Volleyball Today: AVP league teams set; NCAA roundup; Aird’s challenges; NAIA top 25

The AVP announced the teams for its new league and there will be Paris Olympians in Austin, Dallas, New York. Palm Beach and San Diego. The full list follows.

There are 47 matches on Thursday’s NCAA Division I volleyball schedule but surprisingly few between unbeaten teams in only the season’s second week. The schedule was light Wednesday but including No. 5 Stanford sweeping at No. 24 Marquette, No. 13 Kansas sweeping Wichita State and Furman pulling off a reverse sweep at USC Upstate.

Texas State beat UTSA in four sets, which included coming back from being down 24-16 in the first set.

We have a really cool thing that Indiana coach Steve Aird is doing this season with his challenges, and the latest NAIA poll.

AVP announces teams for new beach league

The AVP is trying something new with its league. The first set of matches is September 14-15 at the UCLA Tennis Center, followed by seven more stops, culminating with the championship November 9-10 in Los Angeles. Click here for the complete schedule and more details. 

Here’s the breakdown of the league teams:

— Austin Aces: Paul Lotman, Billy Allen, Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth
— Brooklyn Blaze: Seain Cook, Cody Caldwell, Terese Cannon, Megan Kraft
— LA Launch: Tim Bomgren, Troy Field, Betsi Flint, Julia Scoles
— Miami Mayhem: Trevor Crabb, Theo Brunner, Alix Klineman, April Ross
— New York Nitro: Phil Dalhasser. Avery Drost, Brandie Wilkerson, Melissa Humana-Paredes
— San Diego Smash: Miles Evans, Chase Budinger, Geena Urango, Toni Rodriguez

NCAA women’s volleyball

Thursday’s schedule

We mentioned that there are very few matches Thursday between unbeatens. One is Cal vs. No. 8 Purdue of the Big Ten, both 3-0, at Utah. Cal later plays Utah, also 3-0, in a battle of former Pac-12 teams. The Big Ten’s No. 20 USC (2-0) is at Creigton of the Big East (3-0).

Other Big Ten teams in action include No. 2 Nebraska at home for The Citadel, No. 25 UCLA vs. No. 17 Tennessee, Rutgers vs. No 21 Arkansas, Indiana at No. 1 Texas and Northwestern  at Long Beach State.

SMU, coming off that upset of Nebraska, plays host to Milwaukee. Two 3-0 teams face off when Arizona plays at Alabama State, Lipscomb goes to No. 14 BYU, and Auburn, receiving votes, is home for Cal Poly, the coaches’ pick to win the Big West.

Wednesday’s results and top performances

Stanford (4-0) won 25-18, 25-17, 25-22 at Marquette (1-1) to end its week-long stay in Milwaukee in which it beat Milwaukee, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Elia Rubin continued her hot start to the season with 12 kills and one error in 25 attacks to go with an assist, an ace and 10 digs. Ipar Kurt led with 14 kills and had two aces and a dig. Jordyn Harvey had 11 kills with one error in 22 swings, an assist, a block and five digs. Elena Oglivie had 10 digs, an ace and eight assists and Kami Miner had two kills in three errorless tries, 31 assists and 11 digs. The Cardinal hit .373. Aubrey Hamilton had 12 kills and hit .313 for Marquette to go with an assist, three digs and three blocks, one solo. Jenna Reitsma added nine kills and nine digs and Hattie Bray had eight kills with one error in 16 attacks, a dig and three blocks, one solo … 

Kansas improved to 4-0 with a 25-17, 25-21, 25-19 win over visiting Wichita State (2-2) before a sold-out crowd of 1,742 in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. Ayah Elnady led with 14 kills, two aces, two blocks and three digs … 

Texas State won 26-24, 19-25, 25-23, 25-16 at UTSA and setter Ryann Torres — who was a key server during the big first-set run — had four kills in eight errorless tries, 40 assists, an ace, eight digs and two blocks. The UTSA Convocation Center drew 1,246 fans, the program’s largest crowd since 2017 …

Furman won 18-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-9 at USC Upstate in a battle of South Carolina schools. Kennedy Seekford had 21 digs and five assists … Michigan improved to 4-0 with a sweep of Eastern Michigan as the Wolverines hit .384. Allison Jacobs had 12 kills, hit .455 and had an assist, two aces, seven digs and a block … Adelina Berisha had 12 kills with one error in 29 swings to go with seven digs and a block in American’s sweep of Coppin State … Mercer is 4-0 after sweeping UMES … Florida A&M beat North Florida in five but UNF’s Amy Burkhardt had 20 kills, three assists, an ace, 16 digs and two blocks … Bryant hit .474 in a sweep of Stonehill. Arianna Ugolini had 15 kills, hit .565, and had three digs and three blocks, one solo … IU Indianapolis, one of my favorite teams, beat visiting Butler in four … 

Villanova beat Binghamton in five and Abby Harrell had 19 kills, hit .350, and had two assists and 15 digs.

More big college volleyball TV ratings

This weekend’s State Farm Women’s College Volleyball Showcase served up some big numbers on FOX 

– Texas vs. Wisconsin earned 584,000 viewers on FOX
– Stanford vs. Wisconsin earned 487,000 viewers on FOX pic.twitter.com/jbCFON3DwV

— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) September 4, 2024

Aird makes Indiana’s challenges matter

Indiana is 3-0 after beating Kennesaw State, Wichita State and UC Davis. But just as important is that coach Steve Aird is 4-1 in challenges. And not just because his team won those points.

That’s because for every challenge that Aird and Indiana win this season they’re donating $25 to both the Community Kitchen of Monroe County and to the IU student section.

“My wife (Brandy) is on the board of the Monroe Community Kitchen, which helps the homeless, feeds kids, fill backpacks for kids for the weekends, and she’s a chef and has volunteered,” Aird said.

“And at the end of the year I’m going to throw (the students) a party at a local Bloomington establishment and the students get to have fun for a night,” Aird said.

“The student section is way more involved in whether you win or lose challenges. They want you to challenge non-stop because they want the money.”

Aird noted that Katie Schumacher-Cawley, the Penn State coach and Aird’s Penn State college classmate, has done the same thing at her school.

Darren Tipton, who runs the website Volleyball Adrenaline, has said he will match Aird’s donations. Obviously Aird hopes others jump on board. 

Click here for more on the Community Kitchen of Monroe County.

NAIA

Northwestern Iowa (10-0) is ranked No. 1 and got 19 of the 21 first-place votes. Second-ranked Eastern Oregon (8-0) got the other two votes. Concordia is No. 3, followed by Jamestown and Southern Oregon.

Click here for the top 25 and story.

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