Volleyball Today: B1G leaders win; Jackrabbits are 20-0; UTA rolls on with reverse sweep
Three teams are within a game of each other atop the Big Ten after first-place Nebraska and Penn State both won in four on Saturday and second-place Wisconsin swept at Purdue.
South Dakota State won again as the Jackrabbits, the lone unbeaten in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball, improved to 20-0.
Of course there were reverse sweeps. Hello Morehead State, which on Friday came back from 0-2 at SIUE in the Ohio Valley. Saturday, SIUE rallied for an 18-25, 12-25, 25-20, 26-24, 15-10 victory.
UT Arlington had to reverse sweep at Utah Valley to improve to 20-2, 10-0 in the WAC.
Line of the day: In American’s five-set Patriot League win over Colgate, setter Esma Sipahi had nine kills in 15 errorless attacks, 54 assists, five aces, four blocks and 10 digs.
In addition to a full Sunday slate in the NCAA, Athletes Unlimited has two matches when Team (Leketor) Member-Meneh plays Team (Bethania) De La Cruz at 4 p.m. Eastern and Team (Morgan) Hentz plays Team (Brittany) Abercrombie at 6:30. Both matches can be seen on the FanDuel Sports Network and Volleyball World TV.
And the AVP League continues with its seventh of eight weekends. The Palm Beach Passion play the San Diego Smash at 1 p.m. Pacific in Anaheim’s Honda Center, followed by the New York Nitro vs. the Austin Aces. The matches can be seen on CBS Sports Network. Larry Hamel will have a complete recap this week.
NCAA volleyball Sunday
The ACC has a full schedule. No. 4 Louisville tries to bounce back when it goes to No. 11 SMU, while No. 1 Pitt, coming off that win over Louisville, is home for Notre Dame. No. 17 Georgia Tech is home for Wake Forest, No. 19 Florida State goes to Duke and No. 25 North Carolina entertains Miami. Virginia Tech is at Syracuse, Virginia is at Boston College and NC State is at Clemson.
Two ranked Big Ten teams are in action when No. 12 Oregon is home for Rutgers and No. 15 Minnesota goes to Ohio State. Illinois is at Iowa and Northwestern is at Indiana.
In the SEC, AVCA No. 14 Kentucky is at Ole Miss, Auburn goes to South Carolina, LSU is at Georgia, Missouri is at Oklahoma and Arkansas is at Mississippi State.
The lone Big 12 match has Kansas State at Iowa State.
The NCAA announces its tournament bracket five weeks from Sunday.
NCAA volleyball Saturday
BIG TEN: Eighth-ranked Wisconsin (15-4, 9-1) went to No. 10 Purdue (16-5, 7-3) and overpowered the Boilermakers 25-20, 25-23, 25-13. Anna Smrek had 12 kills, hit .321, and had four digs and five blocks. Sarah Franklin had 10 kills, an assist, six digs and three blocks. Julia Orzol had six kills, 14 digs and a block, and Carter Booth had five kills, an ace and nine blocks, two solo. Purdue’s Eva Hudson had 17 kills, five digs and two blocks …
Second-ranked Nebraska (20-1, 10-0) maintained its one-game lead with a four-set win over visiting Michigan (16-5, 6-4) as Harper Murray had 17 kills, hit .333, and had an assist, three aces, seven digs and two blocks. Merritt Beason had 16 kills, hit .370 and had an assist, three aces and three blocks. Michigan’s Allison Jacobs had 18 kills, five digs and three blocks, one solo ..
No. 3 Penn State (20-1, 10-0) kept pace with a 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 32-30 victory at No. 14 USC (14-6, 6-4). Jess Mruzik led the Nittany Lions with 16 kills, 10 digs and two errors. Setter Izzy Starck had seven kills in 11 errorless tries, 43 assists, 16 digs and a block. USC’s Ally Batenhorst had 16 kills, an ace, nine digs and five blocks … UCLA (10-9, 4-6) swept visiting Michigan State (8-13, 1-9) as Cheridyn Leverette and Grayce Olson had 14 kills each. Olson had one error in 24 attacks, an ace, 13 digs and a block … Washington (16-4, 6-4) beat visiting Maryland (10-11, 1-9), rallying for a 23-25, 25-17, 31-29, 25-19 victory. Kierstyn Barton had 16 kills, an ace, 20 digs and two blocks, and Madi Endlsey had 15 kills, an assist, three aces and two blocks.
BIG 12: No. 9 Kansas (18-1, 9-0) swept visiting Utah (16-4, 6-3) to build its lead to a full game over idle Arizona State. London Davis had 11 kills, hit .429, and had two assists, two digs and three blocks … In the only other conference match, Texas Tech (11-10, 3-6) won in five at West Virginia (8-12, 2-7).
