(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-13 overall, 0-11 in Pac-12 play) faced the No. 2 in the nation—and reigning national champion—Stanford Cardinal (18-2 overall, 11-0 in Pac-12 play) in a match that heavily favored the Cardinal.
Coming in undefeated against a team yet to find a win in the same conference, the Cardinal were optimistic in their chances. The two teams had faced off once before this season back on Sept. 27, in a match that saw the Cardinal sweep the Sun Devils in three sets by scores of 25-12, 25-18 and 26-24.
Sun Devil head coach Sanja Tomasevic missed another game as she was taking time out for her ongoing pregnancy. Assistant coach Carlos Moreno took over as interim head coach for the first time at home.
“All of our coaches are on the same page, having Sonja gone doesn’t change much, it’s basically a new look,” sophomore setter Nicole Peterson said. “Everything we are expected to do is the same, there’s nothing new.”
In a hotly contested first set of play, the Sun Devils saw themselves on top midway through at 15-13. Leading the offensive charge early for ASU was senior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro as she had seven kills on a .700 hitting percentage. For Stanford, sophomore outside hitter Kathryn Plummer led the way with five. Service errors were the key to the first set, as both teams made a few, with Stanford having six compared to ASU’s five. After a comeback from Stanford, and yet another service error on the part of the Devils’ sophomore outside hitter Ivana Jeremic, the Cardinal took set one 25-22.
A sluggish start for the Devils saw a set two lead increase to 7-2 for Stanford. However, ASU rallied back somewhat to pull within two with lots of volleyball left to play. There were virtually no defensive points on either side of the net as ASU recorded one block compared to Stanford’s two through two sets. Furthermore, the attacking power of both sides was evident as each team recorded only 47 digs apiece. Not much went right for the Devils in set two, and the Cardinal took it 25-16 on a double block by Plummer and junior middle blocker Tami Alade.
“I think a real problem is staying motivated to play teams that aren’t as highly ranked like California,” Okaro said. “If we play like we did tonight I think we can sweep Cal in three sets.”
With the Devils down 19-13, Jeremic went down with what appeared to be a sprained left ankle. She needed to be helped off the court, and would not return to the match.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with Ivana yet, we hope for the best but are expecting the worst,” Moreno said. “If we don’t have her we aren’t as fast, she’s really good at managing the ball, so if we don’t have her we’ll go with a different lineup, but we do have a couple options.”
A hot start to the third set saw the Devils up 5-0 early, possibly shifting the momentum of the match. The Cardinal recovered and pulled ASU’s lead back to one at 11-10. Momentum built for the Devils after numerous impressive possessions that saw their lead increase to 22-14 late. An inability to close out sets have plagued the Sun Devils for the entirety of the season, but they were able to save the set—and the match—taking set three 25-21 on an attack error from Stanford’s Plummer.
Set four saw the Cardinal looking for revenge after not completing the sweep in the previous set. Midway through they had a six-point lead at 13-7. The Devils continued to falter making pointless mistakes on the receiving end of the ball, allowing two service aces in a row to put the Cardinal ahead 21-11. The Cardinal closed out the set and match on a kill from Plummer, ending the onslaught at 25-13.
Plummer led the night with 23 kills on a whopping 43 attempts followed by 11 from both sophomore middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris and redshirt senior opposite hitter Merete Lutz. For the Devils, Okaro ended with an effective 19 kills followed by junior opposite hitter Peyton Grahovac with nine. ASU’s senior libero Halle Harker was not her usual self only managing ten digs, tied for her second-lowest game total this season. Freshman outside hitter Griere Hughes was a DNP tonight after an 18-kill performance in her last home outing against Utah.
“I think we had a good game, we played against a really tough team, and they put up a really tough block,” Moreno reflected. “Right now, we aren’t looking at the scoreboard or the record we have, we are looking at whether or not we are improving, and I think we are.”
The Devils take on the California Golden Bears in a day game on Sunday, Oct. 29, still in search of their first conference win. This will be a rematch of the Sept. 29 game in which the Devils were swept in three sets 25-19, 25-20 and 25-19.
