(Photo: Trey Lanthier/WCSN)
In an intense match in Wells Fargo Arena, undefeated No. 1 Stanford Cardinal fought off No. 18 Arizona State in four sets (20-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-18).
“We had chances, and you got to feel OK about that, and we do,” Watson said. “We’re disappointed. Clearly, we’re disappointed. We’re competitive people so we’re disappointed that we didn’t win, but we also understand that there’s lots of volleyball left to be played.”
ASU jumped out to a quick 13-7 lead as the Cardinal struggled to find their stride in the first set. The Sun Devils held Stanford to just ten kills throughout the entire set.
“I thought we were pretty clean,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “I thought we were passing really well, and I thought we served really well in game one.”
Junior middle blocker Mercedes Binns racked up five of her 12 kills in the set to lead the Sun Devil offense and only committed two attacking errors, and junior setter Bianca Arellano paced ASU, dishing out 43 assists.
“I thought that Mercedes did about as good a job as I’ve seen somebody do on (Stanford’s) middles,” Watson said. “And it wasn’t always a direct point, but she certainly worked really, really hard to kind of put herself in a position to at least touch (their attack) or at least make (Ajanaku) hit another shot.”
The Cardinal would respond in the following sets, reminding the country why their record is still unblemished. Led by the two most efficient hitters in the country – redshirt freshman middle blocker Merete Lutz and junior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku – Stanford dominated the second set in all facets of the game.
“I thought we lost the serve, serve receive battle, and so when that happened, we struggled offensively,” Watson said. “I thought both of our middles were really good tonight. We just couldn’t get them enough opportunities to swing.”
Lutz and Ajanaku tallied 10 and 14 kills respectively at a combined .302 clip.
“I think they both have a lot of range,” Binns said. “They both hit really high.”
ASU would continue to fight in the third set, going on a 7-1 run and eventually came within one point, 21-22, before Stanford took the set en route to their 16th victory of the season.
After hitting .237 in the first set, ASU’s offense sputtered against the Stanford defensive efforts and finished hitting .200 for the entirety of the match.
“When we had our personality, when we had our composure, I thought we played well,” Watson said. “The disappointment, I think, comes from the fact that I felt like we’d be able to play better longer, and we just weren’t able to do that.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Sun Devils, as they welcome No. 3 Washington and Washington State to Tempe next weekend.
“The lessons are brutal, and you continue to learn them,” Watson said.
Notes:
- Shannan McCready was not in uniform today due to a concussion suffered this week at practice.
- Whitney Follette warmed up with the team once again, but Watson said he was not comfortable putting her on the court just yet.
- Macey Gardner moved into a tie with Jami Coughlin for seventh on ASU’s all-time career kills list (1,360).
You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com
