Arizona State Volleyball Earns Second Top-10 Win, Sweeping Stanford
The Sun Devils defeated No. 8 Stanford in straight sets (25-19, 25-21, 26-24) at the San Luis Obispo Classic, their second top-10 victory of the season. Una Vajagic led the team with 17 points, while three players recorded at least 14 kills. The win follows a loss to unranked UC Davis, showing a strong bounce-back effort.
The sweep marks Arizona State's fourth ranked victory this season, joining wins over No. 2 Texas, No. 14 Minnesota, and No. 24 Oregon. That total already matches half of the program-record eight ranked wins the Sun Devils compiled during the entire 2025 campaign. Head coach JJ Van Niel, who took over in 2023, has guided the team to back-to-back conference titles while elevating the program's national profile through invitations to marquee multi-team events.
Vajagic, a Serbian junior who transferred from Wisconsin this summer, has quickly become a versatile contributor, ranking in the top three on the team in both kills and digs through ten matches. The Sun Devils close non-conference play Saturday against Cal Poly, which is receiving Top 25 votes, before opening Big 12 competition against a conference featuring five ranked opponents.
This victory could signal a shift in the college volleyball landscape, as Arizona State's rapid rise under Van Niel may pressure traditional powers to reassess their recruiting and scheduling strategies. The team's success against multiple ranked opponents may also boost the Big 12's national credibility in the sport, potentially influencing postseason seeding discussions and television coverage decisions. For fans, the emergence of a new contender adds competitive intrigue to conference races that have historically been dominated by a few established programs.