ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils host weekend slate against Mountain schools

ASU volleyball returns home this weekend as they look to put an end to their two-game losing streak when they host Utah and Colorado.

The Arizona State women’s volleyball team finished their two-game road trip this past weekend with two straight defeats to No. 20 UCLA and No. 15 USC.

This weekend, the Sun Devils hope to get back in the win column when they host the Mountain schools. ASU will face Utah tonight followed by a Sunday afternoon matchup with Colorado to round out the slate.

Utah Utes

The Sun Devils and Utes share a lot in common. Both teams faced ranked Washington and Oregon and both were successful in pulling off upsets.

Utah has also had to go up against the top two ranked teams in the country this year in No. 1 BYU and No. 2 Stanford. The Utes were only able to win one set out of the seven combined against both teams.

The offensive star for the Utes is 6-foot sophomore outside hitter Dani Drews. She will be a big factor in the game for Utah and will look to give them a good chance to win if she has a good game.

Drews leads the team in kills this season with 289 and aces with 26. Her 289 kills are also enough to rank her fourth in the Pac-12. Drew’s high number of aces also contributes to Utah being first in the Pac-12 in total aces so far. When Drews performs well, Utah typically performs well.

A key for the Sun Devils in this game will be shutting her down. In last year’s meeting, Drews only had one kill during the match, but the Utes were a top-15 team in the nation and had seniors Adora Anae and Carly Trueman. Trueman led the Utes with 20 kills in the 3-1 victory over ASU.

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Having more experience, the Sun Devils should be able to put up a tough fight. If the rotation of blockers including Ivana Jeremic, Alyse Ford, Claire Kovensky and Nicole Peterson can get a good block up on Drew’s side and disrupt her swing, the Sun Devils have a really good chance to win this match.

Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado has an identical record to Utah, 11-8 with a 3-5 conference record. The difference between them and Utah is that Colorado only has one ranked win this season against Utah earlier this season when the Utes were No. 23.

The Buffaloes’ offense highly relies on two players –Alexa Smith and Justine Spann. Both players are outside hitters while Smith is a senior and Spann is a junior. Together they have combined for 478 out of 960 total kills for the Buffaloes this season.

Smith and Spann also are big contributors on the defensive side of the floor. Smith leads the team with 197 digs this season while Spann is in third with 180. The player that is second is libero Rachel Whipple, who had 195.

Last season the Sun Devils traveled up to Boulder and got swept in three straight sets. The defense was a big factor in last year’s matchup as Colorado’s defense forced ASU to commit 18 errors. The Buffaloes’ defense also controlled the center of the net as they blocked ASU 10 times compares to ASU’s six blocks.

This time around, the Sun Devils will definitely have to cut down on the errors. They will have to come out focused and eager to get the victory. The big key will be to shut down either Smith and Spann or both. Once again, it will rely heavily on the team’s blocking.

If the Sun Devils can limit their own mistakes and take control of the net, they will put themselves in a great position to win. The hitters will have to work twice as hard not only on the offensive side, but the defensive side as well in order to try and stop Smith and Spann.

Next. ASU Volleyball: Takeaways from Sun Devils' loss to USC. dark

This weekend will be a good challenge for the Sun Devils. They aren’t going up against two ranked power houses, but instead two teams that have had decent years so far and they both should be very winnable games for the ASU.