The ASU volleyball team split its weekend series against the Oregon schools last weekend, keeping alive its NCAA Tournament hopes and notching its first conference road win.
The Sun Devils (13-12, 3-10) routed Oregon State on Friday evening 3-1 (25-16, 23-25, 25-20, 25-13) before falling to No. 14 Oregon 3-0 (16-25, 16-25, 20-25).
The victory over OSU was also ASU coach Jason Watson’s 100th career victory.
The match against OSU saw the Sun Devils put on arguably their best offensive performance in conference play this season. The Sun Devils entered the meeting hitting only .171 in conference play but hit .248 against the Beavers.
Junior outside hitter Sarah Reaves was on fire, recording 20 kills, 20 digs and five block assists to lead the Sun Devils, while freshman outside hitter Ashley Kastl supplied much of the secondary scoring, recording 12 kills.
Sophomore setter Cat Highmark continued her late-season improvement, recording 43 assists to set up the ASU offense.
The defense also had a stellar night, as the team had 14 total blocks and 70 digs to hold the powerful OSU offense in check.
OSU junior outside hitter Jill Sawatzky and senior outside hitter Rachel Rourke gave ASU fits when the two teams last played, with Sawatzky recording 25 kills and Rourke 23 kills. On Friday, ASU gave them fits, as Sawatzky recorded only 12 kills on a .045 hitting percentage and Rourke recorded 17 kills on a .105 hitting percentage.
As a team, the Beavers were only able to hit .067.
Senior middle blocker Paige Mittelstaedt led the team with 10 blocking assists along with seven kills for good measure, and four Sun Devils had at least four blocking assists.
Junior libero Sarah Johnson recorded 21 digs to lead the Sun Devils.
The next night, UO dominated ASU about as much as ASU had crushed OSU the night before, outscoring the Sun Devils 75-52 and hitting .280 to ASU’s .083.
The ASU offense simply never got going, as Reaves led the team with 10 kills but also had 10 errors for a .000 hitting percentage.
No other Sun Devil had more than five kills, and Mittelstaedt was the only starter to hit above .200.
As a team, ASU hit .000 in the first set to set the tone for the rest of the evening.
ASU tried to utilize a split offense to try and get something going, bringing in senior setter Marina Mercer, who recorded 11 assists in her one game.
But in the end, ASU just couldn’t record the kills necessary to win a game.
The Ducks had a banner offensive night, hitting .280 as a team and seeing four players hit above .267.
The powerful outside hitter duo of senior Sonja Newcombe and junior Heather Meyers combined for 27 kills and a .393 hitting percentage to continue their personal domination of the Sun Devils. In ASU and UO’s first meeting of the season, the duo combined for 25 kills and hit .313.
ASU’s .083 hitting percentage on the night was actually an improvement over the last time these two teams faced. Back on Oct. 9, ASU hit only .069 against the Ducks in another 3-0 loss.
Reach the reporter at kyle.glaser@asu.edu.
