Sept. 10, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. - After sweeping UC Riverside to begin play at the ASU Sheraton Invitational Friday morning the Utah Valley women's volleyball team continued its impressive day when they upended the Pac-10's Arizona State in five sets Friday evening at the Wells Fargo Arena (25-19, 13-25, 28-26, 14-25, 15-13).
The win marked UVU's (4-5) first-ever victory over Arizona State (3-6). The Wolverines will now look to win the ASU Sheraton Invitational when they take on High Point Saturday at 11 a.m.
"It was a very, very good match, I was pleased with the girls and how they stayed composed," UVU head coach Sam Atoa said. "We were down 8-5 in the fifth set but we stayed composed. It feels great to be able to beat ASU but what I was most proud of was for the girls to be able to see their potential and execute in difficult situations. I was really pleased with how we played and we deserve this win."
In the decisive fifth set, UVU and ASU battled as they traded points back-and-forth early on. After the Wolverines tied it at five, the Sun Devils then scored three straight to go up 8-5. UVU immediately answered as they scored the next three in a row to tie it up at eight-all. The Wolverines then scored three of the next four to go up 12-9 on three consecutive kills from junior Chelsey Heaps.
UVU then scored its next two more points on two huge blocks to put it at match point at 14-10. The Sun Devils didn't quit however as they scored three straight points to cut the score to 14-13. With the pressure back on the Wolverines, Heaps answered the bell as she scored the final point on her 17th kill of the match to give UVU the huge victory.
Heaps led Utah Valley as she put up a double-double with her 17 kills and 13 digs. Senior Dani Robison had a big game as she posted eight blocks and seven kills while junior Sarah Clement also added eight blocks and five kills. Senior Arizona-native Kayli Doxey finished with five kills, while senior Kathleen Stevens had a huge night with a match-high 31 digs.
As a team UVU finished with 17.5 total blocks compared to ASU's 11.
With ASU up 16-12 midway through the first set, the Wolverines came roaring back as they scored nine of the next 10 points to take a 21-17 lead. With the Sun Devils seemingly surprised, UVU took full advantage as it finished off the first set with a 25-19 win. The Wolverines had 5 blocks in the first set to the Sun Devils 0.
In the second set, Arizona State came out looking strong as they went up 11-6 early. The Sun Devils eventually ran away with the set as they went on to win it by a score of 25-13 and tie the scoreboard at one set apiece.
ASU was the first team to work an early lead in the third set when they took a 7-4 advantage. UVU answered right back though and knotted the score up at eight-all. From there the set went back-and-forth as each team matched one another score-for-score. The Wolverines eventually took a lead at 19-17 on a service ace from freshman Brookelyn Campbell and Clement.
Following a kill from Heaps late in the third set, the Wolverines took a 23-20 lead. The Arizona-native Campbell then followed up with a kill of her own to give UVU a 24-20 advantage. ASU then scored four straight points with the set on the line to tie it at 24. With both teams doing all they could to win the set and pull ahead 2-1 in the overall score, UVU took advantage of a couple of late Sun Devil attack errors and won the third set 28-26.
In a must-win fourth set for the home team, the Sun Devils came out and scored the first four points to go up 4-0. UVU immediately answered however as they cut the deficit to 5-4. Arizona State then eventually took a 14-8 lead on an ace from Sarah Johnson. Heaps and Robison tried to keep UVU in the set as they both connected on a couple of kills but ASU was too much as it forced a fifth set with a 25-14 fourth set win.
The Wolverines will conclude play at the ASU Sheraton Invitational Saturday at 11 a.m. (MT) when they take on High Point University. The match will be the first all-time meeting between the two teams.
