ASU Volleyball: Another Loss for the Sun Devils

The Arizona State women’s volleyball team had yet another loss tonight against the 7-2 Washington huskies with a final match score of 0-3. Now 1-9 in the conference season, ASU will need to focus their mentality on cutting down on errors and improving overall gameplay.

The Sun Devils were on fire during the beginning of the first set. Senior outside hitter, Cassidy Pickrell, started the first set off with a kill earning ASU the first point. Pickrell proceeded to have two more kills within the set.

Throughout the first set, the Sun Devils managed to stay neck and neck with Washington; however, ASU’s errors lead to Washington gaining points resulting in a final match score of 25-18.

During the second set, ASU continued to gain and lose points against Washington. Senior outside hitter, Maya McClendon, had a total of three kills in the second set. McClendon played a key component during the game against Washington. Her performance managed to gain ASU the lead during the middle of the second set with a match score of 19-18.

After gaining the lead, the Sun Devils choked the set away and loss the second set 25-21.

Head Coach Mussie had some positive remarks about McClendon’s performance after the game.

“I can’t speak more highly of a young lady. She does everything right every single day. She works her butt off and is always willing to do whatever is necessary for the team. I think that is an admirable quality,” said Mussie.

More from Devils in Detail

After the ten-minute break between the second and third set, the Sun Devils began to hit a mental wall. The third set started off strong with two more kills from Pickrell; however, ASU began to lose focus during the middle of the set. They would end up losing the final set 25-14 to give Washington the sweep.

Pickrell further explained her view points on the Sun Devils performance during the third set, and how their mentality affected the final match score.

“I think we might of hit to them too much and played pepper with them too much instead of hitting our shots tonight. I think we gave them the opportunity to dig us. We need to make less errors. Washington made little to none errors tonight and they kept the ball in play. Sometimes we need to have the idea that we just need to get the ball over,” said Pickrell.

The ASU Sun Devils had a hitting percentage below 100 in tonight’s game. Coach Mussie elaborated on the issues behind the lower percentage.

“I think its 100% a me thing. I need to do a better job of making sure the kids feel good taking big chances and locating the ball setting wise,” said Mussie.

The Arizona State women’s volleyball team will continue their conference season next week against Oregon State on October 28.