Adversity, losing streaks, and struggles are common aspects of a season for many teams. How each team responds to such obstacles determines those who are successful.
The response from the ASU volleyball team is yet to be seen heading into the third weekend of conference play.
The Sun Devils (5-10, 0-3 Pac-10) are mired in a four-match losing streak and remain winless in the Pac-10 Conference. ASU is coming off a disappointing 0-3 sweep courtesy of rival UA on Oct. 1.
“It was a hard lesson that we had to learn again,” junior outside hitter Malia Marquardt said. “We’ve definitely taken it to heart that we need to step up, all of us. It doesn’t have to just be one single person; it has to be all of us.”
The Sun Devils are determined to step up when they travel north to Oregon to compete in a pair of conference matches against No. 13 Oregon and Oregon State.
The Ducks (14-2, 2-2 Pac-10) return to Eugene after conference bouts against No. 1 Stanford and No. 8 California. Similar to ASU, UO was handed losses from both teams.
UO looks to rebound from its difficult road trip when it returns to McArthur Court, where the Ducks have seven consecutive victories.
ASU coach Jason Watson expects UO to compete at its usual high level at home.
“Oregon went to the Bay Area, and of course the Bay Area is not kind,” Watson said. “I thought they competed well. That’s a tough road trip. As most schools, they are comfortable in their own gym so they are going to play logically better in their own gym.”
Prior to the two losses in California, the Ducks set a school record with a 14-match winning streak to open the season.
If ASU wants to put an end to UO’s home winning streak, it must control the Ducks’ strong offensive attack.
“We need to ensure that we are on task,” Watson said. “Their offense is so thoroughly balanced, but they do lots of different things with it. We have to be on task to be able to defend that.”
On Saturday, ASU heads to Corvallis, Ore. to face off with OSU. The Beavers (8-10, 1-3 Pac-10) are led by senior outside hitter Jill Sawatzky, who will look to put points on the board early and often.
Sawatzky currently ranks fourth on the Pac-10 active career kills list with 1,301.
ASU and OSU split the 2009 season series with the Sun Devils beating OSU in Corvallis, 3-1.
With the conference schedule only going to get harder, the Sun Devils know it’s “now or never” if they want any shot at postseason play.
“We are excited to get back on the road,” senior outside hitter Sarah Reaves said. “Knowing that we can’t afford any winless weekends, it puts that extra importance on our games the rest of the season. It hit everybody that we really have to get after it. It’s not just in Oregon this weekend, it starts here in practice.”
Practice is where the Sun Devils have prepared extensively for this weekend’s matches.
“We have to prepare better than we have been,” Watson said. “I didn’t think we prepared well for Cal. I didn’t think we prepared as well for Arizona and clearly we prepared really quite nicely for Stanford. I hope we are preparing with that degree of focus, and that’s what we are going to need to have to do for Oregon and Oregon State.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
