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Sun Devils Compete With No. 7 Stanford In 3-1 Loss

by thesundevils.com
Oct 16, 2022

TEMPE, Ariz. — Sun Devil Volleyball took the first set from No. 7 Stanford before dropping the next three to fall 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-16) in Desert Financial Arena on Sunday. 

Notable Stats

  • Arizona State (9-11, 3-5 Pac-12) and Stanford (12-4, 7-1 Pac-12) battled toe to toe in the first two sets, seeing 23 ties and 11 lead changes in just those sets. However, the Cardinal took charge in the latter two frames to get the win.
  • Junior outside hitter Roberta Rabelo surpassed her season high from Friday by earning 12 kills on a .345 clip, which was the best hitting percentage in the match among all pin hitters. 
  • Another Sun Devil in double figures in kills was senior Iman Isanovic with 13 to lead all players. She also had eight digs and two blocks.
  • Leading the Sun Devil defense were senior libero Annika Larson-Nummer with 14 and sophomore Geli Cyr with 11. Larson-Nummer has reached double figures in digs in eight of the last nine matches, including the last five in a row.
  • Senior setter Shannon Shields had 34 assists and a near double-double with nine digs. She reached exactly 1,000 career assists today.
  • A couple from ASU earned new career highs in blocks. Leading in blocks today was sophomore middle blocker Andi Kreiling with six, a new personal best for her. Freshman opposite Leah Miller had a career-high four blocks in the match. Both of them also had five kills each.

Quotes
Arizona State Head Coach Sanja Tomasevic
Opening Statement 
"I'm really proud of the way we fought. I thought it was a good game. We played well. If that second set would have finished a little differently I think we would've had a whole different ball game. They're a really good team. They're ready to execute. I love how we showed up. I love how we fought. I thought Leah [Miller] and [Roberta Rabelo] had a really good match tonight." 

On what the team learned:
"I think they've learned that if they fight for each and every point, they're going to like the outcome. That's what I told them before the match. Being composed and executing the assignment is what I mean by fighting. We need to make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, and I thought we did a good job of that. One thing I would like for us to do better is when things don't go our way or when we miss the assignment, is to move on and think about the next play. We kind of hold things in for too long, so that makes it easier for our opponent. I would like us to let go of things a little bit faster."

On Leah Miller's Growth:
"She was awesome. What I loved about the way she played was that she knew what her job was. She owned it. She did a good job of not being stubborn and getting hurt on tough swings. She blocked well. Overall for a freshman, it was nice to have her step in. Obviously we miss Marta [Levinska], but she filled in big shoes. It's kind of nice to have Leah do the job she did for us today." 

On how Roberta Rabelo played:
"I'm so proud of her. [Roberta] has been working really hard in practice. She ended up hitting higher than any pin on the court. I'm super proud of her. She's been working really hard, and it's so cool to see that hard work pay off. She brings a ton of fire to the team. She's a good teammate. It's just super fun to see that work pay off for her after all of these years."

Junior Outside Hitter Roberta Rabelo
On seeing her hard work pay off on the court:
"For me, I think I've been working really hard in the weight room and on the court and off of the court. But the main thing is my team. We always support each other, we're always there (for each other), our staff is always there to support and give us the energy and the feedback. I've been working really hard, but also my team always has my back. So I really appreciate every single one of them."

On the learning experience from today's game:
"Stanford is a really good team. They served really tough today. They kept playing aggressive and unfortunately it wasn't the result we wanted. But we're gonna keep working hard, keep working on our team as a whole. Keep the composure, because that is something that we've been working on. And like I said, Stanford is a really good team. And it was really good to play with them and keep our level up."

Set One: ASU 25, Stanford 22
Kreiling's first big play was a solo block to tie the set at three, helping the Sun Devils get four straight on the board to propel them to their first lead of the set. A 46-second rally that saw each side play the ball seven times rewarded Miller a point to make it 6-5, ASU. Isanovic ended Stanford's 3-0 run after smashing a kill past the hands of two Cardinal blockers, which inspired four unanswered from the Sun Devils for a 15-12 lead. Stanford earned four of the next five to tie it at 16, before Kreiling gave ASU the lead again. The Cardinal took the lead at 20-19, urging the Sun Devils to call a timeout. ASU got six of the next eight points, including back-to-back blocks from Kreiling to get the win at 25-22..

Set Two: Stanford 25, ASU 23
Stanford jumped to a 7-3 lead, but ASU began to creep back, as Rabelo's kill made it 9-7.. A full-fledged force to take a stake in the set came during the string of plays that consisted of two Isanovic kills, a Kreiling kill and a bad set and error from Stanford, to make it a 13-all set. ASU took a 16-15 lead on back-to-back errors from Stanford. ASU fell behind, calling for a timeout, which again rejuvenated the side, getting three straight and taking the 20-19 lead on an Isanovic kill. At 21-20 for ASU, the Sun Devils suffered an offensive drought, only adding one more kill as the Cardinal put past six of the last eight to even out the sets.

Set Three: Stanford 25, ASU 16
Three errors and a kill from Kreiling put the Sun Devils in a good position early; however, they fell behind 11-4 with some tough serving from the Cardinal. Isanovic and Rabelo notched a pair of kills and Miller added one, but the team still faced a deficit of eight. The Sun Devils got their last three points with Stanford at set point, but a Cardinal kill would conclude the third.

Set Four: Stanford 25, ASU 16
The second set started close as kills from Miller and Rabelo gave ASU the lead at 8-7. Errors on two occasions put the Sun Devils within one, but they were unable to string together a run. Kreiling's kill gave ASU their last score within one, as Stanford went on a 4-0 run to separate themselves for the rest of the set. Two more Stanford errors kept the set within three, but another 4-0 run put the set at a difficult 20-13 scoreline. The Cardinal would close it out, 25-16.
 

Up Next
Arizona State will head to Washington for matchups against the No. 15 Washington Huskies on Friday at 6 p.m. MST and the Washington State Cougars on Sunday at 11 a.m. MST.

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