For the second game in a row, the ASU women's volleyball team (10-5) took on a ranked Pac-12 opponent. The Sun Devils traveled to Stanford, California to take on No. 2 Stanford (10-2) and fell 3-0.
The Sun Devils showed promise against the top-ranked Cardinal, tying things up at one point in the first and third set, however, they were unable to gather enough energy to take a substantial lead.
In the opening set, it was all Stanford, as the Cardinal was able to get the majority of its points through Sun Devil errors. At one point late in the set, Stanford was able to go on a 6-0 run off of two blocks, a ball handling error by ASU and three back-to-back aces.
From that point on in the set, the Sun Devils were never able to recover. Their deficit, a whopping 13 points, was too large to overcome. They would fall to the Cardinal, 25-12 before heading into the second set.
The second set of the night proved to be more competitive for the Sun Devils. In the beginning of the period, the Sun Devils showed more energy, and through the likes of senior middle blocker Oluoma Okaro and sophomore setter Nicole Peterson, were able to take a 5-4 lead.
Unforced errors would bring the Sun Devils into a deficit once again, followed by kills from Stanford’s freshman outside hitter Meghan McClure and sophomore outside hitter Kathryn Plummer.
The Sun Devils would fight back with a kill from Okaro and freshman outside hitter Griere Hughes, but with every attempt that they would make to start a comeback, the Cardinal would respond with two more points. With an ace to end the set, Stanford took the second set 25-18.
In the third and final set of the night, the Sun Devils showed an immense amount of fight up through the final moments.
Senior outside hitter Isabel Miller was an important driving factor in that hustle after being substituted in late in the set. The Sun Devils remained close with the Cardinal, not falling behind by more than three points at any given time.
ASU was able to tie things up multiple times throughout the third set with the help of junior opposite hitter Peyton Grahovac who notched in an important kill followed by an attack error by Cardinal sophomore middle blocker Audriana Fitzmorris.
Despite getting another blow from Stanford, the Sun Devils were able to tie once more with a kill by Miller, assisted by Peterson. However the Cardinal’s proved to be too powerful for the Sun Devils, as their night was ended following two kills by Plummer and McClure once again.
The Sun Devils would lose the final set 26-24.
Stanford’s Plummer led the team with 13 kills while Grahovac led the Sun Devils with eight.
Head coach Sanja Tomasevic spoke after the game.
"We unfortunately were slow out of the gate and struggled to catch our footing in that opening set," Tomasevic said. "I felt like we progressed and improved as the match wore on. Credit to Stanford, as they are a well-coached, high caliber team. Ultimately, we plan on learning from our mistakes in tonight's outing and incorporating that in our preparation for California on Friday."
The Sun Devils will continue their trip down the California coast with a game against Cal on Friday at 7 p.m.
Reach the reporter at klbroder@asu.edu or follow @KellyB1459 on Twitter.
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