TEMPE – Ending the regular season undefeated at home, No. 9 Sun Devil Volleyball defeated West Virginia in four sets (25-15, 25-15, 18-25, 25-16) on Saturday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena.
Prior to the match, the six seniors were honored: Brynn Covell, Sydney Henry, Bailey Miller, Colby Neal, Tatum Parrott and Estella Zatechka. All of them started the match.
Following the win, the 2025 Big 12 Championship was celebrated with a trophy celebration.
Notable stats
- Arizona State (26-3, 17-1 Big 12) picked up its eighth win in a row by beating West Virginia (15-15, 3-15 Big 12).
- The Sun Devils are undefeated at home in the regular season for the second year in a row, second time since becoming an NCAA sport. Aside from 2024, the only other time ASU was undefeated was in the program’s first year, 1973, when they went undefeated all season.
- The 17 conference wins are tied for the most in program history with the 2024 season.
- This was the 20th match (out of 28 matches) of the season holding an opponent to a sub-.200 hitting percentage. It is the seventh time holding a team to under .100.
- With 13 blocks tonight, ASU’s double-digit block streak has extended to 10 in a row. This season, the Sun Devils have had double-digit team blocks in 20 out of 28 matches, including all but two Big 12 matches.
- Junior opposite Noemie Glover led all players in kills with 16 on a blazing .609 clip. This was her 18th match in a row with double-digit kills. She also added four blocks.
- With a season-high nine blocks, junior middle blocker Ella Lomigora led all players in that category. She also had a pair of kills.
- Senior outside hitter Bailey Miller had her 14th match in a row with double-digit kills after earning 13 in the win.
- Leading the defense was sophomore libero Faith Frame, who had a match-high 12 digs. This was her third match in a row in double figures for digs, 17th time this season.
- Senior setter Sydney Henry led the team in assists with 24, chipping in eight digs as well.
- Attendance for this matinee matchup was 4,055, which is the sixth time this season attendance has eclipsed 4,000. It also is the ninth match with over 3,000.
Set one: ASU 25, West Virginia 15
Set one started out in a back-and-forth battle with both teams tied early on at 4-4. A kill from Colby Neal snagged the ASU lead, 6-5. A couple of kills from West Virginia took the advantage right back at 9-7. However, back-to-back kills from Tatum Parrott and Glover tied things up and a block from Lomigora quickly regained the lead for ASU, 10-9. The Sun Devils started to sneak away with a 15-11 lead as the Mountaineers struggled to answer back. Miller kept the streak going with a kill and dominant block alongside Neal, upping the advantage to 17-14. West Virginia called a timeout to regroup but Arizona State refused to back down. Kills and a block both coming from Glover followed the timeout to secure the first set.
Set two: ASU 25, West Virginia 15
Another back-and-forth beginning kicked off the second set, but Glover’s kill sparked the 4-3 lead for the Sun Devils. An ace from Zatechka and West Virginia errors furthered the lead to 8-4. Glover continued the momentum with a strong kill and forced an early Mountaineers timeout. West Virginia rallied back following the timeout, but a few errors helped push ASU to 13-9. A diving save from Brynn Covell set up Miller for a kill to sit at 15-10. An ace from Jillian Neal continued the streak and pushed the Mountaineers into another timeout. Kills from Kiylah Presley helped keep the Sun Devils ahead at 19-11. West Virginia errors held the Mountaineers back as ASU advanced to 23-13. A Glover kill and block from Presley and Lomigora sealed the second set for the Sun Devils.
Set three: West Virginia 25, ASU 18
West Virginia capitalized on some errors to lead early at 5-3, but it wasn’t long before ASU answered back with a block from Colby Neal and a kill from Glover. West Virginia began to find a rhythm for the first time within the match, leading 13-7. A kill from Miller kept the Sun Devils pushing as they trailed 15-9. Coming out of the media timeout kills from Colby Neal and Glover followed by a block from Lomigora and Glover helped to revive the Sun Devils, trailing 17-14. Parrott’s kill and a save from Frame pushed the Sun Devils to only trail by one, 18-17. Sun Devil errors gave the Mountaineers a 21-18 advantage, with ASU calling their first timeout of the match. West Virginia won on a 5-0 run, taking it 25-18.
