TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State volleyball team (4-2) continues its nine-match road stretch this weekend, hitting Interstate 17 for the Northern Arizona-hosted Lumberjack Classic, Sept. 8-9.
The weekend action is set to be held at Northern Arizona's Joseph C. Rolle Activity Center, featuring Arizona State, host Northern Arizona, Mountain West affiliate Utah State and WAC affiliate Cal State Bakersfield.
The Sun Devils will open play on Friday, Sep. 8 with a pair of matches against Cal State Bakersfield (10 a.m. PT) and Northern Arizona (6:30 p.m. PT) respectively, before wrapping the trek with a 10 a.m. PT meeting with Utah State on Saturday, Sep. 9.
Last time out, Arizona State recorded a 1-2 record at the 2017 Gonzaga Invitational, Sept. 1-2. For a second-consecutive weekend Sun Devil senior Oluoma Okaro garnered all-tournament honors, earning selection to the Gonzaga All-Tournament Team, as the Sun Devils picked up a win over Nevada-Reno (3-1), while dropping contests to Gonzaga (3-2) and Portland State (3-1).
How to follow this weekend's action...
Cal St. Bakersfield -- Live Stats
Northern Arizona -- Live Stats | Live Stream (Channel 239)
Utah State -- Live Stats
Hark! The Halle Digs...
Sun Devil senior, libero Halle Harker's 16-dig outing against Portland St. on Sep. 2 pushed her career tally to 1,529, moving her into fourth-place in program history in career digs. She passes former Sun Devil great Jami Coughlin (1998-2001, 1528) and now sits 68 digs shy of Christy Nore's third-place mark of 1,597. The tally places her 13th in the NCAA among active career digs leaders.
ASU Career Digs Leaders...
True freshmen Griere Hughes and Shelbie Dobemier have made their presense known in the early going of the 2017 season. Hughes, an outside hitter from Fishers, Indiana, has recorded double-figure kills performances in three consecutive outings, and posted a career-high 14 kills against Portland State on Sep. 2. Her kills per set tally of 3.25 currently ranks 10th in the Pac-12 confernce. Dobmeier, a setter hailing from Lakeside, Calif., recently signed off on a career-best 52 assists versus Gonzaga on Sep. 1, which accounts for the fourth-best match tally in the Pac-12 thus far. Her assists per set average of 12.06 ranks as the league's best.
New Year, Same Oly...
Senior Oluoma Okaro once again anchored the attack for the Maroon and Gold, recording a career-best 21 kills while hitting at a clip of .333 (21/6/45) versus Portland State on Sep. 2. The Lakewood, Calif. native has now paced the Sun Devils in kills in five of the team's six outings on the season. For a second-consecutive weekend Okaro garnered all-tournament honors, earning selection to the Gonzaga All-Tournament Team, after being earning recognition as the Sun Devil Classic MVP (Aug. 25-26) the weekend prior. Her three double-doubles on the season are tied for the most in the Pac-12, while her kills per set average of 4.64 ranks as the fourth-best in the Pac-12 conference. Her points per set tally of 5.27, also ranks as the fourth-best in the league.
Season Debuts Over The Weekend...
Sun Devils Callie Jones, Isabel Miller, Nicole Peterson, and Blair Robalin all made their respective 2017 debuts at this past weekend's Gonzaga Invitational. Jones, a transfer from Santa Clara, notched a team-high 44 assists against Portland State on Sep. 2. Miller, a transfer from San Diego-Mesa and valley native, appeared in five sets while logging four kills. Peterson, who is in her second season with the squad, appeared in Arizona State's Sep. 2 match with Portland State, recording two assists. Robalin, a senior from El Paso, Texas, appeared in all three of the Sun Devils' matches on the weekend, posting six digs in eight sets of play.
There's No Place Like Home...
Arizona State officially rang in the 2017 season playing host to the Sun Devils Classic, Aug. 25-26. The team exited the outing unscathed, garnering straight-set victories over Weber State, North Dakota State and 2016 NCAA tournament team Boise State respectively. Senior Oluoma Okaro paced Arizona State in kills in each of the team's three weekend matches to earn tournament MVP honors, while freshman setter Shelbie Dobmeier notched consecutive double-doubles to cap the tournament and earn selection to the Sun Devil Classic All-Tournament team. The Sun Devils are now 14-1 in home openers, dating back back to 2002.
Tomasevic Garners First Career Win...
