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ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall at home to Washington State

By Nicholas Zeller-Singh

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 09: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil performs during the team's quarterfinal game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the Oregon Ducks T-Mobile Arena on March 9, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oregon won 80-57. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 09: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil performs during the team's quarterfinal game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the Oregon Ducks T-Mobile Arena on March 9, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oregon won 80-57. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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 ASU volleyball came in with a three game win streak and returned home to play Washington State. The Cougars beat the Sun Devils in three sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-17).

The Sun Devils came back to Tempe after a 3-1 start in Pac-12 play for a match against No. 22 Washington State. The Cougars found the Sun Devils’ weaknesses and exploited them to a comfortable sweep.

ASU was led by Megan Beedie as she finished the match nine kills and led both teams with a .438 hitting percentage.  Ivana Jeremic started off slow as she was the focus of the Cougars’ game plan. By the end of the match, Jeremic was the focal point of the Sun Devil offense as she had three of her six kills in the final set.

Although ASU has one of the best defenses in the Pac-12 and led the conference in digs, the Sun Devils only had 45 digs compared to the Cougars’ 46.

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ASU fell under its average hitting percentage as they finished the night with at a .155 clip. None of the Sun Devils finished the match with double digit kills. The Sun Devil offense struggled to score points due to the powerful front line of the Cougars.

The Cougars came in with five of their six starters being at least 6 feet, 3 inches tall. The Cougars used their height advantage by not allowing any middle attack from the Sun Devils. This led to the outside hitters being forced to do all the offense, which wasn’t so effective because the Cougars finished the night with seven blocks. Also, McKenna Woodford finished with 11 out of the Cougars’ 37 kills and finished with a .346 hitting percentage.

The Cougars played at their best shape of the year so far with only 10 attack errors and confusing ASU’s backline by letting nine serves drop for an ace. Ashley Brown was a key role for the Cougars’ offense as she had the most assists in the match with 32 assists.

ASU had 13 more attacking chances than Washington State, but fell short due to the height advantage from Jocelyn Urias, Claire Martin, and McKenna Woodford. Urias finished with five blocks this night and proved to be a terror against other front lines as she is currently 9th in Pac-12 for blocks per set.

Next. ASU Volleyball: Challenging weekend ahead against WSU and UW. dark

ASU (12-5, 3-2) will look to bounce back from the sweep on Sunday against No. 15 Washington. The Huskies are looking to go 2-0 against the Arizona schools after sweeping the Wildcats Friday night.