ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils falter late against USC

(Photo: Brendan O’Keefe/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devils once again found themselves in a five set match; this time after winning the first two sets. After a tough loss to Washington went the distance Sunday, the Sun Devil offense came out impressive once again.

ASU wound up dropping the match in a close fifth set that saw multiple challenges by head coach Sanja Tomasevic (25-19, 25-19, 13-25, 21-25, 14-16). With the loss, the Sun Devils are now 2-7 in five set matches this season and added to their Pac-12 lead in sets played.

Key offensive performances from Arizona State’s sophomore outside hitter Marta Levinska, sophomore middle blocker Claire Jeter and junior outside hitter Iman Isanovic had the Sun Devils working proficiently on offense early Friday night. Levinska had a match-high 17 kills and 14 digs to record her seventh double-double of the season. Isanovic and Jeter led the Sun Devils to a season high of 10 aces. Both Sun Devils contributed three aces a piece.

“We started off really strong, I thought we were going to be done in three sets. But then the wheels just fell off. I think in the first set USC made a lot of mistakes, and we let them get in a rhythm,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic said following the sixth conference loss of ASU’s season. “Then the fifth set is always a game on its own. I think we had three missed serves and they had none. I’m proud of our girls, they keep fighting and we will get ours.”

Arizona State got ahead early with a 6-3 lead to start off the first set. Back-to-back aces by Jeter added on to a 5-0 scoring run for the Sun Devils. The Trojans then called a timeout with the Sun Devils up 13-8. A few defensive miscues by the Sun Devils allowed the Trojans to get within one at 18-17. Levinska and Isanovic were clicking early with four kills from Levinska and three kills from Isanovic to push the Sun Devils past the Trojans in the first set, 25-19. Jeter would finish the set with three aces.

Levinska and Isanovic continued their success on offense before the Trojans called their first timeout of the set with the Sun Devils up 10-5. Libero Jamye Cox had multiple digs to prolong a rally between the two teams before the Sun Devils eventually ended up with the point. Kills by Levinska and Isanovic following the timeout allowed the Sun Devils to keep adding to their lead, putting them up 18-9 before the next timeout would be called. Jeter would finish the second set off with a kill and the Sun Devils took the second set 25-19.

Levinska had nine kills and Isanovic had seven kills as the Sun Devils went into the third set with a two set lead.

Arizona State, who was looking to sweep USC in three sets, got off to a fast start going up 4-2 in the third frame. USC was able to answer back and tie it multiple times. The third set saw seven ties and three lead changes as both teams were knotted up at 10. USC went on a 3-0 scoring run before Tomasevic used her first timeout of the set with Arizona State down, 15-12.

Following the timeout the Trojans were able take three straight points making it a 6-0 scoring run before the Sun Devils used their final timeout of the set. The Sun Devils were able to stop the scoring run following the timeout but the Trojans answered right away with a 7-0 scoring run to take the third set 25-13. The third set ended with nine ties before the Trojans were able to pull away late.

Just as the third set started, the fourth set saw multiple ties to start off with neither team pulling away with a lead. Kills once again by Isanovic, Jeter and Levinska had Arizona State up 14-10 before USC called a timeout. USC came out of the timeout clicking offensively and putting together a 4-0 scoring run, tying the game at 16 and forcing the Sun Devils to use their first timeout of the set.

The Trojans once again were able to go on another offensive scoring run of seven to put them ahead 23-17. Eventually taking the set by a score of 25-21, and forcing ASU into an all-too-familiar position.

The fifth and final set started off with USC once again rallying off a 4-0 scoring run to give them a 7-3 lead before the Sun Devils called their first timeout of the set. The Sun Devils found themselves down 11-9 after a kill by Levinska and ace by Isanovic before USC called a timeout. The Trojans looked to have won the match twice but back-to-back successful challenges allowed ASU to tie the set at 14. The Trojans, however, ended up winning the set 16-14 to give them the reverse sweep win.

“It’s always important to have outsides that can get the ball down, we have our setters, liberos and serve receive that rely on us to get the ball down,” Levinska said. “It’s really important that we execute if we want to win more games.”

Tomasevic gave an outlook on what they can work on leading up to their next match.

“Everything we work on shows up for the game, so the only thing is you’re limited with time. You’re limited in days and between matches, so you also have to give them rest,” Tomasevic said. “UCLA’s a lot better than these guys, we have to go out there and get kills. We’re going to have to play defense and play better than we did tonight and we’re going to have to hit our serve.”

The Sun Devils will finish the four-match home stand Sunday at 1 p.m. against No. 14 UCLA.