No 18. Arizona State (24-5, 12-5 in Pac-12) looked to pull an upset in its penultimate game at Desert Financial Arena against No. 6 Oregon on Friday night.
The Sun Devils came out uninspired and failed to secure any momentum, going down two sets early and eventually losing in four (18-25, 24-26, 25-10, 23-25).
Arizona State came out flat to start the game with no intensity. The Sun Devils found themselves trailing 13-8 in the first set.
A series of early errors by the Sun Devils gifted the Ducks over half of their points without having to work. Missed serves, hitting errors, and passing errors allowed Oregon to take the first set 25-18.
“That one hurts, we had opportunities that we just didn’t capitalize on and we came out too slow,” ASU coach JJ Van Neil said.
The Ducks were led by senior opposite hitter Morgan Lewis who ended with 16 kills as Oregon tallied a 31% hitting percentage in the first set which was their highest of the night compared to ASU’s 23%.
Set two started out with more of the same as Oregon kept their foot on the gas. The pressure was on ASU to serve the ball well which made it hard on the Sun Devils to run their offense as the Ducks went up 12-7.
The Sun Devils continued to make uncharacteristic errors but managed to fight back and even the set 24-24.
“That was probably our worst serving performance and I thought in the first set we were serving lollipops and we just didn’t execute,” Neil said.
The turning point in the second set was the next point with the game tied.
ASU had won the point going up 25-24 but Oregon decided to challenge the play and it was later determined by replay that it was the Ducks’ point and the call was reversed.
Oregon was able to take the 25-24 lead and then won the next point to take the second set 26-24.
With their backs against the wall, the Sun Devils had to come out with some magic in the third set to avoid getting swept at home.
ASU did just that. The Sun Devils took a commanding 15-6 lead as the team went back to the basics and played fundamentally sound volleyball.
Offensively, ASU was led by senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska who tallied 26 kills. Junior outside hitter Geli Cyr was a spark in the back row and tallied a total of 10 kills along with graduate student setter Shannon Shields who generated 38 assists.
The Sun Devils were able to hold on and took the third set 25-10.
“Set three was just serving tough, getting them out of system and being able to play defense around that,” graduate student libero Mary Shroll said.
The fourth set provided a chance to bounce back and shift the momentum.
Early on the set went back and forth with the game even at 5-5.
Arizona State once again started to make unforced errors, this time from the service line. ASU committed three consecutive service errors that resulted in free points as the Ducks started to build a lead.
Arizona State was able to battle back but it was unfortunately not enough as Oregon took the fourth set 25-23 winning the game.
“Oregon’s really good, they run really fast and they do some really good things,” Neil said. “They’re a good blocking team and a good defensive team.”
ASU certainly had its opportunities throughout the night but was unable to capitalize.
Defensively, ASU was led by senior middle blocker Claire Jeter who had 7 blocks, and Shroll who tallied 23 digs along with Cyr who had 18.
“I don’t think they beat us, I think we beat ourselves and that’s a good thing for us because we can work on that,” Cyr said.
Arizona State will try to rebound this Sunday. The Sun Devils are set to host Oregon State in what will be their final home game of the season with game set to start at noon at Desert Financial Arena.
Leave a Reply