ASU Volleyball: Marta Levinska concludes Sun Devil career as 2023 AVCA First-Team All-American

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Zac BonDurant Arizona State’s senior opposite hitter closes out Sun Devil career with the award Arizona State’s senior opposite hitter from Riga, Latvia ended her illustrious Sun Devil career as a 2023 AVCA First Team All-American after her best...

Zac BonDurant

Arizona State’s senior opposite hitter closes out Sun Devil career with the award

Arizona State’s senior opposite hitter from Riga, Latvia ended her illustrious Sun Devil career as a 2023 AVCA First Team All-American after her best season in Tempe. Marta Levinska was an integral part of the renaissance that has been Sun Devil volleyball since moving to the United States as a freshman.

Levinska finished her career with 1,587 kills, the sixth most in program history after collecting 541 kills in the 2023 season, the fifth most in a single single. In 33 of 35 total matches ASU played this season, she reached double-figure kills, an ASU single-season record. Levinska’s numbers are among the best all-time as a Sun Devil as she is inside the top ten in school history in kills, block assists and service aces.

FIRST TEAM

Marta ends her career with a bang as an AVCA First Team All-American??

She is the first All-American in our program since 2015 and the last first team honoree was in 1988 #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/LwDItVCNf4

— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) December 13, 2023

The last Sun Devil to be awarded as a First-Team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association was Christy Nore 35 years ago. Levinska is one of three different Arizona State players to be awarded to the First-Team and only the 10th ASU All-American overall.

In her senior year, Levinska hit an otherworldly .348 percent. In the match against Cal on Oct. 1, Levinka had 30 kills. Those 30 kills are tied for the most rally-scoring kills in a single match in program history. On nine occasions this season Levinska had 20 or more kills, good enough for fourth all-time in a single season. On Oct. 31, the American Volleyball Coaches Association named her National Player of the Week, only the fifth Sun Devil to be named National Player of the Week across 50 seasons of volleyball in Tempe.

As a psychology major at Arizona State, Levinska was named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll in 2021 and 2022.

Before coming to ASU, Levinska played for Riga Volleyball School from 2018-2020 and amassed numerous awards.

All-American Sun Devil

Congratulations to Marta on being recognized today as an @AVCAVolleyball First Team All-American at the USMC/AVCA Honors Banquet in Tampa, Florida!#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/D3IYPD373v

— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) December 15, 2023

Levinka’s play this season helped the Sun Devils achieve one of the most historic seasons in program history. The 2023 Sun Devils achieved single-season highs in winning percentage (.800), season sweeps and conference wins.

The American Volleyball Coaches Association also named senior middle blocker Claire Jeter and graduate student setter Shannon Shields as All-American Honorable Mentions.

The 2023 season was a memorable season with fantastic individual performances and deserving awards. Head coach JJ Van Neil made an immediate impact on the program with a 28-7 record, the second-best record in program history. ASU saw both the highest total and average attendance in program history. The Sun Devils finished No. 16 in the country in the final AVCA coaches poll, the highest final ranking since 1995.

We couldn’t do this without you, Sun Devil fans

Not only were we ranked 12th in the nation in average attendance, but this season we also had the highest average and total attendance in program history! #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/QffaLp34GH

— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) December 14, 2023


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