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ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils host two ranked opponents in tough slate

By James Malamas

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: Arizona State Sun Devils masct, 'Sparky' performs during the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: Arizona State Sun Devils masct, 'Sparky' performs during the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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ASU volleyball returns home this weekend to host No. 25 UCLA and No. 14 USC, looking to snap their current 10-game losing streak.

The Sun Devil volleyball team comes back home after a rough four-game road trip. ASU struggled, winning just one of 13 sets in the games. They look to turn it around and get revenge against UCLA and USC this weekend, two teams that defeated them earlier this season.

No. 25 UCLA

The first team that comes to Tempe on Friday is the 25th-ranked UCLA Bruins. The Bruins are 12-11 on the season and are on their own three-game losing streak. Their last game was a loss at home against Washington in three straight sets.

The last time these two teams met was in Los Angeles, and both teams were ranked at the time, UCLA being No. 20 and ASU at No. 25. The Bruins were able to come out with the win in a short three set match (25-13, 25-20, 25-14).

The story of the game was how badly the Sun Devil offense struggled. Carmen Unzue and Alyse Ford led the team in kills with only five kills each. The team as a whole had an abysmal .054 hitting percentage and only had 22 kills the entire match.

The Bruins, on the other hand, had an efficient night for the offense hitting .293 as a team. They were led by Mac May and Madeleine Gates, who had 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Those two accounted for 25 out of the team’s 44 kills.

This time around, if the Sun Devils wish to come out on top this time, they will need to pick up their offensive efforts. They are going to need Ivana Jeremic and Claire Kovensky to step up. In the last game, those two only got five kills combined.

The Sun Devils are also going to need to have a bigger presence at the net. Last match, they only got three blocks and did not disrupt the Bruin hitters enough.

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It will be a tough matchup for the Sun Devils against UCLA. With only four games left for ASU, they are going to try and use anything they can to give them momentum heading into next season.

No. 14 USC

The USC Trojans come to Tempe with a 19-8 record and have won four of their last five games. The Trojans are currently ranked 15th in the nation and are preparing to try and make a run in the NCAA tournament coming soon.

The last time the Trojans played against the Sun Devils they went into five sets, but were eventually able to pull away from ASU and win the match 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 15-9).

ASU played really well against USC last time. They had three players with double-digit kills and had 90 digs on the defensive end.

Kovensky, Jeremic and Ford were great for the Sun Devils. They had 17, 15 and 12 kills respectively, accounting for 44 of the 63 ASU kills.

For the Trojans they were led by Khalia Lanier and Brooke Botkin. They had 51 of USC’s 74 kills just by themselves. They were extremely dominant during the game to help give the Trojans the win.

This Sunday, if the Sun Devils hope to defeat the Trojans, they are going to need to at least slow down Lanier and Botkin. If any duo is getting at least 50 kills in a match, that team is most likely going to win that game.

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This weekend is going to be a tough one for the struggling Sun Devils. They will host the Bruins on Friday at 7 p.m. before welcoming the Trojans on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.