(Photo via Xavier Litman/WCSN)
Arizona State women’s volleyball returns home this weekend to kick off the latter half of its conference schedule against Oregon State and No. 18 Oregon.
The Sun Devils are coming off a disappointing sweep to Washington State last Sunday. Senior outside hitter Iman Isanovic dominated once again with a game-high 15 kills, marking her fourth-straight match and 16th of the season with double-digit kills.
Even with her heroics, junior middle blocker Claire Jeter was out for the second straight match due to a back injury, and the Cougars took advantage with a .379 hitting percentage.
With the Sun Devils’ recent injuries and illnesses, head coach Sanja Tomasevic has turned to developing players like freshman outside hitter Leah Miller to help fill the gaps. In her last four matches, Miller has averaged 5.5 kills on a .214 hitting percentage.
On Friday, ASU will meet Oregon State for the second time this season. In their last matchup, the Sun Devils took it down to the wire, winning in a thrilling five sets. In one of her most impressive matches of the season, Isanovic recorded 21 kills and 10 digs on a sizzling .400 hitting clip. Junior outside hitter Marta Levinska wasn’t far behind with 19 kills of her own.
Oregon State has struggled mightily so far in Pac-12 Conference play with a 2-8 record. The Beavers are ahead of only 0-10 California and have yet to win a match on the road. With the match appearing to favor the home squad, it presents an opportunity for the Sun Devils to jump out of the bottom-third of the conference standings.
As was the case earlier in the season, the Beavers won’t go down easily. They are led by the sophomore outside hitter duo of Mychael Vernon and Izzi Szulczewski, who rank first and second on Oregon State in kills.
ASU will have to immediately switch gears on Sunday with a daunting task against No. 18 Oregon, who is 7-3 so far in Pac-12 play. While the Sun Devils went point-for-point with Oregon State, they fell in three straight sets to the Ducks on Sept. 30.
In the previous meeting, Oregon was in complete offensive control, almost doubling ASU in kills and assists. The Ducks put up a frightening .416 hitting percentage while holding the Sun Devils to just a .124 clip.
Senior outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller is Oregon’s offensive spearhead with 291 kills on the year. Freshman outside hitter Mimi Colyer – who just trails Nuneviller with 278 – is another scary sight, as she tallied 12 kills and three aces in the earlier sweep of ASU.
With Jeter’s return date still unknown, the Sun Devils could perhaps be short-handed again heading into the weekend. Jeter headlined the five-set win over Oregon State with seven blocks.
