(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN)
PHOENIX – Arizona State Volleyball got caught in a grueling back-and-forth five-set affair on the road against Cal Sunday. However, senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska refused to watch her team lose by registering a career-high 30 kills on the afternoon and powering the No. 25 Sun Devils to a hard-fought victory.
Both programs have experienced bounce-back seasons from a year ago. Through just 14 matches so far on the season, the Golden Bears and the Sun Devils have each surpassed their win totals from last season.
The Sun Devils came into the matchup 14-1 on the year, experiencing its first loss just two days earlier as No. 3 Stanford swept them in Palo Alto. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears rolled into Sunday with a record of 12-2, logging its own loss to the Cardinal a few weeks ago.
On paper, the two teams were set for an evenly-matched clash, and that is exactly how it played out.
As the first set unfolded the two teams traded points back-and-forth, as the score was tied numerous times. It wasn’t until the back half of the set that that pattern was broken, as Cal pulled away by capitalizing on several self-inflicted wounds by the Sun Devils to win it 25-23.
Service errors and errant hits out of bounds plagued ASU, and Cal turned those missed opportunities into points of their own with triple digits in three major categories on the stat sheet – 15 kills, 13 digs and 14 assists.
The second set was much of the same as both squads traded blows and kept it close once more. The Sun Devils’ situation started to look eerily similar and bleak because they still could not clean up their own errors and miscues.
But senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska put the team on her back and registered a whopping 9 kills in the set, willing ASU to a 25-21 finish and capping the set off with the game-winning kill.
The sloppy play by ASU carried over into the third set, and unlike in the second, the Golden Bears didn’t let them get away with it. Cal used a total team effort led by sophomore middle blocker Mikayla Hayden, senior outside hitter Sam Taumoepeau and freshman outside hitter Maggie Li to get several timely kills and blocks at the net to solidify the set win, 25-22.
Li is the first player in program history to be named Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week consecutive times, along with being recognized as the conference’s top freshman player of the week in three additional instances.
Unfortunately for Li and the rest of the Golden Bears, ASU cleaned up its act and got into rhythm toward the middle of the fourth set. After the set was tied at 10 points a piece, ASU went on a 9-3 run led by Levinska, who came alive after being silent for much of the first 10 points of the set.
Levinska had five powerful kills in the final 15 points of the set and ASU forced a fifth and final set, winning 25-21.
The Sun Devils went up quickly to start the fifth set with a 7-3 score. After that, the Golden Bears didn’t get another chance to tie or take the lead, as ASU finished strong to cruise 15-9 and take the match 3-2.
Levinska and senior middle blocker Claire Jeter both clocked in huge blocks to help stave off kill attempts initiated by Li and the Golden Bears, and the defense made up the difference after an offensive firework show put on by Levinska. In the end, the Latvian’s 30 kills tied the program’s rally-scoring record for kills in a match.
ASU will now look ahead to its upcoming matchups at home against USC and UCLA next weekend.
