ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils couldn’t handle Washington State in Pullman

The Arizona State Sun Devils (10-21, 0-19 Pac-12) travelled to Pullman to kick off their last two road matches of the season and dropped a four-set match to Washington State on Wednesday evening, 25-22, 25-15, 22-25 25-21.

Washington State (17-14, 6-13) rolled for most of the match. Sophomore setter Ashley Brown led the way for the Cougars, notching 54 assists in three sets.

She was helped out by the Cougars 10 total blocks in the match.

In the first set, the teams went blow-for-blow with both teams hitting better than .350.

It was the Sun Devils’ sophomore setter, Nicole Peterson, that kept ASU within an arms reach in the set. She spread the ball around well finding senior outside hitter Oluoma Okaro for a few kills, as well as junior middle block Peyton Grahovac.

The second set is where the match started to slip away. ASU only saw seven of its 31 swings hit the floor for a kill. To make matters worse, they committed five errors as well.

Then, the Sun Devils started to find their rhythm. Okaro was back at it in the third set with sophomore outside hitter Ivana Jeremic providing support. Okaro had six kills in the set and Jeremic had five.

The two would finish the match with 15 and nine kills, respectively.

It would not take long for junior outside hitter Taylor Mims and the Cougars to respond and take the final set.

Mims would finish with a team high 24 kills on 57 swings. She was joined in double-digit kills by three of her teammates.

As a unit, WSU hit .349 in the match. Converting 18 more kills than the Sun Devils.

ASU senior libero Halle Harker, who had 17 digs in the match, will have one more match to move into second all-time at ASU in digs.

She currently sits at 1,998 digs in her career, and needs 12 more to tie former libero Stephanie Preach and 13 to pass.

The match will be against Arizona in Tucson on Saturday night.