TEMPE – Kicking off the 2025 season, No. 13 Sun Devil Volleyball will play at Northern Iowa on Friday before playing in the State Farm Volleyball Showcase, taking on No. 2 Penn State on Sunday and No. 3 Pitt on Monday.
How to Follow
Friday’s season opener will start at 4 p.m. MST/6 p.m. CDT and will be live on ESPN+. The two top-15 matchups will be nationally televised, starting with a match with the reigning national champion Penn State on Sunday at 2 p.m. MST/5 p.m. EDT on FOX. The weekend will conclude with a Labor Day matchup against the host team Pitt at 4:30 p.m. MST/7:30 p.m. EDT on FS1.
Live stats will be available for all matches. Updates will be provided on social media on X (@SunDevilVB) and Instagram (@sundevilvolleyball).
Sun Devil Outlook
No. 9 Arizona State (26-2, 14-1 Big 12)
- The 2024 Big 12 Champions, Arizona State finished the season with a 30-3 record, going 17-1 in Big 12 play. The Sun Devils, who earned a No. 3 seed and hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, advanced to the second round, the second-straight year doing so. The conference title was the first Big 12 title across all sports for ASU and the first conference championship in program history. In volleyball, Arizona State is one of four teams in the conference to have won a Big 12 title (also Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State).
- Arizona State lost the majority of its typical rotation, with six graduates and one senior having moved on. ASU will return five that played in more than 10 matches, two who played in more than 30 matches.
- As a team, Arizona State was picked to finish third in the Big 12 this season. The Sun Devils have two on the preseason team: Sophomore Faith Frame and junior Noemie Glover.
- A full breakdown of the team by position can be found on the website.
Opponent Outlook
- Northern Iowa went 26-8, 18-0 MVC in 2024, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers received votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll. This will be the fourth meeting all-time between UNI and ASU, with ASU leading 3-0. The last meeting was in 2022.
- No. 2 Penn State won the national championship in 2024, going 35-2, 19-1 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions started their season last weekend, going 2-0 against ranked teams. This will be the first meeting between PSU and ASU.
- No. 3 Pitt made it to the national semifinals last season, ending the year with a 33-2 (19-1 ACC) record. The Panthers also started in Week 0 over the weekend, starting 0-2 against ranked opponents. ASU has played Pitt just once, losing all the way back in 1989.