ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils start strong; lose luster in three-set loss to Arizona

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

Arizona State volleyball (10-3) fell 3-0 to their arch rival, the University of Arizona Wildcats (7-3), in Tempe on Thursday night.

Coming off a disappointing 12-20 season, coupled with the massive turnover the program faced this past offseason—featuring an inclusion of four new coaches and 10 new players—expectations were lackluster for this year’s Sun Devil volleyball squad. However, their early season record has already proved that they could turn this season into a success story: enter the Wildcats.

The odds were in the Devils’ favor as they maintained a home court record of 3-0 on the season, compared to the Wildcats’ away record of 0-1. However, preseason Pac-12 polls had the Devils’ finishing last, compared to the Wildcats’ predicted eighth seeding.

The first set remained closely contested, with the Devils’ taking a three-point lead late at 19-16. However, the Wildcats’ inevitably pulled away, taking the victory 26-24, thanks to a four-kill introduction from freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Shelton. For the Devils, sophomore outside hitter Ivana Jeremic added five kills of her own. This was a promising first set for the Devils’ as the offense and defense both seemed capable of competing with the Wildcats’ firepower.

Set two was a defining moment for the remainder of the contest as the Wildcats came out of the gate rattling off three unanswered points. That lead would inevitably grow to their largest of the set at eight points, leading the Devils 23-15 late. Jeremic added five more kills during this set, and freshman middle blocker Megan Beedie increased her total kills to nine, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats won in relatively easy fashion by a score of 25-18, taking a 2-0 match lead.

“I felt really good out there,” Beedie said. “I’ve been working really hard in practice and I’m glad I was able to prove myself out there tonight, although it’s hard to celebrate myself when our team gets swept by our arch rival.”

In the third and final set of the match, the Wildcats’ were met with some unexpected firepower and perseverance from the Sun Devil squad. ASU would not give up, and their determination had the Wildcats’ floundering in the latter half of the set, narrowing the deficit down to one point multiple times. However, thanks to multiple attack errors on ASU’s part, as well as an inefficiency to convert on the offensive end, Arizona pulled out the final set of the match by a score of 25-22.

Leading the defensive charge for the Sun Devils once again was senior libero Halle Harker, who added 21 digs to her career total. Jeremic ended the night with a team-leading 14 kills, and sophomore setter Nicole Peterson contributed 27 assists to the teams’ effort. Defensively, the Wildcats swamped the Sun Devils with 10 total blocks compared to four on the other side of the net. Offensively, Arizona’s junior outside hitter Kendra Dahlke posted a team-high 12 kills, while sophomore setter Julia Patterson added 35 assists to lead her team to the victory.

“We want to give everything we have,” Jeremic said. “We made adjustments, we didn’t focus as much as we should have. The mistakes we made were virtually unacceptable.”

The Sun Devils showed impressive drive, but they were outplayed by a more familiar and experienced Wildcats team. ASU will look to bounce back against the Washington Huskies (10-1) on Sunday, Sept. 24, while the Wildcats’ will look to ride their momentum into their next match against the Washington State Cougars (11-1) on Saturday, Sept. 23.

“It’s a new match, we’ll prepare for Washington,” ASU head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “They’re a good team, but so is every other team in the Pac-12. It comes down to serving and passing, and we need to take pride in those aspects, and tonight we didn’t deliver.”

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