ASU Volleyball cruises in NCAA Tournament opener, next faces upset winner Utah State

It’s no surprise that No. 2-seeded Arizona State volleyball dominated Coppin State in an NCAA Tournament first-round match Thursday.

But the Sun Devils’ second-round opponent Friday is surprising.

Mountain West champion Utah State confused No. 7 seed Tennessee in the first two sets at Desert Financial Arena then held on for a 3-2 upset of the Lady Volunteers. 

Off its 22nd consecutive win, Utah State (24-7) earns a shot at Big 12 champion ASU (27-3) with a Sweet 16 berth on the line. The Sun Devils won their ninth match in a row, 3-0 over MEAC champion Coppin State.

“They’re physical, they’re obviously well coached,” Utah State coach Rob Neilson said of ASU. “JJ (Van Niel) does a phenomenal job. They play a really good out of system, tight situations game very well. It’s going to be a tall task for us, but we’re going to work hard to get ready.” 

ASU is 5-0 against common opponents (BYU, Utah, Grand Canyon) that Utah State went 1-2 against, but Van Niel isn’t putting much stock into that stat. 

“I don’t go back that far,” unless ASU is playing a team it met earlier, Van Niel said. “Teams evolve through the year. Like how I would defend Bailey (Miller) at the beginning of the season is much different now. That’s true of a lot of teams.”

Utah State started the season 2-7 but the last of its losses was to BYU on Sept. 18. The Aggies’ win over No. 18-ranked Tennessee (20-8) is their best of the season and required a 15-11 fifth set to secure.

#ASU volleyball Faith Frame and Tatum Parrott after NCAA Tournament sweep over Coppin State pic.twitter.com/OAcE6prXqr

— jeffmetcalfe (@jeffmetcalfe) December 5, 2025

Tierney Barlow and Loryn Helgesen combined for 30 kills and eight blocks for Utah State, a sleet and fast team with similarities to ASU in 2023 when the Sun Devils reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in Van Niel’s first season as coach.

“I was thinking that when I was watching them,” Van Niel said. “Pretty good ball control team. I thought they were really scrappy. They have a slide hitter (Helgesen) we didn’t have back then they’re running from off the net so we’ve got to be ready for that.”

ASU took care of business in the second match Thursday, winning 25-11, 25-14, 25-12 in 75 minutes before 2,951. Big 12 Player of the Year Noemie Glover led the way with 14 kills on .522 hitting. Tatum Parrott and middle blocker Ella Lomigora had good matches, and Van Niel was able to use 13 players because of big leads.

“It’s just playing Arizona State volleyball,” libero Faith Frame said. “Nothing special. Don’t do something we haven’t done all season. Just point for point and do our thing.”

The challenge for ASU on Friday (6 p.m. at DFA) is to avert a second-round loss at home like last year against Texas A&M. The Sun Devils were a No. 3 seed in the 2024 postseason but didn’t match up well against No. 6 seed Texas A&M’s physicality and lost 3-1. 

Four other Big 12 teams – Kansas, Baylor and Colorado – won first-round matches Thursday while BYU and Utah lost. No. 3 seed Creighton and No. 6 seed Northern Iowa won 3-2 matches over Utah and Northern Colorado in the sub-regional paired with ASU’s for Sweet 16 play next week.

Arizona plays its first-round match against No. 7 seed South Dakota State on Friday at Stanford.