Savannah Kjolhede’s “unreal” performance powers Sun Devils to 15th straight win

(Photo: Aubrie McMillan/WCSN)

TEMPE-In their penultimate home matchup of the 2024 season, Arizona State women’s volleyball brought the heat to Mullett Arena Thursday night and took down Iowa State in straight sets, 25-21, 25-15, 25-22.

Savannah Kjolhede, a graduate student middle blocker, was a huge part of the Sun Devils success, leading the team with 10 kills and eight blocks. She took over in driving the offensive production and lit the fire for Arizona State to overpower the Cyclones and fend off any comeback attempts.

Kjolhede transferred from Indiana to Arizona State last winter, after four years in Bloomington, and has been an important part of the Sun Devils’ historic season as they are primed to take home the school’s first Big 12 Championship in their first year in the conference.

Against Iowa State, Kjolhede’s 10 kills were the most of any Arizona State attacker as she reached double-digit kills for the fifth time this season. It also marked the first time that she has reached double-digit kills in consecutive games this season, after picking up 12 kills in the Sun Devils’ win over Cincinnati last weekend.

“[Kjolhede] was unreal… She’s continuing to get comfortable with [graduate student setter, Argentina Ung], their connection’s just getting better and better every week,” head coach JJ Van Niel said. “She works really, really hard. She watches video all the time. She’s asked questions all the time. There’s a couple things she’s been working really, really diligently on in practice, and it paid off tonight.”

Ung, a transfer from Washington State, showed her connection with Kjolhede, picking up 10 of her 37 assists on Kjolhede’s swing.

“She’s a really awesome setter to work with,” Kjolhede said. “She listens, she gives me a ton of feedback, which I really appreciate, because as a hitter, I’m looking at a ball and I can’t see my feet, and she feels me a lot better than what I can see. It’s been a work in progress ever since I got here in May, but she’s just an amazing setter to play with.”

On a night where the Sun Devils usual heavy hitters struggled early, and the team as a whole worked to overcome a rocky start, Kjolhede came out of the gates ready to go. She picked up four blocks in the first set alone, combining with graduate outside hitter Roberta Rabelo for three of them. She also picked up one kill, but had two errors, her only two of the evening, in the first set.

“[I’m] getting more used to the system that we run here,” Kjolhede said. “It takes so long to break habits, and I had a lot of habits from my old school that just are different with this new coaching staff. And really, it’s been amazing. (Assistant coach Preslie Anderson) and JJ have been great about giving feedback and giving me film assignments and lots of things to help me out.”

Arizona State established Kjolhede as a threat early on, forcing the Iowa State blockers to spread their defense out and honor all three front row hitting options. This allowed Ung the ability to set Kjolhede more often, setting up one-on-one blocking matchups for all her hitters.

Ung and Kjolhede’s connection has been strong all season, particularly with the slide approach when Ung is front row, but against the Cyclones, the two also utilized different attacking plans to widen the offense and give the defense a new look. The move paid off, as Kjolhede and the Sun Devils were able to throw off Iowa State’s blocking scheme early on.

In the second set, Kjolhede had five kills, once again leading the Sun Devils from an offensive perspective. She also had one block, which pushed her to 100 blocks on the season, a milestone she has reached in three consecutive seasons, dating back to her time at Indiana. With the Hoosiers, she reached 359 career blocks, good for 10th most all-time. Since coming to Tempe, Kjolhede has continued her blocking prowess, leading the team in blocks.

The third set offered more of the same, as she picked up three kills and three blocks, and wrapped up her night with a .471 hitting percentage, by far the highest on the team.

With only two regular season games left, and sitting at 103 blocks and 185 kills on the season, it remains to be seen if Kjolhede will break either of her career high records, 118 blocks in a season, which she set in 2022, or 216 kills in a season, which she set last season. However, her season so far with ASU has been nothing short of incredible, and she showed on Thursday night why she has been and will continue to be so valuable to them during their run at a Big 12 championship and into the NCAA Tournament.

“This is one of her better matches,” Van Niel said. “10 kills in three sets is phenomenal, but in our two different rotations, it’s really important to get her available. And I thought [Ung] finding her from off the net was good. It makes the other team stay honest.”