ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils look to close out year with Thanksgiving weekend statement

(Photo: Brendan Belfield/WCSN)

This season has been rough on head coach Sanja Tomasevic and the Arizona State Sun Devils (14-15, 7-11 Pac-12).

After starting 1-6 through the first seven matches of conference play, ASU finally sparked hope for Sun Devil fans, rushing past five straight opponents, three of which remain within the top 25 of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.

But with the peak came another valley. Tomasevic’s team from Tempe returned to early-season form, dropping five of their next six matches. Compared to the earlier stretch of losses where four of six went to five sets, the Sun Devils would drag just one of these five defeats the distance.

And yet, heading into their final two matches with three consecutive losses, Arizona State still finds themselves in position to potentially collect an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.

The 32 conference champions will secure a spot in the postseason. The next 32 teams will be selected by the Division 1 Women’s Volleyball Committee. In the most recent update of the NCAA RPI Poll this past Sunday, the Sun Devils found themselves ranked at No. 60, meaning ASU is in the conversation but nowhere near a lock to be included.

Oregon State (4-24, 2-16 Pac-12):

Following a 5-13 finish in the COVID-restricted 2020-2021 season, OSU has put together an even worse resumé thus far. In 28 matches, head coach Mark Barnard has led his team to victory on just four occasions.

Needless to say, the Pac-12 Conference has not been very kind to the Beavers. Twelve of their 16 conference losses have concluded in three sets and aside from their two sweeping wins against a winless California team, Oregon State has taken just four other sets against Pac-12 competition.

Some of OSU’s struggles on the season can be attributed to periodic absences from notable returnees. A total of eight athletes from last year’s group have missed matches due to injuries or other unforeseen circumstances.

Barnard’s two primary pin hitters, senior Maddie Goings and second-year Kateryna Tkachenko, have headed the Beavers’ offensive attack despite missing time. Goings leads the squad in kills per set while Tkachenko paces her teammates with 261 total kills.

While having to sit out eight matches in a campaign that has not produced much success, the veteran Goings will still leave an honorable legacy at the end of this season. Throughout her four-year career, the Aledo, Texas, native has racked up 1292 kills, a value good for eighth all-time in the Oregon State record books. In addition, her seven-dig performance in OSU’s most recent matchup against Washington State established Goings as just the 17th Beaver in program history to register over 1,000 digs.

While on the topic of legacies, similar to Goings is junior middle blocker Lindsey Schell. Though Schell has an added year of eligibility due to the NCAA’s adjusted policy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, she has chosen not to use it, making this season her last with the Beavers program.

For her career, Schell’s 325 blocks sit at 12th all-time in school history. For the season, she is only one of two players to have started all 28 of Oregon State’s matches, providing a consistent offensive and defensive presence in the middle with 247 kills and 85 blocks. Schell’s latest 10-kill performance against WSU marked her 14th straight match reaching double-figures in the offensive category.

As far as ASU is concerned, these two are undoubtedly determined to close out their collegiate careers with a bang.

At the end of the day, however, the Sun Devils’ raw talent on offense and defense mark them as heavy favorites in Wednesday’s match.

Defensively, Arizona State has led in blocks in each of their past three matches, two of which came versus No. 17 Utah and No. 13 UCLA. Against the Bruins, sophomore middle blocker Claudia Stahlke fueled the Sun Devils’ 11-8 win in the category by repeating her career-high of seven blocks. The match with Utah saw a more balanced effort at the net, getting two or more blocks from six different rotation players.

Offensively, Arizona State has struggled in the kills department, losing the battle in that integral statistic over their three-match losing streak. But with that said, the Sun Devils’ offense will now be matching up with Oregon State’s offense, which is one of the worst in the Pac-12.

The Beavers rank dead last in hitting percentage (.163) and second-to-last in kills (1,133), kills per set (12.05), assists (1,039), and assists per set (11.05). The only offensive category OSU leads in is hitting errors (590), the one statistic for which they’d prefer not to lead. By contrast, Arizona State maintains a higher value in all of the mentioned figures save hitting errors.

Arizona (15-15, 7-12 Pac-12):

2021 marked head coach Dave Rubio’s 30th year at the helm in Tucson, and following a subpar finish to Arizona’s COVID-restricted spring campaign, Rubio and the Wildcats looked to kick off Pac-12 play on the right foot this past fall. Facing Arizona State in their conference opener, they did just that.

