It’s not enough to start well.
Every player knows they have to finish the game just as strong.
After allowing Washington State to come back from a 2-0 hole on Friday, ASU was swept by No. 4 Washington in front of a home crowd on Sunday.
The Sun Devils (4-9) began their first game soundly during their Friday matchup against WSU (9-5).
After the team emerged with a 4-0 lead in the first set with the help of some hard serves by redshirt sophomore libero Caitlyn Murphy, the Sun Devils kept their foot on the gas, winning the first game 25-18.
“If you start strong and start at a fast pace, the other team is going to get frantic,” sophomore setter Sarah McGaffin said.
The Cougars made the Sun Devils work for the victory in set two.
Top offensive threats, ASU sophomore Ashley Kastl and WSU senior outside hitter Meagan Ganzar went toe-to-toe all night. Both players attacked the net, trading spikes and blocks.
Near the end of the second game the score was tied 24-24. McGaffin threw the Cougars off-balance when she faked a set, throwing it down court for a point. Junior middle blocker Erica Wilson aced the next serve to claim the set, 26-24.
The Sun Devils looked like they were going to sweep the match in game three, until WSU came alive after a timeout.
The Cougars capitalized on four ASU errors to fight back and help them win set three 25-23.
“We didn’t handle that very well,” Watson said. “I think that we fragmented a little bit in game three.”
The Cougars brought momentum in the fourth set and controlled the game early.
When WSU were up 15-9, Watson subbed in sophomore outside hitter Danica Mendivil.
Mendivil had five kills and one block to bring ASU within three points at 17-14.
But it was too little, too late. The Cougars pushed the match to five sets, winning 25-19 and tied the match at 2-2.
The fifth game was a thriller. The Cougars were up 14-12 and the ball was in Ganzar’s hands for game point. The Sun Devils answered with a Wilson kill to keep themselves alive.
But on the final play, the Cougars responded with a spike, and the Sun Devils lost the set 15-13. WSU won the match 3-2 after being down two games to none.
ASU freshman outside hitter Nora Tuioti-Mariner had 17 kills and an impressive .438 hitting percentage in the match.
The leader offensively for WSU was Ganzar.
“She had thirty kills so we didn’t do a very good job,” Watson said. “I thought we had some success on her early, but not late and that speaks to the caliber of her.”
Sun Devils swept by Huskies
The Sun Devils then moved on to face fourth-ranked Washington.
Watson shook up the lineup at the start of the match, starting freshman setter Shannan McCready for the first time.
“I was actually really nervous,” McCready said. “I thought when we actually were in system we did pretty good, we got some good kills on the outside. We just weren’t in system very much.”
ASU started off to a slow start against UW. The Huskies were led by senior middle blocker Bianca Rowland who had eight kills and a .353 hitting percentage in the match. The Huskies went on to win 25-13.
Watson said that the reason his team struggled was poor ball movement.
“Because of our passing we couldn’t get anything going with the middles,” Watson said.
The Sun Devils came out in the second set with more energy and jumped out to 15-11 lead.
Then the Huskies went on an eight point scoring run and grabbed the second set 25-20.
Watson said that the Sun Devils have had a problem with sustaining leads all year.
“We had this nice lead in game two and we couldn’t close it out,” Watson said. “It gets to be this reoccurring theme for us. We got to play better longer.”
Washington pulled away in the third set, finishing with another 25-13 win and the sweep.
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
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