ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall to #7 Washington in second Pac-12 match

Despite opening up a two-set advantage, ASU volleyball dropped three straight sets in a heartbreaking loss against the Washington Huskies Sunday afternoon.

After a lackluster performance against Arizona on Thursday night, ASU volleyball began their match against Washington with what seemed like a return to their non-conference form, especially for outside hitter Oluoma Okaro.

After struggling with seven kills on a .000 hitting percentage against the Wildcats, Okaro recorded 30 kills Sunday, tying a school record set in 2015.

Even though the Sun Devils were seemingly on their way to a straight-set victory, the Huskies came out of the second set intermission to show championship resilience and win the match three sets to two.

Ivana Jeremic once again had a stellar start on the outside, recording kills on two of the first three Sun Devil points in the first set, opening the opportunity up for a plethora of offensive weapons.

Nicole Peterson started at setter again for ASU, and executed a very effective first set. She was able to successfully move the ball around, and even kept Washington on edge with two dump-kills at the net.

At the halfway point of the set, the Sun Devils opened a run to take a 19-15 advantage. Despite the Huskies using a 4-0 run to tie the set, ASU was able to ride the strong hitting and serving of Okaro to take game one 25-22.

The second set showcased the best volleyball the Sun Devils have played all season. Okaro kicked off the game with an early service ace, and the Sun Devils were able to establish two blockers seemingly every time the Huskies would go up for an attack.

On the outside, Ivana Jeremic continued her strong hitting, finding a way to utilize roll shots, tips, and swings in her attack arsenal. Along with Okaro, it seemed as if the two simply took turns trading powerful swings down the heart of the Husky defense.

Most importantly, the ball control was phenomenal.

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“In the first two sets, we passed 65% as a team,” head coach Sanja Tomasevic noted postgame. “When we pass like that, then our offense is a lot easier to run. It’s hard for the opponent to read what’s going to happen because we can hit the ball from every cylinder of the offense.”

Nicole Peterson contributed another strong set at the setter position en route to 51 assists on the day, and the Devils held the Huskies to a .026 hitting percentage to take set two 25-17.

After the second set intermission, the Huskies came out with vengeance on their minds. After recording only 3 kills on 14 attempts, reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Courtney Schwan made her presence known in set three, recording five kills and giving the Sun Devil blockers all kinds of trouble.

The Huskies also started jumping on the outside hits of Hughes and Okaro, recording three blocks and limiting the Devils to a .194 hitting percentage. The Huskies took set three 25-17.

In set four, the Sun Devils showed a more promising start, as Okaro recorded four kills in the first five points of the set. The ball control of the Sun Devils seemed to return to form, and they were steadily increasing their lead.

However, the Huskies soon found their groove, recording five more blocks on Sun Devil hitters and entirely neutralizing ASU’s offensive attack. As the ball control for the Sun Devils continued to break down, the more the Huskies continued to pounce, as they took set four 25-17.

“In set three and four, we passed probably 35% as a team,” Coach Tomasevic said. “When you go to 35% from 65% that’s a big drop-off, and it’s really hard to win in that situation.”

As the match came to a winner-take-all set five, the Sun Devils started to put on a performance much similar to their first two sets. They took an early lead at 5-4, and Okaro landed a kill that deflected clear off the face of a Washington defender, where it seemed like the Sun Devils were regaining momentum.

ASU was able to keep a steady pace going, keeping it close at 9-8, but the Huskies were able to win six out of the last seven points to take the set 15-10.

“We weren’t executing,” Halle Harker concluded. “We weren’t doing the things that we were doing in games one and two, and that starts with passing. It had everything to do with our side.”

Although the Sun Devils have dropped the first two matches of conference play, there’s no time to think about defeat. On Wednesday, the Sun Devils take on the defending national champions in the Stanford Cardinal.

“We’ll come in, watch film and try to get better as we travel on Tuesday to go to Stanford,” Tomasevic said. “We have to come out swinging, we have nothing to lose.”

Next: ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in Pac-12 opener to Arizona

You can catch Sun Devils take on the Cardinal in Palo Alto at 7 p.m. PST Wednesday on Pac-12 Network.