ASU volleyball overcome by No. 5 USC

By foxsports
Published

LOS ANGELES -- The Arizona State volleyball team was dealt a 3-1 loss by fifth-ranked USC on Sunday at the Galen Center. The Sun Devils fell in set scores of 17-25, 25-23, 20-25, 23-25.
 
ASU is now 13-6 overall and 2-4 in the Pac-12, while USC is 16-2 overall and 4-2 in conference.
 
In the opening frame, ASU fell behind 7-12 in the early going and took both timeouts by the 8-16 point. Arizona State tried to answer during a three-point streak that had kills from Nora Tuioti-Mariner and Macey Gardner sandwiching a block assist from Allison Palmer and Whitney Follette that made it 13-21, but USC finished the frame 17-25,
 
In the second, the Sun Devils opened with an 8-6 advantage with help from a pair of kills by Gardner. The Trojans tallied their first lead at 8-9 but ASU quickly responded by taking command of the board, 10-9. Using momentum from four-consecutive points, Arizona State built its largest cushion by that point, 18-13. Holding on to a two-point edge through the remainder of the stanza allowed ASU to even the tilt at 1-1 after taking the second set 25-23 behind the final kill from Tuioti-Mariner.
 
The third set opened with four ties and three lead changes before ASU grabbed a two-point hold from back-to-back kills by Tuioti-Mariner and Gardner, 6-4. Wilson kept the Devils in it after four kills dug ASU out of a brief hole and to take back a lead, 13-12. After working from behind 15-20, Follette put up a pair of kills and teamed up with Tuioti-Mariner for a block assist to cut the USC lead to 18-21. The Trojans hung on in the final points to take a 2-1 lead on a set score of 20-25.
 
Wilson came out swinging in the fourth, recording three of her 19 kills on the night by the 6-7 mark. Working tandem, Gardner and Follette recorded consecutive kills followed shortly later by a pair of Wilson kills to make it 16-17 and back USC into a timeout.  The Devil rally kept the match close at 23-24 with late kills from Gardner and Wilson, but USC edged by for the set 19-25 and match 3-1.