Off the back of a thunderous home crowd, No. 8 ASU Volleyball defeated No. 16 Baylor, continuing their Big 12 dominance in 2025.
Heading into Wednesday, the 12-2 Sun Devils won their first three games of conference play, including two sweeps in their previous two games.
Before the game, the Sun Devils had only one conference loss since joining the Big 12. That one loss was against Baylor last season. The recent win meant ASU has now beaten every Big 12 opponent it has played since joining the conference.
"There was a chip on our shoulder, not only for us, but to avenge our previous team," junior outside hitter Jillian Neal said. "We were definitely more motivated and this was our chance."
With the Sun Devils taking on their fifth ranked opponent of 2025, a 2-2 record in the previous four made Wednesday's game an important one.
A close start to set one turned into a 12-6 lead for ASU after an overturned call went the way of the Sun Devils. However, ASU struggled to hold on to the lead, allowing Baylor to steal momentum and decrease the deficit to 18-16. The set continued close, leading to a 24-24 tie that ASU broke with two consecutive points, claiming set one and some much-needed momentum.
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After taking set one, the home crowd at Desert Financial Arena erupted. Included in the fans at home was the men's swim team, who showed up in swimsuits to cheer on the volleyball team. Head coach JJ Van Niel credited the crowd for boosting his squad.
"Thanks to all the fans for coming out," Van Niel said, who increased his record at ASU to 71-12 Wednesday night. "Swim team was hysterical again. Our team definitely plays off the crowd."
With momentum in the Sun Devils' favor, ASU stormed out to an early 6-2 lead in set two. However, the Bears won five points in a row to claim a 7-6 lead. From there, the second set stayed close the whole way home.
Baylor eventually broke the deadlock, taking a 22-19 lead, but a pair of timeouts and regrouping put the Sun Devils in the driver's seat as they took set two 27-25.
Set three had a similar beginning to the first two: an early ASU lead. The Sun Devils' 10-3 lead was cut down to 12-10 after a Baylor timeout took some momentum away from the home crowd.
Baylor continued its comeback effort, eventually tying set three at 20. As Baylor claimed a 22-21 lead, Van Niel called a timeout that proved important in ASU's sweep.
After the timeout, ASU went on a 4-1 run, taking the set and match.
While the Sun Devils swept the Bears, ASU's execution was not flawless. Still, despite making mistakes that kept the game close, graduate middle blocker Colby Neal was happy with the lesson Wednesday night gave.
"It shows that no matter what adversity we're feeling, we are a great team," Neal said, who joined ASU in 2025. "We have a lot of fight and we can win, even if we're making a lot of mistakes or not putting things in a place where we won't win. I think it was really encouraging."
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Neal was involved in ASU's final two points of the game. A block on point 24 led to a kill on the final point of the game, sending ASU fans home happy. The timeout called by Van Niel at 22-21 helped give Neal and all of ASU the final push to victory.
"At the end of the game, we all knew that we just really had to focus and be disciplined if we were going to win," Colby said. "Baylor was coming for us; they were close. So in that moment, I'm pretty sure JJ was encouraging us — and maybe dropped a few cuss words or two — to get us motivated."
The Sun Devils look ahead to game three of the home stand on Friday, facing another ranked team in No. 24 Colorado.
"It's nice that we won in three sets tonight, so they get a little more rest," Van Niel said. "We'll have practice tomorrow, then we've got to turn around and get going."
Edited by Jack McCarthy, Senna James and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at aswift10@asu.edu and follow @alexswiftsports on X.
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