ASU Volleyball: No. 8 Washington bests Sun Devils in tight contest

Arizona State volleyball (1-1) took a top tier team in Washington (1-1) to the limit on Saturday. After a victory on Friday, the Sun Devils fell 3-1 to the Huskies (24-26, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25).

“Tough loss, but we never really found our groove in tonight’s match. We lost a serve receive battle and that’s the one you have to win if you want to win at this level,” Arizona State coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “Washington did a great job adjusting to some of the things we did well last night, so props to them. They are a team that has experienced players with Elite Eight kind of experience and you can’t teach that.”

“I am super proud of our team and the way we played against a great opponent on the road. This is a young group and we will have some amazing games and some not so great ones due to the lack of experience and discipline. But I guarantee you it will never be because we don’t want it or because we don’t play hard. We get two days off and return back to the practice on Tuesday to get ready for another tough opponent next week.”

Underclassmen shined once again for Arizona State in Saturday’s second game. Sophomore Iman Isanovic led the team in kills with 16.

Freshman Marta Levinska earned her first double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs. Fellow freshmen Ella Snyder had 37 assists and Rabelo Roberta had her first significant action as she gave Arizona State nine kills.

The first set went to Washington, and was probably one that Arizona State wanted back. The two teams never created separation from one another, but the Sun Devils got to a two-point lead and set point. Then Washington went on a 4-0 run to earn the comeback set win.

Arizona State was the better team in set two, but it was close. The Sun Devils were up by nine at one point after an 8-0 run to make it 18-9. The Huskies made Arizona State earn it the hard way, battling back before ASU closed it out 25-23.

Washington took the final two sets. Set three went 25-21 for the Huskies and led the entire way after taking a 6-5 lead. Set four had a similar pace to the second.

Washington was up by six at one point before the Sun Devils pushed back for a tie, but in the end Washington finished out a hard-fought victory.

ASU returns home for a two-game series against Washington State on Thursday and Saturday.