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ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils defeat Cal for first conference win of season

By Adam Noel

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 01: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky runs onto the field before the start of a college football game against the Utah Utes at Sun Devil Stadium on November 1, 2014 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 01: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky runs onto the field before the start of a college football game against the Utah Utes at Sun Devil Stadium on November 1, 2014 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) /
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Although it came down to a fifth set, ASU volleyball finally got the hard fought victory they wanted Sunday afternoon.

After finishing Pac-12 play without a win last season, the Sun Devils traveled to Cal and finished off the Golden Bears (25-20, 25-27, 25-22, 21-25, 18-16) in a marathon of a match.

Coming off a loss to Arizona, the Sun Devils fought until the final point to secure a victory at Haas Pavilion, in Berkeley, California. The team moved to 10-4 and 1-1 in Pac-12 play this season.

The last conference win for the Sun Devils had come on Nov. 26, 2016, against rival University of Arizona.

Cal dropped to 8-5 on the season and 0-2 in conference play after the loss to the Sun Devils.

ASU had four players finish with double digit kills and the team secured its first away victory this season.

The team had nearly won the match in the fourth set before Cal pulled away with a 9-1 run to push it to five.

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ASU only managed a hitting percentage of .132%, but had more kills (62) and aces (7) than Cal for the match.

In comparison the Golden Bears had a .164% hitting percentage and 14 blocks.

The biggest issue for the Sun Devils came on attack errors. They had 38 due to the high volume of blocks from Cal. This kept the game close throughout each set with alternating victories.

The Sun Devils managed to pull out a close fifth set win after a challenge from coach Sanja Tomasevic early in set. The call of a touched ball was reviewed, then overturned. The score resulted in a 12-12 tie because of the call.

ASU then managed to fight off three match points from Cal to win the final set 18-16.

The Golden Bears were led by Mima Mirkovic, who had a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. The team nearly finished the comeback but fell just short.

Junior Nicole Peterson was another positive for the Sun Devils. The outside hitter had four kills, two digs, two aces and one block to lead the team in the first set, and during the final set Peterson added three more kills to finish with 10 for the match.

Coach Tomasevic used Peterson as both an outside hitter and later in the match as a setter, a place Peterson has spent much of her career at. Peterson rotated with Shelbie Dobmier, who started at setter for ASU.

Senior transfer Alysse Ford had 16 kills on 47 attack attempts to finish with a hitting percentage of .064%. Ford had the final two kills to secure the victory of the Sun Devils.

The team was also led by Ivana Jeremic, who had 17 kills, 19 digs and 4 blocks.

ASU continues conference play on Friday at Oregon State at 7 p.m.