ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in opener against Stanford

(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)

With no Sun Devils reaching double digits in kills, Arizona State (4-11) fell in straight sets for the fourth time this season, losing to Stanford (2-5) (22-25, 16-25, 16-25) on Friday in Palo Alto.

“We want to continue and improve,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic said last week looking ahead to the series against Stanford. “I’ve been saying this from the beginning of the season, but this is a young team. This has been a nice little run so they can believe that we belong and we can do this.”

This was just the seventh match of the season for the Cardinal as they have had half of their matches cancelled due to COVID-issues.

A kill by sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic in the opening set started things off strong for the Sun Devils, who led by as much as five early in the first set. Productivity on offense from freshman outside hitter Marta Levinska and fellow freshman outside hitter Roberta Rabelo helped ASU get off to a quick start.

Back-to-back kills by outside hitter Megan McClure of Stanford, who finished with a match high 18 kills, tied the match late in the first set, 18-18. The Cardinal went on a 5-0 run to end the first set and win it, 22-25, after a challenge by the Sun Devils was unsuccessful.

Levinska led the team with nine kills and also had an ace and four digs on Friday afternoon, as she opened the second set tight with a kill for ASU. Stanford went on a 5-1 run to lead by eight, which led to the Sun Devils calling a timeout.

Sophomore setter Shannon Shields set for the majority of the match and finished with 19 assists. But after the 5-0 run, fellow setter and freshman Ella Snyder had five assists before Shields checked back in to finish the set for ASU. Stanford took four of the last five points in the second set to win, 16-25.

The third set opened 7-3 in favor of ASU with errors by the Cardinals and with a kill by senior middle blocker Megan Beedie, who led the team in blocks with three. Stanford went on a 5-0 run to lead and did not drop the lead.

A kill by freshman Claudia Stahlke would bring the Sun Devils within five, but the Cardinal offense would push them to the sweep with the only two stops from ASU down the stretch coming from a kill from Isanovic and an error by Stanford. They would win the set and the match with the same score as the second set, 16-25.

The loss drops ASU’s record to 4-11 and the end of a three game winning streak that included winning nine sets in a row over Cal and Arizona. The Sun Devils look to split the weekend series against the Cardinal on Sunday in Palo Alto at 12 p.m. Arizona time and can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network.