(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN)
TEMPE – In the the fourth set between Arizona State women’s volleyball and No. 20 Washington, the Sun Devils had climbed back after falling behind in the match, 2-1.
Following an 11-6 scoring run, ASU finished off the fourth after junior middle blocker Claire Jeter and junior outside hitter Roberta Rabelo combined on a block, igniting the Sun Devil faithful.
Despite the momentum needed to end its four-match losing streak, ASU’s energy quickly deflated out of Desert Financial Arena as the Sun Devils would record just three kills in 18 attempts and lose the fifth set 15-8.
“It’s a dangerous thing when you get all of that energy,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “It can be really good because it can carry you on to the win, or it could just deflate you. We need to be better when we put ourselves in a position to play against a good team in five [sets].”
Although the Sun Devils lost in disheartening fashion (25-18, 19-25, 16-25, 27-25, 8-15), they gave the Huskies a fight thanks to senior outside hitter Iman Isanovic, who ended with 21 kills on a .304 hitting percentage.
“She had a really good match today,” Tomasevic said. “[Washington] knew the ball was going to her too, it’s not like she had one block, one and a half blocks, so I thought she was doing a really good job when she was put in a position to get the ball down.”
One area where ASU dominated was at the net. The Sun Devils finished with a season-high 15 blocks, with all of them being necessary to stop Washington’s hard-hitting offense. Junior middle blocker Claudia Stahlke outpaced the entire Huskies’ squad with nine blocks, one short of her career-high set on Oct. 21 against the same Washington unit.
“Claudia’s always been our blocker, that’s her forte,” Tomasevic said. “In my phone, she is Claudia ‘The Wall’ Stahlke. She did a great job today like she did a great job last time against them blocking. I’m really proud of her.”
The only player that ASU failed to block well was senior outside hitter Claire Hoffman, who torched the Sun Devils with a season-high 26 kills on a .357 hitting percentage. Hoffman used her 6-foot-2 frame and supreme athleticism to deliver crushing spikes that ASU struggled to return.
“I love how smart [Hoffman] plays,” Tomasevic said. “She’s looking for high hands, she’s clipping those fingers. If you didn’t get your manicure, she’ll get it for you. If the ball block wasn’t there, the ball would be in the bleachers. I don’t think we did a good job against her today.”
Although the Sun Devils came up short, they still took solace in knowing they gave the Huskies – who made it to the NCAA Tournament Final Four last season – everything they could handle.
“A big emphasis of ours was just trying to be competitive as a team,” Isanovic said. “Coming into the game, we were all just ready to play as a team, for each other, and I think for the most part we succeeded in our agendas.”
