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ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in straight sets to Utah

By Adam Noel

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) /
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Utah continued their three-match win streak with a sweep of ASU volleyball (25-27, 23-25, 18-25). The Sun Devils have now lost four of their last five matches.

It wasn’t exactly the sparkling homecoming coach Sonja Tomasevic and her squad were hoping for.

After nearly dropping the first set, Utah bounced back with a three-set victory (27-25, 25-23, 25-18) over Arizona State. With the loss, the Sun Devils moved to 13-8 (4-5 Pac-12) and extended their losing streak to three.

Utah improved to 12-8 this season and 4-5 in Pac-12 play.

The Utes were led by Dani Drews, who recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs in the contest.

Utah battled off three consecutive match points with a 3-0 run in the first set to steal the set away from the Sun Devils. The winning point from Drews was her sixth kill of the set.

The second set was a battle as each team traded the lead up to the midway point. There the Sun Devils trailed 19-22 and called a timeout to regroup. But again Utah was able to close out with a two point victory 25-23.

From that point on, it was all Utes.

A dominant third set was led by Megan Yett and Phoebe Grace. Grace contributed on five of the team’s combined seven blocks against the Sun Devils. Yett added 11 kills and eight kills on the match. There the Utes closed out the match with a 25-18 victory in the third.

It was the fourth loss in five games for the Sun Devils. Three of those losses have come in straight sets.

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The biggest issue for Sun Devils was their hitting. Overall the team had a .178 hitting percentage and struggled to find an offense that gave Utah fits. The Utes outhit ASU 47-39 in kills throughout the match.

“It’s not like they beat us because they are better than us,” Tomasevic said. “They beat us because we weren’t doing what we were supposed to.”

A positive for the game came from the duo of Alyse Ford and Claire Kovensky.

The two hitters found success hitting with both notching double-digit kills in the contest. Ford hit .298 while Kovensky chipped in with an outstanding .364 hitting percentage.

But besides the two, the team combined for a 14 attack errors. Ivana Jeremic was responsible for seven of those and struggled to get going during the match.

“She’s been struggling practice, she’s been struggling in games,” Tomasevic said. “For [Ivana] it’s more mental than anything.”

Following a 30-minute team meeting after the match, the team is confident they can shake the losing streak.

“We’re still growing, we’re still young. We got the taste of success and we can get back there,” Tomasevic said. “Couple plays here and there, two plays in each set.”

Next. ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils host weekend slate against Mountain schools. dark

The Sun Devils continue play on Sunday facing off with the Colorado Buffaloes (11-8, 3-5 Pac-12) at 2 p.m.

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