only seven digs today. The worse news than that: she was tied for the lead on the team.
The Sun Devils totaled only 30 digs in the match. In the regular season, they averaged almost 15 per set.
Texas had 44 digs tonight.
The 3-0 loss ends ASU’s season with a 20-13 record. It was just their second season with 20-wins in the 21st Century, both coming with senior setter Shannan McCready on the team. She is on track to graduate after this year and has played her final match with the team.
“These last three years have been the most successful years in the history at Arizona State, Watson said. “That change has come on the heels of Shannan. Her influence on this program is not reflected in the box score, but it’s certainly reflected in the quality of athletes we have here and their deep commitment to being better each and every day.”
In McCready’s first year, the team went 9-22. ASU hasn’t missed an NCAA tournament since.
“We’ve changed the culture of our entire program completely,” she said. “We’re a team who genuinely loves each and every one of us.”
She is confident in the future of ASU volleyball.
“We can only go up from here and I wish the best for all of these girls,” she said.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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