Arizona State’s season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 3-1 loss to Texas A&M

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE – On Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Arizona State found itself in a position it hadn’t often been in during the 2024 season: trailing. 

Down 2-1 heading into the fourth set, after looking like a lost team for most of the match, the Sun Devils found something within themselves and were leading the Aggies 20-17. It looked like Arizona State was going to find a way to force a fifth set. 

The Aggies had other plans. After calling a timeout Texas A&M took advantage of a weak hit over the net from Arizona State graduate setter Argentina Ung, who dumped the ball over the right to Texas A&M senior defensive specialist Ellee Stinson. After nice passing, Aggies junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth was able to record a kill, smashing the ball right into Ung who picked up a blocking error, changing the tides of the set. 

The very next point was more of the same. Texas A&M took advantage of weak ASU attacking attempts before finishing off the rally with a kill from the team leader in that category, junior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky. Suddenly A&M was back in the set with momentum on its side and it was Arizona State’s turn to call a timeout and try to stop the bleeding. 

Unfortunately for the No. 3 seed Arizona State Sun Devils (30-3, 17-1 Big 12) the No. 6 seed Texas A&M Aggies (21-7, 10-6 SEC) didn’t let off the gas. Lednicky came out of the timeout recording another kill, furthering the 8-2 run the Aggies went on to close out the fourth set, leading to the Sun Devils getting upset on their home turf of Desert Financial Arena (19-25, 25-22, 15-25, 22-25). 

“We talk a lot about having ultimate belief and trust in each other,” Hellmuth said. “I think that shows when we’re down in a fourth set, (to) come back with so much fight.”

Arizona State’s historic 2024 season ended in just the second round of the tournament, and it came by way of Texas A&M doing to Arizona State what Arizona State had done to other teams all year long. The Aggies were able to extend rallies and take advantage of weak and desperate attacking attempts before recording a rally-ending kill. 

“With (Arizona State’s) fast offense, there’s going to be some mess-ups or misconnects,” Hellmuth said. “We had a big focus on every time we get one of those, every time they have to tip a ball over, roll a ball over, we’re executing on those plays.” 

Everything the Sun Devils do traces back to head coach JJ Van Niel’s main point of emphasis, the serve and pass game. While the Sun Devils did a decent job serving, the passing put attackers in tough situations where they couldn’t always get their best effort off against an A&M squad that features the best blocker in the SEC, junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla. 

“At the end of the day our passing wasn’t really as good as normal,” Van Niel said. “So it put a little pressure on our outsides against some pretty physical blockers.” 

Cos-Okpalla had six blocks in total and her presence helped affect shots throughout the night with the Sun Devils only able to muster a .181 hitting percentage. Arizona State senior outside hitter Geli Cyr led the team in kills with 14, but did it on a .196 hitting percentage. The Sun Devils mark was well short of the Aggies’ .303. 

The A&M offense was led by Logan Lednicky’s .500 hitting percentage which she accrued alongside a team-leading and season-high 27 kills. She dominated the match with repeated kills that neither Arizona State’s offense nor defense had a response to.

“(Lednicky’s) really physical and that matchup was not good for us because we had smaller outsides,” Van Niel said. “Hard to control that.” 

Lednicky’s performance was akin to those often produced by Sun Devils legendary outside hitter Marta Levinska, who graduated after last season. 

“We got Marta’d,” Van Niel said. 

With the departures of Ung, Cyr, graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter, graduate middle blocker Savannah Kjolhede and graduate outside hitter Roberta Rabelo after Saturday night’s game, it would make sense to imagine the Sun Devils taking a step back in 2025. Potentially making this early exit from the tournament even more frustrating. 

However, despite the second-round loss and the loss of star players, Cyr is confident in the team’s ability come next season. 

“JJ is going to have a really, really good group next year, and I’m so excited for them,” Cyr said.

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