By Avianna Hoppes, media relations intern
Another season for Sun Devil Volleyball is in the books as the squad finished with a 13-19 record, which featured a win over a top-15 opponent and nine five-set matches.
Team accomplishments
The Sun Devils finished ninth in the Pac-12, going 7-13 in conference play. ASU played nine five-set matches, winning five of them, including two reverse sweeps. The five-set matches were the most by any team in the Pac-12.
ASU started out the season strong, going 4-1 in their first five games. One of the biggest highlights was when ASU upset No. 15 Washington in five sets on the road. The Sun Devils had season sweeps of Cal and Oregon State. It’s the second-straight season of sweeping Cal, and the first season sweep of OSU since 2019. Statistically speaking, Arizona State led the Pac 12 in digs this season with 1,699 and had 27 double-doubles as a team.
Nationally, Arizona State ranked No. 22 for average attendance (1,959) and No. 23 in total attendance (25,464), both of which are also fourth in the Pac-12. This is the second year in a row the Sun Devils have been in the top 25 in both average and total attendance. Since 2014, this season was the highest average attendance ASU has had. The total attendance is the second-highest total since 2014.
Individual standouts
Senior outside hitter Iman Isanovic had another stand-out season as she led the team in kills (421) and service aces (32) for the third year in a row. This season, she moved into eighth place in the record book for all-time kills with 1,392. Her season high in kills was 21 and came twice against Washington and Oregon State. She led the team and the conference with the most sets played at 124.
Junior Marta Levinska had another stellar year as she also reached 1,000 career kills this season, making her the 19th in program history to do so. Behind Levinska, she was second on the team with 412 kills. She set a new career-high in kills with 25, which she reached twice against Arizona and Cal, and was the only Sun Devil with double-digit kills in a single set with 11 against Utah.
Senior setter Shannon Shields led the team in assists with 653 and was third on the team in service aces with 20. This was by far her highest assist total throughout her career at ASU. She was the primary setter as the team rotated between a 5-1 and 6-2 system, with Ella Snyder as the other setter.
At the net, junior middle blocker Claire Jeter led the team defensively with 100 blocks this season, ranking eighth in the Pac-12. She was also second on the team in service aces with 23. She was one of four Sun Devils to reach triple figures in kills with 162.
The second outside hitter spot saw a pair of players switch off. Sophomore Geli Cyr was a swiss army knife for the Sun Devils this season, starting at both outside, defensive specialist and libero. She placed in the top five on the team for almost every statistical category including, kills (225), digs (245) and aces (16). Junior Roberta Rabelo also saw time at outside hitter, totaling 93 kills on the year with three matches reaching double-digit kills.
On defense, the back row was anchored by senior Annika Larson-Nummer and sophomore Jaden Ravnsborg. The two split time at libero, with the sophomore primarily starting the first half of the season and the senior taking over in the second half. Larson-Nummer led the defense with 273 digs and had a 14-game streak of double-digits digs, which was a career high. Ravnsborg was right behind her with 256 total digs and had 15 total matches with double-digit digs. Sophomore Meadow Cooper also saw time as a serving and defensive specialist. She played in 59 matches and had 30 digs and seven aces.
Player awards
For the third-straight year, Isanovic and Levinska were given postseason awards, both being named to the All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention list. Only three other players in program history have received Pac-12 postseason honors three times throughout their Sun Devil career.
Isanovic was getting it done in the classroom, as well as the court. She was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team, along with Annika Larson-Nummer. This was the first honor for Larson-Nummer and the third for Isanovic.
Looking ahead
New head coach JJ Van Niel was hired on December 29 and will lead the team moving forward. The Sun Devils will return starters Cyr, Jeter, Levinska, Rabelo, Ravnsborg and Shields. The majority of the roster consists of upperclassmen, giving ASU lots of experience heading into next year.