Tenth-ranked Bruins topple Sun Devil volleyball

A rollercoaster match resulted in a tough 25-17, 27-25 and 25-17 loss Saturday night for the ASU Volleyball team as they fell to the tenth-ranked UCLA Bruins in Tempe at ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils are now an even 10-10 overall and 1-6 in conference play while UCLA sits at 14-4 overall and 4-3 in the Pac.

Set one saw UCLA nearly flawless in execution as the hit an mind-boggling .514 while crushing 19 kills led by Dicey McGraw’s six and .462 hitting percentage. Margie Giordano led the attack with four kills and Marina Mercer pulled her weight with ten assists and four digs to lead ASU to their match-high of .206 hitting percentage. UCLA’s perfection was too much though as they ran off with a 25-17 win.

Set two saw ASU force 10 uncharacteristic errors out of the Bruins as the Sun Devils came storming back into the match. Six tie scores and three lead changes and Sarah Reaves dominating the net with six kills put ASU in it, but UCLA wouldn’t quit coming back from a 12-5 deficit to pull it even at 18-18 and then coming back again from 23-20 to win it in extras 27-25.

The third set saw the Sun Devils run out of steam, while UCLA’s cylinders clicked back into mode, as they hit .395 with 18 kills that ASU couldn’t compete with as the offense fell out of balance allowing the Bruins to run off with a 25-17 win and complete the sweep.

Head Coach Jason Watson recapped the match, stating, “We keep creating opportunities for ourselves, the challenge now is to create those opportunities and translate them into success.”

The Sun Devils will take road again as they head north to face the Oregon schools, taking on the Oregon Ducks in Eugene next Friday, October 24 and the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis on Saturday, October 25. Both matches will be at 7 p.m. PT.