ASU Volleyball: Sun Devils fall in five sets at Oregon State

Arizona State (1-6) had Oregon State (2-5) on the ropes during the two team’s meeting on Friday afternoon in Corvallis.

Up six points at one point and up 2-1 in the match, the Sun Devils were looking to close things out against the Beavers. Oregon State had other plans, though.

Two scoring runs from OSU narrowed the gap, forcing the teams to be knotted up going into the set point. The Beavers took the fourth set, then went on to close things out in the to defeat ASU 3-2.

The game marked the third time this season that the Sun Devils have lost a game in five. In a conference where so many games come down to the wire, Thursday’s matchup just fell through ASU’s finger tips.

In the opening sets, the Sun Devils got off to a hot start, winning the first and third by scores of 28-26 and 25-18.

As for individual performances, freshman outside hitter Marta Levinska once again put up a strong outing, recording a new career-high in kills with 20 (also a game-high) and had six digs and four blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Iman Isanovic was right behind her counterpart, also putting up 16 kills and 12 digs for a double-double, while sophomore libero Annika Larson helped set up the offense with 26 digs.

The effort was strong but unfortunately for ASU, one of the issues for the team was returning serves. Oregon State had 12 aces, including four from OSU libero Grace Massey.

Additionally, similar to ASU’s underclassmen stars with Levinska and Isanovic, the Beavers had two young standouts of their own, as the freshmen tandem of Mychael Vernon and Aliyah McDonald had big days.

Vernon had a double-double with 18 kills and 16 digs, and McDonald had 15 kills for the Beavers to snatch a victory from ASU in Corvallis.

The Sun Devils will look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon for game two between the two teams.