After five weekends on the road, Sun Devil Volleyball makes its return to Tempe for a game for the first time since August 27 when the program hosted the Webb-Burbridge Classic. Despite being on the road, the team has felt the support from fans and alumni in various ways.
The five-week road trip included a trip to Atlanta, two-consecutive weekends in the state of Texas, a trip down south to Tucson followed by a match in Colorado, and capping off their road trip with a visit to the Oregon schools.
While being away from home for that long has made this season unique for ASU, head coach Sanja Tomasevic said the team has learned a lot about themselves throughout this time.
“It’s been tough for sure, changing beds every weekend, traveling and trying to get places and changing time zones,” Tomasevic said. “So definitely very challenging, but I think it’s made the team more used to adversity and tougher with things we sometimes can’t control. But at the end of the day, we’re in the gym, we’re in the hotel, we’re playing volleyball.”
With that being said, Tomasevic said the team is ready to be back home at Desert Financial Arena with the home crowd.
“We are super excited for Friday to be back at home and play in front of our own people and our own crowd,” Tomasevic said. “So definitely something we’re looking forward to and I think it’s gonna make those games even more special.”
Thanks in part to the social media accounts of Sun Devil Volleyball, it has helped fans of the program stay connected with ASU while they’ve been on the road these past five weeks, Tomasevic said. While a strong majority of the matches were played in different states, Tomasevic said the presence of fans was felt in the win over Arizona in Tucson as members of the 942 Crew made the trip down to support.
This Friday’s match against UCLA is expected to have a large crowd, particularly in the Inferno. It is the 942 Crew Game of the Week with students receiving free t-shirts. It is also a Maroon Monsoon and fans are encouraged to wear maroon.
There has also been a presence in alumni’s support this season, especially since the Webb-Burbridge Classic that occurred on August 26-27, where alumni of the program reconnected with each other and connected with the current players as well. Two alumni of the program, Alison Lund Rossini and Marina Mercer Carpenter, gave back to their program as they contributed to bringing in gold jerseys for the first time for Sun Devil Volleyball.
In these new gold jerseys, the Sun Devils have picked up some of the most memorable wins of the season in them, which included a five setter, reverse sweep victory over Northern Iowa during the Sun Devil Classic. ASU also came up victorious in those jerseys in the win over in-state rival Arizona on September 21 down in Tucson.
“They were just so grateful and thankful and it was really fun to see them get excited,” Mercer Carpenter said. “So much of athletics has changed where everything’s kind of about what your uniform looks like. The fact they beat U of A in those jerseys just puts me over the moon.”
From Lund Rossini’s perspective, what players are wearing can have an influence on how they feel on the court.
“As a player, you want to be confident in how you look and what you’re wearing and with wearing one of our primary colors, it’s powerful on the court,” Lund Rossini said. “We love to support the program that way and give the ladies something that they’re proud of.”
For Lund Rossini, her involvement has been a lot more recent, especially when her husband, Graham Rossini, took a job with Sun Devil Athletics. She also had a connection with Tomasevic because the two of them played against each other in college while Tomasevic was playing at Washington.
Mercer Carpenter played with Lund Rossini throughout the majority of her time with ASU. As a third generation Arizonan, Mercer Carpenter said it has always been important for her and her family to support the Sun Devils, especially for her mother. After her playing career ended in 2009, she attended the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law and got involved with her alma mater after she graduated from law school, while she currently works for the Arizona Coyotes.
Like with the Webb-Burbridge Classic and involving alumni of the program, Tomasevic said Lund Rossini and Mercer Carpenter building their relationships with current members of the team is helping build bonds within the program.
“Those two have been making an impact as far as alumni go,” Tomasevic said. “We had a great turnout for our alumni in late August. It was so cool for alumni to sit down and share experiences.”
For Mercer Carpenter, fan support across the board for all sports is really important but that volleyball is just a fast-paced sport that can influence how an athlete feels while playing.
“Playing in a packed, loud venue is an exhilarating and motivating factor,” Mercer Carpenter said. “So much of volleyball’s about momentum and if you can go on a run with a few points in a row and having fans be loud in the building, it can make a game.”
What Tomasevic is looking for from the team is the same no matter what state or gym they’re playing in but that returning home is always comforting.
“I think we will be tougher because of what we did in the first couple of weeks in the season,” Tomasevic said. “We just have to get on the court and do our job, but that definitely is going to be better when we get home.”