JACKRABBITS! South Dakota State remained the lone unbeaten with a four-set win over visiting Denver to improve to 20-0, 9-0 in The Summit League. The Jackrabbits, No. 29 in the unofficial NCAA RPI, matched the program’s best start since 1975 when it was in Division II and playing in the old AIAW. SDSU joined Division I in 2004. In 1975, under coach Ruth Marske, South Dakota State went 20-0 in the regular season but in the AIWA Region VI tournament lost to Saint Louis, Kansas and Minnesota, beat Drake, and was eliminated by Nebraska. In Saturday’s 18-25, 27-25, 26-24, 25-18 victory over Denver (9-11, 4-6), Sylvie Zgonc had 25 kills, hit .333, and had two assists, 10 digs and three blocks, two solo. Alyssa Groves had nine kills with one error in 14 attacks to hit .571 and had four digs and six blocks, one solo. Katie Van Egdom had nine kills with one error in 25 swings, a block and three digs … Also in The Summit, Omaha (11-10, 9-1) stayed a game back with a four-set win at North Dakota State as Kali Jurgensmeier had 18 kills in 25 errorless attacks to hit .720 and had two blocks. Showdown time: South Dakota State goes to Omaha on Thursday.
AROUND THE NATION: Fifth-ranked Creighton (19-2, 10-0 Big East) won its 12th in a row, 25-14, 25-13, 25-11 at Seton Hall. Ava Martin had 13 kills, hit .367, and had four of her team’s eight aces, 11 digs and a block. Kendra Wait had three kills in four errorless tries, 28 assists, a block and 17 digs … The Big East’s Marquette swept at the Ivy League’s Princeton as Natalie Ring had 12 kills with one error in 27 attacks, a dig and two solo blocks …
No. 20 Dayton rolled on in the Atlantic 10, sweeping Fordham for the second straight day to get to 20-1, 10-0 with its 13th win in a row. Lexie Almodovar had 15 kills, all three of the Flyers’ aces, four blocks and 15 digs. Fordham, which had 22 kills total, hit .016 … Also in the A10, in Loyola Chicago’s sweep of George Mason, Marta Cvitkovic had 13 kills with one error in 28 attacks, an assist, an ace, six digs and a block … Lara Del Core had 18 kills in VCU’s sweep of George Washington, hitting .469 and added an assist and five digs …
FGCU (18-4, 10-1) won its fifth in a row and maintained its two-game lead over idle Central Arkansas (11-9, 8-1) in the ASUN win column with a sweep at Austin Peay. Skylar English had 13 kills, an assist, two aces, 12 digs and a solo block. Austin Peay hit .096 … Lipscomb (11-10, 8-2) kept it a three-team race with a sweep of Stetson as Courtney Jones had 17 kills, hit .433, and had two assists, two aces, six digs and a block … Northern Colorado (17-5, 8-1) hit .434 and held its one-game lead atop the Big Sky with a sweep at Idaho as Brynn Reines had 10 kills with no errors in 18 attacks. Idaho State (16-5, 7-2) kept pace with a four-set win over Sacramento State despite 19 kills from the Hornets’ Caitlin Volkmann … Also in the Big Sky, Bri Gunderson had 21 kills and hit .515 in Eastern Washington’s four-set win over Northern Arizona and added an ace, two digs and 10 blocks, two solo …
High Point (16-5, 8-0) kept its two-game Big South lead with a sweep of USC Upstate as Kennedy Louisell had 16 kills, hit .483, and added an assist, six digs and three blocks, one solo … Winthrop (9-8, 6-1) stayed close with a sweep of Presbyterian as Avery Jolley has 14 kills, two assists and 18 digs … Charleston Southern swept at Gardner-Webb and Skylar Yates took 55 — 55! — errorless swings and had 14 kills to hit .255 to go with an ace and nine digs …
UC Davis (14-5, 9-1) is now two games up in the Big West after sweeping Cal State Fullerton and visiting UC San Diego surprised Cal Poly (14-7, 7-3) in four. Jade Light had 13 kills for UC Davis, hitting .476, to go with an ace, seven digs and a solo block … Five teams are within a game and a half of the CAA lead. Hofstra (13-7, 9-2) is stil on top after losing in five to Delaware (12-6, 8-3) as Anna Logan Gillens went off for the Blue Hens with 26 kills, five digs and four blocks. Kirah Johnson added 20 kills and nine blocks. Hofstra’s Izadora Stedile had 20 kills, three assists, an ace, 23 digs and two blocks, one solo, and libero Chiara Cucco had 41 digs, tying the program record, an assist and an ace … College of Charleston (17-7, 9-3) is a game back after losing in four at N.C. A&T (13-7, 8-4), which got 20 kills from Hannah Howell and 19 from Tyne Ross, who had 19 digs … Towson (17-4, 8-3) is right there after winning in four at Elon. Victoria Barrett had 21 kills, hit .459 and had an ace, eight digs and three blocks …
