Historic run for Arizona State volleyball continues with Sweet 16 match at No. 1 Stanford
The Arizona State volleyball team marches on. The resurgent Sun Devils might be making their first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1995, but one could hardly tell this is a team that is doing what few before it have accomplished.
ASU (28-6) registered 3-0 sweeps of their first two NCAA opponents — Georgia and Brigham Young, the latter coming on that school's home floor. Next up is a bigger challenge, but one with which they are familiar. The Sun Devils get No. 1 Stanford (28-3) at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Maples Pavilion. The match will be televised by ESPNU and follow one between Texas and Tennessee in the same venue.
Stanford was the Pac-12 champion but ASU goes in with confidence, having beaten the Cardinal 3-0 in Tempe during the regular season. It was the only conference loss for Stanford, which is making its 20th appearance in the regional semifinal since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1998.
Stanford beat ASU 3-0 in the other regular season meeting on its home floor.
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"It's exciting. I am stoked we get to play Stanford again," libero Mary Shroll said after the Sun Devils disposed of BYU. "I think our speed is really well matched against them and I know we have that confidence too of sweeping them at home, so I know we are really pumped."
While this is the third Sweet 16 appearance and first since 1995, it is the first time in school history ASU has won two NCAA tournament matches.
ASU's 28 wins are the second-most in school history. That trails only the 31-16 record in 1982 under then-coach Dale Flickinger. That team won a first-round match but was eliminated in the second.
Making this run even more remarkable is that ASU was only 13-19 a year ago, with a 7-13 record in conference play that placed them ninth. This year's resurgence got ASU into third behind Stanford and Oregon and earned first-year coach JJ Van Niel Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors.
Of ASU's 28 wins, 20 have come in 3-0 sweeps.
"It feels awesome," said senior Marta Levinksa, a first-team all-conference selection. "It is about time that we get some credit for what we have been doing and I think that the plan that we set going into this season has been to go all out on the service line, we are scrappy and we are just intentional about our play and I think that has been really big for us."
"It's awesome to be where we are right now and we deserve it and I cannot wait to see where we go."
Van Niel, who came to ASU after serving as an assistant at USC, says his team has been consistent in its play and how it attacks.
"Throughout the year, no matter who we play, we've talked about staying within our game," he said. "At the beginning of the year, we would talk a lot about how the Japanese players are super super scrappy but most importantly they are really patient. If we have a shot, we take it, if not we try to put pressure on the other team and go back and defend.
"Our system has been about shooting tough, and when we pass the ball we just put a lot of pressure on them. I think when we have maybe been in trouble in the past, it is because either the serve and pass game has not gone well or maybe we go outside of what we're good at. These last two matches we have stayed within our game and just executed so flawlessly. It has been fun," Van Niel said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU volleyball resurges with historic run, faces No. 1 Stanford
