Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — The Big 12 is about to get a lot more difficult for No. 16 BYU women's volleyball.
At least, if Arizona State can duplicate its once-every-three-decades success from Friday night.
Marta Levinska poured in 17 kills, 10 digs and five aces as the fifth-seeded Sun Devils advanced to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly 30 years with a 25-20, 25-21, 25-21 win over future conference mate BYU.
"This was an expectation of ours. This was a goal that we set, and we set it a couple of years ago; I'm glad it finally paid off," said ASU's Claire Jeter, who had a team-high five blocks. "It was expected, and I think we have more in us."
Just 24 hours after wining their first NCAA Tournament game since 2014, the Sun Devils advanced to the Round of 16 for the first time in the rally scoring era by holding Erin Livingston had 10 kills and eight digs while Whitney Bower distributed 28 assists with seven digs and five kills for BYU.
Arizona State is headed to the Round of 16 — and a matchup with Pac-12 foe Stanford in the final year before the two longtime conference mates depart for the Big 12 and ACC, respectively.
For BYU, the postseason ends in the second round in back-to-back seasons and the third time in five years amid a sprawling run of 12-straight appearances.
"I'm proud of this team, of Erin, of Whitney, of everything that they've done this season in our inaugural Big 12 season," BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. "The highs, the lows; they stuck together. I thought they fought well tonight … and I'm super proud of our entire team, but for sure Whitney and Erin."
The dig 🤯 The kill 😱#NCAAWVB#SCtop10 x 🎥 ESPN+ / @SunDevilVBpic.twitter.com/jo7C0a49fP
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 3, 2023
Kate Prior added seven kills and six blocks for the Cougars (25-7), and Whitney McEwan-Llarenas had seven kills and three blocks for a BYU team that served just two aces with 39 digs to pace an attack that hit just .186 in the straight-set loss — the Cougars' lowest hitting percentage since Oct 26, a 3-0 loss at Kansas State.
"I think when you can put the serving pressure on, it makes it so they aren't in system," said ASU coach JJ Van Niel, the first-year head coach whose team served seven aces with 34 digs. "I thought our players were just flying around the court. … It was a well executed plan."
Levinska served consecutive aces to lift the Sun Devils to a 12-9 early advantage in the first set, then struck a kill off the block for a 20-16 victory for the 1-0 lead.
Arizona State held the Cougars to just .118 hitting in the first set, limiting Livingston to three kills on 11 swings as Levinska compiled eight kills en route to a 25-20 first-set victory.
"Winning the first set always gives you the confidence boost you need," said Levinska, the senior from Latvia. "I think that just told us we can win. We knew they didn't like the pressure we were giving them. It was definitely one of our keys, to win that first set."
It got worse.
The Sun Devils scored on seven of their first nine kill attempts, and added three aces to cruise to an 18-10 lead in the second set.
Claire Jeter laid down a kill to push ASU's lead to 24-17 before Kate Prior capped a 4-0 run with a kill to pull within 24-21.
But Levinska had four kills and two aces in the second set, including the winner to give the Sun Devils a 2-0 advantage with a 25-21 win.
Roberta Rabble paced a .418 hitting offense that laid down 10 kills without an error en route to a 17-12 lead in the third set. The Sun Devils put down 14 kills on 39 swings with just three errors to go along with an ace and two blocks to take the decisive third set 25-21.
The match ends the career of Bower, who graduated from high school a year early to join older sister Morgan at the school where their mother Caroline starred from 1996-99 and father Danny played basketball in 1998-99.
The second of seven sisters in the Bower clan wraps up her all-time BYU career as the program leader in assists with 4,583 to go along with 1,230 digs, 451 kills, 224 blocks and 135 aces.
But that's not what her teammates will remember most about the turkey caller from Nampa, Idaho.
"What I'm going to remember about Whitney is her grittiness," said Livingston, a junior. "She fights through so much for us. She's a fighter, and my best friend. I love Whitney, and she's the best."
The feeling is mutual for Bower, who ushered the Cougars into the Big 12 after taking the program to two Sweet 16 appearances and the 237-win mark (with just 36 losses) for Olmstead.
"I'm just grateful for the chance to play with All-Americans and teammates, some of the best players I could dream of," she said. "I'm just so grateful to play with some of the most selfless teammates ever. … I love the grittiness about BYU, and I'm grateful for the chance to play here."
