In the first matchup of the Territorial Cup Series, the ASU women’s volleyball team hosted the Arizona Wildcats. Unfortunately, the Sun Devils were unable to notch their first conference win, losing to the Wildcats (6-2) in three sets.
The matchup began with a close first set that went back and forth throughout the night.
The Sun Devils (10-2) were able to sustain a lead early in the set with the help of freshman middle blocker Megan Beedie and senior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro, however, miscommunication seemed to be ASU's downfall as they were unable to stop the Wildcats from their dominant offensive attack.
Head coach Sanja Tomasevic noted that she wasn’t surprised with the outcome of the match. ASU's focus prior to the match was to have good ball control and to serve well, two things they did not do throughout the game.
“Our ball handling tonight was not great, our contact was not great and we talked about bettering that second contact,” Tomasevic said. “I don’t think we did a good job tonight.”
Late in the first set, the Wildcats went on a 6-2 run giving them a 23-22 lead after two back-to-back attack errors by the Sun Devils.
ASU attempted a comeback with two kills, one from Beedie and the other from freshman outside hitter Griere Hughes, but the Wildcats would not allow the Sun Devils to steal the match, taking the first set 26-24.
In the second set, the Wildcats came out swinging, taking an early 3-0 lead before any scores by the Sun Devils.
ASU began to gain momentum with two back-to-back kills, allowing the team to stay within striking range. However, with each kill the Sun Devils made, the Wildcats had a response.
Sophomore outside hitter Ivana Jeremic was a driving factor for the Sun Devils in the second, with 10 kills in the set, but it was Beedie who seemed to be the biggest factor for ASU, notching nine kills on 11 attempts.
Thursday nights game was Beedie’s second career start, and she added a career high nine kills on .750 attacking.
“I felt really good, I prepared really well in practice,” Beedie said. “I had no errors which is something I’ve been working on a lot in practice."
Throughout the second set, the Sun Devils attempted a comeback, but the deficit was too large and ASU ultimately fell to the Wildcats 25-18.
Jeremic spoke about how disappointing the loss was to the team.
“We had high hopes, I mean we’re just at the beginning of the conference, but it’s not a good feeling to start like this,” Jeremic said.
The Sun Devils showed perserverance heading into the third and final set, despite beginning with an attack error by Okaro.
ASU started to make a comeback after receiving three points from attack errors by the Wildcats, which allowed them to be within striking distance.
However, Arizona once again pulled away with kills by redshirt junior blocker Jade Turner and a service ace by senior libero Kimberly Gutierrez. The Wildcats stopped any chance of an ASU comeback with a set-ending kill by redshirt freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Shelton, giving the Wildcats the third set 25-22.
“We missed five serves and had no aces, they (Arizona) missed one serve and had seven aces. When they went for it, they went for it and scored,” Tomasevic said. “You would have thought we played in their gym and not ours.”
The Sun Devils continue their Pac-12 slate on Sunday where they will compete against the No. 7 Washington Huskies at 1 p.m in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at klbroder@asu.edu or follow @KellyB1459 on Twitter.
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