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ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in straight sets to Utah

By Nicholas Zeller-Singh

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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ASU volleyball came into this game getting swept in the last two games and were ready to bounce back against the Utes. However, the Sun Devils lost again (21-25, 22-25, 6-25).

The defense played well, but the offense could not keep up with the Utes which caused the Sun Devils to drop this match in straight sets. ASU’s loss is their 10th straight conference loss.

The Sun Devils were led by Alyse Ford and Megan Beedie. Ford finished the match with the team-high 11 kills while Beedie finished with seven kills. The rest of the offense struggled as the Sun Devils finished with a .105 hitting percentage.

The Sun Devils’ offensive problems were mostly caused by passes. This has been a problem recently as the setters have been passing the ball too far off the net causing the hitters to not be able to see where they should kill the ball.

However, Callie Jones helped the offense run smoothly in the first couple sets as she finished with the team high 15 assists. The rest of the team combined for 14 assists.

In set one, the Sun Devils looked strong as they competed with the Utes and fought neck by neck with them. The Utes finished with 16 kills in the first set compared to the Sun Devils 11 kills.

The Utes offense was being led by Dani Drews who finished with a double-double. Drews had the second most kills on her team with 12 and second most digs on the team with 12 digs.

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In set two, the Utes started strong as Megan Yett had three of the the team’s first nine points. Yett finished with 15 kills in the match and a hitting percentage of .387.

The Utes started to slow down as the Sun Devils came back from trailing 4 points early and tied it at 9 apiece. The teams competed and traded points all the way until the end where the Utes took over the momentum and finished it off one of Ford’s attack errors.

In set three, the Sun Devils played poorly and fell apart as the Utes pickpocketed the gaps in the ASU defense. The Utes jumped to an early 9-1 lead before the Sun Devils called a timeout. After that the Utes finished on a 16-5 run.

Bailey Choy helped allow the momentum roll as she finished with 34 assists, five more than the Sun Devils’ whole team.

The Utes finished with a .339 hitting percentage and showed their defensive prominence with seven blocks and 47 digs. Although the Sun Devils’ defense seemed to be decent, it was not good enough to shut down the powerful duo of Drews and Yett.

The Utes have jumped up to 15-12 while the Sun Devils keep dropping games as they have crumbled to a 13-15 record. The Sun Devils are now done on the road and have their last four games left in Tempe.

Next. ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils struggle in loss to Colorado. dark

ASU returns to Wells Fargo Arena to face UCLA on Friday at 7 PM.