The Wildcats’ first road victory was not meant to be as they lost to Arizona State at Desert Financial Arena on March 7 in five sets by scores of 28-26, 25-12, 16-25, 22-25 and 10-15.
Arizona got off to a strong start, with much of the energy coming from outside hitter Sofia Maldonado Diaz and middle blocker Merle Weidt. Maldonado Diaz had six kills and an ace serve, while Weidt had two kills and a block assist. The first set went into extras but three consecutive serving errors from ASU set the Wildcats up for victory.
The second set was no contest. The Wildcats opened a scoring frenzy that saw them up 11-2. The lead ballooned as high as 23-9. Libero Kamaile Hiapo had back-to-back serving aces, middle blocker Zyonna Fellows was getting kills and setter Emery Herman was everywhere dishing out assists. The Wildcats were having fun and they were embarrassing ASU on their home court.
This lit a fire under the Sun Devils. After the 25-12 beating they took in the second set, the match was never the same.
The Wildcats looked flat in the third set. They committed multiple serving and attack errors and gave up four serving aces to ASU. Sun Devil Marta Levinska took the Wildcats down on her own. Levinska posted a huge line of six kills, two blocks and a serving ace. Arizona had no answers as they took a beating of their own.
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The fourth set was even uglier. The Wildcats committed two blocking errors and 11 attack errors, with outside hitter Paige Whipple committing three attack errors in a row. Sun Devil Iman Isanovic brought the hurt this set with five kills. ASU had the Wildcats mentally defeated heading into the fifth set.
After ASU jumped out to a 3-0 in the fifth and final set there was not much Arizona could do except watch as their rivals celebrated a victory that should have been theirs. This loss brings the Wildcats road record to 0-7.
Arizona heads home to face Colorado for two matches in McKale Center on Friday, March 12, and Sunday, March 14.
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