Kjolhede Drives #9 Volleyball to Victory at Cincinnati
See the full match recap with the box score, quotes, team stats and match leaders.
For a 14th-straight win, No. 9 Sun Devil Volleyball beat Cincinnati in straight sets (25-16, 25-16, 25-21) on the road at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Notable Stats
- Arizona State (26-2, 14-1 Big 12) swept Cincinnati (13-12, 4-10 Big 12) for the 17th sweep of the year and 14th win in a row (tied for the third longest in team history).
- This is ASU’s 14th conference win, which is tied for last season for the most conference victories in a single season in program history.
- The Sun Devil block continues to shine as they notched 10 in the win, the fifth match in a row with double-digit blocks.
- Graduate Savannah Kjolhede had a strong outing, matching her season high of 12 kills on a .500 clip, which she has had two other times this year. It’s her fourth match of the season with double-digit kills. She also tied for the team high in blocks with five, which got her to 500 career blocks.
- With a near double-double, graduate outside hitter Shania Cromartie had nine kills and 10 digs, her sixth match this year with double-digit digs.
- Starting at outside for the second match in a row, sophomore Jillian Neal had eight kills and a new career high in digs with 11.
- At setter, graduate Argentina Ung had 32 assists, six digs, four kills and three blocks for a well-rounded outing.
- The co-leader in blocks was graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter, also notching five. Additionally, she hit .400 with seven kills.
- Graduate libero Mary Shroll had 10 digs in the win, her 26th match in double figures this year (all but two).
Set One: ASU 25, Cincinnati 16
The two teams kept it close to start the match. An early long rally ended with a big swing from Jeter for the kill to put ASU up 3-2. Two-straight kills from Cromartie pushed the lead to 10-7. The Sun Devils then put together a 3-0 run capped off by an ace by Cromartie that found the end line to make it 14-10. Out of the media timeout, freshman Bella Faria subbed in to serve and pushed her team to a 5-0 run to extend the advantage to 19-11. The Bearcats were able to score three in a row, but a kill from Kjolhede stopped the momentum to make it 20-14. The Sun Devils held onto the lead towards the end, Kjolhede’s sixth kill got the team to set point before a block from Jeter and Ung clinched it, 25-16.
Set Two: ASU 25, Cincinnati 16
Arizona State held onto the momentum to start the second set and opened up with a 3-0 lead, started by an ace from Ung. Kills from Neal and Kjolhede made it a 9-4 advantage, forcing an early timeout from Cincinnati. Three-straight Sun Devil points that saw kills from three different players pushed the lead to 13-6. A run of four for ASU that had two blocks made it 23-14. To win it, Ung got the dump kill, Arizona State taking the set 25-16 again.
Set Three: ASU 25, Cincinnati 21
After the Bearcats went up 3-2, a kill from Roberta Rabelo tied it up. ASU slowly added to its lead, as Neal’s ace made it a 10-6 lead for the Sun Devils. The Bearcats got within one, but a kill from Neal got it back up to a two-point lead at 15-13 heading into the media timeout. Cincinnati tied it up at 16-16, but ASU got a breather with a service error to get back ahead and then scored four in a row to make it 20-16. Again, the Bearcats made it close, getting within two again at 23-21, but a block by Jeter and Miller made it match point. Faria’s second ace of the night sealed the sweep, 25-21.
Up Next
Arizona State returns home on Thursday to host Iowa State in Mullett Arena before a quick road trip to Colorado on Saturday.
Final: 3-0 Win
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