No. 15 Arizona State (22-4, 10-4 in Pac-12) looked to finish up its Los Angeles road trip with a win Sunday afternoon against USC (16-8, 10-4 in Pac-12).
ASU unfortunately failed to secure the win in a close match losing in straight sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-16).
The Sun Devils came out strong in the first set, capturing the momentum early thanks to some stellar attacking from senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska as the Sun Devils found themselves up 7-3.
Levinska finished with 21 kills on the night.
USC responded by taking control of the set, winning seven straight points.
USC would go on to take a 24-20 lead thanks to the powerful attack of senior outside hitter Skylar Fields who finished the afternoon with 24 kills.
Playing defense at the net was the main issue for Arizona State all afternoon as the team failed to generate blocks. The Sun Devils produced only four blocks compared to USC’s ten as the Sun Devils went on to lose the first set 25-23.
Graduate student setter Shannon Shields once again had the offense rolling to start the second set. ASU jumped out to an early 10-6 lead.
Shields ultimately finished with 31 assists.
USC would respond with its offense and tallied a 40% hitting percentage in the second set with 16 kills and only one hitting error as the Trojans took the second set 25-23.
The highest hitting percentage that Arizona State reached in the afternoon was 27% and this proved to be the difference in the match as USC got over 30% each set.
The Trojans being able to limit their hitting errors is what allowed them to come back in the match every time they found themselves trailing.
USC would start the third set in a dominating fashion scoring seven unanswered points going up 7-0.
The Sun Devils were able to fight back making it a seven-point game.
The effort was not enough as USC kept its foot on the pedal taking the third set 25-16.
Digging was the lone bright spot on the day for the Sun Devils as the team tallied 50 digs with 19 of them coming from gradient student libero Mary Shroll 15 coming from junior outside hitter Geli Cyr and six coming from Shields.
ASU has struggled to take the last game on road trips this season. This loss marked the second trip in a row where the team has dropped the final game in straight sets.
Arizona State will look to get back in the win column this Thursday. The Sun Devils start their four-game home stand against Colorado with the game starting at 7:00 p.m. at Mullett Arena.
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