TEMPE, Ariz. – Marta Levinska continues to be a force for Sun Devil Volleyball as her 23 kills led the team to a 3-1 win (26-24, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17) over Utah in Desert Financial Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
Notable Stats
Quotes
Arizona State Volleyball Head Coach Sanja Tomasevic
Opening Statement:
"I'm super proud of the team and the way we fought throughout the entire match. Some really good performances from Marta (Levinska) and Roberta (Rabelo) specifically. I'm super excited for that to come out and continue on building hopefully into Saturday."
On Marta's performance
"Marta five weeks ago or so started going off. She's been having really good performances. And so it's really fun to have her at that level. And I didn't see the stats of the first two sets, but I felt like every time she touched the ball, she killed it."
On playing at home before Thanksgiving
"It's a lot easier (than playing on the road) because families are in town. So a lot of our girls have plans to spend time with their families tonight and tomorrow. And then we're practicing Friday afternoon so they got quite a bit of time to rest their bodies before we get back."
On the mindset of playing rival Arizona on Saturday
"I say the mindset for me is that the most important game is the next game. So for me it's always the mindset that this game is the game we're gonna put all of our eggs in that one game and then we go to the next one. Obviously it was a little bit harder because it is a rivalry week. They painted the 'A' and all that stuff that happened, so there's a chatter about it. But I was really proud of our girls just being able to stay focused. I thought they did a great, great job staying focused and fighting. I think one thing that with this team is we fight, we fight really hard and it's awesome to see them continue to do that even when we're not fighting for the NCAA tournament. At this point it's really just fighting for pride and for wins."
Junior pin hitter Marta Levinska
On back-to-back games with over 20 kills
"It's close to the end of the season, so it's kinda like I'm going all out. I love the sport, so I always want to bring my best game. I've been feeling nostalgic these past few games, so I want to finish it with a bang. It's nice that my team is there for me too, and they did such a great job today, they deserve a lot of credit."
On the rivalry game against Arizona and the mindset
"Playing against UofA is always fun because they are our rivals and it doesn't depend on what happened in the past, it's that game and we have to win it. I think that's the mindset we are going to go in with and right now I think we are in a pretty good headspace. We have the momentum right now, so I think we are going to get to use it."
Senior setter Shannon Shields
On how expectations have amounted up to this point in the season
"Obviously, we expected to make the tournament and to continue the season, but right now we want to win these games. We want to finish out strong, we want to go and have a nice break knowing we beat everyone in this section of games. For the expectation portion, we didn't fully meet the expectations, but I feel like we got better along the way as a team and a program."
On playing without Annika Larson-Nummer in today's win against Utah
"She's honestly so engaging, every timeout she is high-fiving everyone going in a circle. It's a loss to lose her energy on the court, but I feel like she was bringing it off the court on the side and Jaden (Ravnsborg) really stepped up as she was making great saves and her passing was really great. It was a loss, but I felt her presence and I feel like Jaden was able to step in and do some damage."
Set One: ASU 26, Utah 24
The first play of the set was a preview of what would be to come. The 21-second rally was propelled along by Shields' diving effort to keep the play alive, with Levinska knocking it down for the first point of the set. The Sun Devils jumped ahead early, holding a six-point lead at 12-6, helped along greatly by both Shields and Levinska. Utah worked to get within one before tying it at 14. Three kills from Jeter gave ASU their next three points to maintain a lead and keep the Utes chasing. The Sun Devils were operating on pure efficiency, hitting .417 and committing just three errors when they were up 21-19. As hard as errors were to come by in the set, with Utah also only committing three, one came at a crucial point on a service error to put the Sun Devils within two of 25. The Utes answered with three to go ahead by one at 24-23, but the spectacular performance from Levinska continued, swinging the next two for kills to help get the Sun Devils the 26th point to finish off the lingering first set.
Set Two: ASU 25, Utah 18
While the first set started with a significant gap, the second was entirely back and forth. No side led by more than two until ASU was up at 17-14 after Stahlke and Isanovic banded together for a block to give ASU the three-point lead. Partially due to four Utah errors, what once was a set tied at 13 became a set ASU saw a 21-16 lead to. A final Utah error, two kills from Rabelo and a final one from Levinska put the Sun Devils on top 2-0 in the match.
