(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
A hot start for Arizona State (13-16, 4-13) was unsustainable Friday night in Tempe, as the Sun Devils fell to No. 25 UCLA (13-11, 8-9) in four sets, 1-3 (25-18, 22-25, 18-25, 23-25).
After being swept by the Bruins on Oct. 10 in Los Angeles, the Sun Devils took the first set, 25-18.
Yet, in many ways the play of Sanja Tomasevic’s squad mirrored its performance in their Oct. 21 four-set loss to Colorado. The Sun Devils took the first set behind outstanding play from redshirt senior Alyse Ford, but Ford and the Devil offense slowed down significantly during the closing three sets.
Against the Buffaloes, Ford had 29 kills on 70 attacks, but cooled off after the first set with the Sun Devils force-feeding her on the offensive attack. The 70 attacks for Ford were 40 more than the next closest Sun Devil, Claire Kovensky, who tallied 5 kills on 30 attempts.
Friday night against the Bruins, Ford had a game-high 23 kills on 58 attacks, but the Sun Devils offense slowed down after hitting .333 in the first set. As was the case against Colorado, Ford was the only Sun Devil with double-digit kills. The difference in attacks for the Devils was drastic again, with Ford attempting 29 more attacks than Ivana Jeremic, who had 7 kills on 29 attacks.
“I know I need to start diversifying the offense a little more,” junior Callie Jones, who had 26 assists and 10 digs in the loss said. “Everyone knows Alyse is a beast out there and we just need to mix it up a bit.”
The one-sided attack of the Sun Devils was limited to a .193 hitting percentage for the match. Much of the ASU trouble offensively stemmed from the Bruins stout net-presence, highlighted by three straight Bruin blocks to give UCLA a 24-17 lead late in the third set. For the entirety of the night, the No. 25 team in the nation tallied 16 blocks.
“Toward the end of the match, it was double-block on me every time,” Ford said.
“They were managing the ball really well and they were forcing us even if it was not just Alyse, all of our pin blockers, they put us in a place where they knew where we were going to go,” Tomasevic said.
With the Sun Devil offense stymied during the final three sets, Arizona State extended their losing streak to 11-consecutive matches, a streak that dates back to their Oct. 7 win over then No. 15 Washington. Since then, the Sun Devils have won just six sets over the course of the 11 matches.
Arizona State will take on No. 14 USC (19-8, 11-5) Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. With the Sun Devils hosting three ranked opponents in their final three matches, Ford and Jones said they are each hoping to mess up opponents plans.
“We want to crush some other people’s dreams of going to the tournament,” Jones said. “Even if we can’t get there ourselves, I want to ruin some people’s chances of getting there.
