TEMPE – Behind a big night from Noemie Glover and the Arizona State block, No. 8 Sun Devil Volleyball beat No. 24 Colorado in four sets (25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-23) on Friday night at Desert Financial Arena.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (14-2, 5-0 Big 12) handed Colorado (14-3, 5-1 Big 12) its first conference loss. ASU improves to 4-2 against ranked teams this season. This was the 12th ranked win under head coach JJ Van Niel.
- ASU has won eight matches in a row, which is tied for the eighth-longest winning streak in team history. It is the third winning streak of eight or more under Van Niel.
- The Sun Devils remain undefeated at home, improving to 8-0. They also extended their conference winning streak to 21 in a row.
- With 12.5 blocks, this was the eighth match with double-digit blocks this season for the Sun Devils, including four of the last six. Two had five blocks: Noemie Glover and Colby Neal.
- The Sun Devils held the Buffs to a .194 hitting percentage, the seventh time in the last eight matches ASU has held its opponents to a sub-.200 clip.
- Junior opposite Noemie Glover led all players in kills with 21 on a .486 clip, her third match this season with 20 or more kills. This is her fourth match in a row reaching double-digit kills. She also had five blocks.
- With her fifth double-double of the season, senior outside hitter Bailey Miller had 13 kills and a match-high 16 digs. She also had four blocks and an ace.
- Both setters earned double-doubles in the win. Senior Sydney Henry had 32 assists and 10 digs, along with two aces. That’s her third double-double of the year. Redshirt sophomore Brynn Covell added 12 assists and 10 digs, her third double-double of the year as well.
- Senior outside hitter Tatum Parrott neared a double-double with nine kills and nine digs, chipping in two aces.
- Along with her five blocks, graduate middle blocker Colby Neal had six kills on nine swings.
Noemie putting up impressive numbers, per usual 👏😈#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/TMJl6Q0Pbp
— Sun Devil Volleyball (@SunDevilVB) October 11, 2025
Set one: ASU 25, Colorado 20
After a 4-0 run, ASU took an early 5-2 lead that was capped off by a block from Glover and Ella Lomigora. It was back and forth for a while, with the Sun Devils slowly adding to their lead until they were ahead 15-11 heading into the media timeout. The teams continued to trade points down the stretch until Colorado went on a 4-1 run to cut it to a 22-19 ASU lead. Parrott’s tool on the block ended the run and forced a timeout from the visitors. After an ace from Parrott made it set point, Colorado fought off one set point but then missed a serve to give Arizona State the 25-20 win.
Set two: ASU 25, Colorado 18
The Sun Devils went up 4-1 early, a kill from Parrott and a block from Colby Neal and Glover aiding the advantage. Colorado put together a 3-0 run to go up 9-8, but Arizona State responded with four-straight points to get back on top 12-9, capped off by an ace from Henry. With two blocks, ASU scored three in a row to grow the lead to 17-11. A kill from Miller and an ace from Parrott pushed it to 20-13, bringing a timeout from the Buffs. Colorado scored a pair after the timeout, but the visiting team was unable to mount a comeback. For the second set in a row, ASU won on a missed serve.
Set three: Colorado 25, ASU 20
After ASU opened with a 3-0 lead, Colorado responded with three of its own. Another run of three for the Buffs put them up 6-5 before a kill from Glover tied it. Colorado then scored four in a row to make it an 11-7 lead. It was back and forth for a while, an ace from Colby Neal putting ASU within two, down 15-13. A kill from Parrott made it a one-point game, down 16-15, but Colorado went on a 4-1 run to increase its lead to 20-16. The Buffs would hold the lead and win 25-20.
Set four: ASU 25, Colorado 23
The Sun Devils responded by jumping out to a 7-2 lead, which saw four kills from Glover. The Buffs battled back into it, going on a 3-1 run to cut it to 8-5. Two more from Colorado forced an ASU timeout to stop the momentum, up 11-8. The Sun Devils then scored four in a row with kills from Miller and Glover to make it 15-8, bringing the Buffs’ final timeout. Parrott’s kill extended the lead to 18-10 before Colorado went on a 5-1 run, making it 19-15. Lomigora on the slide got the sideout, but the Buffs scored seven in a row to take the 22-20 lead. ASU responded with a 4-0 run to get to match point, and a kill from Colby Neal sealed the win, 25-23.
Up next:
Arizona State will be back on the road next week, playing at No. 21 BYU on Thursday, October 16, before taking on Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday, October 18.
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Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening Statement
“Glad we came out with a win. We were playing well the first couple of sets and then they made their changes. We started not playing clean volleyball, they got back in and won the set, and then we almost gave that last set away. We have some stuff we have to clean up, but it was nice that we pulled it out at the end. (Ella Lewis) went in there and scored three straight with some tough serving, we got a big block and did some things. It’s nice to see us continue to execute when the pressure's on the line, that was good.”
On what changes they saw Colorado make during set three that switched momentum
“They spun their rotations. It became a matchup on what rotation you’re playing against for your rotation. We didn’t spin in the fourth; we could have, but we didn’t because we thought we were not executing. We didn’t feel it was a matchup issue, we started making silly plays. A ton of bad errors. We were pressing. I talked to the team a lot about (how) you can’t win the match in one swing, or win the match in one pass and win in one serve. You have to play well over and over and over, and we were trying to take crazy rips when we were in a bad position. They got a bunch of blocks that set. They put a little more service pressure on their spin server and got on a run against us. It was us not being patient, that was our key. You have to be patient.”
On graduate middle blocker Colby Neal’s recent outings
“Colby’s been super consistent. I mean, her blocking’s improved dramatically. She’s worked hard as a blocker since she’s walked in the door. She’s got a lot of experience, she went to two elite eights with Oregon. That helps you be confident when you’ve played in those big matches. She’s a veteran, very mature, but Colby’s killing it for us. It’s nice to have her.”
Senior Setter Sydney Henry
On how the home atmosphere has helped the team throughout the season:
“The atmosphere here is amazing and we always have a crowd. It's just nice that we always have that support. There's no doubt that they have our backs and they're going to bring the energy every time for us. It’s really thrilling to be out there and to play in front of everyone.”
On how the team succeeds in closing out games:
“I think it just comes with our practices. We practice with pressure every day and so it's nothing new that we're not used to, and I think that we're also so connected that we have all the trust in the world in each other and that we know that. We have all that trust in the world that we're going to make the right plays at the right time, so there's never really a need for us to stress or to be uncomfortable because we are in those uncomfortable situations in practice time.”
Junior Opposite Noemie Glover
On being the last undefeated team in conference play:
“It feels amazing. This is a pretty strong conference. They have a lot of teams that we need to take care of business against, and I think that this is a good test for us to work hard against a team that's also undefeated and come out on top.”
On how the team contained Colorado Attacker Ana Burilović:
“Putting pressure on her and being able to know that this is their best hitter we need to stop her if we want to be successful. Putting pressure on her repeatedly was really helpful and obviously as an attacker and going against her as a blocker, it’s like if she's going to get a kill, I'm going to get a kill back and if she's going to get a good block, I'm going to get one block back. Everyone needed to know that the pressure needs to be on her and we executed that really well.”