Set Three: Utah 25, ASU 22
Levinska added the first point of the set, but the Utes weathered her powerhouse performance, stacking on six straight for an 8-4 score. Isanovic slammed down a kill, which gave Shields her 27th assist. At 13-10, Utah would lead by four at the most, but ASU would reel in the deficit to get within one at 20-19, thanks to a kill from Stahlke. After the Utes added two more, ASU called a timeout, taking three of the next six points, but Utah hit the 25-mark to take it to a fourth set.
Set Four: ASU 25, Utah 22
Stahlke continued to provide input, with a block to start the fourth set. A lengthy rally kept alive by both teams saw Shields' back set finished off by Levinska to make it an 8-5 set. Going up ahead early, ASU saw Utah climb their way back into the set, meeting at nine all. Isanovic drove home the 10th point after spotting a gap in between the two Utes' blockers' arms. Isanovic padded the lead with a kill after attacking an opening in Utah's defense to give the Sun Devils a lead of two. Levinska's name was called on the next two plays, on a kill and a block with Jeter to make it a six-point set, ASU up 18-12. Rabelo's fourth kill in the set put her at 10 on the match, then Isanovic was given the ball on a tee from Utah, in which she laid down for a 21-14 score line. Three more Utah errors brought the Sun Devils within one, and appropriately, Levinska finished off the match with a kill to bring her total to 23 on the afternoon.
Up Next
Arizona State's final match of the regular season will be the home finale on Saturday against in-state rival Arizona. The match will start at 4 p.m. MST and will be on the Pac-12 Network.
Notable Stats
- Arizona State (13-18, 7-12 Pac-12) beat Utah (15-15, 8-11) in Tempe for the first time since 2015. With last year's win over the Utes, this is the Sun Devils' first time beating them in consecutive seasons since 2014-15.
- As a team, ASU out-hit Utah .306 to .215. Additionally, the Sun Devils won the block battle with nine to the Utes' two.
- Junior pin hitter Marta Levinska had her second-straight match with 20-plus kills and her 11th in a row in double figures. She last had consecutive 20-kill matches her freshman year, the spring 2020-21 season. In the first set alone, she had 11 kills, the first Sun Devil with double-digit kills in a single set this season. Additionally, she is nine kills from 1,000 career kills, which would make her the 19th Sun Devil to reach that mark.
- Senior setter Shannon Shields recorded her second-highest assist total in her Sun Devil career with 41. She also had 10 digs for her sixth double-double of the year, her third in the last four matches.
- Sophomore Jaden Ravnsborg got the start at libero today. She had a team-high 14 digs, her second match in a row with double-digit digs. She also tied her career high in assists with six.
- Two additional Sun Devils had double-digit kills with Iman Isanovic and Roberta Rabelo both notching 10. For Rabelo, this was her third match in double figures. For Isanovic, this was her 13th-consecutive match in double figures.
- Isanovic also got to 100 career aces tonight with two. She is four away from cracking the top 10 in career aces.
- Junior middle blocker Claudia Stahlke led the defense at the net with six blocks. Levinska was right behind her with four.
Quotes
Arizona State Volleyball Head Coach Sanja Tomasevic
Opening Statement:
"I'm super proud of the team and the way we fought throughout the entire match. Some really good performances from Marta (Levinska) and Roberta (Rabelo) specifically. I'm super excited for that to come out and continue on building hopefully into Saturday."
On Marta's performance
"Marta five weeks ago or so started going off. She's been having really good performances. And so it's really fun to have her at that level. And I didn't see the stats of the first two sets, but I felt like every time she touched the ball, she killed it."
On playing at home before Thanksgiving
"It's a lot easier (than playing on the road) because families are in town. So a lot of our girls have plans to spend time with their families tonight and tomorrow. And then we're practicing Friday afternoon so they got quite a bit of time to rest their bodies before we get back."
On the mindset of playing rival Arizona on Saturday
"I say the mindset for me is that the most important game is the next game. So for me it's always the mindset that this game is the game we're gonna put all of our eggs in that one game and then we go to the next one. Obviously it was a little bit harder because it is a rivalry week. They painted the 'A' and all that stuff that happened, so there's a chatter about it. But I was really proud of our girls just being able to stay focused. I thought they did a great, great job staying focused and fighting. I think one thing that with this team is we fight, we fight really hard and it's awesome to see them continue to do that even when we're not fighting for the NCAA tournament. At this point it's really just fighting for pride and for wins."
SUN DEVILS WIN??#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/JGH63EHZW7
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 23, 2022
Junior pin hitter Marta Levinska
On back-to-back games with over 20 kills
"It's close to the end of the season, so it's kinda like I'm going all out. I love the sport, so I always want to bring my best game. I've been feeling nostalgic these past few games, so I want to finish it with a bang. It's nice that my team is there for me too, and they did such a great job today, they deserve a lot of credit."
