ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils drop final home match to No. 16 Utes

(Photo: Paige Cook/WCSN)

Arizona State hosted No. 16 Utah on senior night its final match of the season at Desert Financial Arena. Arizona State fell in four sets to Utah (24-26, 25-15, 20-25, 18-25).

Senior Jayme Cox put together an all-out performance, notching double figures in digs for a third straight match. Cox had 21 digs in the loss. Junior Iman Isanovic led the team with 20 kills, sophomore Marta Levinska had the second most with 14.

Utah senior Dani Drews found herself all over the stat sheet leading the Utes with 23 kills and in points with 24. Head coach Sanja Tomasevic expected Drews to be a factor in the match today.

“Dani Drews keeps proving that she is one of the best players in the conference and the country,” Tomasevic said. “Even though we knew that they were going to go to her tonight we couldn’t stop her, especially out of the back row. It’s tough to beat a good team twice, and I think that’s one of those moments that just happened with us.”

Tomasevic believed today’s performance was up and down.

“I thought we should’ve taken care of the first set, we were passing better than them, we had better ball control than them, but they hit .600 on a perfect pass, and we were hitting nine percent. I think that was the big difference in our first set,” Tomasevic said.

The Sun Devils offense started off the first set of the match down 0-2 but quickly got up to a 6-2 lead behind the duo of Isanovic and Levinska. Following a timeout, the Utes were able to string together some kills and get back into it, tying it at 10.

Five ties and multiple lead changes would then happen before the Utes were able to take the first set, 26-24. Drews led the Utes with six kills and junior Zoe Weatherington was the next best with four kills. Cox was finding herself all over the court with eight digs and one service ace after the opening set. Isanovic and Levinska were tied with six kills apiece.

The second set began with four ties between the teams with the score 4-4 before the Sun Devils capped off a 7-0 scoring run leading to a Utes timeout. The Utes would use their final timeout of the set trailing 22-14. Drews had a kill on match point for the Utes before a service error allowed the Sun Devils to take set two 25-15. Isanovic led the Sun Devils with three kills in the set and Cox continued to be all around the court adding six digs.

Arizona State saw themselves down five to Utah in the third set. Multiple kills by freshman Geli Cyr allowed Arizona State to get back into the set as Utah called timeout up 17-16. Following the timeout Utah was able to extend their lead to 21-18. Utah closed the set with a kill from senior Stef Jankiewicz giving them a 25-20 set win to go up 2-1.

The fourth set of the match featured the Utes getting out to an early lead\. The duo of Isanovic and Levinska were able to contribute kills to tie it at 10. The Sun Devils took a quick lead before Drews and the Utes capped off a 6-1 scoring run to retake the lead. An ace by Jankiewicz would end the set, with the Utes winning 25-18 to win the match in four sets.

For Tomasevic and the Sun Devils they’ll look to improve their offense before next weekend’s games.

“I think our serve receive and the rhythm of our offense. I think the rhythm of our offense is super important,” Tomasevic said of where the Sun Devils need to see growth to close out the season with success. “We just need to focus on serve receive and the tempo and rhythm of our offense.”

Arizona State will head to Los Angeles next weekend to take on No. 12 UCLA Friday and USC on Sunday.