ASU Volleyball succeeds using four setters in two systems over three NCAA Tournament seasons

Arizona State volleyball coach JJ Van Niel admits having a different setter every season is not ideal.

Yet that’s been the case for all three seasons under Van Niel, among the astounding aspects of a combined 84-13 run with three NCAA Tournament appearances, consecutive Big 12 titles and a 42-week AVCA coaches national top 25 ranking streak.

“The setter is the quarterback of the team and when you’re trying to run a faster offense, you need some consistency there,” Van Niel says.

Yet ASU has strung together 25-plus-win seasons with Shannon Shields (2023), Argentina Ung (2024) and Sydney Henry/Brynn Covell (2025) setting, the first two seasons in a 5-1 offense and now in a 6-2. 

The consistency comes from Van Niel combined with quality setters embracing his system and expectations.

“Mostly it’s him adapting to the setters,” Ung says. “He’s really good at exploiting the team strength especially when they have that super big physical size this year. But we had the best passing team in the country (in 2024) so we were able to run this super fast offense even though we were undersized with really good ball control. It’s super cool to see how JJ adapts to every team’s strength.”

2023: Shannon Shields 

When ASU hired Van Niel, formerly USC associate head coach, Shields was the only returning setter from a team that went 13-19 in 2022 because Ella Snyder and Allie Gray transferred.

“The best thing for her was that spring there was no competition,” Van Niel says. “She got to come into her own. Shannon did such a good job of understanding what we were doing and making it work.”

Shields, who is from Phoenix, played her way into a professional career with 1,239 assists in 2023 when ASU went 28-7 and reached the NCAA Sweet 16. She played in Portugal (2023-24) and Switzerland (2024-25), earning a 2026 opportunity in Major League Volleyball with the Atlanta Vibe.

“JJ is super big on chemistry in the beginning of each season,” Shields says. “He sets out the goals and we also do tons of team bonding and get really close. As a setter, that’s one of my favorite aspects about volleyball is the trust and being able to know my girls got my back if I set them a bad ball. That is really important to an offense. 

  

“Him laying those ground rules in the beginning of the season helps the flow of trust within the matches.”

Shields says Van Niel gives his setters freedom to make decisions during a match, more concerned with the offensive speed than a particular execution error. 

“You need to have the coach believe in you,” she says. “We would prepare and he’d be talking and giving us all this stuff then during the games, I’m telling you he says maybe three words. Him with a we can do it mentality no matter what. He really knows how to go against a certain team and is really smart.”

Shields was planning to go to medical school after 2022, studying for the rigorous admission test. “He totally changed my mind,” about giving up volleyball, she says. “I owe him a lot.”

2024: Argentina Ung

Ung transferred to ASU from Washington State after a 2023 NCAA Sweet 16 run. She was the Cougars’ starting setter for two seasons but still relatively young at the position and faced with learning how to set a faster offense.

“It was very new to her,” Van Niel says. “You’ve got to have some patience, not that I have great patience. You’ve got to hold a pretty high standard and stick through it.”

The work paid off with a 30-3 season. Ung had 1,131 assists, earning Big 12 Setter of the Year. After ASU lost in the NCAA second round, she started her pro career in Italy, played for Mexico at the 2025 World Championships and now is with League One Volleyball (LOVB) for a team in Madison, Wis.

“I remember when I graduated (in December 2024), they were recruiting different setters,” Ung says. “I was on a call with her and she was asking us how it was working with JJ. The first thing I told her I’ve learned more volleyball in 12 months with him than I’ve learned in my entire career. 

“If you really want to get better, you’ve got to come to ASU. The way he challenges you physically or mentally, it’s really fun. You are always going to go to practice wanting more. ASU set me up for (pro) success. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without Arizona State as a program and JJ as my head coach.”

2025: Sydney Henry/Brynn Covell 

Zayna Meyer didn’t take Ung’s advice, transferring from Long Beach State to UCLA rather than ASU going into this season.

Van Niel found a transfer setter, though, in Henry, previously at mid-major Kansas City, where she was a full-time starter in 2023 and 2024.

“ASU was my last (recruiting) call so it was a little bit later in the process,” Henry says. “What I was really looking for in transferring was a place that was going to win and I wanted to compete. I was a senior, how much better can I get in one year. Then a place where I was just going to have a great experience and I wanted to find the love of volleyball again.”

She considered Colorado State, Dayton, North Carolina State and Virginia but needed all of five minutes after talking to Van Niel to choose ASU.

Nothing was guaranteed, though, since ASU returned Ung’s backup Covell. Plus Van Niel was considering using two setters in a 6-2 system because of an abundance of hitters especially on the right side with Noemie Glover and Kiylah Presley.

“Syd and Brynn are not super physical at the net and we like being physical,” Van Niel says. “It’s way harder to defend three hitters (in the front row) unless you have a really consistent back-row attack.”

Henry has 713 assists and Covell 447 for ASU (26-3) going into the postseason. The No. 2-seeded Sun Devils host Coppin State in the first round Thursday and if they advance will face the winner between No. 7 seed Florida and Utah State on Friday.

ASU occasionally will switch to a 5-1 system with 5-11 Henry playing through the front row like in a 3-2 win at Colorado on Nov. 15. 

“For scouting, it’s probably tough because they don’t know what we’re going to do to them,” Covell says. “I like 6-2. We have a really powerful offensive team so it gets more hitters into it. It works really well for the team we have and because we want to win.”

Henry, like Ung, raves about how much she has learned from Van Niel, well beyond what she expected after playing so many years including some in a 6-2.

“Before I wasn’t necessarily thinking about my set decisions,” Henry says. “I was just setting my best hitter and not necessarily putting them in great situations. Here I understand how to create more space for our hitters and set people up for their best opportunities.”

More like chess-level volleyball for Henry, still hopeful she might benefit from a court ruling that could allow her a fifth year of eligibility. If not, ASU will have a new setter again in 2026 because Covell, a redshirt sophomore, is graduating in December then taking a break from volleyball.

“It’s a grind and a lot on me mentally,” Covell says. “Whether I come back to it in the future or not, I’m not sure. But as of now, it’s best for me and also the team. I want to be fully committed, and I don’t know how much more I’ll have to give after December.”

Ella Mottola, a two-time AAU All-America setter from Orlando, Fla., is signed and could be next in line to set for Van Niel, perhaps coming in as a freshman for multiple seasons.