Written by Sun Devil Devil Daily reporter Jesse Davis
TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 7 Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1) captured their third win of the season in front of a rocking Tempe crowd at Desert Financial Arena. ASU volleyball took care of Florida Gulf Coast (2-2) in four sets (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-13).
It was a scrappy night for the maroon and gold, hanging onto a couple of tight sets. Ultimately, ASU was able to feed off of the home crowd to take a convincing fourth and final set.
“It’s nice to get home and play for another big crowd,” head coach JJ Van Niel said. “You never know who’s going to come out for a (non-conference) tournament, so I really appreciate all the fans coming out.”
ASU Started Slow
ASU appeared to start out flat, trailing 7-4 right out of the gate. However, the Sun Devils evened things at 7-7 thanks to a pair of kills from senior outside hitter Bailey Miller, along with a kill from senior setter Sydney Henry.
“We don’t want to be peaking right now,” Miller said. “We know that there’s a lot of things we can improve on, and we know we will improve on them.”
The Eagles then pulled out in front, going up 13-9, to restore a multi-point lead. One thing that was evident from FGCU was its ability to rally to the ball and not let any balls hit the floor, making things tough offensively for ASU’s offense.
The Sun Devils were able to battle back and take the first set, 25-23, with redshirt freshman outside hitter Kiylah Presley finishing off the match point with a kill.
FGCU came out strong again in the second, grabbing an early 13-9 lead. The Eagles were led by junior outside hitter Juli Grubisic Cabo, who finished the night with a team-leading 14 kills.
The second set would remain close, but FGCU powered through and pulled out the 25-21 win to tie the match at a set apiece.
The Sun Devils Found Their Groove
ASU found itself trailing once more in the third set, 14-10. The maroon and gold didn’t play with the intensity they would have hoped for, which became a theme as the match went on.
Fortunately enough for the Sun Devils, they were able to bounce back and take the third set thanks to the strong net presence of graduate student middle blocker Colby Neal, who was all over the court.
“Colby is really, really physical and she’s a great kid and she has some experience, you know, she’s played in big matches,” Van Niel said. “I thought the setters did a nice job getting her the ball where she needs it.”
Neal was one of four Sun Devils to hit double-digit kills, with 10. ASU’s middle blocker also put up a season-high eight blocks to go along with an ace.
“We have so many amazing, physical attackers. Once we get one going and then they commit to them, we have another one on the other side,” Neal said. “You can always keep teams guessing, that’s the beauty of our system.”
ASU Closed Out FGCU
ASU was able to secure the third set 25-23, and the fourth set was all Sun Devils. The maroon and gold went up 17-6 with the Tempe crowd behind them.
The Eagles tried desperately to drown out the noise, but to no avail. The Sun Devils took the fourth set in dominating fashion, 25-13, to secure the win in their home-opener.
Arizona State will now shift its focus to Loyola Marymount (0-2) this Sunday back at Desert Financial Arena with game time set for 1:00 p.m. MST.
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