First-year ASU volleyball coach JJ Van Niel is the Pac-12 Coach of the Year after the Sun Devils finished the season 26-6, the best record this century and the third-highest win total in program history. Van Niel spearheaded the largest postseason conference honors in ASU history.
Van Niel pushed the Sun Devils to a 14-game winning streak to start the season, earning the best start from a new head coach in the NCAA era. The Sun Devils notched two sweeps of top-five teams in Pac-12 foes Oregon and Stanford.
Senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska has been instrumental to the Sun Devils' success in-game, earning numerous Offensive Player of the Week awards and now an All-Pac-12 team nod. In ASU's win against No. 5 Oregon midseason, Levinska led both teams with 12 kills, adding seven digs and three blocks. No. 3 Stanford also had no answer for Levinska, as she again led both teams in kills, tallying 17.
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Levinska was the only Sun Devil to earn an All-Pac-12 team nod. However, junior outside hitter Geli Cyr, graduate setter Shannon Shields, graduate libero Mary Shroll, and senior middle blocker Claire Jeter were all recognized as honorable mentions.
The No.5 seeded Sun Devils are set to face unseeded Georgia in Provo, Utah, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for its first appearance in the contest since 2015.
Edited by Walker Smith, Alysa Horton and Angelina Steel.
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