(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-9, 0-7 Pac-12) lost in a complete sweep (21-25, 16-25, 24-26) against the Colorado Buffaloes (13-5, 3-4 Pac-12) on Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
Both teams showed scrappy yet effective defense to open the match. The combination led to multiple rallies in the first set to keep both teams on their toes. ASU’s back row also opened the first set with strong serve receive. Once the Buffs began serving both short and long, the Sun Devils successfully covered the court to minimize Colorado’s success behind the service line.
“Everyone knows the spots that they’re supposed to be in,” ASU libero Halle Harker said, “Everyone knows their job on the court.”
Although the back row maintained speed to cover the court, ASU’s defense preformed at the net as well. They had three consecutive blocks by Oluoma Okaro, Carmen Unzue and Isabel Miller for three consecutive points in the set. Okaro also put up impressive offensive numbers with 8 kills in the set.
Despite the defensive efforts of the Sun Devils, the Buffs came out victorious to take the set 25-21. Ultimately, the Buffs side-out percentage of 72 compared to ASU’s 62 percent worked in favor of the Buffs, who were able to win the ball back more often to create more offensive opportunities for themselves, something the Sun Devils failed to do.
“After every match we have more digs than our opponents do, but we have less hitting attempts,” ASU head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “We had 62 digs, but 34 of those digs we couldn’t hit afterwards. They were either on the other side, or we had to free-ball it to the other side. They’re digs we can’t do anything with. We just have to give it back to them.”
The Buffs initially began the second set with dominance, but strong offensive performances by ASU’s Oluoma Okaro and Griere Hughes kept the set competitive until Colorado took a strong lead. While intense offense was prominent, the set still started off slowly due to multiple calls getting reviewed while some even got reversed.
“The girls get excited if they get reverses, but calls don’t make or break the game. Tonight, there was nothing really that changed the flow of the game,” Tomasevic said.
As the set progressed, the Buffs showed off their offensive abilities behind the service line with back-to-back service aces by Justine Spann to increase their lead on the Sun Devils. As ASU added variety in their offense by tipping and sending over free balls, the Buffs adjusted to cover the court accordingly. Colorado also shut down the Sun Devils with five blocks in the set, which aided in its victory.
“I try not to worry so much about what they’re doing on their side because I know that if they’re doing something so well on their side like getting all these blocks, it’s probably something that I’m not doing,” Okaro said. “I just know that maybe if they’re getting all these blocks, I’m probably not hitting my shot.”
The third set played out similar to the second with the exception of a change in setters by the Sun Devils, who brought in Nicole Peterson to replace Shelby Dobmeier. After an offensive run by the Buffs, the Sun Devils took their turn at providing offensive power to even out the score and tie the game at 19. The Buffs then took another lead. They led the match 24-21 until the Sun Devils went on an offensive run to score three unanswered points and tie the match once again. However, after a kill by Alexa Smith followed by a kill from Frankie Shebby, the Buffs regained the lead and won the match 26-24.
This is ASU’s seventh consecutive loss of the season. They will look to redeem themselves this Sunday against No. 13 Utah at 1 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
