A quiet, rainy Sunday morning in the desert helped the Oregon State Beavers feel right at home as they faced little resistance in defeating Arizona State in Tempe.
The Beavers swept the match in the three sets in a dominating performance. The tandem of senior outside hitter Lila Toner and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lenesha Reagan paced a strong offensive attack as well as a stingy defense. Toner recorded 10 kills and 6 digs in the match, as well as an impressive .533 hit percentage.
Oregon State as a whole, but especially Toner impressed Arizona State coach Stevie Mussie.
“Toner was unbelievable tonight, she kind of ran the show for them , and did a nice job we couldn’t really stop them in regards to anything. They sided it out, scored 57 percent on first swing, and when you do that it’s going to be a tough night for anybody,” said Mussie.
Mussie also noted that Oregon State’s passing and setting set them up for success.
“I thought their setting and passing was outstanding, and I thought our setting was not very good,” said Mussie.
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The players were frustrated, rightfully so, as the team’s losing streak reached six games. Frustration flared as well due to the Sun Devils dropping their first two home games after a huge opening stretch of road games.
Sophomore outside hitter and vocal leader Lexi MacLean was fairly blunt during the post-game press conference as there were very few questions.
MacLean said that “consistency” was the main thing that the team will need to focus on to have success the rest of the season.
Mussie was fairly critical of her team on Friday, but took a more positive approach on Sunday giving more credit to Oregon State than blame on her team. Mussie did think the start time had an effect on the early performance by the team.
“Most of the team usually wakes up at noon, so when the third set came around they were finally out of bed, that’s no excuse though, it’s completely on us and the staff,” said Mussie.
The Sun Devils now head back on the road for two matchups in Los Angeles, starting with USC on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., the game can be seen on Pac-12 Arizona.