ASU Volleyball: Defensive struggles doom Devils in loss to Texas State

The Arizona State Sun Devil volleyball team dropped their final con-conference match of the season, losing to Texas State 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-17).

The Sun Devils headed into the final game of the 2018 Sparky Classic looking to finish the tournament with three wins and an undefeated record in the tournament. In day one of the Sparky Classic, they defeated both NAU and Gonzaga, three sets to one in each match. Wearing their white jerseys, the squad faced off against Texas State (8-5) who also came into the final game of the tournament undefeated.

From beginning to end, Texas State controlled the tempo of the match, sweeping ASU in three sets. The Bobcats came out strong offensively with 16 kills in the first set, including eight from Janell Fitzgerald. The freshman outside hitter led the Texas State squad with 18 kills in the match. Junior outside hitter Cheyenne Huskey had a solid night as well, finishing with 14 kills and setting a new career high hitting percentage at .722.

The story of the game for the Devils was the lack of defense. Arizona State had 24 blocks in their two matches on Friday, but finished with just 5.0 blocks on Saturday. The team also had less than half of the amount of digs they had on Friday night against Gonzaga, finishing with only 39. Head coach Sanja Tomasevic had to say this about their defensive struggles.

“It was terrible, awful all-around,” Tomasevic said.

Texas State dominated the first set, taking advantage of ASU’s poor defense. The Sun Devils tried to get the offense going, but the defensive struggles made it tough for the Devils to get momentum. Although the Texas State offense was on fire, the team still committed seven service errors.

Tomasevic was frustrated with her team’s performance, feeling the team was passive defensively.

“Don’t expect anybody to do your job, just do your job,” Tomasevic said.

The Sun Devils showed some tenacity in the second set, erasing a 10-point deficit after going down 22-12. The Devils gained momentum and pushed the set all the way to overtime. Nicole Peterson and Alyse Ford helped turned the tide. Peterson, a setter turned pin hitter, got the run going with two straight kills. Ford also had two straight kills to finish the run. ASU eventually dropped the set 28-26.

Tomasevic was pleased with the play of both Peterson and Ford, praising Peterson as a player that has to be on the court in every match.

“She is a smart player, she knows how to manage the game,” Tomasevic said. “She has willingness to do whatever it takes.”

Although she had kind words for Peterson, Tomasevic noticed something was unusual with star outside hitter Ivana Jeremic’s pregame warm up. Jeremic had a very uncharacteristic night, being blocked multiple times and only finishing with 6 kills and a .050 hitting percentage.

“She was already flailing her arms and getting upset with sets,” Tomasevic said.

Although the comeback in the second set was the highlight of the night, Tomasevic was not pleased with any part of this game. The Sun Devil squad will look to bounce back this Thursday in Tucson as Pac-12 play begins with a match against Arizona. First serve is at 7 p.m.