(Photo: Hannah Franklin/WCSN)
For the fourth consecutive season, Arizona State received a bid in the NCAA Tournament. Despite finishing just 19-12 and losing five of its six matches to close the season, the Sun Devils will travel to Gainesville, Florida, to take on Florida State in the first round.
The host team, No. 11 Florida, will play New Hampshire in the first round, and the winner of that match will play the winner of ASU’s match against Florida State. The winner of the second-round match will advance in the Austin Regional to take on the winners between Miami (FL), Iowa State, Oregon and No. 6 Wisconsin.
The Sun Devils have gone to the Tournament four years in a row only twice before in program history, from 1992-1995 and from 1985-1988. Senior middle blockers Whitney Follette and Mercedes Binns as well as senior outside hitter Macey Gardner – despite being held out with injury – will have gone to the tournament each of their four seasons in Tempe.
Last season, the Sun Devils advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament by beating Texas A&M in four sets, but then fell to the second-seeded Texas Longhorns in straight sets. It was ASU’s first appearance in the second round under head coach Jason Watson.
ASU is joined by six other Pac-12 teams in the NCAA Tournament: No. 1 USC, No. 5 Washington, No. 14 UCLA, Oregon and Arizona. While it is a step down from the 10 the conference sent a season ago, the seven teams sent ranks only second behind the Big Ten, who had nine teams earn Tournament bids.
While the Sun Devils finished eighth in the conference, they earned a bid over Colorado, who finished fifth in the Pac-12 and 19-13 overall. What likely helped ASU get into the field was four wins over ranked opponents, including Stanford and Illinois early in the season.
ASU’s first-round matchup with Florida State will take place on Thursday, December 3, at 2:30 p.m. (MT) in Gainesville, Florida.
You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com
