ASU (2-7) came off a tough weekend, dropping four of five in South Carolina and fell again Wednesday to Nebraska (2-2) 3-2.
With the 2016 NCAA Championship as the long-term goal, The Sun Devils are focused on gaining experience within pairings and as a whole team.
“Our goal is to continue to find ways to better ourselves as coaches and athletes,” head coach Jason Watson said. “Competition against great teams, while hard, gives us a better idea of where we need to go in preparation for the sport getting an NCAA Championship in 2016.”
Wednesday night was a perfect opportunity for the Sun Devils to get their first home win this season because they have less experience than Nebraska this season, and they just weren’t able to walk away with a win.
Sun Devil junior Whitney Follette and freshman Halle Harker, ASU’s No. 4’s, were the first to fall to Nebraska.
They put up a good fight but just couldn’t get past junior Cecilia Hall and freshman Annika Albrecht, losing in two sets 21-18 and 21-17. Being only one of two pairs to win multiple matches last weekend, the two ended Wednesday 4-5.
ASU’s No. 2 pair, graduate student Bethany Jorgensen and senior Jordy Checkal, were paired with sophomore Melanie Keil and junior Amber Rolfzen.
The Huskers took the first set 21-16 but the Sun Devils responded with dominating second set 21-14, to force a third. Jorgensen and Checkal came out hot and won the third set 15-13 and match to tie ASU up 1-1. With Wednesday’s win, the two Sun Devils are 3-6.
ASU freshman Frances Giedraitis and junior Andi Lowrance were able pull ASU ahead 2-1 after defeating the other No. 5 pair, sophomore Kira Larson and junior Kelsey Fien in three sets.
The Sun Devils defeated the Huskers 21-14 in the first set, but the Huskers came back with a 21-13 second set win, and Giedraitis and Lowrance finished them off with a 15-13 final win.
Giedraitis and Lowrance were only able to get one win over in South Carolina last weekend, so with Wednesday’s win they are 3-6 this season.
Nebraska tied it up as its No. 3’s, junior Kadie Rolfzen and redshirt freshman Kelly Hunter, defeated sophomore Kizzy Willey and freshman Sydney Palmer in two sets 21-11 and 21-12, leaving them 4-5 so far this season.
This left the last match up to the current ASU sand volleyball dream team juniors Bianca Arellano and Macey Gardner. These two dominated in South Carolina, winning every match.
“They are really playing well, Watson said. “I really like the way they are preparing for matches and the level of communication between them as a pairing.”
Arellano and Gardner came back from a strong weekend and couldn’t push past Nebraska sophomore Justine Wong-Orantes and junior Alicia Ostrander. The No.1 pairs had a close first set 23-21, but the Huskers finished them off with a 21-12 second set for the match win.
With Arellano and Gardner’s incredible previous weekend, they still have the best record on the team going 6-3.
The Huskers pulled away at the end to defeat the Sun Devils 3-2.
ASU will continue their weekend Thursday night at 6 p.m. against the Boise State Broncos.
Reach the reporter at kewens@asu.edu or follow @katlynewens on Twitter.
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