2018–2019 ASU Volleyball Season Preview

After starting the season going 4–2 through the Sun Devil Volleyball Classic and the Gonzaga Invitational the 2017–2018 ASU volleyball team was looking like it was headed in the right direction. They had only lost three seniors and were coming off a respectable 12–20 season, where they ended Pac 12 play with three consecutive wins. The following two weeks the Devils finished out tournament play with an uplifting 6–0 record. Going into Pac 12 play the Sun Devils looked ready. They were 10–2 with their only losses coming to Gonzaga (14–16) and Portland State (21–9).
After opening up Pac 12 play losing 0–3 to University of Arizona the Sun Devils put up a fight against NO. 7 Washington. After taking the first two sets 25–22 and 25–17 it looked as if the Devils were going to pull off a big upset. Senior Oluoma Okaro tied the single match record with 30 kills but it ultimately was not enough. The Huskies stole the match and won the final three sets. This seemed like a big step in the right direction for ASU but in their next six matches they went 0–6 and only won 3 of 21 total sets.
The Devils began to travel up to Oregon with an 0–8 conference record but that was the least of their worries. They had just lost head coach Sanja Tomasevic for the rest of the season due to maternity leave. This left assistant coach Carlos Moreno in charge. This change did not help the Devils as they finished the rest of the season with an 0–20 conference record and a 10–22 overall record.
After losing four seniors and key senior starters Halle Harker (libero) and Oluoma Okaro (middle) this 2018–2019 team has nowhere to go but up. Oluoma Okaro believes that in order for this team to succeed everyone must accept their roles. She told the state press, “If everyone steps up within their roles, that’s beneficial to the team. I think especially this year people stepped up at times but not all the time. I think there’s a difference between stepping up and being a leader on the court.”With interim head coach Carlos Moreno stating that he believes the trio of liberos coming up have the potential to be great leaders, Sanja Tomasevic back to her usual head coaching duties, and the team hiring James Felton to analyze and discuss what went wrong with their previous season the Devils are looking to bounce back and have a great 2018–2019 season.