(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
After returning home from a successful 3-1 road trip to begin Pac-12 play, Arizona State (12-5, 3-2) was unable to continue that success against Washington State (11-3, 3-2). The Sun Devils fell to the Cougars in three sets (17-25, 21-25, 17-25).
Despite holding Washington State’s season-long kill leader Taylor Mims to a .241 hitting percentage, a big night from McKenna Woodford helped the Cougars offense get whatever they wanted throughout the match. Woodford’s team-leading .346 hitting percentage helped the Cougars rack up a .382 hitting percentage in the first set.
Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said she felt the Sun Devils poor serving put the Cougars in a position to capitalize offensively.
“We were serving marshmallows so they were able to do whatever they wanted to do,” Tomasevic said. “It’s hard to block against a team like that if you don’t serve them into trouble. If your serving is off, it’s harder to block, and makes it harder to play defense, and it’s just a snowball effect.”
Along with the Cougars offense getting whatever it wanted, the Washington State defense held the Arizona State offense in check. With a strong net presence, the Cougars were able to block seven ASU shots, and alter many more.
Senior Alyse Ford said following Sunday’s win over No. 12 Oregon, it was the Sun Devils inability to settle down that led to their struggles.
“I feel like we’re just trying to go above and beyond when it’s like we really just need to simplify, and play smart, and play our volleyball,” Ford said. “This was the first Pac-12 game at home, so the nerves are gone. We know what we need to do. We don’t like this feeling after the match, so we just need to remember this feeling after the loss and really dial it in.”
On a night where the Sun Devils were without setter Shelbie Dobmeier due to injury, the Arizona State offense was limited to just a .155 hitting percentage for the match. With Dobmeier out, the Sun Devil offense was run through junior setter Nicole Peterson. Peterson, who has split time between outside hitter and setter this season, had 15 assists and 4 kills in the loss.
Still, Tomasevic said she thought the absence of Dobmeier was something the Sun Devils were more than capable of overcoming.
“We didn’t have Shelbie last weekend and we murdered those other two schools so it’s not that,” Tomasevic said.
The lone Sun Devil who was able to get any offense going was sophomore Megan Beedie, who had a team-high nine kills and a .438 hitting percentage.
Ivana Jeremic, who had 16 kills and 12 digs in ASU’s three-set sweep of No. 12 Oregon a week ago, was stifled by the Cougars. Jeremic was held to just 6 kills and 5 digs after recording double-doubles in the Sun Devils previous three matches.
The Sun Devils loss drops their record to 12-5, (3-2 Pac-12) for the season. Washington State moves to 12-3, (3-2 Pac-12). Arizona State will host the No. 15 Washington Huskies on Sunday at 12 p.m. Tomasevic said moving forward the Sun Devils need to play to their game plan.
“We need to stick to our scouting report, stick to what we’re doing and execute what we know we can do,” Tomasevic said. “[Washington State] did a great job, but we definitely helped.”
