ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils close homestand against #13 Utah

ASU volleyball look to snap the four-game win streak of the visiting Utah Utes on Sunday afternoon and pick up their first Pac-12 win of the season.

After a bad loss against the Colorado Buffaloes in their last match, the Sun Devils will look to close their four-game homestand with a win against Utah on Sunday.

The Utes are lead by head coach Beth Launiere, who’s entering her 28th season in charge of the volleyball program at Salt Lake City. Last season, she led her girls to a 20-12 overall record, good for fifth in the Pac-12 while earning the school’s 13th NCAA Tournament appearance.

This year, the Utes have been off to a blazing hot start, posting a 15-3 record thus far (6-1 Pac-12), only trailing Stanford in the Pac-12 rankings.

Offensively, the Utes are led by senior outside hitter Adora Anae, who’s coming off a week where she earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors as well as becoming the all-time leader in school history in kills with 1,635.

Anae is second in the Pac-12 with 4.39 kills per set in conference play, and is also fourth individually with 4.70 points per set so far in the conference slate.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Utes rally off of the efforts of junior middle blocker Berkeley Oblad, who’s used all of her 6-foot-4 frame to become one of the conference’s biggest threats at the net.

Oblad is currently fourth in conference action with 1.36 blocks per set, and has recorded an astounding 82 blocks total throughout the regular season.

As a team, the outstanding numbers continue to run on for the Utes, as they average a .276 hitting percentage thus far this season, lead the conference with 950 total assists and hold their opposition to an average hitting percentage of .190.

As the Sun Devils enter a match against one of the more consistent teams in the Pac-12, here are some of the keys they’ll have to follow if they want to upset the Utes on Sunday.

Evade the Block with Good Ball Control

Against a team that is 10th in the conference in service aces, the Sun Devils shouldn’t have too much difficulty setting up an attack. The question is: can they complete that attack?

As stated earlier, Berkeley Oblad is a ball-hawk at the middle of the net, and has laser-like reflexes at tracking down the direction of sets and getting a touch on opposing attacks.

More from Devils in Detail

For a team like the Sun Devils, who have only been hitting at a .192 percentage in their last three matches, it’ll be imperative as ever that ball control is at an all-time high to set up shop for either Nicole Peterson or Shelbie Dobmeier at the net.

At times, the Sun Devils have shown to have a proficient offense against some of their top-tier opponents so far.

In their match against USC last Saturday, the Sun Devils used an 85 percent sideout percentage in their victory in set one, showing that they when they can establish control, they can take advantage of their opponents.

Against the block of Oblad in the middle, crisp passing will be necessary to keep her on the move and second-guessing every ball. If the ASU setters are able to rotate the attack to Ivana Jeremic, Peyton Grahovac or toward a middle attack, success will follow.

If things go awry and Oluoma Okaro becomes the scapegoat on offense, it could be another long night of stopping offensive runs from Utah.

Challenging Adora Anae’s Attacks

After a season where she was recognized as a Second Team AVCA All-American, Adora Anae has returned for her senior year looking to establish herself as a premier outside hitter in the Pac-12. So far, she’s done just that.

In her last three matches, Anae has tallied a total of 59 kills and 36 digs, with all three matches resulting in victories. Anae has been a tough outing for all of the Utes’ opponents this year, as she’s recorded double-digit kills in all but one of Utah’s matches thus far.

“She’s an unbelievable player,” coach Sanja Tomasevic acknowledged. “We’ll have to put a good block in front of her and frustrate her.”

Frustrating her will be quite the challenge, but the Sun Devils have shown some promise at the net of late. In their last two matches, ASU has recorded 17 blocks, which is an improvement in comparison to the 26 they’ve recorded in five other conference matches.

Coach Tomasevic has been challenging their outside hitters in the past week to find a consistent rhythm with the block, a task that certainly has a chance of being attained on Sunday afternoon.

Playing with Urgency

Losing is not fun by any stretch of the imagination. The Sun Devils have yet to find a win so far in the Pac-12 this season, finding themselves in sole possession of last place in the standings.

On Friday night against the Colorado, it seemed as if the Sun Devils just didn’t add enough drive to put together a solid effort in a winnable match. In set two of that match, the Sun Devils hit at a -.048 percentage, and several more mental mistakes were made with 10 service errors on the night.

On Sunday afternoon, the Sun Devils will have to come out emotionally driven to pick up a victory, looking to add a little bit more zip on their swings and a little bit more excitement when they pick up a tremendous point.

For seniors Halle Harker and Oly Okaro, the challenge will be on them to motivate their team and keep them engaged on every single point. Utah won’t come into Tempe looking to drop off their game, so it’s important that the Sun Devils play their hearts out and make a statement in this match.

About a month and a half remains for these seniors’ entire careers, so they’ll have to stress and demonstrate how great they want to end their playing time at ASU. Will it end with more defeat, or can they compile efforts for victory that they can be proud of for the rest of their lives?

Next: ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils swept by Buffs; now 0-7 in Pac-12

The first serve between the Sun Devils and the Utes will be at 1 p.m. PST and can be seen on Pac-12 Arizona.