In a five-set thriller, the Wildcats took the match on the Sun Devils’ own floor.

Led by second-year outside hitters Jaelyn Hodge and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Arizona found themselves with a slight edge in kills by match’s end. With similarly high volumes, Hodge and Maldonado Diaz turned in kill totals of 15 and 11, each hitting at or above the .200 mark. Adding on 10 kills of her own was freshman opposite hitter Puk Stubbe, but at a much higher .429 clip.

Now, while solid, the Wildcats’ output on offense was far from the defining component of their winning play.

In contrast to the eight blocks registered by Arizona State, Arizona doubled such output to exert excellent timing and communication at the net. Just two of their 16 blocks came as solos, indicating how sharp the Wildcats were in coordinating their blocking assignments. On an individual basis, third-year middle blocker Merle Weidt proved most effective within Rubio’s defensive scheme, turning away eight Sun Devil swings by block assist. Following Weidt’s lead were three additional players who finished with four or more total blocks on the night.

“We took some really low, cross-court swings right at their best blockers,” Tomasevic said after the first match versus Arizona. “So, we need to do a better job of seeing the block and hitting the shot that we should.”

On top of all the x’s and o’s that needed to be polished for a then young and inexperienced team, Tomasevic’s Sun Devils also suffered from an inability to control the Wildcats’ scoring runs, especially in the final set. In the heart of the fifth set, ASU found themselves leading by a slight margin, 7-5. Then, in the blink of an eye, Arizona rattled off seven unanswered points, putting Arizona State at a deficit they ultimately wouldn’t overcome.

In this match’s postgame press conference back in September, Tomasevic commented on the team’s inability to contain scoring runs, saying, “We need to make it one and done. When we get a perfect pass, we need to execute.”

And so, there’s both good news and bad news for Sun Devil fans in this upcoming rematch.

It seemed that Tomasevic and her team had finally debunked their struggles with opposing runs, minimizing such instances across their five-match winning streak midway through conference play. Unfortunately for ASU, the issue appears to have returned over the course of the team’s past five losses, frequently amassing deficits that are difficult to correct.

Another potential dynamic of this matchup that plays against the Sun Devils is the contrasting pressure level for both sides. If Arizona State takes care of business against Oregon State Wednesday, the pressure to finish with a win on Arizona’s home court is immense, considering such a victory might enhance the likelihood of receiving an at-large bid to the tournament. Comparatively, Rubio’s Wildcats have nothing to lose; their window to the tournament is well closed as they currently sit over thirty spots beyond the top 64 teams in the RPI poll and therefore far removed from the committee’s at-large consideration.

The Sun Devils’ first match with Arizona was over two months ago. Tomasevic and the team have grown miles ahead of where they were back then.

For one, they are much improved at the net. As mentioned earlier, Arizona State has taken the blocks battle in each of their last three contests. Part of this has to do with the heightened role that Stahlke now has next to starting sophomore middle blocker Claire Jeter in ASU’s rotation. Against Arizona the first time around, junior middle blocker Beatrice Badini was the second to Jeter with Stahlke seeing no playing time at all; since then, Tomasevic has said on the record that Claudia is the better blocker of the two with Badini being the better hitter. Assuming Tomasevic puts a premium on Stahlke’s defense over Badini’s offense in the rematch, the 16-8 blocks deficit the Sun Devils suffered in their first meeting is unlikely to repeat itself on Saturday.

For another, their versatility offensively has experienced an uptick since freshman outside hitter Geli Cyr broke into the Sun Devils’ rotation back in mid-October. According to Tomasevic, Cyr’s impact within the offense was delayed due to the freshman’s ongoing recovery from a shoulder injury back in December 2020, but once she first saw increased touches against Washington on October 10th, it was clear Arizona State found a fourth talented hitter. Despite periodic inconsistencies, Cyr’s heightened role at present compared to the diluted version her injury subject her to back in September could certainly prove to inject a difference in the Sun Devils’ offensive effectiveness and efficiency against the Wildcats on Saturday.

Arizona State’s Wednesday match against the Oregon State Beavers is set to start at 1:00 p.m. MST, streaming on the Pac-12 Network. Come Saturday, the Pac-12 Network will air ASU and Arizona’s matchup for both teams’ final conference matchup of the regular season.