(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
Arizona State (1-5) fell against a top-10 opponent for the third time this season Sunday, as No. 8 Utah (6-0) took down the Sun Devils in three sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-19) in Tempe on Sunday.
The Sun Devils didn’t show the same resilience as they did in their first matchup with the Utes, where they brought the match to five sets.
“I felt like today was a pretty disappointing show from our team,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic said following Arizona State’s fifth straight loss. “It’s not that we lost to a really good team, it’s more how we played. We played scared and we played timid. You can’t play scared in the Pac-12.”
Arizona State’s team hitting percentage was .171 while Utah’s was .317.
The Sun Devil offense was “all over the place,” Tomasevic said.
Sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic and freshman outside hitter Regan Tinkle led the team in kills with 15 and 7, respectively.
“(Tinkle) is giving us everything we thought she would at this point, which is a heavy arm and being consistently good at swinging,” Tomasevic said. “I’m proud of her and the way she played.”
Freshman setter Ella Snyder had 13 assists and seven digs.
Freshman outside hitter Marta Levinska, who was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after her 31 combined kills against Washington in the first week of play, had three kills — one in each set. She hit at a -.033 hitting percentage.
“Marta’s sets are too far up the net,” said Tomasevic of Levinska’s recent struggles. “She’s not really communicating with Ella that well to tell her, ‘hey get it in front of me.’”
The Sun Devil defense struggled to contain senior outside hitter Dani Drews, who racked up a season-high 31 kills for the Utes on Friday and 20 kills on Sunday.
“We need to take care of our side of the net,” Tomasevic said. “A bunch of good plays over time is what is going to win us games and we’re not there yet. We’re very inconsistent.”
Arizona State will travel to Corvallis to take on Oregon State in a two-match series next weekend.
