In its inaugural season, Arizona State’s volleyball team went 21-0 and won a 1973 AIAW Championship.
Sunday afternoon, as they celebrated the program’s 50th anniversary at Mullett Arena, the Sun Devils (14-0, 2-0 in Pac-12) kept their undefeated season alive, beating the Washington Huskies (9-4, 0-2 in Pac-12) 22-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-16.
“I thought in the first set we were tentative. We weren’t serving tough, a little tentative on some of the attacking stuff,” Arizona State head coach JJ Van Niel said. “But in the second set, they just came out fired up. This was a cool game.”
The Sun Devils had eight errors, and Washington’s freshman outside hitter Kierstyn Barton had seven kills in the first set that went to the Huskies. It was the first time Arizona State had dropped a set since September 3rd against New Mexico State.
However, momentum swung the Sun Devils’ way, as they did not trail once in the second set. Senior outside hitter Marta Levinska, who had just 1 kill in the first set, had 7 in the second. Levinska ended the match with 19 kills.
There were three other Sun Devils with double-digit kill totals. Senior middle blocker Claire Jeter had 11, while two outside hitters, junior Geli Cyr and senior Roberta Rabelo, registered 10. Rabelo’s 10 included the match-winning kill.
On the backline, graduate libero Mary Shroll led the way with 14 digs. Levinska and Cyr both logged 10 digs apiece. Jeter said the performance today tied into the team’s mentality of familyhood.
“Everyone kind of congratulates every person on the team, because it’s not one person that did something, it’s everyone. It’s really easy to do that when I see everyone playing for each other,” Jeter said. “So, [when] I get blocked, I know Mary [Shroll] will be there to dig it up and it’s easy for us to have this family mentality when we’re playing for each other like we are one.”
The weekend also provided an opportunity for the Sun Devils to look back at their 50-year history. Between the first and second sets, the program’s alumni and their family members were brought onto the court, where they received an ovation from the crowd. A list of the alumni was shown on the jumbotron.
There was also a luncheon the day before the match, where current players had the opportunity to meet alumni, such as Mary Littlewood, the first-ever coach of the Sun Devil volleyball program.
Shroll knew some of the alumni, as they were her first volleyball coaches. She saw the luncheon as a great time to reconnect with them and connect back to her volleyball roots.
“It was just really, really cool to meet them all yesterday,” Shroll said. “We had a nice alumni lunch and kind of see their faces again, and now being at their alma mater, you know, when they kind of got me to where I’m at. So, it’s just awesome.”
The Sun Devils, who are inching toward the NCAA Top 25 rankings, head to the Bay Area next weekend. They will face No. 4 Stanford (9-2, 2-0 in Pac-12) on Friday and California (11-2, 0-2 in Pac-12) on Sunday. Van Niel says his team is ready for the challenging road trip.
“The Pac-12 is gnarly,” Van Niel said. “Every single match you play is a tough match. You go in, and we’ll have our scouting reports, we’ve already started working on them. We’ll go in, and see if we can execute.”
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