Graduate setter Argentina Ung's whirlwind volleyball career brought her from the Mexican National Team to the Washington State team. Now, the newly transferred student is a vital piece to the Sun Devils' success.
"As soon as I put my feet on Tempe, my teammates welcome me with open arms. The whole coaching staff, they wanted to go out with me, they wanted to go get coffee after practice," Ung said.
Ung has been working hard this season to be a good fit for ASU after the team lost recent graduate and primary setter Shannon Shields. Ung has already made an impact with the Sun Devils as a leader with her volleyball IQ and multipositional experience.
Just 10 games in the season, Ung has recorded 318 assists, 36 kills, 11 aces, 75 digs and the first double-double in Sun Devil history.
"Ours is definitely a different, a very different setter than Shannon," said head coach JJ Van Niel. "I coached against her for a couple years in the Pac 12. So very familiar, and she's come in and been exactly what we thought."
It has been difficult for Ung to adjust to the Sun Devils' fast-tempo offense due to her lack of experience with the team's style of play and years of playing under different schemes. She spent the summer practicing with the team to adjust to the fast tempo.
She has had to work with many teammates through communication and patience. One of those teammates is graduate middle blocker Claire Jeter who has high praise for Ung's dedication to the team.
"Argentina is very headstrong and very much a leader on the court," Jeter said. “She will tell you what you’re kindly doing wrong without misleading intentions. She isn’t big on energy like Shields was, but we love having someone with a different spectrum and side of things that is very level-headed.”
Ung started her career growing up in Sonora, Mexico. When she was nine, Ung's dad built a volleyball club from scratch for her and her sister to play alongside family and friends. After concluding her time with the family club, Ung went to high school at Instituto Anglo-Mexicano to compete in indoor and beach volleyball.
There, she won a national championship in beach volleyball alongside her sister. She also learned what the sport takes and where she saw her future path after playing both beach and indoor volleyball.
"The biggest thing between beach and indoor, in beach you're going to cover the whole court," Ung said. "That takes a lot of volleyball IQ, anticipation, and a lot of communication."
She then took the next step to be part of the Mexican National Team playing with women of multiple ages, exposing herself to different talent levels to grow her game. Her time with the national team even led to her recruitment to Washington State. As a Cougar, Ung learned English and how to communicate on the court as a setter and outside hitter.
"So that's something that I really struggled with my first year at Washington State, just trying to hear my haters and that I had to translate that in my head just right away," Ung said. "Never in my life before played in a different language."
The move to Washington was also a striking change for her when it came to the new coaching staff she had to work with.
"That was the first time I didn't have my dad as a coach," Ung said. "That was also a different thing just having another coach, same with the national team. My whole life just grew up without seeing my dad in the sidelines."
After four seasons as a Cougar, she ultimately transferred to ASU to draw her collegiate career to a close. Tempe is closer to home and the Sun Devils have an experienced team she was thrilled to join.
"They were really focused on getting a relationship out of me, not just as a player, but also as a person," said Ung. "That's just a big thing for me because I not only had teammates but I also have these friendships for life."
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Ramirez and Madeline Schmitke.
Reach the reporters at linunez@asu.edu and follow @laurentahuka on X.
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