No. 17 Arizona State (19-3, 7-3 in Pac-12) looked to end their four-game road trip Sunday with a win against Colorado (12-9, 4-6 in Pac-12).
ASU was not able to get the job done, losing in straight sets (27-25, 25-18, 26-24).
The Sun Devils came out flat in the first set, falling behind 10-2 early on.
It was a combination of hitting errors from ASU and a potent Colorado attack that gave the Sun Devils trouble.
Colorado was led by graduate student outside hitter Lexi Hadrych who finished the night with 17 kills.
However, Arizona State responded by knotting it up 19-19 thanks to some stout team defense and strong serving.
Offensively, ASU was led by senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska who had 17 kills, and graduate student setter Shannon Shields who tallied 37 assists.
The Sun Devils were then able to take the lead 25-24 thanks to two service aces from freshman outside hitter Jillian Neal.
It appeared Arizona State was in control, only in need of one more point to secure the win, but Colorado won the next three points taking the first set 27-25.
The second set was full of mistakes from ASU, as the team finished the set with nine attacking errors and an 8% hitting percentage compared to Colorado’s 33%.
The Sun Devils failed to sustain any momentum playing from behind the entire set as they went on to lose the second set 25-18.
Arizona State once again came out with a slow start in the third set going down 11-5.
Defensively, ASU was led by senior middle blocker Claire Jeter who generated five blocks along with Levinska who picked up 14 digs on the night.
ASU was able to battle back and take the lead 16-15 and it looked like they might be able to continue to compete and push things to a fourth set.
However, this was not the case as Colorado once again showed its dominance as they were able to take the third set 26-24.
The Sun Devils looked very different compared to their Friday night victory over Utah.
Arizona State came out firing on all cylinders disposing of the Utes in straight sets (25-11, 25-16, 25-22)
Arizona State will look to get back in the win column this Friday, October 27, at home against California with game time starting at 6:00 p.m. inside Desert Financial Arena.
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