In her first match at the helm of the Sun Devil volleyball program, first-year head coach Sanja Tomasevic guided the Sun Devils to a 3-0 straight-set sweep of visiting Weber St on Aug. 25. The statement victory preceded two additional wins, seeing the Sun Devils exit the weekend at a perfect 3-0 season mark.
Meet The Team...
The Seniors: Libero Halle Harker, middle blocker Oluoma Okaro and defensive specialist Blair Robalin return for their respective senior seasons. Joining the crop of seniors is transfer outside hitter Isabel Miller, who previously competed at Boise State and San Diego Mesa.
Harker has led the Sun Devils in digs in each of her previous three seasons donning the Maroon and Gold and appeared in all 120 sets for Arizona State in 2016. Her career tally of 1,403 digs sits at No. 6 in the all-time ASU record book.
Okaro made an immediate impact last season after transferring to the program from San Francisco, ultimately earning All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors. Posting a team-best 336 kills, Okaro also notched 128 blocks and 39 service aces to highlight a strong Junior campaign.
Robalin who enters her third season with the team appeared in 10 sets while tallying 11 digs in 2016.
Miller who most recently spent two seasons at San Diego-Mesa College averaged 4.89 kills per set overall and 5.49 in conference while holding a .228 hitting percentage last season for the Olympians.
The Juniors: Middle blocker Carmen Unzue is back for her second season with the Sun Devils, joined by transfers Peyton Grahovac (Opposite Hitter/Long Beach State) and Alexa Lister (Middle Hitter/Louisiana Tech).
Unzue posted 26 kills and 15 total blocks while appearing in 28 sets for the Sun Devils in 2016.
Grahovac joins the Sun Devils after two exceptional seasons at Long Beach State, that saw the Orange, Calif., native accumulate 321 kills and 85 blocks, while appearing in 165 sets and making 44 starts.
Alexa Lister, daughter of Arizona State Hall of Fame basketball player Alton Lister, last spent two seasons under Adriano de Souza at Louisiana Tech University. She appeared in 87 sets while making 21 starts as a Sophomore in 2016, pacing the Lady Techsters in blocks with 46 to her credit and finishing the season third in kills (154).
The Sophomores: Libero Courtney Leffel, setter Nicole Peterson, defensive specialist Halle Johnson and outside hitter Ivana Jeremic return for their sophomore seasons, joined by Santa Clara transfer Callie Jones.
Leffel, who appeared in 116 of 120 total sets for the Sun Devils in 2016, notched 196 digs, accounting for the second most in that category on the season.
Peterson who saw playing time in 47 total sets, posted 264 assists (second-most on the team), while adding 68 digs and nine service aces for Arizona State in 2016.
Johnson appeared in 78 total sets while tallying 120 digs in 2016.
Jeremic heads into 2017 coming off a strong freshman campaign in 2016, that saw her post 246 kills, an average of 2.4 per set, while adding 127 digs.
The Freshmen: The Sun Devils' 2017 roster features four freshmen: Griere Hughes (Outside Hitter/Fishers, IN./Hamilton Southeastern), Danica Krstonošic (Outside Hitter/Novi Sad, Serbia/Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj), Shelbie Dobmeier (Setter/Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood) and Megan Beedie (Middle Blocker/Cambridge, ON./Jacob Hespeler Secondary School).
Meet The Staff...
Head Coach/Sanja Tomasevic: Tomasevic was named the eight coach of the Arizona State volleyball program on Dec. 21, 2016. She moves into the role after serving the program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for ASU's indoor program in 2016, where the Sun Devils capped the year with three straight home wins, including a five-set thriller over Pac-12 rival Arizona.
Prior to her time in Tempe, Tomasevic spent two years at the University of Miami, where she helped the Hurricanes reach back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. The 2015 season also marked Miami's second straight season with 20-plus wins. Tomasevic went to Miami after spending two seasons at Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Roadrunners.
The Serbia native played eight years professionally, including the final two as a co-captain of POMI Casalmaggiore in Italy. She was named to four All-Star Games and was named the Best Server at the 2010 European Challenge Cup. She won three league championships, including back-to-back Greek titles with Panathinaikos in 2009 and 2010.
A two-time All-American and the 2005 Asics and CVU.com National Player of the Year at the University of Washington, Tomasevic led the Huskies to four NCAA tournament appearances, including the 2005 National Championship, and a pair of Pac-10 Conference titles. In October of 2016, Tomasevic became just the second individual volleyball player to be inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame.
