ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils can’t keep up with No. 2 Stanford, fall in three sets

The Arizona State Sun Devils lost to the Stanford Cardinal in three straight sets (12-25, 18-25, 24-26) on Wednesday night in Stanford, California.

Stanford’s Kathryn Plummer led both teams with 13 kills. Following behind her was Stanford’s Tami Alade, who had nine kills herself. The Cardinal found offensive success in great hitting combined with a small amount of attack errors. The Sun Devils however, struggled with creating opportunities for themselves offensively. While Peyton Grahovac and Oluoma Okaro led Sun Devils with a combined 15 kills, the team had 14 attack errors to play in Stanford’s favor. Half of those attack errors occurred in the opening set alone.

The Cardinal’s aggressive play at the net included consistent blocking. Altogether, Stanford put up eight blocks in the match compared to ASU’s five. Tami Alade led the Cardinal with six blocks total. Carmen Unzue led the Sun Devils with four.

ASU’s struggles with serve receive also played into Stanford’s favor. Stanford’s Jenna Gray created great offense for her team during the first set with three consecutive aces. The Cardinal closed out the second set with an ace from Morgan Hentz, and they also had two more aces in the third set from Jenna Gray and Kathryn Plummer.

Despite the errors in serve receive, ASU’s back line secured 22 digs while Stanford secured 19. Nicole Peterson, Halle Harker and Olouma Okaro all led the team with four digs each.

The Sun Devils will continue their California play on Friday evening when they play the California Bears in Berkeley at 7 p.m.