(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
Facing an undefeated Utah team that won three of their first four matches in three-set sweeps, the Sun Devils volleyball team felt they had nothing to lose going into a match against the No. 8 team in the AVCA poll. After going on a two set run in the second and third set from the Utes, they dropped their final two sets, falling in a five-set defeat (8-25, 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 8-15).
“Tough loss, we are still processing what just happened,” head coach Sonja Tomasevic said of the match result. “We got to be a lot better offensively, our serve receive was bad, we’re working on it but we need to get better.”
ASU dropped the opening set, 8-25, after remaining close throughout the beginning of the first set from a kill from sophomore middle blocker Kennedi Boyd and a block from freshman outside hitter Marta Levinska, to keep the Sun Devils ahead, 3-2. From that point on, Utah completely dominated on offense and the Sun Devils allowed a 5-0 run from the Utes. After the run, ASU called a timeout but saw five kills from Dani Drews, an outside hitter for Utah, which helped the Utes pull away in the first set.
Entering the second set, there were five ties in the first ten points of the set alone, all due to a change of pace in the Sun Devils’ offense with kills from sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic, who led the team with 12 kills. On defense, Levinska and senior outside hitter Megan Beedie helped keep the set close each time the Utes pulled ahead. Coupled with the Sun Devils improvements to start the second set, Utah would also have many errors that would cost them points. In the second set alone, the Utes had 11 service and hitting errors that helped the Sun Devils pull away, 25-21.
“We responded to what they did to us in the first set,” Isanovic said. “We served hard and got them where we wanted them and we were prepared to block and our defense was doing a solid job.”
The Utes led by as many as six points in the third set, where it was Utah who saw success offensively with kills and benefited from ASU’s self-inflicted errors in the hitting and serving departments. With the Sun Devils trailing 16-19 late in the third set, Tomasevic called a timeout. From there, back-to-back kills from Isanovic and junior outside hitter Maddie McLaughlin brought ASU within one. To end the set, a kill from Isanovic followed by another kill from Levinska sealed the set for the Sun Devils, 25-21.
An early 5-0 run helped Utah pull away in the fourth set, with the Sun Devils eventually finding themselves in an eight-point hole with set point for Utah. A pair of kills from Isanovic and a block from Levinska gave ASU a 4-0 run of their own to pull themselves within four. Despite the late fourth-set push, the Utes were able to force a fifth set with a 20-25 win.
The 2-2 tie between Utah and ASU would bring them to a fifth set, which would be Utah’s first of the season and ASU’s second of the season — after losing to Washington State in five sets a week prior. To open the first fifth set of the season for the Utes, they had three kills in a row and were able to find themselves ahead of the Sun Devils, 2-5, before a block by Boyd and Levinska brought ASU within two. After Boyd’s block, Utah began to pull away and led 5-13. It was a match point for the Utes with a 6-14 lead but the Sun Devils had two successful rallies in a row, but lost the set and the match to Utah, 8-15, on a service error.
Despite the second five-set loss of the season for ASU, Tomasevic said that she was proud of the team’s efforts against a ranked team while not playing their best.
“What’s given me more confidence is that we took the No. 8 team to five sets when we weren’t playing our best,” Tomasevic said. “I am excited about it and the girls want to win that, so hopefully they bring what it takes on Sunday.”
Arizona State will face No. 8 Utah in the second match of their two-match series on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m.