Western Kentucky (19-6, 12-0) went to UTEP (20-4, 10-2) and came away with a two-game lead in Conference USA. Saturday, the Toppers won 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-27, 15-8 victory after winning in four there Friday. Kaylee Cox had 23 kills as WKU won its 15th in a row, adding three aces, 12 digs and six blocks, one solo. Alivia Skidmore had 16 kills, hit .314, and had an ace, a block and four digs. UTEP’s Kaya Weaver had 15 kills, hit .480, and had an ace, four digs and six blocks, two solo … Wright State (18-4, 10-1) held its one-game Horizon League lead with a four-set win over Green Bay as Reilly Zegunis had 18 kills, hit .444, and had an assist, a dig and four blocks, one solo, and Mya Ayro had 16 kills, hit .367, and had six digs and two blocks, one solo … Milwaukee (14-10, 9-2) kept pace with a sweep of Youngstown State as Madi Malone had 13 kills, hit .379, and had two assists, an ace, nine digs and four blocks … Yale (13-3, 8-0) stayed perfect in the Ivy League with a four-set win over visiting Brown. Mila Yarich had 15 kills, hit .343, and had 16 digs and two solo blocks … Fairfield (12-10, 10-0) kept its two-game MAAC lead with a sweep of Siena …
Central Michigan (18-5, 9-2) and Bowling Green (14-8, 9-2) are tied atop the MAC, a game up on idle Toledo (15-8, 8-3). CMU beat visiting Buffalo (12-13, 8-4) in five as Krystina Kasson had 16 kills, hit .400, and had four blocks, and Abby Olin had 15 kills with one error in 29 attacks to hit .483 and added three digs and four blocks. Buffalo’s Katrin Trebichavska had 23 kills, four aces, 13 digs and two blocks … Bowling Green swept last-place Kent State … Northern Iowa (16-7, 11-0) and Drake (14-8, 10-1) keep winning in the two-team Missouri Valley Conference race. UNI swept Indiana State and Drake did the same to Evansville. Evansville’s Giulia Cardona had 23 kills …
Mountain West-leading Colorado State (12-8, 8-2) swept Air Force … Chicago State (12-8, 8-0) is alone at the top of the NEC with a sweep of Stonehill and FDU (17-6, 7-1) lost in four at Saint Francis (10-10, 6-2) …
Bucknell (17-2, 9-1) is back in first place in the Patriot League after the Bison swept at Lafayette. American (19-4, 9-2) and Colgate (12-10, 9-2) are tied for second after American beat visiting Colgate in an up-and-down five. Bucknell’s Cameron Lloyd had 16 kills with no errors in 42 attacks to hit .381 and had two assists, an ace, 12 digs and a block. Bri Frazilus had 13 kills with one error in 22 swings to hit .545 and had an assist, six digs and a block. In American’s 25-20, 22-25, 25-19, 28-30, 19-17 victory over Colgate, Zedo Yilmaz (all-name team) had 19 kills, six assists, three aces, two blocks and 13 digs. Adelina Berisha had 18 kills, hit .371, and had three assists, a block and 11 digs. Setter Esma Sipahi had nine kills in 15 errorless tries, 54 assists, five aces, four blocks and 10 digs. Colgate’s Milan Bayless had 25 kills, hit .316, and had an assist, an ace, three blocks and seven digs … SoCon-leading Mercer (18-4, 8-1) swept Western Carolina … Stephen F. Austin (17-6, 9-1) is a game back of idle Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland after hitting .351 in a sweep of Northwestern State. Camryn Hill had 10 kills with one error in 17 attacks and eight digs … Georgia Southern improved to 17-2, 7-1 in the Sun Belt, with a sweep of James Madison …
UT Arlington has a three-game lead in the WAC after its 21-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-11 reverse-sweep at Utah Valley. UTA, which has won 11 in a row, got 19 kills from Brianna Ford, who also had 15 errors but two assists, seven blocks and 17 digs. Mollie Blank had eight kills with one error in 16 attacks, 46 assists, three blocks and eight digs …
And in the WCC, Loyola Marymount (16-4, 8-1) and Pepperdine (11-8, 8-1) remain tied for the lead. LMU won in five at Oregon State (6-13, 4-5) as Kalani Hayes had 16 kills with one error in 24 swings to hit .625 and added three blocks, one solo. Pepperdine won in four at Santa Clara (7-11, 3-6) as Birdie Hendrickson had 17 kills, an ace, 14 digs and four blocks … Washington State swept Gonzaga and San Diego did the same at Saint Mary’s to stay a game off the lead. San Diego, which hit .362 got 10 kills from Kristen Erland, who had no errors in 14 attacks, three assists and four blocks, two solo.
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