Sports360AZ
By Jeff Metcalfe
If Arizona State Volleyball head coach JJ Van Niel placed a want ad after the 2023 season, it would have read like this:
NCAA Sweet Sixteen volleyball team returning lots of talent. Wanted experienced elite setter. Contact via transfer portal if interested.
Even with the loss of All-America first team hitter Marta Levinska, Van Niel believed he couple piece together enough hitting across the net for his second ASU team to be competitive in its first Big 12 season. But who would stir the mix in place of Shannon Shields, like Levinska off to international pro volleyball.
The answer became obvious – “a big no-brainer,” Van Niel says – once a series of events triggered Argentina Ung leaving Washington State for her fifth and final college season.
‘Go call her right now’
Even with an exodus of elite hitters from Washington State, also after a Sweet Sixteen season, Ung planned to return in 2024.
Then on Dec. 13 (2023), when Ung was in Arizona to visit her boyfriend, she learned via zoom call that Cougar coaches Jen and Burdette Greeny were leaving for a new challenge at West Virgina.
“All the seniors left, there’s nobody left on the team, my coaches are leaving, I don’t have a conference, we didn’t have any recruits. There’s really nothing left here for me,” Ung concluded.
The Greeny to West Virginia official announcement came Dec. 20, the same day that Ung entered the transfer portal.
Van Niel heard about Ung’s availability while at an airport for a connecting flight to the Netherlands for Christmas. Kalyah Williams, who played with Ung at Washington State before transferring to USC when Van Niel was associate head coach, broke the good news.
“She said Arg is in the portal, go call her right now,” Van Niel remembers.
Eight days later, ASU officially had the key to what has turned into an even better regular season than 2023. The Big 12 champion Sun Devils are 29-2, second most wins in school history, and as a No. 3 seed hosting to start the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.
Ung says ASU coaches told her, “You’re really our favorite setter to watch in the Pac-12. We love how you play and how athletic you are. It was literally meant to be.”
Returning close to home
Ung grew up in Hermosillo, Mexico, a six-hour drive almost straight south of Phoenix.
She was born in April 2002, about a month soccer’s World Cup began in South Korea and Japan. Roberto Ung believed enough in pre-tournament favorite Argentina that he chose that for his daughter’s name.
Brazil would win the 2002 World Cup. Argentina failed to make it out of the dreaded group of death, but Roberto and his wife Gloria were not crying for their Argentina. Eleven months later, the family expanded with birth of another daughter, Grecia.
“We grew up like twins,” Argentina says. “My mom would dress us up the same. We always went to the same schools. We always played on the same team. When we started playing beach volleyball, we were partners. Everything we did, it was always with my sister.” The girls did gymnastics and tennis. But considering both parents played and coached volleyball, that sport took precedence.
Roberto started Club Buhitas for his daughters and others to train at a higher level, ultimately leading to Argentina and Grecia joining the Mexican national team. Jen Greeney explained how Ung came to Washington State’s attention.
“My husband does most of our recruiting especially internationally,” she says. “He works really hard to find diamonds in the rough. She had just recently started setting and wasn’t really out there on a large scale. When her and her father came to visit, we talked she would still be able to do things with the national team in the summer. That was also important.
“It was probably a culture shock coming from Mexico to Pullman, but she was great.”
Burdette Greeny traveled not only to Mexico but to Egypt for the 2019 Under 18 World Championships in pursuit of Ung, who was an outside hitter before concluding that at 6-foot she was best suited for setter.
“I would be undersized (at OH) if I ever made it to the national team,” she says, “but I’m a tall setter. My dad thought me and setting would be a great option.”
Washington State had a talented setter in Hannah Pukis so Ung was a backup hitter as a freshman and sophomore before her opportunity to be a starting setter arrived when Pukis transferred to Oregon.
