ASU Volleyball: ASU Falls Again to UCLA

The Arizona State women’s volleyball team took another defeat against the UCLA Bruins with a final match score of 3-0.

Starting off the first set, the Sun Devils were down offensively against the Bruins allowing them the first two points of the set. ASU managed to picked up pace leading into the middle of the set and stayed consistent with the UCLA.

ASU continued to play neck and neck throughout the end of the first set, but ended up falling short by four points with a final set score of 25-21.

During the second set, ASU showed great offensive work and held off UCLA for the first 11 points of the set. UCLA began to come back against the Sun Devils during the second half. Both ASU and UCLA were playing point-for-point towards the end of the second set; however, the Bruins gained the win over the Sun Devils with a set score of 25-22.

The mindset for the Sun Devils started to fall during the third set. ASU was behind UCLA during the first half of the set, and they were under by five points. The Sun Devils tried to catch up to the Bruins, but fell short with a final set score of 25-19.

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Offensively, Maya McClendon, Oluoma Okaro, Jasmine Koonts, and Nicole Peterson all played strongly during the match. Okaro had a total of 9 kills, Koonts had 8, and McClendon had 7.

Despite the match score, it was still a successful night for the Sun Devils due to their collective work ethic. Okaro had some regards towards her and her teammates performance.

“I think sometimes we try to much as individuals and not as a team, but I think today was the first time in a long time that we were still able to play our role to the fullest but still play as a team,” said Okaro.

Following along with Okaro statement, head coach Stevie Mussie had some commentary towards the girl’s performance tonight.

“I liked the way Jasmine played tonight. I thought that we needed to do a much better job at passing the ball. My message to the girls during time-outs is that they are doing it to themselves. They’ve just got to clean it up. When we are clean we give ourselves a good opportunity to win,” said Mussie.

Coach Mussie also had some comments on ASU’s inconsistency with scoring and how playing as a team impacts the Sun Devils performance.

“Everyone has to earn their spots each and every day. Its 100% going through it together and maturity. It’s a battle every week to figure out which kids are good at playing together and how they will perform being in that position over time. I like what we’re doing. We’re competing real hard right now and that’s what I’m a huge fan of,” stated Mussie.

Next: ASU Football: Injuries Not as Deadly as Secondary

The Sun Devils are in the home stretch of the conference season and they will be competing against Washington State next Friday in Seattle, Washington.