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Non-Conference Road Trip Continues At Borderland Invitational

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Non-Conference Road Trip Continues At Borderland InvitationalNon-Conference Road Trip Continues At Borderland Invitational
Thomas Fernandez
TEMPE – The non-conference road trip continues for Sun Devil Volleyball as the team will play in the Borderland Invitational this Friday through Sunday, which is co-hosted by UTEP and New Mexico State and will take place in both Las Cruces, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas.

How to Follow
The Friday and Sunday matches against UTEP and New Mexico State, respectively, will take place at New Mexico State, while the Saturday match against San Francisco will be played in El Paso. All three matches will have live scoring, but there will be no live streams. Sunday's match at New Mexico State will have live radio.

Sun Devil Outlook
Arizona States (3-0)
  • Last weekend, the Sun Devils went 3-0 to win the FGCU Invitational, sweeping FGCU, St. John's and Ole Miss. The Sun Devils are one of four undefeated Pac-12 teams, alongside other 3-0 teams Cal and Oregon, as well as Stanford who is 2-0.
  • ASU had its first 3-0 start since 2019. The best start to a season for a new head coach is 4-0, which happened back in 2017 with Sanja Tomasevic. That is also the last time the Sun Devils opened the season with three-straight sweeps.
  • ASU is one of three Pac-12 schools to spend the entire non-conference schedule on the road. Oregon and UCLA are the other two.
  • Senior right side hitter Marta Levinska started off her fourth year strong, being named the FGCU Invitational MVP. She is currently on a streak of 15 matches in a row reaching double-digit kills (dating back to last season). Additionally, she moved up to 17th in the ASU record book for career kills (1,053). She is four away from 16th and 24 away from 15th.
  • Two other Sun Devils made the FGCU All-Tournament Team. Graduate libero Mary Shroll made her ASU debut, starting at libero every match and providing a strong and steady presence for the defense. Junior outside hitter Geli Cyr also earned the nod, notching double-digit kills in two matches, including a career-high 16 kills in the season opening win. 

Opponent Outlook
UTEP (3-0)
  • In the 2022 season, the Miners' record was 17-13 (10-4). UTEP returns 10 players from last year's team that finished in the top 50 in four categories in the NCAA.
  • The Miners started 2023 strong by beating Washington, who ASU plays on September 24 in Tempe. 
  • The Sun Devils have a 9-0 series record over the Miners, dating all the way back to their first meeting in 1975. Their last matchup was in 2012 where the Sun Devils won 3-1. 
San Francisco (2-1)
  • San Francisco is coming off a solid 2022 season, going 14-15 (7-11). It was the most wins in a season for the Dons since recording 17 in 2015 and a big turnaround after going 0-25 in 2021. The Dons have 10 returning players from a season ago.
  • After dropping the first match of the season, USF won its next two to start the 2023 campaign.
  • This will be the first meeting in program history between ASU and San Francisco.
New Mexico State (2-1)
  • In 2022 the Aggies went 16-12 overall with a 7-7 conference record. They did not qualify for the NCAA tournament and lost in the first round of the WAC tournament. 
  • This season, New Mexico State lost its first match, but bounced back to win the next two in straight sets.
  • ASU has a 18-4 all-time record against NMSU. The most recent meeting was in 2018, with ASU winning 3-0.