Beavers extend Sun Devils’ volleyball losing streak to six

By Scott Mammoser

TEMPE, Ariz. – Exactly one month after sweeping the Beavers in Corvallis, the Arizona State women’s volleyball team fell at home to Oregon State, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon.

ASU Falls to Oregon State, 3-1 at home

Someone’s losing streak needed to end, and it was Oregon State’s 11-match skid, dating back to a win on Sept. 18 against Seattle University. The Sun Devils have now lost six consecutively in the aftermath of sweeping then- No. 15 Washington, and are 13-11 and 4-8 in the Pac-12 Conference. OSU picked up its first Pac-12 win this season (1-13) and is 11-13 overall.

The Sun Devils breezed through the opening game, 25-18, before the Beavers won both the second- and third sets by four points, 25-21. In the fourth, a late five-point lead was reduced to one on a Maddy Gravley service ace. Five-straight points put OSU in the driver’s seat, and Haylie Bennett killed the winner at 25-22 for the Beavers’ first win in more than a month.

“We had chances to close it, and they wanted it more than we did,” ASU coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “We came on strong. I told them between the first and second sets, we did the same thing against Colorado (lost 3-1 last week), and they’re not going to back off. In the first set, we were getting blocked, but recovered a lot of balls. In the second set, that stopped.”

Carmen Unzue, the senior middle blocker from Madrid, led the Sun Devils with 12 kills.

“We knew what we had to do, but for some reason we hesitate,” Unzue said. “We want to see the future, and we don’t focus on the present, we want to see us winning, but we just missed our point. I was confident throughout the whole match. I was open to changes and refocusing, and I think that is what is lacking on our team. If we try something that doesn’t work, we need to calm down and try something else. There is no need to rush.”

Amy Underdown led all players with 17 kills for the Beavers, while Maddie Goings collected 10.

ASU will be at the now- No. 21 Huskies at 7 p.m. on Friday, the beginning of a four-match road swing, and returns home on November 16 against No. 20 UCLA. OSU will host UCLA on Friday night. Nationally, BYU (20-0) is ranked first overall, followed by Stanford, Minnesota, Penn State, and Pittsburgh- also undefeated at 22-0 from the ACC.

Coach Tomasevic also elaborated on the larger perspective of things with her players and losing after the match.

“We’re not just coaches, we teach them life lessons,” she said. “If you fail your project, as a person in the work force once or twice, you might have a conversation with your supervisor, but the fourth or fifth time, you’re not having any conversations. You’re gone, and there is someone else coming in.”