(Photo: Elijah Longoria/WCSN)
Just 10 days after clinching the Big 12 Title against Houston, No. 9 Arizona State volleyball was honored with numerous individual awards, highlighting each player’s contributions throughout the year. The Sun Devils ended the regular season 26-3, winning 25 or more matches their third straight year for the first time in program history, and are two days out of hosting Coppin State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
For the third year running, head coach JJ Van Niel took home the Big 12 Coach of the Year Award. He became only the seventh Sun Devil head coach across all sports to win the award in at least three consecutive seasons, and the first in volleyball’s history.
Under Van Niel, ASU earned a two seed in the NCAA Tournament with a 26-3 record while finishing 17-1 in conference play for the second straight year. The Sun Devils have ranked wins over Penn State, Baylor, TCU and Colorado while going undefeated in 14 outings at home.
Van Niel now boasts an 84-13 record during his three-year tenure in Tempe, including going 56-3 over the past two, a winning percentage of 94.9%. His overall winning percentage of 86.6% is also handily the best by a coach in program history, with Mary Littlewood being the only coach to finish their career at ASU with a winning record.
Junior opposite hitter Noemie Glover became the first Sun Devil in team history to win a conference player of the year honor after being named Big 12 Player of the Year behind a career season with the Maroon and Gold. In 89 sets this year, the Oregon transfer compiled a team-high 375 kills and 4.21 kills per set.
Glover reached double-digit kills in 23 of 24 games with a career-high 31 during a five-set win at Colorado on November 15. Her .345 hitting percentage ranked third on the team among qualified players.
The junior was also impactful on the defensive end, as her 1.17 blocks per set were second among Sun Devils. She ended the year with 104 blocks, good for third on the team.
Glover earned three Big 12 Player of the Week recognitions, the most by a Sun Devil this season, while being one of 14 players named as a finalist for the AVCA National Player of the Year award.
Senior outside hitter Bailey Miller and graduate middle blocker Colby Neal joined Glover on the all-conference team with strong campaigns of their own.
After a down year in 2024 behind multiple seniors, Miller responded with a career-high 3.32 kills per set and 359 overall, both second on the team behind Glover. The senior had double-digit kills in her last 14 games and led the team with 36 aces on the year.
Neal paced the entire Big 12 in total blocks with 162, as well as blocks per set at 1.54. The middle blocker had five or more blocks in 20 of her 28 matches this season, including a season-high 10 against BYU in mid-October. Neal’s 142 block assists were the second most in a season by a Sun Devil, falling behind only Tina Berg’s 186 in 1990.
Offensively, Neal’s .411 hitting percentage was the best on the team among qualified players, as her presence in the middle as a finisher was often felt.
Sophomore libero Faith Frame made the All-Big 12 Rookie Team as a freshman and built on her initial campaign with a Second Team All-Big 12 nod. Frame led ASU with 3.13 digs per set and 338 digs for the year, recording 20-plus digs on three separate occasions. The sophomore was a large contributor to holding conference opponents to a .163 hitting percentage, the lowest in the Big 12.
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Kiylah Presley made the most of her first season after sitting out her true freshman year, earning a spot on the All-Big 12 Rookie Team after finishing fifth on the team in kills with 146 and fourth in kills per set at 1.48. Her 28 matches played were tied for the second-most on the team, with her 58 blocks ranking fourth as well.
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