Freshman outside hitter Macey Gardner (12) bumps the ball to sophomore outside hitter Nora Tuioti-Mariner (1) during ASU’s 3-0 loss to No. 3 Oregon on Oct. 20. (Photo by Kyle Newman)Playing at home for the first time in two weeks, the ASU volleyball team split its games over the weekend against the two Oregon schools.
The Sun Devils (14-9, 3-7 Pac-12) defeated Oregon State on Friday night, but dropped their game to No. 3 Oregon on Saturday evening. The victory over Oregon State (13-9, 3-7 Pac-12) ended the Sun Devils’ five-game losing streak.
Friday night was “Dig Pink” night at Wells Fargo Arena, as the Sun Devils sported pink uniforms for the game against Oregon State.
The Sun Devils came out in the first set strong, playing like the team at the beginning of Pac-12 play. Lead by senior outside hitter Erica Wilson’s eight kills, ASU raced out 21-7 lead, before putting the Beavers away 25-12 to take the first set.
Wilson tallied seven more kills in the next set, with the first four ASU kills coming from her alone, and helped the Sun Devils take the set, 25-20.
In a streak of kills by ASU from the first to the second set, Wilson alone accounted for 10 of the 11 kills by the Sun Devils.
The last time the Sun Devils held a 2-0 lead heading into the break, they dropped the next three sets in a loss to Colorado. But ASU wouldn’t let that happen on their home court, as they closed out the Beavers 25-16 to sweep Oregon State and snap their losing streak.
“In Colorado and Utah, we weren’t really sure the setter was setting where Erica needed it,” coach Jason Watson said. “We weren’t sure Erica was telling her where she wanted it, so we worked on that. We did a bunch of film work.”
Sun Devils swept by No. 3 Ducks
ASU was able to keep momentum going from its win over Oregon State into the game against Oregon (18-1, 9-1 Pac-12), but couldn’t finish off the Ducks when needed.
The two teams came ready to play in the first set, with both teams making little errors in the set. But eventually, the Ducks showed why they were ranked No. 3 and scored nine straight points to close out the Sun Devils to take the first set 25-15.
It looked as if ASU was going to answer back and take the second set from Oregon when the Sun Devils held a 22-21 lead, forcing the Ducks to take a timeout. But back-to-back kills from Oregon gave them the lead again, prompting ASU to call a timeout of its own. Freshman outside hitter Macey Gardner responded with a kill of her own, knotting it up at 23-23. But late errors by ASU would prove costly as Oregon stepped into the break with a 2-0 set lead.
Set three remained a relatively close battle throughout. The Sun Devils, down early, were able to tie the game up at 12-12 behind a block by sophomore outside hitter Nora Tuioti-Mariner and junior middle blocker Alexis Pinson.
That was as close as the Sun Devils would get as they fell 25-20 to the Ducks.
“Today was a lot tougher than yesterday was,” Wilson said. “I thought we competed at a high level, we passed well, we had a lot of good digs. We just had errors that cost us the game.”
Reach the reporter at talopez3@asu.edu
