No. 5 Stanford's high-powered offense overwhelmed the ASU volleyball team (13-11) Thursday night, leading to a sweep (25-16, 25-23, 25-10).
Freshman outside hitter Iman Isanovic and junior outside hitter Andrea Mitrovic led the Sun Devils with six kills apiece.
Junior outside hitter Claire Kovensky provided five kills for ASU.
The Sun Devils got off to a slow start in the first set, surrendering a 4-0 surge out of the gate. The Cardinal produced four runs of 3-0 or greater and won the first set on a 8-3 burst.
After two early 3-0 runs from Stanford to start the second set, ASU crawled back to tie it at 22 late. But ASU couldn't sustain momentum long enough, as Stanford closed out the set on a kill from Natalie Berty.
The Cardinal dominated the third set, as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back. A 7-0 surge to end the set handed the Sun Devils their second straight shutout loss. They were unable to contain a Cardinal offense that hit 48% in the set.
Stanford hit 35% in the match while ASU hit just 7.8%, a season-worst mark.
Senior libero Courtney Leffel said the major breakdowns defensively came down to staying engaged, a problem the team has shown throughout the season.
"We have the physical ability, we just have a lot of growing up to do," Leffel said. "I believe every person on this team is capable of doing their job, just, it's a choice."
Head coach Sanja Tomasevic noted the team tends to not take charge and own their mistakes, instead choosing to blame others for a poor performance like Thursday's.
"It's been a big challenge to just get them to own it," Tomasevic said. "Stop running away from your mistakes. Love them, embrace them, fix them."
Next, ASU will play No. 20 Cal in Tempe Sunday Nov. 10 at 12:00 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at jhorst2@asu.edu and follow @HorseySeven on Twitter.
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Jeffrey Horst is the digital editor-in-chief of The State Press. He previously served as the publication's sports editor and worked at Cronkite News and ArizonaSports.com.
