Arizona @ Arizona State | Thurs 9/23 6 PM MT

[slxpress]

And that's the match.

[slxpress]

There is not much difference between these two teams. At least in Tempe. Pablo had it right.

[hammer]

And that's it, Cats take it 15-9 as Levinska weirdly can't clear the net.

[slxpress]

Sept 23, 2021 22:34:28 GMT -5 slxpress said:

There is not much difference between these two teams. At least in Tempe. Pablo had it right.

Marta was not Smarta.

[mikegarrison]

Wow, I had to duck out for a little bit and Zona went on a huge run to walk away with the 5th set.

[azvolleydad]

Sept 23, 2021 21:12:52 GMT -5 azvolleydad said:

Just love watching Hodge when she can take a full approach.

called it

[JJVb]

Hodge, Stubbe, and Weidt combined, plus some great serving by Jalessa in particular, were too much for ASU, though ASU fought hard. ASU just gets stuck in certain rotations at times and bleeds points. If they can work that out they will take a lot of teams the distance, because they never give up.

[kimdc]

Fairly uneven match tonight for both teams, but Jaelyn Hodge down the stretch was the difference. I noticed she started swinging with more authority in the fifth. Rubio said afterwards that he told her she had to be more aggressive, and they would live with any consequences of that. She had 15 kills for the match and five of them came in the final set. Not a good hitting percentage, but it didn't matter.

Arizona really dominated in the blocking game. Merle Weidt had 8. Zyonna Fellows had 7. Sofia Maldonado Diaz had 5. I think Arizona had 16 TB as a team. I know they doubled up on ASU.

Lots of emphasis on serve receive for Arizona. That's why Dilara Gedikoglu subbed in for Sofia so much. DS Malina Kalei Ua also played much more than she usually does. She was mostly being subbed in for Puk Stubbe.

Didn't surprise me that it went 5. I don't think it will when they play in Tucson, but I expected it to in Tempe.

There was a pretty good crowd. Quite a few ASU students. There was also a sizable section of Arizona fans. Looked like it was mostly friends and family of Kamaile Hiapo, but there are a few Arizona players from the Valley, so I am sure they all had family there.

[slxpress]

Puk Stubbe was also effective in the block when teamed with Weidt. That right side block was dominant for stretches.

Hodge is such a weapon. I choose to believe she's still only scratching her surface. I'd like to see her have some variety in her approaches, but some of the sets she had to work with on the pin there was only one place to go with it.

Lots of effective serving for Arizona.

I love all your comments. I can't encourage you enough to post links to your articles on game threads. You're simply contributing to the content on this site when you do it. And it's not like you can make a living wage covering Arizona volleyball. Basketball? Sure. Football? Yes. But you're posting articles as much because of your passion for the game. Please share that passion by linking to your articles. It's no different than other professionals like volleyballmag, and I love all his links. Also, I want to point out baytree immediately added your link to the initial thread post, so it's not like I'm the only one who feels this way.

I really do hope Arizona has a successful season and Rubio gets back to the tournament. And that you're there covering it the whole way through.

[baytree]

Sept 24, 2021 5:28:14 GMT -5 slxpress said:

Puk Stubbe was also effective in the block when teamed with Weidt. That right side block was dominant for stretches.

Hodge is such a weapon. I choose to believe she's still only scratching her surface. I'd like to see her have some variety in her approaches, but some of the sets she had to work with on the pin there was only one place to go with it.

Lots of effective serving for Arizona.

I love all your comments. I can't encourage you enough to post links to your articles on game threads. You're simply contributing to the content on this site when you do it. And it's not like you can make a living wage covering Arizona volleyball. Basketball? Sure. Football? Yes. But you're posting articles as much because of your passion for the game. Please share that passion by linking to your articles. It's no different than other professionals like volleyballmag, and I love all his links. Also, I want to point out baytree immediately added your link to the initial thread post, so it's not like I'm the only one who feels this way.

I really do hope Arizona has a successful season and Rubio gets back to the tournament. And that you're there covering it the whole way through.

FWIW, I plan to post links to her SB articles in the AZ game threads going forward. It's the best-written preview I've seen. I even looked for similar articles for a few other teams bc I'd love to be able to link them but, so far, I didn't find any. If anyone knows of similar stories, I'd love a link so that I can post it. It adds a lot to the game. 

[kimdc]

Thanks! And I think our SB Nation site for Arizona is a rarity in the amount of coverage we give to women's sports, especially volleyball. Our fans like the content. We are very successful as far as our rank within the SB Nation network despite Arizona football being so terrible. MBB and women's sports help with that as does the fact that we're credentialed media. Not all of the sites are run that way.

Hodge is so impressive. She has really kicked it up a notch this year. She was really good last year, but Sofia overshadowed her. That's not the case now. She worked hard over the summer. Great to see it pay off.

[bigfan]

Sept 23, 2021 9:04:34 GMT -5 bigfan said:

I like ASU and their fighting spirit for the win

ASU played quite well in this loss

[vb1411]

Sept 24, 2021 11:55:53 GMT -5 bigfan said:

Sept 23, 2021 9:04:34 GMT -5 bigfan said:

I like ASU and their fighting spirit for the win

ASU played quite well in this loss

Agreed. Just need to keep up the hard work and hopefully the wins will come!