ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils suffer setback in winless road swing

(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)

After a three-match winning streak, the Arizona State Sun Devils went on the road to Colorado and Utah this past weekend. WCSN volleyball writers Jake Santo and Valentina Martinez recapped the Sun Devils’ performance.

JS: The Arizona State Sun Devils were defeated by the Utah Utes in five sets (29-27, 23-25,25-21,23-25,15-8) this past Friday in Salt Lake City. ASU gave the No. 17 Utes all they could handle but were unable to extend their three-match winning streak.

As a significant underdog heading into Friday night, the Devils were out to prove they were no slouch. The first set proved to be the most competitive in the entire game, as both Utah and Arizona State played to several stalemates, as Utah eventually pulled away, taking the first set, 29-27.

The Sun Devils battled back in the second set with a contentious victory, 25-23. Key contributions from Megan Beedie, who earned a career high eight blocks, assisted in ASU’s second-set victory.

Inconsistency hampered Arizona State from taking control in the match, a struggle the Devils have dealt with during most of Pac-12 play this season. Utah gained momentum as they continued to put together multiple point streaks, including a commanding 9-3 run in the third set.

Outside hitters found space in the Utes’ defensive game plan. Andrea Mitrovic and Ivana Jeremic led the Devils with 17 kills apiece followed by Claire Kovensky who earned 12 in the match. The Sun Devils had three players collect double digits in digs, including Courtney Leffel who led ASU with 20.

From a statistical point of view, Arizona State played comparable to the Utes. The Sun Devils’ 70 kills were only five behind Utah’s 75 for the match, as Utah also earned 24 errors to Arizona State’s 23. However, the Utes hitting percentage outpaced Arizona State in three of the five sets, a major indicator of the outcome of the game.

After another come-from-behind victory in the fourth set, the match went to a final fifth set. Arizona State took an early 3-1 lead, but inconsistency struck ASU once again. Utah went on a 7-0 run to take a commanding 13-6 lead, eventually winning the set and match.

Utah’s Ka’aha’aina-Torres finished the match with 53 assists, 50 more than any other player for the Utes. Utah had four players collected 15 or more kills against the Sun Devils, including Berkeley Oblad who finished with 16 kills and Utah’s third highest hitting percentage of .394.

Arizona State fell to (13-9) overall this season, with a Pac-12 record of (5-6) heading into its match with Colorado.

VM:

The Sun Devils were unable to bounce back from their five-set loss against Utah Friday night, and were swept by Colorado in three sets (14-25, 17-25, 23-25) Sunday afternoon.

By the third set, the Sun Devils needed to make adjustments fast in order to prevent Colorado from walking away with a sweep and earning only their second conference win; however, Arizona State failed to make the proper adjustments and allowed Colorado to win in straight sets.

Sophomore middle blocker for the Buffaloes, Meegan Hart, led both teams in kills and was the only player of the match to earn double-digits. Senior outside hitter Ivana Jeremic, produced a total of nine kills taking second place on the leaderboard. Though both teams had similar numbers in kills, Colorado’s hitting percentage was more than double Arizona State’s as the Buffaloes collectively hit at a .287 clip.

The Sun Devils poor offensive performance showed in their hitting percentage at a low .139 clip. What hurt Arizona State the most was the amount of attack errors totaling 20 by the end of the match.

The Sun Devils seemed discombobulated in the first set, unable to find any rhythm on the court. Arizona State collectively hit at a .100 clip which demonstrated their inability to find an offensive rhythm. The Sun Devil defense seemed to lose all sense of awareness on the court, being unable to stop Boulder’s offense with only seven digs.

Arizona State took two timeouts early on in the set and made several substitutions in the hopes of finding any sort of positive momentum. Hart went on a serving run for the Buffaloes, helping Colorado secure a lead early on. Arizona State ended the match with a total of four service errors.

The Buffaloes, again, didn’t hesitate to take the lead early in the second set as the Sun Devils attempted, but failed, to pick up their performance. Arizona State began to utilize all three setters by the second set, putting in Noa Miller, in an effort to generate an offensive presence. The Sun Devils looked distressed the entirety of the match as Boulder never yielded in shoving the team around. Arizona State hit at a low .067 clip, in part to their poor serve receive which caused a lack of offense. Colorado did nothing special or out of the ordinary, they simply played the game with limited errors. The Buffs hit at a steady .222 clip with only four attack errors.

Both teams played long five-set matches Friday night, with Colorado beating Arizona 3-2, for their first conference win, and Arizona State losing 2-3 to No. 17 Utah. The Sun Devils loss to Colorado dropped their record to 13-10 (5-7 Pac-12).

The Sun Devils will face No. 5 Stanford back in Tempe at Desert Financial Arena on Friday Nov. 7.