TEMPE, Ariz. – Behind 25 kills from Alyse Ford and stellar defense, Arizona State volleyball took down No. 14 USC in four sets (25-14, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18) at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday, snapping an 11-match losing streak.
"Awesome match by our girls," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "They fought really hard, they went after every ball, hit some really smart shots, made some really good plays. I'm super pumped with how we played tonight and I hope we can play like this for the rest of the season."
Arizona State (14-16, 5-13 Pac-12) snapped an 11-match skid with the win over USC (20-9, 12-6 Pac-12). This victory broke a seven-match losing streak against the Trojans, the last win for the Sun Devils dating back to Sept. 26, 2014, in Tempe. This is the third top-15 win for ASU after beating then-No. 12 Oregon and then-No. 15 Washington earlier this season.
Facing her former school, Alyse Ford had another strong performance, notching 25 kills to lead all players. It was her second match in a row with 20-plus kills and her sixth match in a row with double-digit kills. Claire Kovensky and Ivana Jeremic also had double-digit kills in the win, collecting 11 and 10, respectively.
The defense was on another level in the match, totaling 88 digs to USC's 61. It was the third-highest dig total for ASU this season, behind 98 against Northern Arizona and 90 against USC in the first meeting last month. Courtney Leffel led the defense as usual, earning 24 digs for her third-straight match with double-digit digs, two in a row with 20-plus. At the net, Carmen Unzue led the team with six total blocks to go with her six kills.
Three Sun Devils earned double-doubles against the Trojans. Nicole Peterson had a team-high 31 assists to go with her 18 digs. Kovensky had 11 kills and 14 digs while Callie Jones had 20 assists and 10 digs.
Arizona State completely handled USC in the first set. The 25-14 win in the first set is the biggest margin of victory against the Trojans in the rally-scoring era. The 11-point difference was the largest since a 15-3 win against USC on Oct. 12, 1990. Six straight points in the middle of the set, led by three kills and a block from Ford, pushed the lead to 17-8. The Sun Devils never looked back, finishing the set with a 5-1 run two-straight kills from Unzue.
The second set was a battle from start to finish. Three in a row for the Sun Devils gave them a 6-3 advantage, but the Trojans responded by scoring four straight to go up 7-6. From there, the two teams traded points until ASU started to pull away. Back-to-back kills from Ford made it 19-17 in favor of Arizona State. The momentum stuck with the Sun Devils for the rest of the set as they finished it with a 5-0 run to win 25-19, highlighted by two-straight blocks by Unzue and Jeremic.
It was back and forth to start the third set. An ace from Peterson gave ASU its first lead of the set at 8-7, but the home squad still could not pull away. USC went on a 4-1 run to create some space, going up 18-15. Kills from Peterson and Kovensky held off the Trojans for a few points, but the visitors held onto the lead, winning 25-19.
USC held onto the momentum to start the fourth set, scoring four in a row to go up 4-1. However, Arizona State responded with a 5-0 run capped off by back-to-back blocks from Jeremic to take the lead, 9-7. Three in a row for the Sun Devils, led by two kills from Ford, pushed the lead to 14-11. From there, the set was all ASU. The Sun Devils got to match point on a 10-4 run, but the Trojans fought off three in a row to make it interesting. However, Peyton Grahovac's only kill of the match won it for Arizona State, taking the set 25-18 and the match.
Arizona State finishes the regular season at home next week with matches against Stanford and in-state rival Arizona.
"Awesome match by our girls," Arizona State head coach Sanja Tomasevic said. "They fought really hard, they went after every ball, hit some really smart shots, made some really good plays. I'm super pumped with how we played tonight and I hope we can play like this for the rest of the season."
??ASU TAKES DOWN NO. 14 USC??#FORKSUP #FIGHT pic.twitter.com/SKki9JWluF
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 19, 2018
Arizona State (14-16, 5-13 Pac-12) snapped an 11-match skid with the win over USC (20-9, 12-6 Pac-12). This victory broke a seven-match losing streak against the Trojans, the last win for the Sun Devils dating back to Sept. 26, 2014, in Tempe. This is the third top-15 win for ASU after beating then-No. 12 Oregon and then-No. 15 Washington earlier this season.
Facing her former school, Alyse Ford had another strong performance, notching 25 kills to lead all players. It was her second match in a row with 20-plus kills and her sixth match in a row with double-digit kills. Claire Kovensky and Ivana Jeremic also had double-digit kills in the win, collecting 11 and 10, respectively.
The defense was on another level in the match, totaling 88 digs to USC's 61. It was the third-highest dig total for ASU this season, behind 98 against Northern Arizona and 90 against USC in the first meeting last month. Courtney Leffel led the defense as usual, earning 24 digs for her third-straight match with double-digit digs, two in a row with 20-plus. At the net, Carmen Unzue led the team with six total blocks to go with her six kills.
Three Sun Devils earned double-doubles against the Trojans. Nicole Peterson had a team-high 31 assists to go with her 18 digs. Kovensky had 11 kills and 14 digs while Callie Jones had 20 assists and 10 digs.
S2 | MOOD.
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 19, 2018
SUN DEVILS TAKE THE SECOND SET, 25-19! ASU leads No. 14 USC in the match 2-0!! #ForksUP pic.twitter.com/HMJbHOSqDE
Arizona State completely handled USC in the first set. The 25-14 win in the first set is the biggest margin of victory against the Trojans in the rally-scoring era. The 11-point difference was the largest since a 15-3 win against USC on Oct. 12, 1990. Six straight points in the middle of the set, led by three kills and a block from Ford, pushed the lead to 17-8. The Sun Devils never looked back, finishing the set with a 5-1 run two-straight kills from Unzue.
The second set was a battle from start to finish. Three in a row for the Sun Devils gave them a 6-3 advantage, but the Trojans responded by scoring four straight to go up 7-6. From there, the two teams traded points until ASU started to pull away. Back-to-back kills from Ford made it 19-17 in favor of Arizona State. The momentum stuck with the Sun Devils for the rest of the set as they finished it with a 5-0 run to win 25-19, highlighted by two-straight blocks by Unzue and Jeremic.
It was back and forth to start the third set. An ace from Peterson gave ASU its first lead of the set at 8-7, but the home squad still could not pull away. USC went on a 4-1 run to create some space, going up 18-15. Kills from Peterson and Kovensky held off the Trojans for a few points, but the visitors held onto the lead, winning 25-19.
FREE. BALL. KILL. #NCAAVB #SCtop10
— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 19, 2018
(via @SunDevilVB) pic.twitter.com/HMLoZc7P2f
USC held onto the momentum to start the fourth set, scoring four in a row to go up 4-1. However, Arizona State responded with a 5-0 run capped off by back-to-back blocks from Jeremic to take the lead, 9-7. Three in a row for the Sun Devils, led by two kills from Ford, pushed the lead to 14-11. From there, the set was all ASU. The Sun Devils got to match point on a 10-4 run, but the Trojans fought off three in a row to make it interesting. However, Peyton Grahovac's only kill of the match won it for Arizona State, taking the set 25-18 and the match.
Peyton's ONLY KILL OF THE MATCH and it is the winning kill. ??
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 19, 2018
Arizona State beats USC for the first time since 2012 AND snaps the losing streak!! #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/7OMC4BSZqF
Arizona State finishes the regular season at home next week with matches against Stanford and in-state rival Arizona.