The first-ever Snyder-Park Classic saw ASU host its first home games of the 2026 season in Desert Financial Arena. Over 10,000 people attended to celebrate legendary former coach Patti Snyder-Park, including the sixth-most attended match since 2013.
"I honestly loved the crowd," freshman outside hitter Grace Martin said. "I think it helps a lot. I don't think I've ever played in front of that many people. It was so exciting and having all my teammates surrounding me and giving me that confidence, it was like a dream come true."
Snyder-Park finished her 14-year Sun Devil coaching career in 2002 with a 216-181 record, led ASU to seven NCAA tournament appearances, and won two Pac-10 coach of the year awards in 1990 and 1992.
"(Snyder-Park's) alumni love her," head coach JJ Van Niel said. "She gets them fired up for our program (and) she is fired up for our program."
Game one saw a matchup against UC Davis, which won 21 games last year and lost in the Big West title.The Aggies took a 2-0 lead early before ASU responded, winning set three. However, it wasn't enough to mount a comeback as the Aggies took set four.
Even though the Sun Devils stumbled in the first game, junior outside hitter Una Vajagić and senior opposite Noemie Glover each had double-digit kills. Glover notched 19 while Vajagić tallied 12, and their 31 kills accounted for the majority of the Sun Devils' total of 44.
The ASU star power showed up in the first contest, but the Sun Devils couldn't find much other success on the offensive side of the floor.
"We need (depth scoring)," Van Niel said. "The best teams in the country year in and year out are not relying on one person; they have multiple people … when you can balance it out, it makes it hard to defend, when you are setting one person the ball every time, it's easy to defend for the most part."
In game two against No. 24 Oregon, Glover and Vajagić dominated offensively again. The pair combined for 24 kills and led the charge for the Sun Devils.
However, they weren't the only ones who showed offensive prowess. Martin added 12 kills of her own. Before the Ducks game, she had played sparingly for the Sun Devils, with four kills combined in four appearances.
"(Martin) does a nice job hitting line," Van Niel said. "We thought we could do that against (Oregon) and she did … pretty good for her in front of a big crowd, that was fun."
Freshman setter Elle Mottola also made her presence known during the Sun Devils' first homestand. Her 35 assists against the Ducks was the most from a Sun Devil, before she led them again with 34 against San Diego in the finale.
"(Martin and Mottola) are both pretty good with nerves," Van Niel said. "They are just competitors."
Meanwhile, Martin tallied five more kills against the Toreros to finish third on the team behind Glover and Vajagić.
"(Martin) loves to fight," Glover said. "She matches our competitiveness so well, it's been really fun to integrate her into our system and see her kill it."
They will have to continue to step up with one more week of nonconference play at the SLO Classic before the Sun Devils begin the Big 12 gauntlet.
"We're playing tough competition in important environments, stressful environments to get them ready for the conference, and after you get through conference, hopefully make the tournament," Van Niel said.
Edited by Char O'Neil, Emilio Alvarado and Senna James.
Reach the reporter at mseal6@asu.edu and follow @masonseal23 on X.
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Mason Seal is a sports reporter at The State Press. This is his fifth semester working with The State Press and is in his junior year.
