ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall after USC comeback

Arizona State volleyball (8-10, 1-6 Pac-12) came out the gate firing on all cylinders. Took advantage of USC (8-8, 4-3) miscues and found an early rhythm. The Sun Devils appeared to be headed toward a sweep, but it fell apart. USC rattled off three straight set wins to reverse sweep ASU and win 3-2 (19-25, 19-25, 25-13, 25-21, 16-14) on Friday.

“We started off really strong, I thought we were going to be done in three sets. But then the wheels just fell off,” Arizona State coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “I think in the first set [USC] made a lot of mistakes, and we let them get in a rhythm. Then the fifth set is always a game on its own, I think we had three missed serves and they had none. I’m proud of our girls, they keep fighting and we will get ours.”

The fifth set woes plagued the Sun Devils again. USC, which had all the momentum, took an early 7-3 lead. However, much like they have all season the Sun Devils fought, and Tomasevic came through with a successful challenge that reversed a game point for USC. Arizona State evened the score at 14, but the Trojans finally pulled away.

Marta Levinska and Iman Isanovic each hit really well and combined for 32 kills. The pairing and the rest of the Sun Devils will try to turn it around against UCLA on Sunday.