(Photo: James Powel/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils faced the No. 12 Stanford Cardinal on the road Saturday night. The Sun Devils would end up on the losing end, 13-25, 17-25, 19-25.
Stanford came out firing from the start, opening up a 12-6 lead early on in the first set.
The Sun Devils were able to counter with a three point run later on to cut the lead to 13-10.
However, with the score at 15-12, the Cardinal responded with a 5-0 run thanks to two kills from freshman right side Kathryn Plummer and took a 20-12 lead.
Stanford finished the set scoring five of the next six points to win 25-13.
As a team, the Cardinal had an outstanding hitting percentage of .625 in the opening set.
The Sun Devils were led after one set of play by freshman outside hitter Ivana Jeremic’s five kills.
Junior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro and senior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell kept the Sun Devils close early on in the second set, combining for five of ASU’s first seven kills and keeping the Sun Devils within one, down 8-7.
Stanford would go on a 3-0 run from there to take an 11-7 lead and force a timeout from Sun Devil head coach Stevie Mussie.
The Cardinal combined kills from seven different players with three unforced errors by the Sun Devils to extend their lead and finish the set off with a 25-17 victory.
After hitting .417 in the first set, the Sun Devils hit a lowly .129 in the second set to lower their game hitting percentage to .200.
Stanford started the third set up 5-1, but two kills and two aces from Okaro brought ASU back and gave the Sun Devils a 7-6 lead.
Freshman middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris acquired two kills and a block for the Cardinal to put the lead back in Stanford’s favor at 9-7.
The Sun Devils continued to battle and eventually gained a 16-15 lead. However, two ASU errors and an ace from Stanford put the Cardinal back on top 18-16 and forced a timeout from the Sun Devils.
The Cardinal followed the timeout with a Plummer kill, another service ace, and two unforced errors from ASU to give them a 7-0 run and a 22-16 lead.
The teams traded points from there before Stanford’s senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, finished the set with a block to give Stanford the 25-19 set win.
Plummer and Fitzmorris each had 10 kills to lead the Cardinal, while the Sun Devils were led in the kills category by Okaro with nine.
Arizona State lowered its Pac-12 worst hitting percentage by hitting .185 on the night. Its largest lead in the match was just one point.
With the loss, the Sun Devils fall to 8-12 on the season, and 1-7 in conference play. Their next game comes next Wednesday, October 19, at home against Washington State.