The former outside hitter ended her collegiate career as Washington's all-time leader in points (2,159.5), kills (1,795) and service aces (156). She is one of only five players in Huskies history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
Assistant Coach/Carlos Moreno: Named to the Sun Devil staff on Feb. 2, Moreno joins the program after previously serving as a graduate assistant under the direction of Amanda Berkley at Southern Mississippi University. During his one-year tenure at Southern Miss, Moreno operated in a number of facets including on-court coaching, recruiting, fundraising, and compliance. Moreno most notably worked extensively with the team's offensive systems and setters, including All-Conference honoree Sarah Bell.
Prior to his stint at Southern Miss, Moreno garnered coaching experience directing camps and clinics in his native country of Brazil, while also serving as the head coach of the University of Sao Paulo Women's Volleyball Team from 2000 to 2002.
Preceding his coaching career, Moreno compiled a prolific playing career as a setter at Brigham University, garnering essentially every national award possible, including AVCA and MPSF Player of the year honors. A three-year starter for the Cougars, Moreno amassed 4,628 career assists, marking the second-most in program in history, while adding 78 career aces (4th-most in program history). Spearheading BYU NCAA Championship runs in 2003 and 2004, Moreno earned a plethora of Player of the Year and MVP honors while also being placed on MSPF's and AVCA's respective first-teams.
A two-time All-American and the 2004 AVCA National Player of the Year, Moreno led the Cougars to two NCAA tournament appearances, including the 2004 National Championship, and a pair of MPSF Conference titles.
Assistant Coach/Macey Gardner: Former Sun Devil standout Macey Gardner was tabbed to the role of assistant coach on May 15, after serving one season as an assistant coach under Shane Pinder at Liberty University. Arguably one of the greatest student-athletes in not only the program's history, but Sun Devil Athletics' history, Garnder notched a plethora of accolades during her time as a Sun Devil.
Macey Gardner Sun Devil Trophy Case
The weekend action is set to be held at Northern Arizona's Joseph C. Rolle Activity Center, featuring Arizona State, host Northern Arizona, Mountain West affiliate Utah State and WAC affiliate Cal State Bakersfield.
The Sun Devils will open play on Friday, Sep. 8 with a pair of matches against Cal State Bakersfield (10 a.m. PT) and Northern Arizona (6:30 p.m. PT) respectively, before wrapping the trek with a 10 a.m. PT meeting with Utah State on Saturday, Sep. 9.
Last time out, Arizona State recorded a 1-2 record at the 2017 Gonzaga Invitational, Sept. 1-2. For a second-consecutive weekend Sun Devil senior Oluoma Okaro garnered all-tournament honors, earning selection to the Gonzaga All-Tournament Team, as the Sun Devils picked up a win over Nevada-Reno (3-1), while dropping contests to Gonzaga (3-2) and Portland State (3-1).
How to follow this weekend's action...
Cal St. Bakersfield -- Live Stats
Northern Arizona -- Live Stats | Live Stream (Channel 239)
Utah State -- Live Stats
Hark! The Halle Digs...
Sun Devil senior, libero Halle Harker's 16-dig outing against Portland St. on Sep. 2 pushed her career tally to 1,529, moving her into fourth-place in program history in career digs. She passes former Sun Devil great Jami Coughlin (1998-2001, 1528) and now sits 68 digs shy of Christy Nore's third-place mark of 1,597. The tally places her 13th in the NCAA among active career digs leaders.
ASU Career Digs Leaders...
- Sydney Donahue, 2004-07-- 2385
- Stephanie Preach, 2010-2013—2010
- Christy Nore, 1985-88 –1597
- Halle Harker, 2014-present—1529
- Jami Coughlin, 1998-2001—1528
True freshmen Griere Hughes and Shelbie Dobemier have made their presense known in the early going of the 2017 season. Hughes, an outside hitter from Fishers, Indiana, has recorded double-figure kills performances in three consecutive outings, and posted a career-high 14 kills against Portland State on Sep. 2. Her kills per set tally of 3.25 currently ranks 10th in the Pac-12 confernce. Dobmeier, a setter hailing from Lakeside, Calif., recently signed off on a career-best 52 assists versus Gonzaga on Sep. 1, which accounts for the fourth-best match tally in the Pac-12 thus far. Her assists per set average of 12.06 ranks as the league's best.
New Year, Same Oly...
