ASU volleyball completed a sweep of the Lumberjack Classic in Flagstaff on Friday and Saturday, defeating Utah Valley University, NAU and the University of California, Davis 3-2, 3-1 and 3-0, respectively.
The Sun Devils kicked off their tournament Friday morning against the Wolverines. Sophomore outside hitter Marta Levinska led the team with 16 kills and 13 digs, and even added a block and a service ace.
ASU played NAU in the second match. The Lumberjacks, coming into the tournament with an 0-4 record and three cancellations, struggled against the Sun Devils. ASU defeated NAU 3-1. Sophomore middle blocker Claire Jeter was dominant defensively, registering seven blocks.
The Sun Devils finished the tournament against the Aggies, which was their only opponent to come into the tournament with at least a .500 record. ASU won 3-0 with seven digs by junior libero Annika Larson, who is currently second in the Pac-12 in digs.
On defense, Larson had 33 digs and Jeter had 14 blocks throughout the tournament.Jeter leads the team in blocks this season and has been dominant at the net throughout the season.
"(The middles) do a lot of drills at the net in terms of pressing, working on ball-setter, ball-hitter, things like that," Jeter said.
At the setting position, the team decided to change things up for all three matches, switching to a 6-2 offense. Sophomore setter Ella Snyder registered 54 assists, while junior setter Shannon Shields contributed 62 assists. Snyder currently leads the team in assists with 264 while Shields has 71 on the season.
"One of my big things is working with the hitter and all of the adjustments that we are making and I'm excited for the offense that we have now," Snyder said.
Freshman setter Allie Gray made her Sun Devil debut in Friday's match against Utah Valley, registering three assists. Gray completed six assists throughout the entire tournament.
Junior outside hitter Iman Isanovic and Levinska were effective as usual, hitting .256 and .255, respectively. Isanovic leads both the team and the conference with 138 kills.
"She's grown into the role of being one of our leaders and somebody on the court who is expected to take us to the promised land," head coach Sanja Tomasevic said.
The Sun Devils dominant performance this weekend paid off for the players individually. Jeter was named the tournament MVP, and Levinska and Larson were named to the all-tournament team.
The Sun Devils will host the Sparky Volleyball Invitational on Sept. 16-18 in Tempe. It is the final tournament of non-conference play for ASU, hosting the University of the Pacific and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Coming into the tournament, Pacific has lost two out of its last three matches while UNLV has won its last five matches.
ASU volleyball will begin conference play against UA on Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. MST in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at ahoppes1@asu.edu and follow @aviannahoppes on Twitter.
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