ASU’s season comes to an end in Sweet 16 loss to Creighton

(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)

After getting the two wins needed in Tempe and advancing to its second Sweet-16 in the past three seasons, second-seeded Arizona State faced off against third-seeded Creighton, looking to advance to its first Elite Eight in program history. The Big East Champion-Bluejays rode a 22-game winning streak into Lexington, aiming for their third consecutive trip to the Regional Finals.

Despite both teams each taking a set to open the match, Creighton (29-5, 16-0 Big East) came alive to win the match if four sets, ending ASU’s (28-4, 17-1 Big 12) season in the first game of the Regional Semifinals.

“Hat’s off to Creighton,” head coach JJ Van Niel said. “They played great, really clean volleyball… and we weren’t able to find the right answers.”

It seemed on paper that these teams were evenly matched. The Sun Devils were a heavily defensive team, ranking top-10 in the country in blocks per set and total blocks, and Creighton boasted its strength on offense, ranking top-15 in the country in both kills per set, hitting percentage and aces.

The first set showed just that, going to a win-by-two scenario that ASU failed to come away with. In that set alone, neither team led by more than two till the end, with the lead changing nine different times and the score being tied at 13 different points during the set.

That first set was almost duplicated by the second, with the largest lead being just four points, held by the Sun Devils later in the set when a 4-0 run put them up 17-14. Once ASU took that lead, they didn’t let it go the rest of the set, tying the match at one set each.

One of the biggest keys to the second set and the entire match for ASU was redshirt freshman Kiylah Presley. Her five kills in set two and nine kills in the match helped her finish tied for second on the team in kills, try to produce hope for the Sun Devils when they were struggling offensively.

“There was definitely some momentum after that second set,” senior setter Sydney Henry said. “But like they said, Creighton came out and punched us, but we wanted to try and punch back.”

For ASU, that second set was all its was able to muster, dropping the next two sets 13-25 and 18-25. Multiple runs from the Bluejays put each set out of reach, with the Sun Devils never able to string together a response in either set.

The only one with more kills than Presley in this match was the junior opposite hitter and Big 12 Player of the Year Noemi Glover, who finished with a team high 17 kills. She also had help from senior outside hitters Bailey Miller and Tatum Parrott, who finished with nine and seven, and graduate middle blocker Colby Neal, who finished with six kills.

“Syd was putting me in good positions to score,” Glover said. “Our pass was doing a great job and being able to see the floor and have such a diverse shot selection.”

But ASU couldn’t get anything going after the second set, hitting just 0.273 as a team, one of their worst marks of the year. This, along with having no answer for Creighton at the service line, allowing eight aces, led to the Sun Devils scoring just 31 points in the last two sets of the match.

The one stat that the Sun Devils did lead in was blocks, just like they have all season. While it may not have won the match, ASU still out-blocked the Bluejays 14-12.

Offensively for the Bluejays, they were led by the outside hitter and Big East Player of the Year Ava Martin. In attendance to watch was her family, including her little sister Grace who, just four weeks ago, committed to ASU for volleyball.

ASU concluded its third season under Van Niel, which featured three consecutive postseason runs for the first time since 2012-2015. All three of his teams also finished with at least 28 wins in each season, the first time in program history that’s been achieved.

With this loss, the Sun Devils end their quest to reach the program’s first ever Regional Final, a goal that now sits on the shoulders of the 2026 team. With key pieces like Colby Neal, Henry, Miller and Parrott out of eligibility, Van Niel will go back to the drawing board to re-vamp his team around key pieces like Glover and sophomore libero Faith Frame.

“I don’t think there is anything that surprised us today,” Van Niel said. “They’ve been playing really good volleyball all year. They probably don’t get the credit because they are in not as tough of a conference, but they were good in preseason and going undefeated in any conference in an impressive feat.”