Sun Devils Start Season With Home Tournament This Weekend

TEMPE, Ariz. – The 2021 volleyball season commences this weekend at the Sun Devil Volleyball Classic, featuring a matchup between Arizona State and No. 13 Louisville on Saturday.
 
How to Watch
The tournament will be open to the public and tickets are available here. Fan safety protocol information is here. All of Arizona State's matches will be on the ASU Live Stream and there will be live scoring for the whole tournament. Follow along on social media, @SunDevilVB on Twitter and @sundevilvolleyball on Instagram, for more updates.

Sun Devil Outlook
Arizona State (0-0, 0-0 Pac-12)

• The Sun Devils are hosting a non-conference tournament for the first time since 2018. This is the first of two home tournaments before Pac-12 play.
• In the spring 2020-21 season, ASU went 6-14 and finished ninth place in the Pac-12. The team returns 13 with eight newcomers.
• Junior Iman Isanovic and sophomore Marta Levinska are the top kill leaders returning. Isanovic, who was All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention last season, has 481 total kills and led the team in kills last season. Right behind her season total was Levinska, an All-Pac-12 Freshman Team honoree. She had 245 kills and was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week twice in the spring.
• The top returning dig leader is junior Annika Larson who has 387 career digs and had 302 of those last season. Grad transfer Jamye Cox is the career leader in digs, totaling 1,424 at Michigan State, which was good for fourth all-time there.
• This year's returning setters include junior Shannon Shields and sophomore Ella Snyder. In her freshman season, Snyder led the team in total assists with 492 and was second in digs with 159. Shields came second in with a total of 196 assists.  

Opponent Outlook
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-0, 0-0 Southland)

• In the spring, the Islanders went 14-5, 9-3 in conference play, to take first in the Southland Conference and qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
• In the 2020-21 season, Rachel Young was one of two on the team to reach the 200 mark in kills, getting exactly 200. Faith Panhans led the team in assists with 686 and was second in digs with 137. Corpus Christi will look to replace Carissa Barnes who led the team in digs with 398.
• The last time ASU played Corpus Christi was in August of 2019 when the two faced off in the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup. After dropping the first set, ASU bounced back to win the next three sets and the match.

Cal Poly (0-0, 0-0 Big West)

• The Mustangs are returning to the court after taking the 2020-21 season off due to COVID-19 concerns.
• The one and only time the Sun Devils played Cal Poly was in September of 2000 in Tempe. The Sun Devils won the match 3-1.

No. 13 Louisville (0-0, 0-0 ACC)

• The Cardinals went 15-3 in the spring, including a 12-2 mark in the ACC to win the conference title. They advanced to the Sweet Sixteen at the NCAA Tournament.
• The last time the Sun Devils played the Cardinals was in September of 2019. ASU won the first set but dropped the next three to lose the match. Overall, the Sun Devils are 0-2 against the Cardinals.