#3 Seed Volleyball Hosts New Hampshire in First Round of NCAA Tournament

December 4, 2024

TEMPE – The 2024 NCAA Tournament is making its way to Tempe, where No. 3 seed Sun Devil Volleyball is set to host the first two rounds this Friday and Saturday in Desert Financial Arena. Arizona State will face New Hampshire in the first round at 6:30 p.m. MST on Friday.

Game Notes /// 2024 Volleyball Notables

Arizona State (29-2, 17-1 Big 12) will face New Hampshire in the first round on December 6 at 6:30 p.m. MST. The other matchup in ASU's bracket is No. 6 seed Texas A&M against Colorado State at 4:30 p.m. MST on Friday as well. The winners of both matches will play each other in the second round on December 7 at 6 p.m. MST.

The team that wins both matches will move on to the regional semifinal on either December 12 or 13. The national semifinals will be on December 19, with the national championship on December 22. Both of those will be in Louisville, Kentucky.

How to Follow and Fan Information
Parking will be $15 in all areas this weekend. Traffic will be extremely heavy as many events are happening around the area. Fans should plan to arrive significantly early. Volleyball fans are encouraged to park in the Novus Parking Structure or the Stadium Structure as lot 59 will likely be full. To prepay for parking, head here.

For tickets, the lower bowl is assigned seating and upper bowl is general admission. Tickets can be purchased here.

The matches will be streamed on ESPN+, with live stats as well. Updates will be provided on social media on X (@SunDevilVB) and Instagram (@sundevilvolleyball). More information can be found on the tournament website.

Sun Devil Outlook
No 3. Seed Arizona State (29-2, 17-1 Big 12)

Under second-year head coach JJ Van Niel, the Sun Devils are back in the NCAA Tournament for the second-consecutive season, 21st time overall in program history. Last season, Arizona State advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinals after winning two matches in the tournament for the first time in program history.
The 2024 Big 12 Champions, Arizona State finished the regular season with a 29-2 record, going 17-1 in Big 12 play. This is the first conference title for the program in team history for Arizona State and the first Big 12 title across all sports for ASU. In volleyball, Arizona State is one of four teams in the conference to have won a Big 12 title (also Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State).
In the Big 12 postseason awards, the Sun Devils took home a record amount of hardware. After winning the conference title, ASU took home the most Big 12 awards with JJ Van Niel winning Big 12 Coach of the Year, Mary Shroll earning Big 12 Libero of the Year and Argentina Ung taking Big 12 Setter of the Year, with five all-conference honors as well, as announced on Tuesday. In addition to the major awards, Arizona State has four on the All-Big 12 First Team with Geli Cyr, Claire Jeter, Shroll and Ung and one on the second team in Savannah Kjolhede. The five on all-conference teams is tied with last season for the most in a single season in team history. The two major position conference awards are the first two for the program.
The team is on a 17-match winning streak heading into the tournament. The 29 wins are the most this century and two wins away from the most all-time (31 in 1982). Additionally, ASU has 19 sweeps this year, one away from the program record. The Sun Devils went undefeated at home in the regular season for the first time since becoming an NCAA sport. The only other time ASU was undefeated was in the first year of the program in 1973 when they went undefeated all season.
The Sun Devils built up an impressive resume over the season. In addition to their monumental win total, they went 5-2 against ranked opponents, including a top-10 win over then-No. 8 Kansas. Arizona State never lost a match to an unranked team this season.
Not only has ASU won, but it has won with efficiency, hitting .277 on the year, top 20 in the nation for hitting percentage. There have been five individual efforts ranked in the top 10 in the ASU record book for hitting percentages (one from Savannah Kjolhede, three from Claire Jeter and one from Bailey Miller). The Sun Devils have also held opponents to low clips, ranking in the top 20 all season for opponent hitting percentages (currently at .157).

Tournament Outlook
New Hampshire: (18-9, 7-3 America East)

The Wildcats secured their bid to the NCAA tournament by winning the America East Tournament. It was their eighth tournament championship in program history.
This is the first tournament appearance for UNH since 2016 and they have never won an NCAA tournament match.
ASU leads UNH 2-0 all-time, last playing in 2009 and winning in straight sets.

#6 Seed Texas A&M (19-7, 10-6 SEC)

Texas A&M will travel to Tempe with a first round matchup awaiting against Colorado State. The winner of the match will advance to play the winner of Arizona State vs. New Hampshire.
The Aggies ended the regular season on a high note, winning their last four over Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina.
The SEC tied for the most in the country sending nine teams to the NCAA tournament.
ASU has a 5-0 record against Texas A&M all-time, last playing in 2014 and winning 3-1.

Colorado State (20-10, 14-4 Mountain West)

Colorado State will match up against No. 6 Seed Texas A&M in the first round in Tempe.
Colorado State is coming off a win in the Mountain West Tournament. The win gives the Rams their 24th conference title in school history, securing their bid to the NCAA tournament.
This is Colorado State's first tournament appearance since 2019. Prior to that, the Rams recorded 25-straight tournament appearances. This will be the first NCAA tournament for any player on their active roster.
ASU leads 11-2 in the all-time series against CSU. However, the Rams won the last meeting in 2022 in five sets.

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