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ASU Volleyball: Devils travel to mountain schools looking to snap losing streak

By James Malamas

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 07: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during the team's first-round game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament against the Colorado Buffaloes at T-Mobile Arena on March 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Buffaloes won 97-85. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 07: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil stands on the court during the team's first-round game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament against the Colorado Buffaloes at T-Mobile Arena on March 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Buffaloes won 97-85. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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ASU volleyball looks to snap eight game losing streak and get revenge as they head on the road for the last time this season.

The Arizona State Sun Devil women’s volleyball team is in a funk right now losing nine of their last ten games dating back to Oct. 5. This weekend they hope to turn around their luck as they play Colorado and Utah, two teams that they lost to just three weeks ago.

Colorado

The first team that ASU will travel to play are the Buffaloes from Colorado. The first meeting this season between the two teams was not much of a competition. Colorado easily handled the Sun Devils in a short match only going to four sets.

The Sun Devils were able to keep it close in the four sets by getting at least 20 points in each one (25-21, 21-25, 22-25, 20-25).

Unfortunately, they struggled at closing sets and let the Buffaloes take three straight sets to end it after ASU took the first one.

Last matchup Alyse Ford had a massive match for ASU. She recorded 29 kills on 70 attempts, and even added 15 digs.

On the other hand, the rest of the Sun Devils struggled tremendously. No other player was able to tally double-digit kills and Ivana Jeremic, thought to be one of ASU’s best weapons, was held in check only getting seven kills the entire match.

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For Colorado they had a good variety of options for their offense. Three players reached the double-digit kill mark for the Buffaloes. Justine Spann, Alexa Smith, and Anyse Smith had 13, 12 and 10 kills respectively.

Along with getting a good range of weapons on their offense, their defense also controlled the net the entire game. Colorado had 18 blocks in the match, compared to ASU’s total oh two blocks the whole match.

This time around, for ASU to be successful they need to get more offense out of their players other than Ford.

Jeremic, Claire Kovensky and Nicole Peterson need to step up on the outside and be able to hold their own and make the blockers respect them to try and free up Ford. Colorado will had an eye on Ford the whole time and be expecting her to come out swinging.

Another thing that ASU must do it try and disrupt Colorado’s hitters. Carmen Unzue and Megan Beedie will need to have big games and try and dominate the net. They have to get good blocks up and try to shut down at least one of Colorado’s three main targets.

Utah

The final away game for the Sun Devils will come against the Utes of Utah. The last game against these two universities was in the favor of the Utes. They were able to sweep ASU in three straight sets (25-27, 23-25, 18-25).

ASU was able to keep it very close in this game much like the Colorado game, but one common factor was evident: failure to close games.

This time again Ford was the leading attacker for ASU with 14 kills, but she received some help from Kovensky who had 10 kills in the three sets.

Even with the help from Kovensky, ASU was unable to close the games and pick up the win. The other Sun Devils only had 15 kills combined which is not enough help. For the Sun Devils to really thrive they are going to need help from variety of attackers and they just haven’t been able to.

Utah was able dominate with their attackers as seven players were able to tally at least one kill. They also out killed the Sun Devils 47-39.

Another repetitive story in ASU games was that they were outplayed at the net again. The Utes got 10 blocks while ASU only got 2. For ASU to win any more games this season they are going to need to improve their play at the net.

This upcoming game the Sun Devils should focus on the same things as they should against Colorado. They need more attackers to step up and their middles to disrupt more at the net.

Look for both Colorado and Utah to look to shut down Ford and try to control the net again. Hopefully players like Jeremic and Kovensky will be able to benefit from the opposing teams focusing on Ford, but we will see.

Next. ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in three to Washington State. dark

With only six games left this season and currently at a 13-13 record and a 4-10 conference record, a winning streak at this time can be great momentum heading into next season.