(Photo credit: Sam Farsky/WCSN)
TEMPE – Throughout her adolescence, Arizona State volleyball middle blocker Claire Jeter had aspirations of playing for Texas A&M. She was born and raised in Missouri City, Texas, a town located about 100 miles south of College Station. After graduating from Ridge Point High School, Jeter made her adolescent dream a reality and became an Aggie.
On Friday, Jeter and Texas A&M were once again in the same building. As the No. 6 seed Aggies (20-7, 10-6 SEC) celebrated a win over Colorado State (20-11, 14-4 Mountain West), Jeter began warming up for No. 3 seed ASU’s match.
Jeter waited longer than anticipated for Texas A&M’s match to end so she could step onto the court. At around 6:15 p.m., the third set between the Aggies and CSU finally concluded with Texas A&M winning 29-27. Originally, the subsequent match at Desert Financial Arena between the Sun Devils (30-2, 17-1 Big 12) and New Hampshire (18-10, 7-3 America East) was slated to begin at 6:30.
Due to the longer third set and Colorado State avoiding a sweep by taking the second set, ASU’s start time was pushed back. If everything had gone according to schedule, the Sun Devils would’ve been in the midst of the first set by 6:50. That turned out to be when Jeter came out of the east tunnel to greet fans and begin warmups after seeing her former team win.
“Coaching staff and everything is different there,” Jeter said. “But it’s still obviously my old team.”
Four years after playing for Texas A&M, Jeter is now a graduate student at ASU with what’s about to be four Sun Devil seasons under her belt. The underclassmen on the roster might be used to playing matches at both Desert Financial and Mullet Arena, but Jeter played for ASU in both 2021 and 2022 when the only home matches were at DFA.
When it comes to matches at Desert Financial Arena, Jeter feels extra incentive to not let any opponent leave with a win. This is a goal shared with her teammates who practice alongside her at DFA, as it’s also the team’s practice facility.
“You’ve already seen how many upsets have already occurred, we’re not going to let it happen in our gym,” Jeter said. “That was where our home was for a long time.”
While Desert Financial Arena has felt like home for Jeter, her performance on Friday was unlike any other home match of her career. Jeter set season highs with three assists and a whopping six service aces. Her six made up ASU’s collective total of eight aces.
Jeter shined both offensively and defensively as well. Along with her team-leading eight blocks, Jeter had 10 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. It was her 10th match of the season with double-digit kills and her third with eight or more blocks.
“I think I was serving not as aggressive as usual,” Jeter said. “We are more disciplined than most teams, and that is something we kind of hold our head on.”
Across all facets, Jeter was the Sun Devils’ top contributor accounting for a career-high 21 points. When the stakes were raised to the highest they’ve been all season, she delivered. Jeter’s performance was instrumental in ASU’s tournament win over New Hampshire 25-17, 25-17, 25-19.
The Sun Devils are undefeated at Desert Financial Arena heading into Saturday’s match against Texas A&M. Jeter aims to continue her postseason dominance and do her part in ensuring that ASU sends the Aggies back to College Station. She’ll play on the court which she considers to be her home against the program she once thought would be home.
“I want to go out and dominate, I was very lucky to find a home here,” Jeter said. “DFA will always feel like home.”
