Van Niel Named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Five Earn Honors

SAN FRANCISCO – Sun Devil Volleyball received the most postseason conference honors in program history, highlighted by JJ Van Niel being named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Marta Levinska on the All-Pac-12 Team and four earning honorable mentions. 

First-year head coach Van Niel is the fourth coach of the year in Arizona State volleyball history, the first since Patti Snyder-Park in 1992. He is the fourth coach in Sun Devil Athletics to be named coach of the year in their first season. Among Pac-12 volleyball winners, he is the third first-year head coach to win, along with John Dunning from Stanford in 2001 and Jerritt Elliot as the interim head coach at USC in 1999.

For the player awards, five receiving honors is the most the Sun Devils have had in a single season, with two being the previous best. Levinska is on the All-Pac-12 Team for her first time, the first for ASU since 2021. Levinska has earned a Pac-12 postseason award in every season of her career after being honorable mention the last two years and on the all-freshman team her first season. She joins Macey Gardner and Christine Garner as Sun Devils with a Pac-12 postseason honor in each year of their career. The four Sun Devils on honorable mention are Geli Cyr, Claire Jeter, Shannon Shields and Mary Shroll, the first postseason honor for all four of them. 

For the complete list of winners, head to the Pac-12’s website. 

JJ Van Niel made history in his first season as a head coach by leading Arizona State to an incredible turnaround to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. The Sun Devils finished the regular season 26-6, which is the best record this century at ASU and the third-highest win total in program history. This was the 11th season that the program has reached 20 wins. Additionally, Arizona State had a 14-6 Pac-12 record, which is the most conference wins in team history. The Sun Devils finished in a tie for third in the Pac-12, the best conference finish since tying for second in 1993. 

What a moment ??#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/fkxh340pgo

— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) November 27, 2023

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