By Jeff Metcalfe

If Arizona State Volleyball head coach JJ Van Niel had posted a job advertisement after the 2023 season, it could have read:

NCAA Sweet Sixteen volleyball team returns plenty of talent. We are looking for an experienced elite setter. If you are interested, contact us via the transfer portal.

Even after losing All-America first team hitter Marta Levinska, Van Niel believed he could muster enough hits over the net for his ASU second team to be competitive in its first Big 12 season. But who would turn heads instead of Shannon Shields if Levinska moves to international professional volleyball?

The answer became apparent — “a no-brainer,” Van Niel says — when a series of events led to Argentina Ung leaving Washington State for her fifth and final collegiate season.

“Go call her immediately.”

Despite the exodus of top players from Washington State, even after a Sweet Sixteen season, Ung planned to return in 2024.

Then on December 13 (2023), while Ung was in Arizona visiting her boyfriend, she learned via Zoom call that Cougar coaches Jen and Burdette Greeny would be heading to West Virginia for a new challenge.

“All the seniors left, there’s no one left on the team, my coaches are leaving, I’m out of conference, we had no recruits. There’s really nothing left here for me,” Ung concluded.

Greeny’s official announcement to West Virginia came on December 20, the same day Ung entered the transfer portal.

Van Niel heard about Ung’s availability while he was at an airport for a connecting flight to the Netherlands at Christmas. Kalyah Williams, who played with Ung at Washington State before moving to USC when Van Niel was associate head coach, delivered the good news.

“She said Arg was in the portal, call her immediately,” Van Niel recalled.

Eight days later, ASU officially had the key to an even better regular season than 2023. The Big 12 champion Sun Devils are 29-2, the second-most wins in school history, and enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed for the first time since 1995.

Ung says ASU coaches told her, “You are truly our favorite setter in the Pac-12. We love how you play and how athletic you are. It should be like that in every sense of the word.”

Returning close to home

Ung grew up in Hermosillo, Mexico, a six-hour drive almost south of Phoenix.

She was born in April 2002, about a month later the World Cup began in South Korea and Japan. Roberto Ung believed so much in favorites Argentina before the tournament that he chose this name for his daughter.

Brazil would win the 2002 World Cup. Argentina failed to get out of the dreaded group of death, but Roberto and his wife Gloria did not cry for their Argentina. Eleven months later, the family expanded with the birth of another daughter, Grecia.

“We grew up like twins,” says Argentina. “My mother would dress us the same way. 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 was always with my sister.” The girls did gymnastics and tennis. But considering both parents played and coached volleyball, that sport took priority.

Roberto founded the Buhitas club so his daughters and others could train at a higher level, which ultimately led to Argentina and Greece joining the Mexican national team. Jen Greeney explained how Washington State became aware of Ung.

“My husband is mainly responsible for international recruitment,” she says. “He works really hard to find diamonds in the rough. It had just started setting up and wasn’t really represented on a large scale yet. When she and her father came to visit, we talked about her being able to do something with the national team in the summer. That was important too.

“It was probably a culture shock coming to Pullman from Mexico, but she was great.”

Burdette Greeny traveled not only to Mexico but also to Egypt for the 2019 U18 World Cup to pursue Ung, who was an outsider before deciding that, at 6-foot-3, she was best suited as a setter.

“I would be undersized (at OH) if I ever made the national team,” she says, “but I’m a big setter. My dad thought me and the attitude 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 become a starter arose when Pukis transferred to Oregon.

The Cougars had a combined record of 49-18, with Ung handing out to first-team All-America Magda Jehhlarova, Pia Timmer and 2023 ASU transfer Iman Isanovic.

“She was the player who would do anything for her team,” Greeny said. “He was always a pleasure to coach and proved to be an incredible setter for us. Then the Pac-12 decided it was no more and we moved on. We wanted to take Argentina (to West Virginia), but we knew they needed a really successful team.

“We have a great relationship with JJ and knew she would fit in really well there and being closer to home, her family could come and watch a bit more.”

Last NCAA round, then 2025 World Championships

Ung’s parents and sister, who just completed her senior season at NAIA Park University, were at Desert Financial Arena on Nov. 29 for ASU Senior Day.

Emotions were high, not just for Argentina, but for the entire family. Her father has been undergoing cancer treatment for several years and tires quickly due to the chemotherapy. “Luckily the doctors let him come,” says Argentina.

Grecia played at Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho, just 30 miles from Pullman. Now that she lives in Parkville, Missouri, the sisters are even further apart than ever before.

“It makes me really happy to see her achieve all her dreams,” says Grecia. “Every time they ask me someone you look up to, I always say it’s my sister. She is the hardest working person I have ever known. If she wants something, she won’t stop until she gets it.”

According to her mother, it even went back to her childhood when Argentina would stay outside for hours until she learned to jump rope. “She’s still like that,” says Grecia. “If she doesn’t get anything on the first try, it’s not like she’ll stop trying. She’ll keep going until she gets it.”

Despite her All-America success at Washington State, Ung still had a lot to learn when she arrived at ASU to lead Van Niel’s fast-paced offense.

“I’m so impressed with their ability to launch a whole new offense,” Van Niel said. “Their ability to control the pace was impressive. It wasn’t the best when she came here in January. It’s really hard to play a fast offense because a small mistake by a setter often turns into a mistake.

“Just tell her we have to do this and she’s like, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’ She has 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 pitch. She and Mary (Shroll) just lock it up back there. They are just very calm and collected. During big moments I’m probably more exhausted than usual.”

ASU hitting leader Geli Cyr said Ung has “always been a baller.” She has 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 isn’t afraid to attack the net. It helps the batsmen a lot. She has been central to this run (17 wins in a row).”

The individual reward came Tuesday when Ung was named the Big 12 Setter of the Year. More importantly, ASU plays its NCAA opener against New Hampshire on Friday and may play a second-round game against Texas A&M or Colorado State on Saturday.

With two wins, a school-record 31, ASU would advance to its second straight Sweet 16, possibly against No. 2 seed Wisconsin.

Unlike libero Shroll, Ung was not selected in the Pro Volleyball Federation’s five-round draft on November 25. “I was honestly shocked,” says Van Niel. “But there are some visa issues that make it difficult. I know if I’m a coach I have a visa risk, or if I take someone with me I don’t have to worry about a visa risk.”

“It’s not the end of the world,” says Ung. “I’m super happy that Mary was drafted (second round, Vegas Thrill).” She plans to play internationally next, for the Mexican national team in the summer of 2025 when the FIVB World Championships take place Aug. 22-22. September in Thailand. 7.

Graduates Ung, Melanie Parra (Big 12 Player of the Year) from TCU and Sofia Maldonado Diaz from Louisville are young talents who could help Mexico take the big step in qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

First, though, everyone has a finals run in the NCAA Tournament, ending with a Final Four in Louisville Dec. 19-22.

“We should never be taken lightly,” says Ung. “They 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 feel like this is our last dance. We just want to keep going and do our best.”