ASU Volleyball: Ford takes center stage as Devils drop season finale to Wildcats

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

In their final game of the 2018 season, the Arizona State Sun Devils could not put the pieces together offensively, falling in a sweep to rival Arizona (25-12, 25-17, 25-23).

The Devils hit .087 for the match and -.027 in the first set. It took until the third set for ASU to give the Wildcats some trouble. An attack error by Arizona’s Kendra Dahlke gave ASU a 16-15 lead, but as has been the case throughout the season, holding the lead proved harder than getting it.

“We can’t change who we play in the conference,” ASU coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “We kind of have to roll with the punches. After we beat somebody good, then somebody good is coming back at us again.”

The match marked the end of three seniors’ careers in the maroon and gold. Peyton Grahovac, Carmen Unzue and Alyse Ford were all honored in a pregame ceremony to celebrate their time as Sun Devils. Of the three, the one with the least amount of time in Tempe seemed to leave the biggest mark there.

Ford’s decision to transfer from USC last year was a major pickup as Tomasevic and her staff tried to bolster the talent on their team. After getting used to her new surroundings, Ford became a leader for ASU, finishing first on the team in kills and leaving plenty of athletic plays in the memories of fans.

The stat line of Ford’s final match was not especially remarkable. She finished with 12 kills and eight errors on a .121 hitting percentage against the Wildcats, but her final game did not encompass her meaning to the team. Entering the season, Ford’s most identifying qualities were her physical ability and the fact she had left a ranked Pac-12 opponent to join the Devils. She leaves the team as a pillar of its progress, whose attitude serves as an example to her teammates.

“Things wouldn’t be how they are without Alyse,” Tomasevic said. “She’s been a huge part of this year and a huge part of the growth of this team and a huge part of what we’ve done this year here.”

Just as Ford made an impact on the locker room at Wells Fargo Arena, the program changed her as well. Between intermittent pauses to hold back tears, she gave a gleaming review of her time at ASU.

“I knew that this was somewhere I would grow personally, and all the coaches and the girls have made sure of that,” Ford said. “It’s been a different challenge but I don’t regret a single thing. I have a new family here. Each of the girls are amazing. Everyone is just so talented and there’s a bright future here.”

The bright future Ford sees peeked through from time to time during the 2018 season. ASU finished with a 14-18 record, 5-15 in the Pac-12. While still 11^th in the conference, the Sun Devils showed some potential in their five conference wins. Three of those victories came against ranked opponents, including a sweep of the Oregon Ducks in Eugene.

The challenge for Tomasevic and her team is to turn those instances into regular occurrences. In her view, the struggles are not technical. Tomasevic said the players on her team could “literally take my job” when it comes to creating schemes and understanding volleyball concepts. The difficulty lies in preventing blocks in the road from clouding that understanding and hurting execution.

“That’s probably the part that’s the hardest at this level, just the mental game,” Tomasevic said. “Staying engaged while the pressure is on, while you’re having a bad match, while your knee might be bothering you a little bit. There are a lot of different factors that might be coming from everywhere.”

Learning how to put those factors aside will be key for the Sun Devils to take the next steps because the volleyball programs of the Pac-12 will continue throwing haymakers every week. At times this season, ASU showed that they could hit back. Now, they have another offseason to ready for the next 20-game gauntlet of the conference.