(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
The Arizona State volleyball team (13-10, 4-7 Pac-12) has struggled offensively this season, and the offense didn’t get any better on Friday night as the Sun Devils fell to the Ducks, 0-3 (23-25, 18-25, 21-25). With their season leader in kills, junior Ivana Jeremic, out of the lineup due to an illness, the Sun Devils offense struggled to cement a concistent scoring presence.
“It’s not an excuse, I don’t think it would’ve been a huge difference,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic said following the loss. “Not having Ivana in a match like this is definitely not helping the cause.”
After a career-high 29-kill performance against Colorado the previous Sunday, senior Alyse Ford was held to a team-leading 9 kills and a .125 hitting percentage. Tomasevic said going into Friday night’s match that she challenged the experienced Ford to lead the offense in Jeremic’s absence. That challenge was left unanswered.
“We talked to them at the beginning of the match about hitting smart against these guys,” Tomasevic said. “We had certain parts of the court we needed to expose against them and I challenged Alyse to be the one who leads the way with that, but that was a bad idea.”
The struggles of Ford, following a standout performance against the Buffaloes, was something Tomasevic said shouldn’t be happening with such an experienced player.
“It’s strange to see someone like her struggle,” Tomasevic said. “She wasn’t connecting in warmup with setters and she carried that into the match. That’s something that you can’t do as an experienced hitter… she was getting impatient and she wanted to hit a lot, and she was getting blocked a lot.”
The Sun Devils’ team leader in hitting percentage for the match was sophomore Megan Beedie, who hit .200 for the night.
The offensive struggles were the continuation of a trend of recent poor performances for ASU. However, it wasn’t long ago when the Devils took down the Ducks in Eugene. When the Sun Devils went on the road to face the then No. 12 Ducks, Tomasevic and her squad found themselves on the right side of three close sets, winning 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-22).
In the three-set win over Oregon on Sept. 30, the Sun Devils got 16 kills and 12 digs from Jeremic, who picked up her ninth double-double of the season in that win. Junior Callie Jones also stepped up in a big way in that win, posting 22 assists and 12 digs against the Ducks. ASU was unable to get those same contributions Friday night, as Jeremic did not play and Jones was held to 13 assists and 4 digs.
In the most recent matchup with Oregon in Tempe, Tomasevic said the ASU hitters failed to follow the game plan and continued to hit at Oregon libero Brooke Nuneviller.
“She did an unbelievable job tonight,” Tomasevic said of Nuneviller, who racked up 18 digs in the Oregon win. “If you’re hitting at her, you’ve gotta bang it. You can’t just throw pillows her way.”
With the loss to the Ducks, the Sun Devils extended their season-long losing streak to five matches. Arizona State’s offense has a chance to find its groove again this on Sunday with the Oregon State Beavers – who are winless in Pac-12 play – coming to town. First serve is scheduled for 12 p.m. MST, and the game can be seen on Pac-12 Network.
