Arizona State volleyball advances to NCAA Tournament second round

• Arizona State volleyball swept Coppin State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• ASU will now face Utah State in the second round for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16.

No. 2 seed Arizona State volleyball completed the first step in the NCAA Tournament, taking care of Coppin State on Thursday, Dec. 4, at Desert Financial Arena with a sweep, 25-11, 25-14, 25-12.

The Sun Devils, ranked eighth in the nation, earned the opportunity to host the first two rounds at home and were all business to start the match. ASU never surrendered a lead against the Eagles and even held them to a negative hitting percentage of -.082 for the night.

TaKenya Stafford led CSU with five kills.

“At the beginning, we talked about going into this game with a lot of energy and that carried over into the game and we could feel it, as well as the fans bringing that to the court as well,” outside hitter Tatum Parrott said.

The Sun Devils have been dominant at home this season, but have struggled with their starts in past games. The key to avoiding the mental lapses came from the service line.

ASU was aggressive with its serving to start the first set, getting a 4-0 advantage in service aces as the Eagles sided out only 36% of the time in that set. ASU also finished both the first and third sets with a 6-0 run.

“I was proud that they came out and did this because we’ve had some lapses this season, especially in the first set and we kind of take our foot off the gas,” coach JJ Van Niel said. “That was my message, everything we’re doing today is preparing us for tomorrow night (second round against Utah State), so we had high efforts today and we’ll have high efforts tomorrow.” 

With ASU holding a lead over CSU throughout the match, Van Niel brought in several players who normally don’t see a lot of action. Even with ample rest, star opposite Noemie Glover had a sizable role in ASU’s victory with 14 kills while hitting a blistering .522.

“You never know what will happen. I’ve been in a spot where a key player goes down in the tournament and you got to be ready,” Van Niel said. “I want to get us all in there and get some reps just in case, so you just try a couple of things out and see what happens.” 

CSU applied the pressure on ASU midway through the second set and scored two consecutive points to get within three.  

But middle blocker Colby Neal responded for ASU with a kill on the next point, and then Parrott blocked CSU’s Ayanna Pharoah for a 16-11 lead. 

ASU’s middle blockers were efficient as Neal provided steadiness whenever the Sun Devils would slip up against CSU and finished with five kills on .556 hitting. Ella Lomigora racked up two solo blocks and a team-high six block assists.

The Eagles didn’t go away, as Bailey Miller’s attack error gave them the point, but Neal once again delivered with a kill on the next point for a 17-12 lead for ASU. 

Three consecutive errors from CSU gave ASU a 20-12 lead, which then led to the Sun Devils allowing only two more points from the Eagles to win the set. 

ASU finished with a relatively clean game with seven errors, while forcing 26 from CSU. However, the second round is going to be much more difficult to get through. Even though there are a few holdovers from last year’s tournament team, the memories of the second-round loss to Texas A&M still linger.

Utah State, the winner of a thrilling five-set match against Tennessee, is a tough matchup. The teams meet in the second round on Friday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. MST at Desert Financial Arena. The winner advances to the Sweet 16.  

“I still remember what happened last year,” Van Niel said. “But I don’t think my job is to remind them about it. It’s really (focusing on) we just need to come out and play our game of volleyball and see what happens.

“We can’t control our opponent. Utah State did a great job tonight, and I can’t control how well they play. All we can control is our effort and intensity.” 

Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com, as well as @jennarortiz on X.

Catch the best high school sports coverage in the state. Sign up forAzcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to ourdaily sports newsletters so you don’t miss a thing.