The ASU volleyball team left Northern California empty-handed for the fourth consecutive year Friday.
The Sun Devils dropped a pair of matches in straight sets to No. 4 Stanford and No. 18 California to fall to 7-17 overall and 2-12 in the Pac-10.
ASU's best effort came against California Friday, taking the Bears to extra points before losing 31-29, 30-17 and 32-30.
"Our match against Cal may have been our best match this year," ASU coach Brad Saindon said. "It could have gone either way. We just made a couple mistakes down the stretch."
Trailing 29-28 in the first game, the Sun Devils fended off the Bears' set point to tie the score on a kill by freshman outside hitter Margie Giordano. But California closed out the game on consecutive ASU errors.
The Sun Devils never recovered in the second game, losing 30-17.
"We didn't play bad in the second game," Saindon said. "If anything, the first game energized us, but Cal is a great team and they just stepped it up and played really well."
But ASU rebounded and led for most of game three. The Sun Devils built a 15-10 advantage on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Kristin Trayser, who was playing in place of Nicole Morton, who was ill.
California rallied to tie the set at 19 on a service ace by Samantha Carter. The game was back and forth from there with eight ties and four lead changes.
ASU went ahead 28-26 on another kill by Trayser, but the Bears battled back to knot the game at 30, and took the lead on a combination block by Jenna Brown and Ellen Orchard. California closed out the match on one of Morgan Beck's match-high 16 kills.
"It's hard on us because we played so hard and so well," Saindon said. "We just don't have that confidence to close out close games."
ASU sophomore libero Sydney Donahue led all players with 37 digs.
The Sun Devils also lost to Stanford 30-25, 30-21 and 30-24 Thursday. ASU never got on track, playing from behind the entire match.
"We weren't as good against Stanford as we were the next night against Cal," Saindon said. "Anything less than our best against Stanford is not going to be enough."
Reach the reporter at derrik.miller@asu.edu.
