Arizona State volleyball makes NCAA Tournament

Arizona State volleyball (20-13, 9-11 Pac-12) made it to its first NCAA Tournament since the 2006 season and first under head coach Jason Watson. ASU will face Oklahoma (21-10, 9-6 Big 12) on Friday in Provo, Utah.

The ASU volleyball team met in its home arena of Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday afternoon to watch the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on ESPNU. The Sun Devils were chosen to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Friday in Provo, Utah.

Watson is now the fifth Sun Devil volleyball coach to make it to the NCAA postseason. He joins Brad Saindon, Patti Snyder-Park, Debbie Brown and Dale Flickinger since the inception of the NCAA.

More news about the event and where to purchase tickets will be available soon on thesundevils.com. A free webcast of all matches will be available at byucougars.com provided by the host school BYU. Arizona State and Oklahoma will play Friday at 5 p.m. MT and BYU will face New Mexico State Friday at 7 p.m. MT. The winners of the opening round will play Saturday at 7 p.m. MT in the second round. Arizona State, BYU, New Mexico State and Oklahoma are part of the Omaha Region with Saturday's winner advancing to the region semifinals on Dec. 7 in Omaha, Neb. 

First and second round competition of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship is held at 16 campus sites Nov. 29-30 or Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Winners advance to four regional tournaments, held Dec. 7-8.

The four predetermined sites are: Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., CenturyLink Center Omaha in Omaha, Neb., Gregory Gymnasium in Austin, Texas, and Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Regional semifinals will be telecast on ESPN3 with regional finals available on ESPNU.

Each quarterfinal winner will advance to semifinal action in Louisville, Ky., held Thursday, Dec. 13 at 6 or 8 p.m. CT at the KFC YUM! Center. The national championship match will be played at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday, Dec. 15. Both the national semifinal and national championship will be on ESPN2/ESPN3.

For more information about the championship, log on to NCAA.com/volleyball.

Season Notes
The last time ASU went to the NCAA Tournament was 2006 under then coach Brad Saindon. ASU has had 15 appearances in the NCAA Tournament not counting 2012, for an 8-15 record and has reached the postseason with four coaches since the NCAA's inception - Watson would be the fifth.

Jason Watson has been to the NCAA tournament three times, all with BYU. He is 4-3 in that time - his most recent a 3-1 showing in 2007 after making it to the second round to be ousted by eventual champion No. 1 Penn State on Dec. 1, 2007.

ASU's 20 wins in 2012 is the most under Jason Watson.

This is the most victories for the program since it went 20-8 in 1993 under Patti Snyder-Park. That team went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

This is the most conference wins for ASU since 2000, that team finished 9-9 in the Pac-10 with Patti Snyder-Park.

ASU finishes the regular season with two wins against ranked teams: No. 6 USC, W 3-0 Nov. 2; No. 5 Washington, W 3-1 Nov. 21.

Jason Watson has grabbed seven wins against ranked opponents in his five years at ASU. The most wins vs. ranked teams in a single season under Watson was 2010, with three.

Erica Wilson ranks 12th in career kills with 1110.

Stephanie Preach is tied for fourth at ASU in career digs with 1439. She also jumps to sixth in single-season digs with 598.

Macey Gardner is second in single-season kills with 562 - which is also the freshman record, previously set in 1992 by All-American Christine Garner with 475. She also owns the freshman record for kills/set with 4.49.

Allison Palmer has 1430 assists which ranks fourth in single-season marks.

Alexis Pinson is fifth in single-season block assists with 113.  

Macey Gardner earned two Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors, a most for a freshman since the conference began the award.

ASU won three tournaments in the non-conference portion of the season - UTEP's, UCI/LMU and the ASU Sheraton Invitational. Along with compiling an 11-2 record during non-conference play, a best start for the program since 2009, ASU had 10 earn tournament awards along the way.

Jason Watson earned his 50th win as a Sun Devil, on Aug. 25 in a 3-0 sweep of Fresno State. Watson joined ASU in 2008.