Arizona State volleyball sweeps BYU to earn spot in Sweet 16 first time since 1995

For the first time since 1995, the Arizona State volleyball team is in the Sweet 16. The storybook season continues as No. 5 seed ASU (28-6) upended No. 4 seed Brigham Young 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-21) Saturday night at BYU's Smith Fieldhouse.

The win boosts ASU into the Sweet 16 where it will face No. 1 seed Stanford (27-3).

It marks the first time the school has won two NCAA tournament matches.

"What an amazing feeling. I still have shivers," said first-year coach JJ Van Niel. "I'm so proud of this team and what they've done since I walked in on Day 1. They've just worked so hard at just being great and we talked about it in the beginning. They've earned the right to be here and have the confidence to know they deserve to be here and they earned it."

Senior Marta Levinska again led the offense with 17 kills, 10 digs and five service errors. She had the game-securing kills in each set, with eight of her kills coming in the opening set.

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Levinska's supporting cast coming through

Geli Cyr added nine kills while Roberta Rabelo added eight. Setter Shannon Shields had 35 assists and two aces while middle blocker Claire Jeter had four kills and five blocks. Libero Mary Shroll had 10 digs.

ASU used a run in each game to get some breathing room. It led 17-16 in the opening set, then chalked up the next three points — the first on a winner by Cyr, the second on a BYU hitting error, then a winner by Levinska giving the visitors a 20-16 advantage. The Sun Devils closed it out moments later on Levinska's eighth kill of the match.

"Winning the first set always gives you the confidence that you need," Levinska said. "I think that showed us, `Yes we can win this game.' Right away I think we gained so much confidence and so we didn't stop and we knew that they didn't like the pressure we were giving them so it was one of the keys."

The decisive run came earlier in the second game. ASU was up 13-10 but then rattled off six straight points, two coming on kills by Rabelo and another coming on a block by Rabelo and Maddie McLaughlin. A service ace by Shields made it 19-10 and the Sun Devils cruised from there.

A tight third set

The third game was tied nine times, the last coming at 11-11. This time ASU scored six of the next seven points, taking a 17-12 lead on a winner by Rabelo. A kill by Levinska gave the Sun Devils a match point at 24-19. They closed it out on the third match point with Levinska again delivering the game winner.

This school record run comes a year after ASU was just 13-19, which led to the coaching change but players say they were confident from the start.

"This was an expectation of ours," Jeter said. "It was a goal we set and we set it for a couple years now and I'm glad it finally paid off. I think we all worked hard to get where we are so it was definitely expected and we have more in us."

"We've definitely proved ourselves all season," added Shroll. "Having that confidence that we've gained by going into this tournament is huge and we know we can go far and we are going to keep showing everybody that we belong here."

The Sun Devils, who tied for third in the Pac-12 during the regular season, now turn their attention to their conference rival with whom they split matches this season, with each sweeping the other in its home venue. ASU's loss to Stanford came by scores of 25-19, 25-18, 25-12 while its win came 25-16, 25-21, 25-14.

Stanford was pushed by Houston, winning 3-2 (25-15, 25-20, 22-25, 22-25, 15-7).

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU volleyball sweeps BYU to earn spot in first Sweet 16 since 1995