ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils struggle, win ‘ugly’ against Colorado

(Photo: Haley Sparacle/WCSN)

After a disappointing 0-3 loss to UCLA last weekend, the Arizona State volleyball team looked to bounce back on Friday against a Colorado Buffaloes team that dropped their first two conference games this season. The result turned out to be in their favor, as the Sun Devils gutted out a 3-1 victory after flipping leads with Colorado throughout the match.

Despite the bounce-back win, head coach Sonja Tomasevic was anything but happy about her team’s performance.

“We’re going to take a win but it was an ugly win tonight and I’m not going to sit here and pretend like we did our job or anything like that,” Tomasevic said.

Initially, the Sun Devils were headlined by senior outside hitter Jada Burse, whose hot start began in the first set when she led the team in kills (6) and attacks (12). However, Burse cooled off drastically in the third set. Tomasevic ultimately decided to pull Burse in favor of junior outside hitter Claire Kovensky after the Sun Devils lost the third set in decisive fashion, 16-25.

“She played really good in the first two sets. In the third set, she hit -0.220,” said Tomasevic, who removed Burse from the match in the fourth set. “So I had to make a difference because she was hurting us.”

The battles in the first set conveyed the tone for the rest of the match. Early on, the Sun Devils found themselves locked in a lead-changing match. Burse’s keen eye for openings in the Colorado defense early on played a major role in keeping ASU locked in the fight, as well as two set-saving digs by Courtney Leffel when the team fell behind the count. After CU fought off six set-points, the Sun Devils finally surged ahead to take the first set at a score of 31-29.

The Sun Devils also got off to a rough start attempting to put the ball into play, recording a game-high nine service errors in the first set. This quickly became a focus of attention for ASU, as the team only recorded three serving errors through the match’s remaining sets. Tomasevic largely credited the team’s inefficiency off the bat to her players’ tendency to get ahead of themselves, which can lead into inescapable mental ruts.

“It’s so easy when you’re a young player to catch the roller coaster of emotions, and forget about basics, so we always talk about it,” Tomasevic said. “It’s just something we’re learning how to deal with.”

Later in the match, the Sun Devils started to crumble when challenging at the net. Colorado’s game plan to expose ASU’s desire  for power kills started to find success, with Parker Sterling, Danielle Price, and Meegan Hart acting as key contributors to the Buffs’ 16 blocks on the night. The stifling front line aided ASU into committing 31 attacking errors (11 more than the Buffaloes).

For the match, the Sun Devils hit at a .135 clip, which also trailed Colorado’s .173 hitting percentage. 

“When they did block us, it was kind of like, a given,” Tomasevic said. “We knew they were going to have two blockers in front of us in those situations.”

Despite the struggles, the Sun Devils improve to 2-1 in Pac-12 play and 10-4 on the season. Simultaneously, the Buffs remain winless in conference play and drop to 8-5 overall. The two teams will face off again on Nov. 3 in Boulder.

The win at Wells Fargo Arena also allowed ASU to preserve their perfect home record in 2019. For now, the Sun Devils will focus their attention on No. 20 Utah (10-4, 2-1 Pac-12), with the Sun Devils and Utes set to square off in Tempe on Sunday at 12 p.m.

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