ASU volleyball had a brief reprieve from a daunting schedule, beating a pair of unranked Pac-12 opponents at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday and Saturday.
The No. 14 Sun Devils are headed back into the gantlet of conference powerhouses, starting with a midweek road trip to the Bay Area to take on No. 7 Stanford on Wednesday and Cal on Thursday.
The team had an easy start to its week before traveling to California to fine tune its techniques and continue recovering from injuries.
Sunday, Oct. 25
No. 14 ASU women’s volleyball had an off day; it was the first Sunday in conference play that the Sun Devils didn’t have a match.
While they weren't pleasant at the time, head coach Jason Watson said the back-to-back matches last weekend ended up being a blessing.
“We feel pretty fortunate that we didn’t have to play on Sunday,” he said.
Monday, Oct. 26
Much of practice was spent on the court, performing a drill that is similar to an actual rally, but a coach tosses the ball over the net to a libero in place of an actual serve.
“We just had a little quick, light practice today, just to get some touches,” senior setter Bianca Arellano said.
Tuesday, Oct. 27
The team flew to California on Tuesday ahead of their Wednesday and Thursday matches. Arellano said they worked to finish classwork on Monday and take any tests early before heading out.
Watson said the team will have a light practice in Stanford and then watch more film in preparation for the next day’s match.
Tomorrow: Wednesday, Oct. 28
As per use, ASU will practice serve-receive an hour before game time. They’ll then take on Stanford, who ASU defeated on Oct. 2 for the first time in 15 years.
Stanford has been inconsistent since then: the Cardinal lost to Colorado 3-1 before defeating then-No. 4 Washington 3-2. Watson said Stanford has changed the way they are playing since the match against ASU.
“Their distribution patterns weren’t as balanced as they are now,” Watson said.
One of Stanford’s biggest threats is 6-foot 8-inch redshirt sophomore middle blocker Merete Lutz.
Senior Whitney Follette’s move from the middle to the opposite side will force freshman middle blocker Jasmine Koonts to play some defense against Lutz, but the brunt of the load will go to senior middle blocker Mercedes Binns.
Binns said Koonts is as good at blocking as Follette, but her size (listed as 6-foot-2) would limit her ability against Lutz.
It’s not the only phenomenal middle blocker ASU will face. The next day, the Sun Devils will play against a girl who Watson calls “one of the best slide hitters.”
Day after tomorrow: Thursday, Oct. 29
Reshirt senior middle blocker Lillian Schonewise will look to improve her previous output against ASU, when she hit four kills and four errors on 17 attempts.
Without senior outside hitter Macey Gardner to guard her slide attacks, the responsibility may fall to junior outside hitter BreElle Bailey.
After starting the season on the right side, she is beginning to play around the rotation.
“Hopefully with this new lineup, I’ll be on her more this time,” Bailey said.
She has 75 blocks this season, the second-most on the team.
Bailey has been improving offensively, too. Over the last two weeks, she has 47 kills and is hitting 299.
“It’s nothing technical or anything that I’m doing differently,” Bailey said. “I’ve just kind of been given a new role on the team and I’m ready to step up and fill it.”
CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated the team's rank. This version has been updated with the correct information.
Related Links:
Pac-12 Editor's picks: Bye week edition
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