Volleyball Today: Almodovar, No. 15 Dayton sweep Duquesne for 15th win in a row

Dayton, the only ranked team in action Tuesday, swept visiting Duquesne as Lexie Almodovar continued her fantastic season. She led the Flyers, ranked No. 15 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, with 22 kills, hit .425, and had an assist, two aces, three blocks and three digs. And Almodovar, a VolleyballMag fourth-team All-American in 2023, is 5-foot-8.

More on that match, Tuesday’s other results, and Wednesday’s schedule in this all-NCAA edition of Volleyball Today. 

And, oh, yeah, there was a reverse sweep: Just two of Tuesday’s 21 matches went five sets, and in one of them, visiting Southeast Missouri came back from 0-2 to win at Little Rock in the Ohio Valley. 

NCAA volleyball Wednesday

There are 20 NCAA Division I women’s matches, including third-ranked Penn State (20-1, 10-0) home for Michigan (16-5, 6-4) and No. 12 Oregon (16-3, 8-2) at Washington (16-4, 6-4) in the Big Ten. Penn State, which has won 12 in a row, is tied with idle Nebraska (also 20-1, 10-0) atop the B1G.

The lone ACC match has No. 4 Louisville (17-3, 9-1) home for Notre Dame (9-10, 2-8). Louisville is in a three-way tie for first with No. 1 Pittsburgh and No. 25 North Carolina. The Irish are trying to break a six-match losing streak.

Kansas (18-1, 9-0) holds a one-game lead over idle Arizona State in the Big 12. The Jayhawks, who have won nine in a row, go to Texas Tech. Baylor (13-6, 5-3), up six spots in the AVCA top 25 to No. 17 this week, is home for Iowa State (9-10, 3-5), and Cincinnati (11-8, 2-6) is at UCF (8-9, 1-7).

The two SEC matches show No. 24 Florida (14-5, 5-3) at Arkansas (14-6, 4-4) and Ole Miss (13-7, 3-5) at Auburn (14-6, 4-5).

Fairfield (13-10. 11-0), which holds a two-game lead in the MAAC, is at Sacred Heart, while second-place Quinnipiac (12-11, 9-2) goes to Merrimack. Also in the MAAC, Niagara is at Canisius, Siena is at Marist, Saint Peter’s is at Rider and Manhattan is at Iona.

North Florida plays Jacksonville and Central Arkansas faces North Alabama in the ASUN. 

The only Big East match has UConn at Providence. 

George Mason goes to George Washington in the A10.

NCAA volleyball Tuesday

Dayton (22-1, 12-0 Atlantic 10), cruised a 25-11, 25-15, 25-14 sweep of visiting Duquesne (13-11, 4-8) as the Flyers won their 15th match in a row. Almodovar, averaging 4.83 kills per set and hitting .316 for the season, is ranked sixth in the NCAA in kills per set and is ninth overall with 367. 

Alayna Yates had eight kills with no errors in 11 attacks and three blocks. Alyssa Miller had three kills, 34 assists, two blocks and five digs. Dayton, which hit .360, had eight aces, four by Gaby Arroyo, who had 11 digs and three assists.

Also in the A10, Fordham swept Rhode Island as Whitley Moody had 13 kills, hit .379 and had two aces, eight digs and four blocks, one solo; VCU swept Davidson as Lara Del Core had 15 kills, hit .520, and had an assist, a dig and a block; and Loyola Chicago swept Saint Louis …

In the only Big West match, Cal Poly (15-7, 8-3) stayed two games back of idle UC Davis in the loss column with a sweep at UC Santa Barbara. Tommi Stockham had 15 kills, an assist, two aces, four digs and a block … 

There were five matches in the Horizon League, where first-place Wright State (19-4, 11-1) maintained its one-game lead with a sweep Northern Kentucky. The Raiders got 11 kills from Reilly Zegunis, who had one error in 16 attacks to hit .625. Haley Robinson had nine kills with one error in 16 swings and seven blocks, two solo. Milwaukee (15-10, 10-2) kept pace with a sweep of visiting Green Bay as Natalie Schmitz had 13 kills, an ace and three digs. Also, Cleveland State won in four at Oakland behind 19 kills from Liberty Torres, who had three digs and three blocks, one solo, and Robert Morris swept at Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne won in four at IU Indy. Panna Ratkai led the Mastodons with 20 kills and hit .439 after having two errors in 41 attacks. She added an assist, an ace, six digs and two blocks, one solo … 

There were two Big South matches as High Point swept visiting Radford to improve to 17-5, 9-0 in the conference and has a hefty lead over idle Winthrop (9-8, 6-1). HP’s Kennedy Louisell had nine kills with one error in 16 attacks, an assist, two aces, a dig and a block. In the other match, Alivia Rew had 13 blocks, four solo, as Gardner-Webb came back to beat visiting UNC Asheville in five. Rew also had nine kills, two aces and four digs …

Southeast Missouri rallied for a 17-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-15, 18-6 victory at Little Rock to win its eighth Ohio Valley match in a row. Southeast Missouri (12-10, 9-1) trails idle first-place Lindenwood (16-7, 10-1) by a half game. Little Rock (14-11, 9-3) dropped two games off the lead. Lucy Arndt led Southeast Missouri with 22 kills, two assists, two aces, 15 digs and three blocks. In the other OVC match, Destiny Walker had 23 kills as Eastern Illinois won in four at SIUE. Walker hit .383 and had 10 digs and a solo block … 

ETSU swept Furman in the SoCon as Makayla Bays had 15 kills, an assist, an ace, nine digs and a block. Melanie Morris had 24 digs, two assists and an ace …Chattanooga of the SoCon won in four at the ASUN’s Austin Peay, which has lost 20 in a row. Chattanooga’s Sydney Jackwin had 15 kills, an ace, 11 digs and a block, and Paige Gallentine had 25 digs, three assists and two aces. Austin Peay’s Taylor Baron had 25 digs, eight assists and an ace … The lone Conference USA match saw FIU beat visiting Liberty in four as Anna Feldkamp had 16 kills, hit .419, and had a dig and three blocks. Mandi Morioka had 24 digs, four assists and three aces … Coastal Carolina of the Sun Belt beat visiting College of Charleston of the CAA in four as Jalyn Stout had 15 kills, hit .343, and had 18 assists, two aces, 13 digs an a block … Prairie View beat Alabama A&M in four in the SWAC … In the Mountain West, Utah State hit .500 and swept visiting Nevada in a match between two teams that decided not to forfeit.

LINE OF THE DAY: And in this case, not on the court. In his preview for the weekend, Portland State sports information director Andy Jobanek offered: “Trick or Treat, Give the Vikings a Team to Beat: Volleyball Hosts Eastern Washington on Halloween, Idaho Saturday” 

Portland State is 4-15, 3-5 in the Big Sky and hoping to snap a three-match skid. 

MASTERCOACHES INTERVIEW DEBOER: The gang of Bob Bertucci, Mick Haley, Tom Hilbert and Jim Stone, who do a weekly video, begin this one with former AVCA executive director Kathy DeBoer. Then the four retired coaching icons kick things around among themselves.

Click here to watch and follow them on Vimeo.

MOUNTAIN WEST MADNESS: If you want to read more about why — seriously, why? — Boise State (and others) forfeited to San Jose State, Dan Wolken has this report well worth reading in USA Today. 

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