After its massive win over in-state rival Arizona on Thursday, Arizona State hit the road for the first time since its lone conference loss to Iowa State to face the No. 22 Colorado Buffaloes, who trailed the Sun Devils by just two games in conference play heading into Saturday night’s matchup.
ASU (22-3, 13-1 Big-12) needed to be on its A-game against the Buffaloes (21-6, 11-4 Big 12), barely pulling it off with a tight win in five sets (25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 15-12). Its win pushes the magic number to clinch the Big 12 regular-season title to two with a pair of road games ahead.
The Sun Devils came out of the gates hot after a back-and-forth first and second set, including a 10-point run to help build a comeback in the first set. They took a commanding two-set lead with a margin win in the second, 25-22. With its back against the wall, Colorado came out for the third set and fired back.
After a seesaw start to the set saw the score tied at nine, the Buffaloes went on a huge 10-3 run, building a dominant 19-13 lead. They took this lead all the way to the end of the set, winning it 25-18 and bringing the match to 2-1.
ASU responded quickly in the fourth set, quickly jumping ahead 7-4 over the Buffaloes, before a 4-point run for them turned things right around and put them ahead 8-7.
They took that lead and rode it all the way to the end of the fourth set, not allowing the Sun Devils to gain their lead back, taking the set 25-21 and forcing a decisive fifth set.
Locked in a 5-5 tie during the final set, the Buffaloes went on a 4-0 run to take a massive 9-4 lead in a set only going to 15.
All hope seemed lost, but a timeout from head coach JJ Van Niel was all ASU needed to regain focus. Down 12-10, the Sun Devils went on a 5-0 run, assisted by an ace from graduate middle blocker Colby Neal and three kills from junior opposite hitter Noemi Glover to win the final set 15-12 and the match.
Glover had herself a history night, finishing with a career-high 31 kills. That mark is the highest by a Sun Devil since Marta Levinska in 2023, as that mark also puts her tied for 9th all-time on the single-game kills list in program history.
Glover’s night wouldn’t have been possible if not for the help of senior setter Sydney Henry, who finished with a game-high 50 assists, tied for the second-highest mark in her career.
ASU ended the match with 10 total blocks as a team, which marked the 11th time in 14 Big 12 matchups in which it finished with double-digit blocks.
Glover was not the only one who was a monster at the net. Colorado was once again led with 28 kills by Ana Burilović, the Big 12 leader in kills, who is also currently 7th in the country in total kills. She added five aces to that, more than the entire Sun Devils team.
With the win, all ASU needs is one more win and a loss from Colorado to clinch its second consecutive Big 12 regular-season title.
That win can come on Wednesday, when the Sun Devils take on the UCF Knights at 4 p.m. in Orlando.
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