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West Virginia Volleyball Beats No. 9 Arizona State in Historic Upset
West Virginia beat No. 9 Arizona State in five sets on September 25, 2026, earning the highest-ranked victory in Mountaineers volleyball history.
For much of its Big 12 opener, West Virginia looked as though it might have to settle for a promising start against a top-10 opponent. The Mountaineers won the first set, but No. 9 Arizona State took the next two and held a late lead in the fourth. Instead, West Virginia University rallied for a 25-17, 17-25, 16-25, 26-24, 15-12 victory at Hope Coliseum in Morgantown on September 25, 2026.
According to West Virginia's account of the match, Arizona State was the highest-ranked opponent the program had ever beaten. The result was also West Virginia's first win over the Sun Devils in a series dating to 1989. It moved head coach Jen Greeny's team to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in Big 12 play that night, while Arizona State had entered at 9-2.
The achievement was not simply that West Virginia took a ranked team to five sets. The West Virginia women's volleyball team had to recover after Arizona State's attack seized control of the middle of the match, then execute under pressure in a fourth set that stayed close to the final point. For athletes and coaches studying the result, the details of that recovery are as revealing as the ranking beside Arizona State's name.
West Virginia's athletics department identified the result as the program's first victory over a top-10 opponent since 2020 and its sixth win against any ranked opponent in its 53-year volleyball history. It was the Mountaineers' second ranked win at home, following a five-set victory over No. 19 Brigham Young University in 2025. The Arizona State match also gave West Virginia its first successful conference opener since 2021.
Those markers describe different parts of the same story. The No. 9 ranking establishes the historical high point. The small number of ranked wins shows how uncommon such results have been for the program. And the home victories in consecutive seasons provide context for what Greeny's team has accomplished in Morgantown, without suggesting that two matches alone define a season.
The timing mattered as well. A conference opener offers an immediate test of how a team responds when its league schedule begins, particularly against an opponent with Arizona State's ranking and 9-2 record. West Virginia left that first Big 12 match with a win, but the five-set route to it showed both its capacity to recover and the problems it had to solve along the way.
The Mountaineers initially made the match look less precarious than it would become. They went ahead 8-3 in the opening set, extended their lead to as many as eight points and took the frame 25-17. West Virginia hit .357 in the set while holding Arizona State to .175, an efficient start that gave the home team an early advantage.
Arizona State answered at once. Setter Isabella Costantini served two aces during a 4-0 start to the second set, and the Sun Devils went on to win the frame 25-17. West Virginia's hitting percentage dropped to .032 in that set. The contrast with its opening .357 figure illustrates how quickly the balance of a volleyball match can shift: a strong first set did not prevent the visiting team from changing the terms of the next one.
The third set strengthened Arizona State's position. The Sun Devils hit .500, built a 16-11 lead and won 25-16 to move ahead two sets to one. Noemie Glover delivered back-to-back kills as Arizona State extended its lead late in the frame, and Paige Lehman finished it with an ace. By then, the Mountaineers needed to win both remaining sets to avoid an opening-night conference loss.
Arizona State's account of the five-set match provides the opposing perspective on a contest in which the Sun Devils remained dangerous even after West Virginia regained momentum. Their second- and third-set wins were decisive, not narrow escapes. That makes West Virginia's response in the fourth more consequential: the Mountaineers had to change the direction of a match Arizona State had controlled for two straight sets.
The fourth set was the closest of the night, with 14 ties. Arizona State held a 15-13 advantage after a run with Grace Martin serving, but West Virginia stayed within reach and tied the score at 20-20. The Mountaineers eventually moved ahead 23-22. Even then, the set offered no straightforward finish: Arizona State's Una Vajagić produced a kill to make it 24-24.
West Virginia's next two attacks decided the frame. Senior outside hitter Nina Horning recorded a kill to put the Mountaineers at set point, and senior middle blocker Maddy McGath supplied the following kill for a 26-24 win. Instead of ending in four sets, the match would be decided by a fifth.
The late points were backed by a strong full-set attacking performance. West Virginia hit .371 in the fourth, recording 15 kills on 35 attacks with only two errors, according to the official match box score. That efficiency stands out because of what preceded it. The Mountaineers had hit .032 in the second set and watched Arizona State hit .500 in the third. Their fourth-set recovery was not just a matter of staying close on the scoreboard; they converted attacks while limiting errors in the frame they could not afford to lose.
For a recruit evaluating college volleyball, that sequence is a useful reminder that a single match can contain sharply different levels of execution. West Virginia's opening efficiency, second-set difficulties and fourth-set response all belong to the same result. Looking only at the final score would miss the adjustments and performances that made the comeback possible.
West Virginia carried its fourth-set recovery into the decider with a 3-0 start. Arizona State tied it at 4-4, but the Mountaineers responded with four consecutive points to lead 8-4. The home team later reached match point at 14-9, seemingly leaving little room for another reversal.