On the rivalry game against Arizona and the mindset
"Playing against UofA is always fun because they are our rivals and it doesn't depend on what happened in the past, it's that game and we have to win it. I think that's the mindset we are going to go in with and right now I think we are in a pretty good headspace. We have the momentum right now, so I think we are going to get to use it."
Senior setter Shannon Shields
On how expectations have amounted up to this point in the season
"Obviously, we expected to make the tournament and to continue the season, but right now we want to win these games. We want to finish out strong, we want to go and have a nice break knowing we beat everyone in this section of games. For the expectation portion, we didn't fully meet the expectations, but I feel like we got better along the way as a team and a program."
On playing without Annika Larson-Nummer in today's win against Utah
"She's honestly so engaging, every timeout she is high-fiving everyone going in a circle. It's a loss to lose her energy on the court, but I feel like she was bringing it off the court on the side and Jaden (Ravnsborg) really stepped up as she was making great saves and her passing was really great. It was a loss, but I felt her presence and I feel like Jaden was able to step in and do some damage."
?? My goodness #NCAAWVB x ?? @SunDevilVB
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 23, 2022
pic.twitter.com/mCIbXQEvcQ
Set One: ASU 26, Utah 24
The first play of the set was a preview of what would be to come. The 21-second rally was propelled along by Shields' diving effort to keep the play alive, with Levinska knocking it down for the first point of the set. The Sun Devils jumped ahead early, holding a six-point lead at 12-6, helped along greatly by both Shields and Levinska. Utah worked to get within one before tying it at 14. Three kills from Jeter gave ASU their next three points to maintain a lead and keep the Utes chasing. The Sun Devils were operating on pure efficiency, hitting .417 and committing just three errors when they were up 21-19. As hard as errors were to come by in the set, with Utah also only committing three, one came at a crucial point on a service error to put the Sun Devils within two of 25. The Utes answered with three to go ahead by one at 24-23, but the spectacular performance from Levinska continued, swinging the next two for kills to help get the Sun Devils the 26th point to finish off the lingering first set.
Set Two: ASU 25, Utah 18
While the first set started with a significant gap, the second was entirely back and forth. No side led by more than two until ASU was up at 17-14 after Stahlke and Isanovic banded together for a block to give ASU the three-point lead. Partially due to four Utah errors, what once was a set tied at 13 became a set ASU saw a 21-16 lead to. A final Utah error, two kills from Rabelo and a final one from Levinska put the Sun Devils on top 2-0 in the match.
Set Three: Utah 25, ASU 22
Levinska added the first point of the set, but the Utes weathered her powerhouse performance, stacking on six straight for an 8-4 score. Isanovic slammed down a kill, which gave Shields her 27th assist. At 13-10, Utah would lead by four at the most, but ASU would reel in the deficit to get within one at 20-19, thanks to a kill from Stahlke. After the Utes added two more, ASU called a timeout, taking three of the next six points, but Utah hit the 25-mark to take it to a fourth set.
Set Four: ASU 25, Utah 22
Stahlke continued to provide input, with a block to start the fourth set. A lengthy rally kept alive by both teams saw Shields' back set finished off by Levinska to make it an 8-5 set. Going up ahead early, ASU saw Utah climb their way back into the set, meeting at nine all. Isanovic drove home the 10th point after spotting a gap in between the two Utes' blockers' arms. Isanovic padded the lead with a kill after attacking an opening in Utah's defense to give the Sun Devils a lead of two. Levinska's name was called on the next two plays, on a kill and a block with Jeter to make it a six-point set, ASU up 18-12. Rabelo's fourth kill in the set put her at 10 on the match, then Isanovic was given the ball on a tee from Utah, in which she laid down for a 21-14 score line. Three more Utah errors brought the Sun Devils within one, and appropriately, Levinska finished off the match with a kill to bring her total to 23 on the afternoon.
S4 | MORE CHAOS BALL!! Marta ends this scrappy rally with a bang ??
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 23, 2022
??: @Pac12Network (https://t.co/YtBoO5FUnH)#ForksUp /// #EarnIt pic.twitter.com/bHzDn4396T
Up Next
Arizona State's final match of the regular season will be the home finale on Saturday against in-state rival Arizona. The match will start at 4 p.m. MST and will be on the Pac-12 Network.