(Photo: Zac Pacleb/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils will have their toughest challenge yet when they play No. 1 Stanford at home on Sunday.
The Sun Devils are coming off a four set win over the University of California on Friday and hope to carry that momentum into their match-up against the Cardinal.
No. 18 ASU owns a respectable 12-4 record overall and a 5-1 record at home, but top-ranked Stanford is unbeaten at 14-0.
“You look at records in this conference, and you can make some determinations, but I think you are silly if you do that,” ASU head coach Jason Watson said. “We know that they are the number one team in the country, so they are really good, but the biggest challenge is that you have to earn everything against them.”
What to Expect
Stanford is not going to give away points, and in the process of playing clean, mistake-free volleyball, the Cardinal will force ASU to play a difficult defensive set. For the Sun Devils, their best case scenario is creating long rallies and developing a near-perfect serve receive to they can establish the middle blockers early.
“We need to be able to concentrate and maintain intensity for long periods of time to try to create long rallies,” Watson added.
The past few matches, ASU has not been incorporating their middle blockers into the offense the way they’ve wanted to. Junior Mercedes Binns and junior Andi Lowrance have combined for a total of only 24 kills over the past two matches. In order for junior setter Bianca Arellano to spread the ball around effectively, she has to be able to set the middle blockers to draw off the opposing middles to create one-on-one opportunities on the outside.
Sophomore outside hitter McKenzie Willey and junior outside hitter Macey Gardner combined for 37 kills and only 5 errors in Friday’s match against California. They will need to repeat, and likely top that performance if they want to compete with Stanford. The opportunities will be there for them with the defense starting to click, as the Sun Devils showcased a week ago with a total of 74 digs against Utah.
Prediction
Stanford is going to stay smooth, they aren’t going to buckle under the pressure of a road environment. The Cardinal will stifle the Sun Devil offense by putting up at least two blockers on every one of ASU’s attack attempts, which could spell trouble for ASU as the Sun Devils have struggled this season against big blocking teams, even against teams that are unranked. There will be solid defense on ASU’s side of the net but it won’t be enough to take down the No. 1 team in the country. Stanford will win in straight sets and improve to 15-0.
