ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils sweep weekend tournament at UT Arlington

With Pac-12 play right around the bend, the Arizona State Sun Devils (10-2) continued their momentum at the UT Arlington Maverick classic. Earning wins over Lamar, Houston Baptist and UT Arlington.

Match 1:

In the first game of the tournament the Sun Devils took on a Lamar (1-8) team that has struggled most of this season and won in straight sets 25-19, 25-23, 25-18 on Friday afternoon.

It was freshman opposite Griere Hughes and senior outside hitter Oluoma Okaro that led the way to the win. They finished with 13 and 15 kills, respectively.

But without the defense of senior libero Halle Harker, who dug up 18 balls in three sets, the offense could not have ignited.

Two Lamar players were able to notch double-digit kills, but the Cardinals could not stop the Sun Devil attack. ASU hit an astounding .340 percentage in the match.

Match 2:

It was not too long after the victory in match one that the Sun Devils grabbed their second win of the weekend against Houston Baptist (8-4), 25-20, 25-23, 17-25, 25-19, on Saturday morning.

Harker continued her stellar out of conference performance, adding another 23 digs. The blockers also held the Huskies to a .158 hitting percentage.

Sophomore setter Nicole Peterson spread out the ASU offense well, as three different Sun Devils finished with double-digit kills. Including sophomore outside hitter Ivana Jeremic who led the team with 17 kills.

Jeremic has not found much space to work with during the out-of-conference schedule. Operating with a .221 hitting percentage, but this match was a step in the right direction.

Match 3:

In the third and final match of the weekend the Sun Devils swept the host team, UT Arlington (6-7), 25-14, 25-16, 25-21, on Saturday evening.

As a team, the Sun Devils dug up 60 balls in three sets. The Mavericks had no space to find on the floor. Resulting in a hitting percentage of .127.

Jeremic would finish the match a kill shy of a double-double, as she recorded nine kills and 11 digs. However, Peterson did record a double-double in the victory combining 38 assists with 10 digs.

Most notable weekend performance:

Halle Harker continues her push through the Sun Devil ranks on defense. Boosting her season average in digs per set to 5.48 over the weekend was an exclamation point on an impressive start to the year before Pac-12 play starts. That number is good for the 19th best mark in the country.

The Sun Devils will head into conference play to match up against the in-state rival Arizona Wildcats on Thursday, Sept. 21 in Wells Fargo Arena.