The Cougars were a combined 49-18 with Ung distributing to All-America first-teamer Magda Jehhlarova, Pia Timmer and in 2023 ASU transfer Iman Isanovic.
“She was that player that would do whatever for her team,” Greeny says. “Always a joy to coach, and turned out to be an incredible setter for us. Then the Pac-12 decided to not be a thing any more and we moved along. We wanted to take Argentina with us (to West Virgina) but knew she needed a really successful team.
“We have a great relationship with JJ and knew she would fit in really well there and with her being closer to home, her family would be able to come and watch a little bit more.”
Final NCAA run then 2025 World Championships
Ung’s parents and sister, who just completed her senior season at NAIA Park University, were at Desert Financial Arena for ASU Senior Day on Nov. 29.
Emotions were high, not only for Argentina but for the entire family. Her father is a few years into cancer treatment and fatigues quickly because of chemo treatment. “Thankfully the doctors let him come,” Argentina says.
Grecia played at Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho, just 30 miles from Pullman. Now for her to be in Parkville, Mo., puts the sisters further apart than ever before.
“It makes me really happy to see she’s achieving all her dreams,” Grecia says. “Every time they ask me someone who you look up to and I always say it’s my sister. She’s the hardest working person I’ve ever known. If she wants something, she’s not going to stop until she gets it.”
Even going back to childhood, per her mom, when Argentina stayed for hours outside until she learned how to jump rope. “She’s still like that,” Grecia says. “If she doesn’t get something at the first try, it’s not like to stop trying. She’s going to keep going until she gets it.”
Even with her All-America honorable mention success at Washington State, Ung had a lot to learn coming to ASU in order to run Van Niel’s fast-paced offense.
“I’m so impressed with her ability to come in and run a completely new offense,” Van Niel says. “Her ability to control tempo has been impressive. It wasn’t the prettiest when she first got here in January. It’s really hard to run a fast offense because a little mistake by a setter frequently becomes an error.
“You just tell her this is what we need to do and she’s like OK, I’ll go do it. She’s got a great volleyball IQ, just her knowledge of the game. One of the things people don’t know about Arg is her composure on the court. Her and Mary (Shroll) just lock it down back there. They’re just really calm and composed. In big moments, I’m probably more frazzled than they are half the time.”
ASU hitting leader Geli Cyr says Ung “has always been a baller. She’s taken on more of a leadership role this year. She holds us all accountable because she knows how good we are. I just love a setter who is not afraid to attack the net. It helps the hitters out so much. She’s been central to this run (17 straight wins).”
The individual payoff came Tuesday when Ung was named Big 12 Setter of the Year. More importantly, ASU is home for its NCAA opener Friday against New Hampshire and potentially a second round match Saturday against Texas A&M or Colorado State.
With two wins, for a school record-tying 31, ASU would advance to a second straight Sweet 16, possibly against No. 2 seed Wisconsin.
Unlike libero Shroll, Ung was not selected in the Pro Volleyball Federation five-round draft Nov. 25. “I was shocked to be honest,” Van Niel says. “But there’s some visa things that complicate it. I know if I’m a coach, I’ve got a visa risk or I take someone I don’t have to worry about a visa risk.”
“It’s not the end of the world,” Ung says. “I’m super happy Mary got drafted (second round, Vegas Thrill).” She plans to next play internationally then for the Mexican national team in summer 2025 when the FIVB World Championships are held in Thailand, Aug. 22-Sept. 7.
Graduating collegians Ung, TCU’s Melanie Parra (Big 12 Player of the Year) and Louisville’s Sofia Maldonado Diaz are young talents that could help Mexico make the big step of qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
First, though, is all have one final run in the NCAA Tournament, ending with a Final Four in Louisville on Dec. 19-22.
“You can never take us lightly,” Ung says. “You don’t know what we’re going to show up with so I’m excited to see how far we go in the tournament. We have that chip on our shoulder that this is our last dance. We just want to go after it and do the best we can.”