Senior Oluoma Okaro once again anchored the attack for the Maroon and Gold, recording a career-best 21 kills while hitting at a clip of .333 (21/6/45) versus Portland State on Sep. 2. The Lakewood, Calif. native has now paced the Sun Devils in kills in five of the team's six outings on the season. For a second-consecutive weekend Okaro garnered all-tournament honors, earning selection to the Gonzaga All-Tournament Team, after being earning recognition as the Sun Devil Classic MVP (Aug. 25-26) the weekend prior. Her three double-doubles on the season are tied for the most in the Pac-12, while her kills per set average of 4.64 ranks as the fourth-best in the Pac-12 conference. Her points per set tally of 5.27, also ranks as the fourth-best in the league.
Season Debuts Over The Weekend...
Sun Devils Callie Jones, Isabel Miller, Nicole Peterson, and Blair Robalin all made their respective 2017 debuts at this past weekend's Gonzaga Invitational. Jones, a transfer from Santa Clara, notched a team-high 44 assists against Portland State on Sep. 2. Miller, a transfer from San Diego-Mesa and valley native, appeared in five sets while logging four kills. Peterson, who is in her second season with the squad, appeared in Arizona State's Sep. 2 match with Portland State, recording two assists. Robalin, a senior from El Paso, Texas, appeared in all three of the Sun Devils' matches on the weekend, posting six digs in eight sets of play.
There's No Place Like Home...
Arizona State officially rang in the 2017 season playing host to the Sun Devils Classic, Aug. 25-26. The team exited the outing unscathed, garnering straight-set victories over Weber State, North Dakota State and 2016 NCAA tournament team Boise State respectively. Senior Oluoma Okaro paced Arizona State in kills in each of the team's three weekend matches to earn tournament MVP honors, while freshman setter Shelbie Dobmeier notched consecutive double-doubles to cap the tournament and earn selection to the Sun Devil Classic All-Tournament team. The Sun Devils are now 14-1 in home openers, dating back back to 2002.
Tomasevic Garners First Career Win...
In her first match at the helm of the Sun Devil volleyball program, first-year head coach Sanja Tomasevic guided the Sun Devils to a 3-0 straight-set sweep of visiting Weber St on Aug. 25. The statement victory preceded two additional wins, seeing the Sun Devils exit the weekend at a perfect 3-0 season mark.
Meet The Team...
The Seniors: Libero Halle Harker, middle blocker Oluoma Okaro and defensive specialist Blair Robalin return for their respective senior seasons. Joining the crop of seniors is transfer outside hitter Isabel Miller, who previously competed at Boise State and San Diego Mesa.
Harker has led the Sun Devils in digs in each of her previous three seasons donning the Maroon and Gold and appeared in all 120 sets for Arizona State in 2016. Her career tally of 1,403 digs sits at No. 6 in the all-time ASU record book.
Okaro made an immediate impact last season after transferring to the program from San Francisco, ultimately earning All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors. Posting a team-best 336 kills, Okaro also notched 128 blocks and 39 service aces to highlight a strong Junior campaign.
Robalin who enters her third season with the team appeared in 10 sets while tallying 11 digs in 2016.
Miller who most recently spent two seasons at San Diego-Mesa College averaged 4.89 kills per set overall and 5.49 in conference while holding a .228 hitting percentage last season for the Olympians.
The Juniors: Middle blocker Carmen Unzue is back for her second season with the Sun Devils, joined by transfers Peyton Grahovac (Opposite Hitter/Long Beach State) and Alexa Lister (Middle Hitter/Louisiana Tech).
Unzue posted 26 kills and 15 total blocks while appearing in 28 sets for the Sun Devils in 2016.
Grahovac joins the Sun Devils after two exceptional seasons at Long Beach State, that saw the Orange, Calif., native accumulate 321 kills and 85 blocks, while appearing in 165 sets and making 44 starts.
Alexa Lister, daughter of Arizona State Hall of Fame basketball player Alton Lister, last spent two seasons under Adriano de Souza at Louisiana Tech University. She appeared in 87 sets while making 21 starts as a Sophomore in 2016, pacing the Lady Techsters in blocks with 46 to her credit and finishing the season third in kills (154).
The Sophomores: Libero Courtney Leffel, setter Nicole Peterson, defensive specialist Halle Johnson and outside hitter Ivana Jeremic return for their sophomore seasons, joined by Santa Clara transfer Callie Jones.
Leffel, who appeared in 116 of 120 total sets for the Sun Devils in 2016, notched 196 digs, accounting for the second most in that category on the season.
Peterson who saw playing time in 47 total sets, posted 264 assists (second-most on the team), while adding 68 digs and nine service aces for Arizona State in 2016.
Johnson appeared in 78 total sets while tallying 120 digs in 2016.
