(Photo via Brendan O’Keeffe/WCSN)
While celebrating the 50th anniversary of Arizona State women’s volleyball, the Sun Devils (12-0) will begin the Pac-12 Conference season against Arizona on Thursday and Washington on Sunday. ASU is inviting former volleyball student-athletes to attend the match against Washington for the 50th anniversary celebration.
Riding high after the third-best start to a season in school history, first-year head coach JJ Van Niel and the squad will be making their home debut. ASU will be playing the first ever volleyball matches to be held in Mullett Arena after spending the last four weeks on the road. With two of the next four matchups being in Tempe, the Sun Devils should see a refreshing change of scenery as they begin conference play.
The Sun Devils finished non-conference play on a high note, going undefeated against Memphis, Little Rock and Southern Mississippi in the Beale Street Challenge last weekend. ASU swept all three of these opponents to extend its sweep streak to six straight games, which is tied for the second-longest streak in school history.
Senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska was named the MVP of the tournament after leading the Sun Devils with 42 total kills, including a season-high 21 kills against Southern Mississippi. Levinska was also named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for her performances.
Two graduate students, libero Mary Shroll and setter Shannon Shields, were named to the all-tournament team as well. Shroll recorded double-digit digs in each match with 42 total digs, bringing her season total to 140. Shields led the team in assists with 105 across the three matches and set a career high with 6 aces against Little Rock.
ASU now hopes to carry its momentum into its final season of Pac-12 play after struggling last year with a 7-13 conference record.
The Sun Devils will start their conference campaign against the Arizona Wildcats, who went 16-15 last season with a 6-14 record in Pac-12 play. Arizona hasn’t seen much success to start this season, going 5-6 in their first 11 games. Washington, on the other hand, has gone 9-2 in its first 11 games after going 20-11 overall last season.
Just like ASU, Arizona & Washington are both led by first-year head coaches. The Wildcats are led by Charita Stubbs and the Huskies are led by Leslie Gabriel. Stubbs & Gabriel have similar backgrounds, as both were blockers for the school they now lead and and served on their alma mater’s coaching staff for several years before taking on the head coach mantle.
While both are highly regarded as defensive coaches with blocker backgrounds, Washington has had significantly more success with blocking this season. The Huskies are out-blocking their opponents 93-70.5 whereas the Wildcats are getting out-blocked 77.5-73.5. Arizona’s statistics have likely taken a hit due to the lack of middle blocker Zyonna Fellows, who led the Pac-12 in blocks last year in her final season as a Wildcat.
Offensively, Arizona is led by senior outside hitter Sofia Maldonado Diaz who leads the team with 138 kills on a .202 hitting percentage. Washington is led by senior outside hitter and Michigan transfer May Pertofsky, who has tallied a team-leading 123 kills on a .279 hitting percentage.
Thursday’s game against the Wildcats will be broadcasted at 7 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Arizona and Sunday’s contest against the Huskies will start at 1 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Washington.
