TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State women's volleyball fell in straight sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-21) to No. 16 Oregon at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday night, splitting the season series against the Ducks.
"It was a tough one with a lot of ups and downs; it's tough to play against a team like Oregon when you don't serve well," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "They are really good in system, so our game plan was to get them out of the system and hit the serves. Unfortunately, we did not execute like we wanted to tonight."
In a match that saw 11 different Sun Devils, Arizona State (13-10, 4-7 Pac-12) struggled to find offensive consistency. Oregon (14-7, 7-4 Pac-12) out-hit the home team .206 to .074 in the three sets. This was just the second time this season that ASU hit below .100 (also at UCLA). The last four matches between these two teams have been decided in three sets.
Courtney Leffel extended her streak of consecutive matches with double-digit digs to seven in a row after notching 11 tonight. Megan Beedie had a team-high .200 hitting percentage in the match, collecting four kills in the process. Senior Alyse Ford led the team in kills with nine and in blocks with three.
The Sun Devils had two players on the floor that haven't seen action thus far in the 2018 campaign. Senior Peyton Grahovac returned to the court against the Ducks, making her first appearance since injuring her leg in the preseason while freshman outside hitter Keelie LeBlanc made her debut at the service line.
"She's (Peyton) been working really hard in practice and I just would love to get Peyton back in our lineup at some point and if she can get to the point where she was in the preseason," Tomasevic said. "She was doing really well before she got hurt. I think that would be a really nice weapon for us and when Ivana (Jeremic) comes back and Shelbie (Dobmeier) comes back. It's going to be better."
Oregon (14-7, 7-4 Pac-12) started the first set hot, opening on a 6-1 run. The Sun Devils (13-10, 4-7 Pac-12) rallied back, tying the game at 10-10. Later in the set, an Alyse Ford block forced Oregon to take a timeout with ASU down 24-23. Oregon would wrap up the set out of the timeout.
Callie Jones scored one of her two aces in the second set, tying the score at 4-4. Oregon ran away with the set after a Ronika Stone kill, propelling the Ducks to 16-9 score and a 25-18 set finish.
The Sun Devils fought until the end, even while trailing two sets to none. They rallied from 10-16 to 24-21 before Oregon's match clinching point. Arizona State has dropped their last five matches and six of their last seven.
The Sun Devil volleyball team looks to break its skid on Sunday, October 28, against Oregon State at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, AZ. The match begins at 12 p.m. MST and can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks for fans not in attendance.
??PINK GAME??#StickAForkInCancer pic.twitter.com/Wkiah7W8Bs
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 27, 2018
"It was a tough one with a lot of ups and downs; it's tough to play against a team like Oregon when you don't serve well," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "They are really good in system, so our game plan was to get them out of the system and hit the serves. Unfortunately, we did not execute like we wanted to tonight."
In a match that saw 11 different Sun Devils, Arizona State (13-10, 4-7 Pac-12) struggled to find offensive consistency. Oregon (14-7, 7-4 Pac-12) out-hit the home team .206 to .074 in the three sets. This was just the second time this season that ASU hit below .100 (also at UCLA). The last four matches between these two teams have been decided in three sets.
Courtney Leffel extended her streak of consecutive matches with double-digit digs to seven in a row after notching 11 tonight. Megan Beedie had a team-high .200 hitting percentage in the match, collecting four kills in the process. Senior Alyse Ford led the team in kills with nine and in blocks with three.
The Sun Devils had two players on the floor that haven't seen action thus far in the 2018 campaign. Senior Peyton Grahovac returned to the court against the Ducks, making her first appearance since injuring her leg in the preseason while freshman outside hitter Keelie LeBlanc made her debut at the service line.
S2 | Welcome back, Peyton Grahovac!
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 27, 2018
This block gets ASU within one, down 8-7! #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/dUaxGZXe8b
"She's (Peyton) been working really hard in practice and I just would love to get Peyton back in our lineup at some point and if she can get to the point where she was in the preseason," Tomasevic said. "She was doing really well before she got hurt. I think that would be a really nice weapon for us and when Ivana (Jeremic) comes back and Shelbie (Dobmeier) comes back. It's going to be better."
Oregon (14-7, 7-4 Pac-12) started the first set hot, opening on a 6-1 run. The Sun Devils (13-10, 4-7 Pac-12) rallied back, tying the game at 10-10. Later in the set, an Alyse Ford block forced Oregon to take a timeout with ASU down 24-23. Oregon would wrap up the set out of the timeout.
Callie Jones scored one of her two aces in the second set, tying the score at 4-4. Oregon ran away with the set after a Ronika Stone kill, propelling the Ducks to 16-9 score and a 25-18 set finish.
The Sun Devils fought until the end, even while trailing two sets to none. They rallied from 10-16 to 24-21 before Oregon's match clinching point. Arizona State has dropped their last five matches and six of their last seven.
The Sun Devil volleyball team looks to break its skid on Sunday, October 28, against Oregon State at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, AZ. The match begins at 12 p.m. MST and can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks for fans not in attendance.