Devils in Detail
Fansided

ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in four sets to #15 USC

By Bo Wilkinson

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 11: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the USC Trojans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. USC won 67-64. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 11: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during a first-round game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the USC Trojans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 11, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. USC won 67-64. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

ASU volleyball were back in action for the second night in a row against a school from Los Angeles as they lost to No. 15 USC in four sets.

The Sun Devils were back in action for the second night in a row against No. 15 USC. Coming into the night the Sun Devils were 10-7 and winless in conference play and ended the match on the wrong side of a four-set victory over the Trojans.

The Sun Devils started off very impressive with a victory in set one by a score of 25-19. Ivana Jeremic, who led the team in kills in both the set and the match, led the Devils in set number one. While Jeremic played well in the first set both teams struggled to hit efficiently in this one, the Devils only hit .103 while the Trojans hit .026.

The Trojans were led by Niki Withers and Daley Krage who both had three kills. The Sun Devils did a good job of blocking with four total team blocks and finished with a total of 10 on the night, which was a big factor in the first set victory.

Set two belonged to the Trojans by a score of 25-19. Both teams were able to turn around their hitting woes. USC hit north of .300 while the Devils still put up a very respectable .214. The Devils had no answer for Danielle Geiger who led the Trojans with five kills in the second set.

The Sun Devils were in a good position to take a 2-0 lead until USC went on an 8-3 run to go up 14-8 that put the Trojans ahead for good.

More from Devils in Detail

The Trojans started off the third set on a 6-0 run on their way to a 25-20 set win. After the 6-0 run Coach Tomasevic decided to sub setter Nicole Peterson in for freshman Shelbie Dobmeier. When asked of the change, Coach Tomasevic explained why she made the switch in a pivotal moment of the match.

“It looked like she needed a minute to take a breather and that is typical for young kids especially in the role that she is in.” Tomasevic said.

After the substitution, it looked like an entirely different Sun Devil team on the floor. After Peterson came in the Devils outscored the Trojans 20-19 in set 3 but wasn’t enough for the Devils to overcome the early run by the Trojans. Peterson finished the game with 22 assists with her only action coming in the third and fourth sets.

The Sun Devils led for a majority of the fourth set before falling to the Trojans 25-22. ASU was up 15-12 at one point before USC went on a 7-2 run and never looked back.

In the end, USC just ended up being too much for the Sun Devils. Even though the Sun Devils lost the match we saw a lot of production out of the bench tonight. As Carmen Unzue had a career high in kills with 13 and Courtney Leffel added a very good 14 digs.

Even after starting out winless in Pac-12 play, Senior Libero Halle Harker still sees improvement from the team and remains optimistic heading forward as the Sun Devils will once again face two ranked teams in next week’s action.

“We are focusing on certain things after games that were losing and those things that we’re working on in practice we are seeing a return in what we are working towards,” said Harker. “We know what we have work on now in this coming week.”

Next: ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall to #13 UCLA in four sets

The Sun Devils will be back at it again on Friday when the Colorado Buffaloes come to Tempe as Arizona State continue their four-game homestand.