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No Trick, All Treat: Devils Upset No. 15 Stanford

by thesundevils.com
Oct 31, 2021

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Keeping the winning streak rolling, Sun Devil Volleyball took down No. 15 Stanford in four sets (22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-17) on Sunday afternoon in DFA for a fifth-straight win and third victory over a ranked opponent in that span.

Notable Stats

  • Arizona State (13-10, 6-6 Pac-12) defeated No. 15 Stanford (12-8, 7-5 Pac-12) in its first home win over the Cardinal since 2015. The Sun Devils have now won five matches in a row and three of those wins are against ranked opponents. The last time ASU took down three top-25 teams in a single season was in 2018.
  • Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic is the first head coach since Patti Snyder-Park, who coached from 1989 through 2001, to beat Stanford twice.
  • Junior outside hitter Iman Isanovic had game-high 19 kills and 15 digs, making this Isanovic's ninth double-double of the season. She has now reached double figures in kills in 21 matches this season. Her dig total matched her career high that she achieved in the spring season.
  • Freshman Geli Cyr was one of two other Sun Devils to reach double figures in kills with 12, along with 10 digs. This is her fifth match in a row reaching double digits in kills and her third double-double of the season.
  • The third Sun Devil to reach double figures in kills was sophomore middle blocker Claire Jeter, who finished with 10 kills and a team-high three blocks.
  • Junior libero Annika Larson led all players with 18 digs on Sunday and has now 16 matches this season with double figures in digs.
  • Sophomore setter Ella Snyder reached 46 assists, making this her ninth match of the season reaching 40 or more assists this season. She also had seven digs.

Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic 
Opening Statement
"It's rare and it doesn't happen a lot that people can celebrate beating Stanford like this. I always commend our girls for taking care of business. I thought it was a difficult, weird game to play because we knew they were not in their best lineup, so it took us awhile to get going in a good beat. At the end of the day, we pulled out with a win and I'm super happy about that."

On the energy after a big win
"We're super happy and celebrating the win, but the vibe in the huddle was that we we're better than we were playing. I know what we can do and I know that we're playing a little bit lower than what we should be doing. The fact that girls are acknowledging it is big time."

On what they've changed 
"I think we're getting more kills than what we've done in the past. We're finding ways to get more kills, and I think that our serve receive is getting better with Geli on the court being one of our primary passers and being really good at it. When you add an outside hitter that can pass, it keeps us stable there as well as getting her kills. She didn't hit a high hitting percentage today, but with 12 kills she did a good job getting the ball and getting a kill when we needed her to get a kill." 

On why she loves this team
"First of all they go hard, every coach loves that. They go hard, they are intentional, they love each other, they are committed to us. We are having a blast together. They are allowing us to coach them without having to worry about their feelings because it comes from the true place of us wanting to get them better, of us wanting to help them. I think our life coach we have had for the last year and a half has helped to make us more human and also realize that none of the stuff they are doing is not intentional, they just do not know what they do not know. It is just finding that balance and communicating in those meetings where this is not volleyball, just life, has been very helpful."

Junior libero Annika Larson
On picking up third match over a ranked opponent
"It's kind of surreal right now, I think we're working really hard in the gym and to see that hard work pay off is cool. But we're also having fun so putting all of that together, that's what our success really is. It's just being able to dial in and get a win makes everything and the hard work so worth it. We're hitting a point in the season where everyone is getting tired, so I'm just really proud of everyone and my teammates. They've done a good job coming in to practice and staying really focused."

On keeping up their level of play for the rest of the season
"Every single day we watch film and figure out what we need to work on. When we look at film, we figure out what we need to do in practice and it's been really beneficial. We've been working on right back defense and serve receive and all of those things. We're really trying to get one percent better everyday."
 

Set One: Stanford 25, Arizona State 22
Stanford took an early 7-2 lead in the opening set, leading to a timeout being taken by the Sun Devils. A kill from the Cardinal pushed their lead up to six, 10-4, and a kill from Isanovic along with an error by Stanford brought ASU's deficit down to four. A kill from Jeter followed by two kills from Isanovic gave ASU its first lead of the set, 18-17. Consecutive kills by the Cardinal brought them back up by two, 21-19, leading into the Sun Devils taking their second timeout of the set. On Stanford's set point, Cyr had back-to-back kills to bring ASU within two, 24-22. The Cardinal ultimately took the set on a block, 25-22.

Set Two: Arizona State 25, Stanford 19
A kill by Marta Levinska tied it at 5-5 early in the second set. A 4-0 run by the Sun Devils gave them a 9-7 lead after consecutive errors by the Cardinal. A kill by Isanovic tied the set for ASU 13-13 with neither team taking a lead throughout the set from that point. Stanford took a timeout down two and the Sun Devils went on a 6-0 run to lead, 24-18, with the set point. A kill from Cyr gave ASU the set, 25-19.

Set Three: Arizona State 25, Stanford 21
Errors by the Cardinal led to a 4-0 run by the Sun Devils to take an 8-5 lead. ASU and Stanford remained tied throughout the set until a ball handling error by the Cardinal along with back-to-back kills by Jeter gave the Sun Devils a 17-14 edge. A hitting error by Stanford increased ASU's lead to five, 20-15. A service error by the Sun Devils along with an ace by the Cardinal with ASU up 24-21 led to its second timeout of the set. A kill from Levinska following the timeout would seal the set for ASU, 25-21.

Set Four: Arizona State 25, Stanford 17
The Sun Devils took on an early 9-5 lead following a kill by Isanovic. A 3-0 spurt by Stanford brought it within two of ASU, 11-9, until a kill from Isanovic and an ace by Snyder brought the lead back up to four. An error by the Sun Devils brought the Cardinal within one, 16-15, leading to a timeout by ASU. Following the timeout, ASU went on a 5-0 run to lead 21-15. A kill by Isanovic led to the match point for the Sun Devils as they took the match on an error by the Cardinal.

Up Next
Arizona State volleyball will travel to the Washington schools next weekend, taking on No. 8 Washington on Friday at 7 p.m. MST in Seattle and then traveling to Pullman on Sunday to play No. 22 Washington State at 2 p.m. MST. 

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