(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
In the 2023 NCAA tournament, fifth-seeded Arizona State Volleyball traveled to Palo Alto, California, aiming to go where no Sun Devil team had gone before – the Elite Eight. For the first time in program history, ASU won two NCAA tournament matches and made it to the Sweet 16.
After defeating an unseeded Georgia and fourth-seeded BYU, the Sun Devils were set to face Stanford, the one seed in ASU’s bracket, and because both teams were in the Pac-12 conference at the time, ASU played Stanford twice in the regular season.
Ultimately, the Cardinal sent ASU home with a win in four sets, ending the program’s Cinderella run.
About a year later, the Sun Devils (29-2, 17-1 Big 12) are back in the tournament and aren’t a Cinderella anymore, ditching the glass slippers in favor of the No. 3 seed coming off their first season as members of the Big 12 conference. A single season was all it took for ASU to become one of four teams in the Big 12 to win a conference title. The Sun Devils enter the tournament hoping to carry the momentum of a 17-match winning streak, the second-longest streak in school history.
All it takes for ASU to tie the program record for most sweeps in a season is one more. The Sun Devils likely won’t get a better opportunity to sweep a team in the tournament than Friday night’s match against unseeded New Hampshire (18-9, 7-3 America East).
For the first time since 2016, New Hampshire has clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats earned an automatic bid by winning the America East Tournament. This was the program’s eighth conference tournament title in school history. New Hampshire not being seeded or in the Power Four conferences makes ASU the heavy favorite going into this match.
Adding to the underdog narrative, the Wildcats have not won a tournament match since the team was founded in 1979. The Wildcats are also nowhere near the AVCA top 25 whereas the Sun Devils can be found at eighth. Notably, ASU hasn’t lost one match to an unranked opponent this season.
Unlike last December, travel won’t be necessary for the first round as ASU will host the Wildcats at Desert Financial Arena. The homecourt advantage has been apparent all season long for the Sun Devils with an undefeated record in Tempe.
Entering a hostile environment as the heavy underdog, New Hampshire will lean on graduate middle blocker Kelly Kaufmann. Kaufmann’s efficiency led the America East this season with a conference-leading .345 hitting percentage. Defensively, she led the America East with 1.31 blocks-per-set.
If the Sun Devils continue their win streak against unranked opponents with a win against New Hampshire, they’ll face whoever wins between No. 6 seed Texas A&M (19-7, 10-6 SEC) and Colorado State (20-10, 14-4 Mountain West) on Saturday. If Texas A&M comes out on top, a sense of familiarity will be present for two ASU players.
Before she was a household name for the Sun Devils, graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter played in College Station, Texas, for the Aggies. A Texas native, Jeter’s childhood dream was to play volleyball for the program.
Despite not making a name for herself in her home state like she once dreamed of, Jeter has cemented herself as a staple of ASU volleyball. Her Sun Devil farewell tour was her best year yet, being rewarded with All-Big 12 First Team honors to show for it.
While she didn’t play for Texas A&M, defensive specialist Brynn Covell once committed to the program. The redshirt freshman would later have a change of heart and follow Jeter’s route from College Station to Tempe. Covell was one of five Sun Devils with over 100 digs this season.
Similarly to ASU, Texas A&M comes into the tournament on a win streak. The Aggies have won their last four matches against Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU, and South Carolina with just two sets dropped over that stretch.
Two juniors stand out for Texas A&M after earning All-SEC conference First Team honors, opposite hitter Logan Lednicky and middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla. Lednicky is no stranger to receiving these honors as this was her third-straight All-SEC selection. For Cos-Okpalla, this is her first.
Similarly to the Aggies, Colorado State also heads into the tournament on a four-match win streak. The Rams won two matches to close out the Mountain West conference regular season title and picked up consecutive wins to take the Mountain West tournament crown. This is the school’s 24th conference title in school history.
Graduate setter Emery Herman was named Mountain West Tournament MVP after recording 94 assists in the Mountain West Tournament. Some veterans on ASU’s roster have already seen Herman on the other side of the net before. Herman played for Arizona, a bitter rival of the Sun Devils, from 2020-22 before transferring to Colorado State.
This is Colorado State’s first tournament appearance since 2019 and an NCAA tournament debut for every player on the active roster. Similarly to New Hampshire, neither Colorado State nor Texas A&M are in the AVCA top 25. The Aggies are the only team of the three to receive votes with 32.
If ASU follows suit with last season’s team and wins the first two tournament matches, the program record for most wins in a season will tie the 31 wins of 1982’s squad. The 29 wins this season are two more than the season prior and all of them came in the regular season.
No longer a Cinderella, the Sun Devils enter the tournament aiming to continue raising the benchmark that is the 2023 season. If ASU can’t win these first two matches, that benchmark will remain in place.
