ASU volleyball travels to Los Angeles as they continue to hunt for their first conference victory against the USC Trojans on Friday night.
With only eight matches left in Pac-12 play, the Sun Devil Volleyball program has yet to make noise with a conference victory in their 2017 campaign.
“There’s still a lot of volleyball left to be played,” interim head coach Carlos Moreno noted after the loss to Cal last Sunday. “We’re still going to work, and we’re going to work hard.”
The road to victory doesn’t get any easier, as the Sun Devils will kick off their journey to Los Angeles this weekend with a Friday night matchup against No. 17 USC, a team that’s held a 3-3 record since they defeated the Devils in Tempe last month.
USC currently finds themselves tied for third place in the conference with the 11th-ranked Washington Huskies. Although it doesn’t appear that any team will catch up to Stanford in the conference rankings, USC is certainly looking to build their resume and finish toward the top of the conference before the NCAA Tournament.
Let’s take a quick look back at how the Sun Devils matched up against the Trojans last month.
Looking Back: A Heavy Attack
Coming into their first match against USC, Trojan opposite hitter Brittany Abercrombie had come off of a week where she was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, and she continued her strong hitting with 18 kills against the Sun Devils.
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Despite taking the first set in the match, the Sun Devils were unable to put up any block against Abercrombie’s giant 6’2″ frame.
Up to that point in the season, ASU hadn’t faced a team that consistently challenged blocking on the part of their outside hitters, and it forced their block to constantly move with uncertainty about where the ball would go next.
USC was also unique with how they presented the matchup of their setters; going into the game, the Sun Devils had to prepare for a 6-2 offense with Reni Meyer-Whalley and Cindy Marina. Both setters came in the lineup with their set offense at the front row, and the two combined for 56 assists in the match.
For the most part, the Sun Devils were able to neutralize the outside threat of Khalia Lanier. Going into conference play, Lanier had tallied double-digit kills in every single match, and the Sun Devils were able to hold her to just 10 kills.
However, several other players were able to step up for USC, especially middle blocker Danielle Geiger. She recorded a season-high of 11 kills on the night and gave her team a huge boost in finding a consistent offense.
Looking Ahead
In tonight’s match, the Sun Devils will face a bit of a different USC team than they faced a month ago. Khalia Lanier has been absent from the USC lineup since October 15 for unknown reasons, and head coach Mick Haley has since used a shorter lineup that has brought forth a new opposite and outside point of attack.
Freshman Brooke Botkin has exploded onto the scene for USC, recording a 20-kill match against the University of Washington and another 10-kill match against Washington State.
Her counterpart on the other end of the floor, Alyse Ford, has provided a solid output in Lanier’s offense, as she’s coming off of a match where she recorded 14 kills on a .400 hitting percentage.
Going into this match, the Sun Devils will have to be prepared to adapt to their new front lines and discover which hitters are going to be favored early on. Like all matches, the flow of the Sun Devil offense will depend on how well they can pass the ball, a factor that really set them back in their fourth set against Cal last Sunday.
Offensively, the Sun Devils will also have to find a consistent rhythm in order to keep the Trojan blockers off balance. In the last two matches, Coach Moreno has thrown in several players at new spots in the rotation, so every player will have to be ready to step up and be accountable for their designated position.
Although Coach Moreno stated her ankle was progressing, it is not publicly known whether or not outside hitter Ivana Jeremic will be suiting up for the Sun Devils this weekend.
Next: ASU Volleyball: Moreno takes control of struggling squad
The first serve between the Sun Devils and the Trojans will be at 7:00 p.m. PT tonight, and you can catch the recap of the match here at Devils in Detail.