(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
After upsetting No. 16 Oregon (14-4) in their eighth five set match of the season and holding them to a sub-.200 hitting percentage on Thursday, Arizona State (6-14) lost in straight sets to the Ducks (20-25, 15-25, 17-25) in its final match of the season Saturday.
After holding Oregon to .188 in hitting during Thursday’s win, Oregon hit .339 in the second match of the series.
“I’m not surprised that Oregon made the adjustment they did,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “They came back a lot stronger today than they did on Thursday. They are a good team, in a way, it’s kind of good for them that they got a little beating on Thursday before they went to the NCAA tournament, so they responded very well.”
The first set opened with back-to-back kills from sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic, who had 10 kills and a block, but the Ducks would win the next three points to take a lead from there which would last the rest of the set.
The Sun Devils had two service aces in the first set to be able to pull closer to Oregon throughout the first set but a hitting error by ASU would lead to them dropping the first set, 20-25. In the first set, the Ducks would have two errors while the Sun Devils had five.
“I wasn’t surprised by anything they were doing,” said senior Megan Beedie of the Ducks’ performance Saturday afternoon, following the last match of her Sun Devil career. “I think we beat ourselves here. It felt to me that because it was Senior Night we did have a little bit of pressure on us.”
An error by the Ducks and a tip from freshman outside hitter Roberta Rabelo would tie the second set early on, but Oregon would begin to pull away after ASU had an unsuccessful challenge to a play.
Mid-way through the second set with the Sun Devils trailing by seven, freshman setter Ella Snyder came in for sophomore setter Shannon Shields. Shields finished with 22 assists in the loss.
While ASU was successful in having a call overturned from their second challenge of the second set, the Sun Devils would drop the set by a much larger margin, 15-25, after a kill from the Ducks.
“We have to remind them Oregon is not going to come back and do the same thing they did on Thursday,” Tomasevic said. “We have got to play harder and make adjustments which they did and we didn’t.”
The Ducks went on a 6-0 run to open the third set before a kill by Isanovic gave ASU its first point. Oregon led, 3-12, after a pair of aces by the Ducks prompted the second timeout of the third set for the Sun Devils.
While ASU was able to pick up a couple stops on offense with a pair of 3-0 runs with ASU trailing by four midway through the third set. An error by the Sun Devils coupled by a kill and ace from the Ducks would push their lead back up to seven late in the third set. Similarly to the third set, ASU would drop the set and be swept on a kill from Oregon.
The lone senior for the Sun Devils, middle blocker Megan Beedie, was honored before the match with a video from her parents who were not able to make it to Arizona due to travel restrictions in Beedie’s home country of Canada.
Beedie, who finished with seven kills and a block, said that she gave the extra year of eligibility by the NCAA a lot of thought but said she will not use it because of work she lined up for herself at home in Ontario, Canada.
“It’s really tough to say goodbye to volleyball,” Beedie said. “Who knows. There are leagues around where I live, and I’ll maybe be involved in coaching or whatever, but I will still be involved with this program by talking to the girls and watching from afar.”
This was the last sporting event that would be held at Desert Financial Arena in the 2020-21 school year. The Sun Devil volleyball program was able to play all but two matches this season — with the two cancellations coming as a result of COVID issues within USC’s program. Tomasevic said being able to have a season despite the pandemic was a blessing.
“For us, this year counts,” Tomasevic said. “It counts for us because this was an amazing opportunity for this young team to compete.”
Arizona State finishes the 2021 spring season with a 6-14 record with all matches being played against Pac-12 opponents. All members from this year’s squad, with the exception of Beedie, are expected to return for the fall 2021 season.
