TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State women's volleyball fell in straight sets (27-25, 25-23, 25-18) to Utah at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday night.
"I think Utah had a really good match tonight," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "We allowed them to play into what they're good at by not serving tough and by not blocking what we knew they were going to be hitting. They didn't come out with anything we didn't expect them to do. For some reason we just couldn't stop it."
The Sun Devils (13-8, 4-5 Pac-12) has now lost three matches in a row and four of the last five. They have dropped the last four contests to the Utes (12-8, 4-5 Pac-12), including two sweeps in a row. Utah out-hit Arizona State .270 to .178 in the match.
Alyse Ford collected a match-high 14 kills, her second-straight match and 10th this year with double-digit kills. Claire Kovensky also had a solid game for the Sun Devils with 10 kills on a .364 clip, her second-best hitting percentage of the year (season-high: .481 vs. Towson). Anchoring the defense, Courtney Leffel had 13 digs, her sixth-straight match with double-digit digs.
Utah started the first set hot, opening with a 3-0 run. They led by as much as six, 10-4, forcing an ASU timeout. Megan Beedie caught fire and brought the Sun Devils back into it, notching three kills in the middle of the set. Four straight for Arizona State got them within one, down 19-18. A block from Ford tied it at 22-22, causing Utah to call a timeout. The set required extra points to find a winner as the teams battled back and forth, but the Utes pulled it out, 27-25.
Kovensky got going in the second set, scoring two of ASU's first three points and putting her team up 3-1. The two squads kept it close until Utah went on a 4-1 run to take the lead, 15-12. Once again, the Sun Devils fought back, this time with Ford leading the charge, notching three kills down the stretch. However, they fell short again, losing the set 25-23.
Ford continued her hot streak in the third set, getting two kills in a row to put Arizona State up 4-2. Utah went on a 7-1 run to take the lead, pushing it to 15-9 at the media timeout. The Sun Devils got within three, 17-14, after another kill from Ford, who had seven in the third set alone. The Utes took control after that late push, taking the final set, 25-18, and the sweep.
Arizona State will host Colorado on Sunday at 2 p.m. MST. The match will be live on the Pac-12 Network. Links for live stats and streaming can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page.
"I think Utah had a really good match tonight," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "We allowed them to play into what they're good at by not serving tough and by not blocking what we knew they were going to be hitting. They didn't come out with anything we didn't expect them to do. For some reason we just couldn't stop it."
The Sun Devils (13-8, 4-5 Pac-12) has now lost three matches in a row and four of the last five. They have dropped the last four contests to the Utes (12-8, 4-5 Pac-12), including two sweeps in a row. Utah out-hit Arizona State .270 to .178 in the match.
Alyse Ford collected a match-high 14 kills, her second-straight match and 10th this year with double-digit kills. Claire Kovensky also had a solid game for the Sun Devils with 10 kills on a .364 clip, her second-best hitting percentage of the year (season-high: .481 vs. Towson). Anchoring the defense, Courtney Leffel had 13 digs, her sixth-straight match with double-digit digs.
Utah started the first set hot, opening with a 3-0 run. They led by as much as six, 10-4, forcing an ASU timeout. Megan Beedie caught fire and brought the Sun Devils back into it, notching three kills in the middle of the set. Four straight for Arizona State got them within one, down 19-18. A block from Ford tied it at 22-22, causing Utah to call a timeout. The set required extra points to find a winner as the teams battled back and forth, but the Utes pulled it out, 27-25.
Kovensky got going in the second set, scoring two of ASU's first three points and putting her team up 3-1. The two squads kept it close until Utah went on a 4-1 run to take the lead, 15-12. Once again, the Sun Devils fought back, this time with Ford leading the charge, notching three kills down the stretch. However, they fell short again, losing the set 25-23.
Ford continued her hot streak in the third set, getting two kills in a row to put Arizona State up 4-2. Utah went on a 7-1 run to take the lead, pushing it to 15-9 at the media timeout. The Sun Devils got within three, 17-14, after another kill from Ford, who had seven in the third set alone. The Utes took control after that late push, taking the final set, 25-18, and the sweep.
Arizona State will host Colorado on Sunday at 2 p.m. MST. The match will be live on the Pac-12 Network. Links for live stats and streaming can be found on the women's volleyball schedule page.