Since she was little, junior middle blocker Ella Lomigora seemed to be destined to don the maroon and gold. With Lomigora growing up just about 20 minutes down the road and attending Corona Del Sol High School, that outcome looked to be a guarantee.
"I grew up coming to ASU games, (my parents) came to school here, they graduated from ASU," Lomigora said. "My sister also graduated from ASU, so I knew that if I was going to come home, I was going to be a Sun Devil and I was going to bleed maroon and gold."
Despite her deep ties to ASU, Lomigora decided to attend Long Beach State for her first two seasons of collegiate volleyball. Lomigora dominated in her sophomore season for the Beach, recording 183 kills and 112 blocks.
Lomigora’s volleyball roots started early on when she was young, playing volleyball with her sister Mia Lomigora.
"Anything she did, I wanted to do," Ella said. "I think that's always an older sister to younger sister tendency. I saw her play volleyball, and I was like 'I want to do what you are doing' and then I just carried on from there."
With Ella and her family living so close to Desert Financial Arena, it was easy for them to watch ASU volleyball. In fact, both Ella and Mia idolized Macey Gardner, the Sun Devils' career kills leader.
After year two in Long Beach, Ella decided she wanted to switch out one set of palm trees for another, back home in Tempe.
"I came back because I wanted to be close to family," Ella said. "I value their support a lot; they mean everything to me. I grew up with strong family roots and values."
ASU head coach JJ Van Niel noticed those strong values when recruiting Ella and realized he had to get her on campus.
"She’s just an amazing human being," Van Niel said. "(She) cares about everyone, goes out of her way to check in with people and do things for people."
With the level of competition changing so much for Ella, she understood it would take a lot of hard work to prepare for Big 12 volleyball. With an incredible support staff around her, though, it became easy.
While Van Niel could tell how much of an impact Ella made on the court, he was assured that she was just as valuable off the floor.
"The amount of people that she played for when she was younger ... (who said) 'you will not regret this having this kid in your program, she will end up being one of your favorite kids ever,'" Van Niel said. "That stuff goes a long way."
Ella didn’t only receive praise from her coach about her ability to lead her teammates, but that skill has also been noticed by her peers with whom she shares the court.
"Ella definitely leads by example," senior setter Sydney Henry said. "She, by far, out of any person I have ever played with, is the most consistent, hard-working person I’ve ever met."
Though Ella has played a big role in helping her teammates off the court, that should not discount the way she alters the game for the Sun Devils. Van Niel made it clear that she leads by example. Her teammates watch what she's doing and see how hard she plays, helping them recognize that it should be the standard for everyone.
She leads Sun Devils who have played more than two sets in hitting percentage at .392, while being second on the team in blocks with 58.
"She does, obviously, an amazing job with her blocking and her attacking," Henry said. "She brings this calm presence on the court that we need, and it really helps us stay connected."
Though Ella is happy with her time spent at LBSU, there is something different about representing ASU on the volleyball court.
"It brings a lot of pride to be able to come back and represent all of the community," she said. "My family is everything to me, but there are so many different parts that have built the foundation of who I am today, and all of it comes from Tempe."
Edited by Jack McCarthy, Henry Smardo and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at mseal6@asu.edu and follow @masonseal23 on X.
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Mason Seal is a reporter in the sports department. He provides intel and paints stories about many different sports for The State Press. He is in his third semester at The State Press.
