(Photo: James Powel/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils rounded out their weekend home stand with a match against the Oregon State Beavers on Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena.
The second home game for the Sun Devils ended in a loss, as they were swept in straight sets 22-25, 11-25 and 18-25.
Oregon State started strong in the first set, opening up an 11-5 lead.
ASU crawled its way back into the game, and with help from a couple of Oregon State errors, eventually cut the lead to one, trailing 21-20.
Oregon State countered with a two point run of their own to take a 23-20 lead, and the teams would trade points from there as the Beavers took the first set from the Sun Devils 25-22.
Arizona State struggled on the offensive side, posting a hitting percentage of just .088 in the first set.
“I think it was the passing and the setting,” Mussie said about the low hitting percentage. “I don’t think either one was very good.”
Arizona State had another slow start to the second set, trailing 10-5 before a timeout from Mussie.
The Beavers continued to extend their lead throughout the set, at one point doubling the Sun Devils’ score and taking a 20-10 lead. The Beavers would not look back from there, as they ended on a 5-1 run and won the second set 25-11.
The hitting woes continued for the Sun Devils, as they hit -.107 in the second set, and their overall total percentage for the match lowered to .000.
The Sun Devils switched things up to start the third set, subbing in freshman setter Nicole Peterson to run the 6-2 alongside sophomore setter Kylie Pickrell.
“Nicole coming out of high school was really consistent locating the ball,” Mussie said. “The transition has been slow for her because she was sick and hurt, but she can come in and do some nice things, so I was stoked for her to be able to do that.”
The Sun Devils suffered another slow start and saw themselves down 7-3 in the third set. However, a kill from freshman middle blocker Mmachi Nwoke, followed by a block from junior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro and a kill from senior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell, brought the Sun Devils within one.
Within one point was the closest the Sun Devils would find themselves. Oregon State kept the lead the entire set, and it pushed its lead to as many as five before taking the set 25-18 and winning the match in straight sets.
Sophomore outside hitter Lexi MacLean led the Sun Devils on the day with 10 kills, and the Beavers were led by junior outside hitter Mary Kate Marshall with 12.
“I think the most important thing is we have to be able to score,”. Mussie said. “We have to have a much higher sense of urgency when we have the ball on our side of the net.”
With the loss, Arizona State falls to 7-9 and has lost its first four conference games. More challenges loom ahead for the Sun Devils, as they take on No. 23 USC and No. 12 UCLA both on the road next Wednesday and Friday.
