(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
Arizona State outside hitter Alyse Ford stands in waiting as her teammate Callie Jones digs the ball near the service line. Standing on the left side of the net, Ford takes a couple steps back, waiting for Nicole Peterson to set the ball. Ford takes two steps forward before jumping up and slamming the ball downward for the kill.
It’s a move that the Laguna Beach native does so often that it looks routine. However, this kill was special. Alyse Ford had just secured the Sun Devils first conference victory in 666 days. Her kill came at the biggest moment of a five-set match with California in Berkeley back on September 23.
🚨 HUGE DUB 🚨 pic.twitter.com/hCtQkbWOs5
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) September 23, 2018
It was a big moment for ASU, but Ford had been there before. A two-time All Pac-12 Honorable Mention honoree, Ford helped lead the USC Trojans to Elite Eight appearances in 2015 and 2017. She compiled 791 kills in three seasons with the Trojans under head coach Mick Haley.
Haley was fired at the end of the 2017 season, and Alyse Ford announced her intention to transfer to ASU during the following summer. Now with the Sun Devils for her senior season, Ford is adjusting to a new style of play under head coach Sanja Tomasevic and her team of young players.
“It was rough at first because I was still trying to get used to everything,” Ford said. “Each girl is so talented. We just had to figure out how to make it all mesh together.”
Ford took some time to get going in the non-conference portion of the schedule. She didn’t play in the team’s first tournament, and hit .176 in nine non-conference appearances. But Ford had a breakthrough in the Devils first match of conference play, picking up 16 kills including the match-winning kill.
But Ford is no stranger to facing Pac-12 opponents, playing against Arizona State multiple times each season while with the Trojans. The future Sun Devil tallied 52 kills in six matches played against Arizona State, including a 13-kill performance during her freshman season, when ASU was ranked 10th in the nation.
And while it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Ford since her breakout performance against California, head coach Sanja Tomasevic said she’s been impressed with Ford’s play so far and attributed some of her early struggles to her late transfer decision.
“She’s back in her comfort zone,” Tomasevic said. “She didn’t practice with us for a big part of the preseason, but she’s getting to know the team, they are getting to know her.”
One of those teammates is junior setter Callie Jones. Jones didn’t see the court much in the non-conference part of the season, but filled in admirably the injured Shelbie Dobmeier last weekend. Jones tallied 22 assists in ASU’s sweep of No. 12 Oregon, and said that it’s “awesome” to be able to set to two prolific outside hitters like junior Ivana Jeremic and Ford.
“It was an awesome transition to have her,” Jones said. “She’s very knowledgeable and… [has] a high volleyball IQ.”
Ford joined ASU’s crowded outside hitter corps alongside Ivana Jeremic, and replaced the now-transferred Griere Hughes in the Sun Devils starting lineup. But for Ford, she’s focusing on the present and is embracing her new and unfamiliar role as the leader of a potentially up-and-coming team.
“It’s like here we’re the underdogs,” Ford said. “We’re playing with a chip on our shoulder.”
