The ASU volleyball team fell behind early Thursday night and never recovered, losing to No. 13 California in straight sets at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Sun Devils (6-10, 1-5) faced an uphill battle all night and could not string together any point runs to gain the momentum needed to get back into the match, dropping their fifth straight match after a promising start to the Pac-10 season 30-21, 30-20 and 30-27
"We never put things together tonight," coach Brad Saindon said. "We didn't make good plays, and we didn't have good chemistry. We're all frustrated right now."
After dropping the first two games, ASU showed some signs of life in game three.
The set was neck-in-neck when California sophomore Angie Pressey broke a 24-24 tie. ASU sophomore middle blocker Staci Smith answered with a kill out of a timeout to keep pace with the Bears.
But California finished off the Sun Devils with a 5-2 run.
ASU never led in the first game, as California jumped out to a quick 13-7 advantage. ASU rallied to tie the game at 15 by going on an 8-2 run out of a time out. But the Bears answered with a 15-6 spurt to close out the set.
The Sun Devils found themselves in a hole once again in the early stages of game two when an 8-3 Bears run put ASU at an 11-6 deficit, and it would never come closer than four points.
Junior outside hitter Nina Reeves led ASU with 14 kills on a .357 attack percentage. She said the Sun Devils' slow starts come from trouble sustaining their energy in matches.
"It's not lack of skill, it's lack of intensity," Reeves said. "It's something you have to find within yourself.
"We found it in the third game, but we always find it a little too late."
The Sun Devils were plagued by 19 attack errors, 11 service errors and eight return of serve errors.
"If we're going to win, the first thing we need to do is stop beating ourselves," Saindon said.
Life doesn't get much easier tonight as defending national champion No. 3 Stanford pays the Sun Devils a visit at 7 p.m.
Reach the reporter at derrik.miller@asu.edu.
