Hockey
This weekend will go down as a cornerstone moment in the history of the Sun Devil hockey program, but that wasn't clear until the final moment of the weekend.
ASU welcomed No. 2 Minnesota to Mullett arena for a two-game clash, which saw the Sun Devils lose a grueling 3-2 affair in game one.
Junior forward Dylan Jackson tallied the Sun Devils' first in the second period, cutting Minnesota's lead in half on a tip-in.
Late in the third, ASU once again cut the Gophers lead in half when freshman forward Ryan Alexanderwilled the puck across the line to make it 3-2. However, the Devils could not find an equalizer.
Night two got off to a much faster start for ASU, with Alexander getting right back where he left off the night prior, putting the Sun Devils up 1-0 early.
Minnesota put two on the board heading into the first intermission, but a five-goal second period awaited the two teams.
Three of those five came from the Sun Devils, with graduate forward Demetrios Koumontzis, junior forward Ty Jackson, and Alexander scoring for ASU.
The Golden Gophers took a 5-4 lead in the third period, but Dylan Jackson made sure Saturday's game saw overtime, finding the equalizer late in the third for ASU to make it 5-5.
In a back-and-forth overtime, the Sun Devils captain and sophomore forward Josh Doan found senior forward Robert Mastrosimone on the breakaway, where the transfer from Boston University found the back of the net to beat Minnesota 6-5 in overtime.
The win is the program's highest-ranked win in the Greg Powers era.
ASU now travels to Denver to take on the No. 1 team in the country, the Denver Pioneers.
Volleyball
In its final week of play, ASU volleyball played Utah and UA. ASU was coming off a win against Cal, where the team split sets and won through the attack in the last set.
ASU started the match against Utah with momentum, taking an early 6-2 lead. Junior outside hitter Marta Levinska and sophomore outside hitter Geli Cyr, cumulatively, had three kills within the first five points of the game. The attack did not stop there as senior outside hitter Iman Isanovic added two kills to further the lead, 9-5. Levinska followed with another four kills for the Sun Devils.
Utah started to come back at 15-15, but junior middle blocker Claire Jeter changed the pace of the game. Jeter had three kills to keep the Sun Devils in the lead, followed by another kill from Levinska. ASU allowed Utah to come back, even take the lead at 24-23. Levinska scored two kills in a row giving ASU the first match win 26-25.
The second set was more back-and-forth for the Sun Devils. At 15-14, ASU took the lead and maintained a distance from Utah. ASU ended the match with a kill from junior outside hitter Roberta Rabelo. ASU won 25-18.
Utah took an early lead in the third set and did not allow the Sun Devils to respond. And although ASU started to find holes in Utah’s defense through kills from Rabelo and Jeter, the Sun Devils could not create any opportunities to take the lead. ASU lost the third set 25-22.
ASU started the fourth set with a lead over Utah at 9-7. Levinska scored two kills, with additional kills from Rabelo and Isanovic, which put ASU in a strong lead of 19-13. ASU ended with yet another kill from Levinska and won the game 25-17 and won the match 3-1.
After the win against Utah, ASU played rival UA in the final match of the season.
Isanovic led the attack against UA in the first set, with three kills in the first five points. ASU continued the attack with kills from Levinska and an ace from Cyr. The Sun Devils and Wildcats found themselves tied at 21-21 until Isanovic, Levinska and senior setter Shannon Shields ended the game with kills. ASU won 25-23.
ASU could not take the lead in the second set until 11-10, with a kill from Levinska. UA had several attack errors which allowed ASU to take a concrete lead. Levinska and Jeter led the attack in this set, which brought the Sun Devils a win 25-23.
ASU started the third set strong with a kill from Isanovic and errors from UA. The Wildcats mounted a strong set of points and ASU could not cut the deficit and lost 25-23.
UA started the fourth set strong with a seven-point lead. ASU attempted to come back with kills from Isanovic, Levinska and junior middle blocker Claudia Stahlke, but could not put enough points on the board. ASU lost 25-19.
The last set was difficult for both teams as neither could take the lead. Levinska earned three kills within the first five points of the match, allowing the Sun Devils to tie 5-5. The lead continued to alternate until UA scored three points in a row, making the score 11-7. ASU answered with back-to-back kills from Isanovic and Levinska. Junior setter Ella Synder tied the set with an ace at 11-11. ASU made three errors in the last four points of the game to lose the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.
Edited by Kathryn Field, David Rodish and Luke Chatham.
Reach the reporters at jeigo@asu.edu and sstaple5@asu.edu and follow @JosephEigo on Twitter.
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