TEMPE – No. 8 Sun Devil Volleyball swept crosstown rival Grand Canyon in three sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-14), with both Noemie Glover and Bailey Miller reaching double digit kills for the second match in a row on Saturday night in the Sun Devil Classic.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (8-2) outserved Grand Canyon (8-3) with a season-high 10 aces to just one for GCU. Two Sun Devils earned career highs in aces: Colby Neal with four and Ella Lewis with three.
- ASU held GCU to a .104 clip, compared to the Sun Devils’ .370. This is the seventh time this season that ASU has held its opponent to a sub-.200 hitting percentage.
- Junior opposite Noemie Glover led all players in kills for the second match in a row with 12 on a .524 clip, a season best hitting percentage. She has reached double figures in kills in every match this season.
- For the seventh match in a row, senior outside hitter Bailey Miller notched double-digit kills, earning 11 in the win. She also had four blocks (a season high) and two aces.
- Junior middle blocker Ella Lomigora led the blocking effort with six on the night. She also had five kills on eight attempts (.625).
- Pins Kiylah Presley and Jillian Neal added to the offense with six and five kills, respectively.
- Attendance was 4,753, which is the fourth-highest for Sun Devil Volleyball since 2013 and the most since 2023.
- ASU improved to 8-0 all-time over GCU.
Energy was EVERYTHING tonight ‼️🗣️#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/JNAj1Qbw51
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) September 21, 2025
Set one: ASU 25, GCU 16
ASU started off the set with a 3-0 lead against GCU, helped with a service ace by Jillian Neal. The Sun Devils continued to go back and forth with the Lopes leading 12-11 before a kill by Glover and two service aces by Lewis put ASU on top 15-11. Jillian Neal gets her second kill of the night, putting the Maroon and Gold up 19-13. Shortly after, two errors by the Lopes grew the lead to 21-16. After a long rally, Glover got her sixth kill of the night, putting ASU at set point 24-16. The Sun Devils took set one, 25-16, after a kill by Miller, her fourth on the night.
Set two: ASU 25, GCU 19
The set started off trading points until the Sun Devils went on a 3-0 run with a kill from Glover, going up 5-2. Grand Canyon used its first timeout of set two after the kill by Jillian Neal that led Arizona State to a 11-6 lead. The Sun Devils went on another 3-0 run with a kill by Lomigora putting ASU up 17-10, forcing GCU to use its final timeout of the set. After the break, the Maroon and Gold had two-straight blocks by Lomigora and Miller to build the lead to 19-10. Grand Canyon scored four in a row after the fifth kill by Jillian Neal broke up the momentum, growing the lead to 24-19 for ASU. Arizona State took the set 25-19 after an attack error by Grand Canyon.
S3 | Noemie Glover and Ella Lomigora SHUT THE DOOR after a long rally‼️
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) September 21, 2025
📲: ESPN+#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/VjmBhgVhUg
Set three: ASU 25, GCU 14
The Sun Devils started the third set with a 5-0 run with a kill and two service aces by Colby Neal, forcing the Lopes to call an early timeout. Back-to-back kills from Miller to get her to double figures grew the lead for ASU, 8-2. After a long rally, Arizona State has another 4-0 run with a block and kill by Glover, making it 12-4, forcing Grand Canyon to take its last timeout of the set. The Maroon and Gold continued to grow the lead after two kills from Presley, making it 16-10. Kills from both Glover and Miller down the stretch led ASU to take the last set, 25-14.
Up next
Arizona State will face Milwaukee on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST, closing out the Sun Devil Classic at Desert Financial Arena. The match will be live on ESPN+.
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Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening Statement:
“My biggest opening thought is ‘how about that crowd’? That was awesome. 942 came out, so thanks to them. Our team loves it when we have a big crowd, so it's a big deal. It makes the environment so fun. I thought tonight was really good and they were having a seventh person on the floor. Our team came out pretty hot right out of the gates and I think they fed off that and we executed. It's probably the best execution we've had from start to finish this season from a consistency standpoint. I think they had one run in one rotation that we got stuck in, but aside from that we were doing a really nice job. We sided out a pretty good clip and we were scoring really well. So we put a lot of pressure on the service line. That was our best serving game. Can't complain about much on that one.”
On the confidence that arises from playing well the last two days
“I think it’s that this is a new team playing together and we've had to mix our lineup so much. So I think the more experience we're getting, the more comfortable they're getting. This lineup when we played it earlier, whether it’s Tatum (Parrott) or you put Maila (Ribeiro) in, there's just little things especially in serve receive where there's some confusion and we still have to work some stuff out. But I think we're building confidence and we're getting more comfortable together in our system. So I'm proud of the kids because I thought last night, we won and it was a pretty good match, but there were a lot of ups and downs and tonight we really sustained it. And it's in front of a big crowd. Playing in front of Texas and in that opening weekend with Pitt and Penn State, those are big moments for our kids because they have to get used to playing in front of big crowds. If we want to do what we want to do, you're going to play in front of some big crowds, especially on the road. A place like Kansas, they sell it out every time with 2,500 people but it's in a small box. So I'm hoping this is really good prep for once we go out there and start our conference because we have to open against them.”
On Bailey Miller’s performance tonight
“She's one of our leaders and she's continued to grow and kind of become that go-to person that the team trusts. She's doing a nice job, a really nice job. She just works so hard and thinks she has to get better. 11 kills, hit almost .300 and four blocks is just phenomenal.”
Junior Middle Blocker Ella Lomigora
On being a Tempe native and what it’s like to be playing in her hometown:
“It means a lot. It truly makes me feel a lot of pride for how I've been raised, the people I've been surrounded by as I'm continuing to grow up, and the impact and legacy I want to leave after I'm done.”
On the team’s success when blocking and what kind of impact that has on the game:
“We just focused a lot on it during our practices and our scouting reports, and I feel like when our pins are lining up great, it makes our job 10 times easier. And also for us middles, just constantly focusing on being calm under stress, making moves and waiting and reading the ball. I feel like when we put emphasis on that in practice and when we really dial in on that in games it results in some good blocks.”
Senior Outside Hitter Bailey Miller
On what has gone well for the team in non-conference play:
“Honestly our adaptability because we've obviously had some unfortunate injuries and just lineup changes in almost every single match. Everyone comes into the gym ready to work and non-starters are ready to go in at any moment, so that just shows the culture of the team. How close we are and how everybody meshes so well that anyone can come on the court and we can be successful.”
On how impactful winning a rally is:
“That's huge for us. When you're tired and you finally get that point, it really brings all the energy back. We work really hard as a team in those moments, when the rally goes on for longer, we honestly play better because we want it so, so much. We're just all so close and whenever things like that happen, it's like we all come in super tight, hugging and cheering for everybody so it's a really, really cool energy.”