(Photo via Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)
TEMPE – It has been two months since Arizona State announced that to celebrate its 50th season of volleyball, it would be moving half of its home matches to Mullett Arena. When it was official, the potential for Sun Devil fans to be driven back to the sport was certainly there.
It is safe to say that that potential has started to show results, as ASU officially matched its entire win total from last season with a 3-0 sweep over rival Arizona (5-7) Thursday, marking the program’s seventh consecutive sweep and adding to a 24-set winning streak. The Sun Devils now improve to 13-0 on the season, good for the third best start in program history and the best under a first-year head coach ever.
A capacity crowd of 4,816 fans including 1,265 students packed into Tempe’s newest facility and created a home-field advantage that ASU has struggled to maintain in recent years. Head coach JJ Van Niel hopes his leadership can make Thursday’s environment a regular for the program.
“That was part of why I wanted to take this job,” Van Niel said. “I look at this as a place that you can have 10,000 people coming out to matches and I don’t hesitate to say that.”
On the court, the Sun Devils’ attacking efforts remained the highlight, as senior outsider hitter Marta Levinska and graduate setter Shannon Shields led the way once again. Levinska, the defending Pac-12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week, collected 19 kills, her third best total of the season. The performance moved her ahead of Terri Cox (‘94-’97) for 13th on ASU’s all-time kill list with 1,190. Shields steadied ASU with 36 assists, marking her eighth match this season with at least 30 assists.
A concern heading into Thursday was the Sun Devils’ defense, as recent matches have featured tighter sets with less clean play on the defensive side. However, in arguably its most crucial game yet, ASU was much smoother than it had looked in the past, especially in crucial moments in the final two sets thanks to the efforts of Mississippi State transfer Shania Cromartie and LMU transfer Mary Shroll. The duo ended the night with a combined 18 of the Sun Devils’ 43 digs on the night.
“I used to play Mary in high school,” Shields said. “She’s obviously 22 (years old) you know, one of the older girls on the team so she knows how to calm the situation down. She knows how to be aggressive and she hypes up everyone – [Shroll and Cromartie] do that very well for us.”
The focus now shifts to Sunday afternoon back at Mullet when the Sun Devils will face a 9-3 Washington Huskies squad that is coming off being swept Thursday by their own rivals, Washington State. ASU is welcoming the challenge and staying confident while its historic start to the season continues.
“I knew we were gonna be great this year,” Shields said. “I got asked this question a couple of days ago, and they were like ‘Are you surprised by your success?’ And I said, ‘No, because we worked so hard.’ We changed our offense completely. We were aggressive with ourselves. And we’re all bought into each other.”
