(Photo: Deja Broughton/WCSN)
In a game of long rallies and long delays, Arizona State was unable to break through against No. 16 Oregon, losing their fifth straight match.
It was a rough game for ASU offensively as the team combined to hit just .074. It wasn’t a game riddled with errors. but the Devils struggled to put the ball away when given an opportunity. Oregon libero Brooke Nuneviller recorded 18 digs and a series of extended rallies played to the Sun Devils’ detriment.
The offense struggled in part because outside hitter Ivana Jeremic missed the game with strep throat. She could potentially be playing Sunday against Oregon State, but head coach Sonja Tomasevic doesn’t think her absence should be the end of the team.
“We didn’t have Alyse [Ford] for a long period of time,” Tomasevic said. “I challenged us to hit smart against them, and I challenged Alyse to lead us.” Ford did technically lead the way with nine kills, but it took her 24 attempts and her overall match was underwhelming given her recent play.
A key to the Arizona State game plan was clearly aggressively serving the right side of the court to try to protect their left side blockers. That was not successful as the Sun Devils missed eleven serves. Oregon right side hitter Willow Johnson had seven kills and middle blocker Ronika Stone had 15 kills, many of which came on slides with a front row setter.
In the third set, Nicole Peterson was replaced front row with Peyton Grahovac. In Jeremic’s absence, Peterson was forced to block outside hitters and struggled.
“We just wanted to see where Peyton was at,” Tomasevic said. Whether or not we see more of Grahovac going forward is still up in the air.
Having lost five straight matches, three of them at home, Tomasevic is looking to the leaders of her team to keep their heads and stick to the game plan.
“We have to be aggressive but smart,” Tomasevic said. “Part of our offensive plan was to tip the ball to the setter when we were out of system. Nicole gets impatient and tries to tip deep and the libero gets it, and they get a kill on a slide.”
Any chance ASU had to build momentum on the third set ended due to officiating concerns. ASU lost a close call on a point as they tried to keep thee match alive. Later in the set, a 10-minute delay due to a score discrepancy delayed the match further.
After a tough, underperforming loss, Arizona State looks to bounce back on Sunday against unranked Oregon State in what should be one of the team’s easiest matchups left on the schedule.
