TEMPE, Ariz. – Despite a strong start, Arizona State women's volleyball could not hold on to the momentum, falling in four sets (18-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22) to Oregon State at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday afternoon.
"We did not play well," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "In the first set, we were getting blocked, but we were covering a lot of balls. In the second set, that stopped. Out hitters were hitting some high shots and everything started falling apart. We will get back to work in practice this week and try to figure it out."
Arizona State (13-11, 4-8 Pac-12) dominated the opening set before dropping the next three. This is the fourth loss this season when the Sun Devils have won the first set. For Oregon State, this was the first conference win of the year, improving to 11-13, 1-11 Pac-12. This is the third-straight win for the Beavers in Tempe.
Courtney Leffel extended her streak of consecutive matches with double-digit digs to eight after recording 26 digs, just two shy of her career high set against Northern Arizona earlier this season. She has three matches this year with 20 or more digs.
Carmen Unzue also had a solid match for the Sun Devils, leading the team with 12 kills, one away from her career high. This was her first match this year with double-digit kills.
"We came out strong and confident. But, for some reason we hesitate and maybe think too hard," said Unzue. "We want to win, but we do not focus on the present."
Alyse Ford and Unzue each had 4 kills in the first set in route to a 24-18 victory. The team hit .429 in the opening set while holding Oregon State's attack percentage to .195.
The next three sets changed the narrative for the Sun Devils as ASU had 12 service errors and a combined attack percentage of .083 throughout the rest of the match. In the fourth set, Arizona State led by as much as five at 17-12 before Oregon State came storming back to eventually take the lead and the set.
Arizona State has now lost six straight and seven of their last eight matches.
The Sun Devils are back on the road next weekend as they travel to Washington to take on the Huskies and the Cougars on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
"We did not play well," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "In the first set, we were getting blocked, but we were covering a lot of balls. In the second set, that stopped. Out hitters were hitting some high shots and everything started falling apart. We will get back to work in practice this week and try to figure it out."
Arizona State (13-11, 4-8 Pac-12) dominated the opening set before dropping the next three. This is the fourth loss this season when the Sun Devils have won the first set. For Oregon State, this was the first conference win of the year, improving to 11-13, 1-11 Pac-12. This is the third-straight win for the Beavers in Tempe.
Courtney Leffel extended her streak of consecutive matches with double-digit digs to eight after recording 26 digs, just two shy of her career high set against Northern Arizona earlier this season. She has three matches this year with 20 or more digs.
Carmen Unzue also had a solid match for the Sun Devils, leading the team with 12 kills, one away from her career high. This was her first match this year with double-digit kills.
"We came out strong and confident. But, for some reason we hesitate and maybe think too hard," said Unzue. "We want to win, but we do not focus on the present."
Alyse Ford and Unzue each had 4 kills in the first set in route to a 24-18 victory. The team hit .429 in the opening set while holding Oregon State's attack percentage to .195.
The next three sets changed the narrative for the Sun Devils as ASU had 12 service errors and a combined attack percentage of .083 throughout the rest of the match. In the fourth set, Arizona State led by as much as five at 17-12 before Oregon State came storming back to eventually take the lead and the set.
Arizona State has now lost six straight and seven of their last eight matches.
The Sun Devils are back on the road next weekend as they travel to Washington to take on the Huskies and the Cougars on Friday and Sunday, respectively.