ASU volleyball was outmatched by Arizona’s defense, falling three sets to none (18-25, 21-25, 18-25) in their Pac-12 opener.
The Arizona State Sun Devils kicked off Pac-12 play tonight in Tucson against their rivals, the Arizona Wildcats. The Sun Devils came into the game 9-3 and just won two of their last three in the Sparky Classic. The Wildcats came in just outside the Top 25 rankings at 11-1.
The Sun Devils started off the match with the first point in set one. Afterwards, ASU held a slight lead over the Wildcats due to Alyse Ford. Ford helped keep the Sun Devils in the first set with seven of her 14 kills coming in that set.
Unfortunately, that was not enough as the Wildcats bounced back from trailing 8-6 and battled back. For a while the two teams were dueling it out. The duel was led by Ivana Jeremic, who got three of her seven kills in that set, but the Wildcats took a commanding 24-17 lead. After Ford got one last kill, the Wildcats took set one, 25-18.
In set two, both defenses showed up as many long rallies occurred and it was a toss up for each point. After the teams split the first eight points, the Wildcats and Sun Devils ended up alternating each point until Arizona took a 19-18 lead.
The Wildcats’ defense began to take control of this game as the blocks started piling up. The Wildcats ended up with 12 team blocks compared to the Sun Devils’ three team blocks. The Wildcats had the momentum keep rolling as they took set two, 25-21.
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Going into set three, the Sun Devils were already down two sets and were looking to avoid the sweep. Courtney Leffel helped with that effort by leading the team with 25 digs and keeping the rallies going.
However, the Wildcats did not stop rolling as they took advantage of the momentum on their side at home.
The Wildcats started off with a 5-3 lead. The Sun Devils bounced back again due to the determination of the young team. The emotions were tense as the Wildcats put the pressure on the young Sun Devils and caused them to commit unforced errors. Plus, the Wildcats began to read the Sun Devils’ game plan as they got several more blocks to keep the defense booming.
The Wildcats ended up winning seven of eight points and took a commanding 21-15 lead. After that, the Sun Devils were put away and the Wildcats won the third set, 25-18.
The Sun Devils (9-4) will look to bounce back on the road against California (8-4) on Sunday at 2 p.m.