The Sun Devils still made West Virginia finish the job. They saved three match points to cut the deficit to 14-12 before the Mountaineers secured the final point and the 15-12 set win. The closing stretch kept the outcome uncertain longer than a 14-9 lead might suggest, but it did not erase the cushion West Virginia had built earlier in the set.
That pattern echoed the broader match. West Virginia started well, lost control, rebuilt its position and then had to withstand one last Arizona State push. The historic ranking attached to the victory matters, but so does the way the Mountaineers earned it: by winning a fourth set full of ties and a fifth set in which their opponent saved three match points.
Senior opposite Trinity Sheridan led West Virginia with 18 kills and a .395 hitting percentage. Horning added 17 kills while hitting .455, along with eight digs and three blocks. Her kill at 24-24 in the fourth set was one of the match's decisive plays, and her broader stat line shows a contribution that extended beyond that moment.
West Virginia also relied on two setters. Freshman Lauren Duncan made her first career start and recorded 25 assists, while senior Alexis Finnvold added 24. The distribution of assists is a concrete detail for anyone examining the match: the Mountaineers' offense involved both a first-time starter and an experienced setter during their biggest win by opponent ranking.
Freshman defensive specialist and libero Reagan Turk had 23 digs and handled 34 serve receptions without an error. Mirjam Karoliine Kask contributed five blocks, and West Virginia finished with eight team blocks. Those figures help explain why the result should not be reduced to two leading kill totals. Attackers produced the points that closed the fourth set, but serve reception, defense, setting and blocking were also part of the five-set effort.
Arizona State's individual production was substantial despite the loss. Glover had a match-high 19 kills, Aniya Clinton added 18, and Vajagić finished with 17 kills and 14 digs. The Sun Devils recorded 66 kills to West Virginia's 56. Yet the Mountaineers won the sets that decided the match, particularly the fourth set in which they combined efficient hitting with two consecutive kills at 24-24.
That distinction matters when reading a box score. A team can lead in a match-long total and still lose if its opponent wins enough of the decisive points within individual sets. Arizona State's kill advantage accurately reflects a productive attack, especially during its second- and third-set surge. It does not change the outcome of West Virginia's late fourth-set execution or its fifth-set win.
The September 25 result offers several perspectives for athletes, families and coaches following Division I volleyball. West Virginia received major contributions from seniors in Sheridan, Horning, Finnvold and McGath, while freshmen Duncan and Turk played identifiable roles. Those facts show who contributed in this particular match; they do not, by themselves, establish a fixed depth chart or predict future playing time.
For setters, Duncan's first career start and Finnvold's 24 assists make the match an example of shared production at the position. For defensive specialists and liberos, Turk's combination of 23 digs and error-free handling of 34 serve receptions gives more context than a dig total alone. For attackers, Sheridan's and Horning's hitting percentages provide a clearer view of efficiency than kills alone would. Each detail helps describe how West Virginia won, without turning one performance into a claim about an entire season.
The distinction between a school and a team also matters in college discovery. A college directory organizes institutions, while a program-specific record and match box score describe what happened on the court. In this case, the Mountaineers women's volleyball program is the relevant competitive setting, and the September 25 box score supplies the evidence for assessing this performance.
West Virginia's win should also be understood within the wider range of college volleyball programs rather than treated as a universal recruiting template. A college sports directory places volleyball alongside other sports, but a top-10 Big 12 matchup reveals a more specific competitive picture: five sets, major momentum swings and meaningful contributions from players in different classes and roles. That picture is informative precisely because it is grounded in one documented match.
The provided college list contains only West Virginia University, so there are no additional listed programs to compare directly here. Arizona State and Brigham Young University are relevant to the match history, but neither appears among the supplied college records and neither is presented as a related Pathley college page. Their roles in this story remain clear: Arizona State was the No. 9 opponent West Virginia beat on September 25, and No. 19 Brigham Young was the opponent in the Mountaineers' previous ranked home win in 2025.
The Arizona State result did not begin an unbeaten conference run. West Virginia subsequently lost 3-1 to No. 11 Texas Christian University on September 27, leaving the Mountaineers 8-4 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 play after the weekend. The 8-3 record belongs to the night of the Arizona State victory; the 8-4 record reflects the later TCU result. Keeping those dates separate preserves the significance of the upset without overstating what followed it.
West Virginia's September 25 win is secure in the program record as its highest-ranked victory. It combined an efficient opening set, a difficult middle stretch, a fourth-set recovery and a fifth-set finish against an Arizona State team that produced more kills across the match. The following loss to TCU adds perspective rather than diminishing what happened against the Sun Devils: two ranked opponents posed two separate tests over the weekend.
Going forward, the question for West Virginia is how often it can reproduce the fourth-set efficiency and late-set composure that carried it past Arizona State. For those studying college volleyball, the match offers a grounded lesson in assessing results. The ranking explains why the win was historic; the set-by-set evidence explains how the Mountaineers earned it.
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