Jeremic heads into 2017 coming off a strong freshman campaign in 2016, that saw her post 246 kills, an average of 2.4 per set, while adding 127 digs.
The Freshmen: The Sun Devils' 2017 roster features four freshmen: Griere Hughes (Outside Hitter/Fishers, IN./Hamilton Southeastern), Danica Krstonošic (Outside Hitter/Novi Sad, Serbia/Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj), Shelbie Dobmeier (Setter/Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood) and Megan Beedie (Middle Blocker/Cambridge, ON./Jacob Hespeler Secondary School).
Meet The Staff...
Head Coach/Sanja Tomasevic: Tomasevic was named the eight coach of the Arizona State volleyball program on Dec. 21, 2016. She moves into the role after serving the program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for ASU's indoor program in 2016, where the Sun Devils capped the year with three straight home wins, including a five-set thriller over Pac-12 rival Arizona.
Prior to her time in Tempe, Tomasevic spent two years at the University of Miami, where she helped the Hurricanes reach back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. The 2015 season also marked Miami's second straight season with 20-plus wins. Tomasevic went to Miami after spending two seasons at Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Roadrunners.
The Serbia native played eight years professionally, including the final two as a co-captain of POMI Casalmaggiore in Italy. She was named to four All-Star Games and was named the Best Server at the 2010 European Challenge Cup. She won three league championships, including back-to-back Greek titles with Panathinaikos in 2009 and 2010.
A two-time All-American and the 2005 Asics and CVU.com National Player of the Year at the University of Washington, Tomasevic led the Huskies to four NCAA tournament appearances, including the 2005 National Championship, and a pair of Pac-10 Conference titles. In October of 2016, Tomasevic became just the second individual volleyball player to be inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame.
The former outside hitter ended her collegiate career as Washington's all-time leader in points (2,159.5), kills (1,795) and service aces (156). She is one of only five players in Huskies history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
Assistant Coach/Carlos Moreno: Named to the Sun Devil staff on Feb. 2, Moreno joins the program after previously serving as a graduate assistant under the direction of Amanda Berkley at Southern Mississippi University. During his one-year tenure at Southern Miss, Moreno operated in a number of facets including on-court coaching, recruiting, fundraising, and compliance. Moreno most notably worked extensively with the team's offensive systems and setters, including All-Conference honoree Sarah Bell.
Prior to his stint at Southern Miss, Moreno garnered coaching experience directing camps and clinics in his native country of Brazil, while also serving as the head coach of the University of Sao Paulo Women's Volleyball Team from 2000 to 2002.
Preceding his coaching career, Moreno compiled a prolific playing career as a setter at Brigham University, garnering essentially every national award possible, including AVCA and MPSF Player of the year honors. A three-year starter for the Cougars, Moreno amassed 4,628 career assists, marking the second-most in program in history, while adding 78 career aces (4th-most in program history). Spearheading BYU NCAA Championship runs in 2003 and 2004, Moreno earned a plethora of Player of the Year and MVP honors while also being placed on MSPF's and AVCA's respective first-teams.
A two-time All-American and the 2004 AVCA National Player of the Year, Moreno led the Cougars to two NCAA tournament appearances, including the 2004 National Championship, and a pair of MPSF Conference titles.
Assistant Coach/Macey Gardner: Former Sun Devil standout Macey Gardner was tabbed to the role of assistant coach on May 15, after serving one season as an assistant coach under Shane Pinder at Liberty University. Arguably one of the greatest student-athletes in not only the program's history, but Sun Devil Athletics' history, Garnder notched a plethora of accolades during her time as a Sun Devil.
Macey Gardner Sun Devil Trophy Case
- ASU record holder for career kills with 1,882, 11 more than the previous record holder.
- 17th Sun Devil to record 1,000 career digs, and just the 10th to record 1,000 or more kills and digs in her career.
- Recorded eight matches with 27 or more kills.
- First Sun Devil to earn national honors from the AVCA since Amanda Burbridge was recognized on Oct. 23, 2000.
- 2015 Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Player of the Week.
- 2015 AVCA Player of the Week.
- 2014 AVCA All-Pacific South Region Honoree, ASU's first since 2000.
- ASU's second three-time selection to the Pac-12 All-Conference team (joining Christine Garner (1993-95)).
- 2014 Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention Honoree.
- Selected to play on the Pac-12 volleyball All-Star team in China in 2013
- Owns the ASU freshman records for total kills (577), kills per set (4.40) and kills in a match (28).