ASU Beach Volleyball: Sun Devils fall 3-2 to No. 1 USC

TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky performs on the field during the fourth quarter of the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky performs on the field during the fourth quarter of the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

ASU beach volleyball team put together a promising performance in their first match of the season, falling just short to the USC Trojans in a 3-2 split.

It wasn’t an ordinary opening match.

Going into their opening game at the Sun Devil Challenge, ASU wasn’t getting set to enter a cakewalk.

They were warming up to face one of the most dominant forces in the history of collegiate beach volleyball.

After falling to the Trojans by scores of 5-0 and 4-1 last season, the Sun Devils proved their worth Saturday night, falling just one match short of knocking off the three-time defending national champions, three games to two.

Arizona State’s No. 5 team of Samantha Plaster and Kate Baldwin put together the Sun Devils’ first win of the night, defeating Trojan seniors Jenna Belton and Jo Kremer in two set victories of 21-19 and 21-18.

In the second wave of matches, the No. 3 sophomore of duo Katelyn Carballo and Ellyson Lundberg provided the most entertaining match of the night, coming back from a second set loss to defeat Brianna Sizemore and Joy Dennis in an exciting 15-11 third set.

Although his team didn’t get the win, coach Brad Keenan was impressed to see his team’s improved effort against the Trojans.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Keenan said. “I think we had a lot of fight, a ton of effort. I think it’s fun to see the difference when they’re actually playing another team versus practice, so you can see that they bring an extra level and I thought their mentality was really good.”

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Going into the first wave of matches, it looked like the Sun Devils would quickly fall in a hole. The No. 4 pair of Katie Cross and Cierra Flood lost a close 21-18 first set, and Plaster and Baldwin fell in a 7-2 hole in their first set.

However, the No. 5 pair would recover. Baldwin began to showcase her array of roll shots and deep corner swings, and after a 7-0 run, the Devils were able to come back and win a close first set by the score of 21-19.

In the second set, the pair faced another close finish. With the set tied at 17, Plaster and Baldwin made a great use of the roll shot, using on a 4-1 run to finish the game victory after a service error from USC’s Alexandra Poletto.

With the match tied at one win apiece, the Sun Devils looked upon their returnees in their first three units  to close out the final three matches.

In the No.1 matchup, Mia Rivera and Kwyn Johnson would square off against the Trojans’ top duo of Teresa Cannon and Abril Bustamente. After a 21-9 loss in the first set, the pair inched closer, but ultimately fell by a score of 21-15 in the second set.

As a senior leader, Johnson looked for both herself and her teammates to not worry about what USC was doing, but rather what they could do to stay in the game.

“Our main goal today was just to prove what we could do and not worry so much about what they were doing,” Johnson said. “They’re ranked No.1 in the nation; we already knew they were going to be a great team, so our main goal was just to prove that we could contend with them, and I think going 3-2 proves exactly that.”

The No. 2 matchup for the Sun Devils included star indoor libero Halle Harker and Kara Woodard going up against Haley Hallgren and Sammy Slater.

In the first set, Harker and Woodward fell in an early hole, dropping the first four points before ultimately succumbing to a 21-12 set defeat. Despite the two putting together several rallies in the second set, the Hallgren/Slater duo prevailed, mixing up kills at the line and angle to win the game with a 21-14 set two victory.

Despite the losses of their top two teams and the match, every Sun Devil stayed to watch the thrilling finish of the No. 3 game between Carballo and Lundberg and Sizemore and Dennis.

With their lead cut to 7-6 in the set, the Sun Devils would take control, as two kills from Lundberg helped the Sun Devils go on a 3-0 run and force a USC timeout.

By that time, the lead had been secured, and the Sun Devils used three more kills in the set to wrap up the night’s second victory.

ASU will now move on to Sunday afternoon’s slate of games, where they’ll get set to play Nebraska and 14th-ranked Cal Poly.

When asked how Saturday’s successes would help his team moving forward, Keenan noted how game experience should make Sunday’s games feel more comfortable.

“I think confidence,” Keenan said of what the performance would add. “We didn’t really know what we would be coming in, so I think this shows that we can at least keep up with everybody, and I think we have a chance to beat anybody now.”

“Tomorrow, I think we have a lot better shot of beating teams,” Johnson added. “Cal Poly is pretty good, Nebraska is definitely beatable, so I think our main focus is just to continue on what we do and not worry so much about what happens on the other side of the net.”

Next: ASU Beach Volleyball: Sun Devils open 2018 poised for excellence

The Sun Devils will complete their final two games of the Sun Devil Challenge at 11 a.m. MT against Nebraska and 3 p.m. against Cal Poly.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.