Set four: ASU 25, West Virginia 16
A strong kill from Miller set the tone early on to give the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead. Following in her fashion, Glover struck down a defiant kill on the Mountaineers to lead again at 4-3. The dominant duo didn’t stop there. Miller’s ace and another Glover kill advanced the lead to 6-3 and forced a Mountaineers timeout. Back-to-back kills from Miller pushed ASU to 11-6, and a block from Presley and Lomigora held the steady lead at 12-8. West Virginia hitting errors assisted ASU with the lead and forced the Mountaineers’ final timeout as they trailed 17-11. Lomigora stayed strong on defense as she blocked back-to-back attacks, pushing the Sun Devils to 19-11. Kills from Parrott and Presley closed in the set at 23-14. West Virginia hitting errors helped ASU finish the job.
Up next
The NCAA Selection Show is on Sunday, Nov. 30, at 4 p.m. MST on ESPN. With the autobid secured, the Sun Devils will learn their seeding for the NCAA Tournament during that show.
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Quotes
Head Coach JJ Van Niel
Opening statement:
“Great to get the win at home, we definitely still have stuff we have to clean up. What an amazing crowd. In the holiday weeks, you never know what you're going to get, and our match on Wednesday night had almost 4,000. We had over 4,000 today, and it's so special to have all the fans out here supporting us. It makes a really big difference to this program and to all our players, so thanks to the fans. Played a pretty solid match; obviously, in the second set we needed to clean some stuff up, but I liked our response in the fourth set. We really came back and played very solid volleyball.”
On the 2025 senior class:
“I remember when I was at Utah, (head coach) Beth (Launiere) would always talk about experience matters and it's really true. There's a maturity level, there's an attention to detail; I think a lot of times seniors have a sense of urgency. They know like, okay this is my last shot, and you've got to kind of take care of everything. Such a great group. Tatum has tons of experience, Bailey's been with the program. Brynn and Estella have been with us since we started our first season, which is phenomenal because they really help with setting the culture, all the standards. It's like kids like that make a huge difference when you have transfers come in. Colby obviously has done really great things on the court, she's also done great things off the court. Unbelievably hard workers, our whole team. When you have kids like all those guys, in the weight room, if you watch those guys they get after it. It's really important. Especially in young kids, your seniors or your mentors, they're the ones that really continue culture, continue standards. It's really special, and we had a really special group.”
On winning the Big 12 Championship for the second year in a row:
“It’s awesome. At the beginning of the year, they set that as a goal to repeat. We had a lot of new kids, it's a 100 percent new lineup and you don't really know what you're going to get. The cool thing about this team has been the resiliency that is shown through the year and how much people have contributed at different times. If someone's a little off, someone else is stepping up and doing really good things. That helps because you know, hey, your teammates got your back. It’s a really, really special group of kids.”
On the versatility of having players being able to come off the bench:
“I try to remind them that the game changes all the time. Whether they're on the game court or not, they make a huge difference and we hear them back there cheering. Estella showed that she can come in and rip off serves. She did a nice job tonight, serving a bunch, she got us a bunch of point runs and a couple of nice digs. It just shows that when you have that in your practice gym, it makes your team better. I remember years ago when Pete Carroll was rebuilding USC, he's like when someone gets hurt, you plug and play because our depth is huge. Having depth matters a lot, not just in case someone gets hurt, but I think more importantly in your gym every day. Those guys are back there ripping serves at us, passing dimes, and doing all the things they need to do to kind of make us better, and it's special.”
Setter Sydney Henry
On today’s senior celebration:
“It meant a lot coming in and playing with these girls today. You work so hard for so long and then to come in and have such a rewarding year after all the work you put in, it really feels so surreal. It’s really special to play with these girls and it means a lot
On possibly hosting in the upcoming NCAA tournament:
“The environment in general is going to be amazing. We’re going to have a lot of home fans; no doubt that they’re going to come out and support us. There’s also going to be a lot of other team’s fans even that environment is going to make Desert Financial Arena really crowded. It’s going to be such a fun environment to play in when we have our fans backing us and then we have the other team’s fans. It makes it really electric in there.”
Outside Hitter Tatum Parrott
On making a run in the NCAA Tournament:
“We want to go farther than the team did last year. That's the goal, go as far as we can. I think we've prepared really well for that, and for each game leading up to it, JJ says that it is preparing us for the tournament. So I think just sticking with that and just playing our brand of volleyball is super important.”
On playing her final season at Arizona State:
“My deciding factor of transferring was going out my last year at the highest level that I can and just challenging myself to see where I could go for that last year, and I'm super grateful for this opportunity to be here and be with this team. Winning the Big 12, for the first time for me, is just a special experience and to be able to go far in the tournament is everything I wanted for my last year.”