ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils return home after weekend split at Washington

In a battle of two teams tied for fourth place in the Pac-12 after the first weekend of competition, Arizona State will take on Washington State in a two-game series in Tempe.

The Sun Devils return to Desert Financial Arena and come into this series with the Cougars after splitting their opening games of the spring 2021 season with a 3-0 upset of then No. 8 Washington on Friday before losing to the Huskies in four sets on Saturday. 

After her collegiate debut with ASU last weekend, freshman outside hitter Marta Levinska was named Pac-12 freshman of the week. In the series versus UW, Levinska had a team-high 31 kills over the weekend and registered her first double-double in Saturday’s loss.

Another freshman who had a strong start to her college career was setter Ella Snyder, who had 37 assists in each of the two matches against UW. Snyder also had double-doubles in both of the matches where she had 29 digs in Saturday’s game. This was the first time since 2018 a player finished with a double-double with 20 or more in both of the categories.

In WSU’s debut weekend the Cougars split a two-game series with Oregon, winning the first match in four sets but then lost the second game in five sets. The Cougars made it to the NCAA tournament in 2019 but fell in four sets to San Diego in the opening round. Last season, the Sun Devils upset the Cougars in both of their matchups.

A player who saw career highs in her freshman year versus WSU was sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic who had a career-high 20 kills in a win in Pullman on Oct. 20, 2019. Over this past weekend, Isanovic returned as strong as she was in her freshman campaign, with 20 digs and 28 kills while hitting at .250 and earning five aces. 

The Cougars bring in two players who have each had more than 20 kills this season in Pia Timmer, who has 28, and Julianna Dalton, who has 27. Also, Hannah Pukis leads the team in two categories where has 78 assists and 32 digs thus far.

The first game of the two-game series will take place on Thursday at 12 p.m. and can be watched on the ASU Live Stream and the second game on Saturday will take place at 11 a.m. and also will be broadcast on the ASU live stream.

Mini recaps of ASU’s road trip to Washington

Match 1: Friday Jan. 22

Arizona State opened its season with an upset of No. 8 Washington in three sets (25-20, 25-15, 28-26) at Hec Edmundson Arena in Seattle.

The Huskies began the first set leading the Sun Devils by as many as six points before ASU went on a 3-0 run. This came around the halfway point at the set from a block from sophomore middle blocker Kennedi Boyd and senior middle blocker Megan Beedie, making the score 11-8. 

An ace by sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic tied the set at 18-18 and after that, the Sun Devils slowly pulled away from the Huskies. The set ended with a net violation from UW, giving ASU the set, 25-20.

The second set proved to be a much more dominant set for ASU, as the Sun Devils led by as many as 13 points. ASU led 5-3 after a kill from Beedie and continued to dominate from there. Back-to-back kills from freshman Marta Levinksa, who would go on to have 18 kills in her ASU debut, pushed the Sun Devils lead to 15-8. Later on in the set, Beedie would have another kill to push the Sun Devil lead to 22-10. Towards the end of the set, the Huskies went on a 4-0 run, but a missed serve by UW would lead to the Sun Devils taking the second set, 25-15.

The last set was the closest of all of the sets and came down to the wire, going to extra points. UW went on a 7-0 run to begin to pull away from ASU with a 16-12 lead. Kills by Isanovic, who would finish with 12 kills and two aces, and the freshman Levinska would help keep the Sun Devils in the game, eventually leading to a late set tie at 22 all. 

An error by Washington would give the Sun Devils a match point, but the Huskies continued to score points which led the set to go into extra points. The Sun Devils had four different opportunities to take the game but a game-winning kill by Levinska would seal the third set and the upset for ASU, 28-26.

Head coach Sanja Tomasevic, an UW alum, picked up her second win against her alma mater, the first coming against the Huskies in a 2018 matchup in Tempe. This also was the first win for the Sun Devils in Seattle since 2012 and their first Top-10 win since 2015 over Stanford.

Match 2: Saturday Jan. 23

Coming off an upset of No. 8 Washington, the Sun Devils faced the Huskies again on Saturday Jan. 23 in Seattle but this time lost the match in four sets (24-26, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25). 

To begin the opening set, ASU received the first point of the set from a missed serve from UW. The Sun Devils led by as many as six at one point in the set but UW was able to go on a 6-0 run to once again tie the set at 19 all. The Sun Devils did pick up the lead once again but then lost the first set, 26-24, after an ace from the Huskies.

After dropping the first set in a close manner, the Sun Devils took the lead very early on in the second set and later went on an eight-point run to lead the Huskies, 18-9. Sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic, who finished the day with 16 kills, had seven kills in the first two sets to help keep ASU in the first set and help them jump out to a large lead in the second set. Freshman middle blocker Marta Levinska also contributed significantly on the offensive side on the scoring run, and would finish with 13 kills on the evening.

While ASU did see a lot of success in the second set, UW was able to get within one of ASU after creating a 4-0 run of their own, and were as close as 24-23 with the Sun Devils. But, an error from the Huskies gave the second set to the Sun Devils, 25-23.

UW led, 6-5, after calling a timeout early in the third set. The Huskies pushed their lead from there to a seven-point run with a kill from Levinska ending ASU’s scoring drought. However, the Huskies pulled away even more from there and led by as much as 10 points until kills from senior middle blocker Megan Beedie and Isanovic brough the Sun Devils back within seven with the score 23-16 in favor of UW. ASU would go on a 5-0 run to be within three of UW, but would go on to lose the set, 21-25.

To begin the fourth and final set, ASU would miss a serve in the first point of the set but would get a point of their own after freshman outside hitter Roberta Rabelo had a hit, where she would finish with nine kills on the day. For the majority of the set, the Huskies secured the lead but a 5-0 spark came from the Sun Devils with kills from Rabelo, Beedie, Levinska and sophomore middle blocker Kennedi Boyd. The run brought the Sun Devils within two, and ASU would eventually pull within one of UW, but the Huskies would take the set and match, 23-25.

The Sun Devils and the Huskies each took one match this week, bringing each of their records to 1-1 in conference play.

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