ASU Women’s Volleyball remains undefeated, sweeps Arizona

TEMPE, Ariz. — The ASU Women’s Volleyball team has now won 13 straight games to begin the season. That matches their win total from all of last season. They also have not lost a set in seven straight matches.

ASU Women’s Volleyball continues hot start

“I knew we were going to be great this year,” graduate student setter Shannon Shields said. “We worked so hard; we changed our offense completely. We were aggressive with our serves, and we’re all bought into each other.”

The Lady Devils were in control for most of the night. They won the first set 25-22 and led the entire way. ASU trailed for most of the second set but caught stride late and rattled off five straight points to take a 24-20 lead. They would eventually take the second set 25-21. In the third set, they led the entire way and finished off the match on a 6-0 run, winning the Territorial Cup match 3-0.

“We pass really well, and I think in volleyball when you’re passing up to the net and you have all three hitters, it’s really, really hard to defend,” head coach JJ Van Niel said. “We’ve been able to serve teams out of system and we’ve been able to pass really well and if we can keep doing that we’re going to get some more wins.”

Arizona State had a great team performance Thursday night with everyone contributing and doing their part. Junior outside hitter Geli Cyr recorded her season-high 12 digs which led the team, on a night where the defense came up big for the Lady Devils.

“Geli at the beginning wasn’t hitting great but she was passing really well, and she was defending really well,” Van Niel said. “Those are really big deals because when part of your game isn’t working, you step up in other ways and you help your team and our whole team did that.”

A sellout crowd at Mullett Arena

Mullet Arena was bouncing Thursday night, with over 4,800 fans in attendance. The fans recorded a sellout in the first-ever volleyball game at Mullet Arena.

“We’ve been on the road for five weeks, so we’re super excited to be home and just seeing all the fans and our families,” senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska said. “The support was great, I love it.”

After a strong showing from the fans in the home opener, there’s a lot of excitement around this team for this season and the future of Sun Devil Volleyball.

“That was part of why I wanted to take this job. 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,” Van Niel said. “I think we have all the things that we need to make this place special, obviously you have to put a product on the court, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Looking ahead to conference play

Thursday night opened conference play, and although the Lady Devils got off to a strong start, conference play will bring some challenges. Pac-12 play is always difficult, especially when playing five games against top 10 ranked opponents.

“The Pac-12 is tough, it’s a grind,” Van Niel said. “It doesn’t matter where they are in the standings, like every single game, if you are not on your game, you will lose 100 percent, and every year it happens.”

ASU’s next game will be Sunday, September 24 at 1 p.m. MST against Washington when they have their 50th Anniversary Celebration. The Huskies have beaten the Sun Devils in four of the last five meetings, including in Tempe last year. ASU will look to turn history around and continue their undefeated season.

“For us, it’s focusing on one point in time, one game at a time,” Van Niel said.

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