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The story of the day in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball was unranked Ohio State beating visiting No. 4 Penn State — off to an 0-2 league start — 16-25, 25-20, 33-31, 25-23.
In other words, welcome to the Big Ten.
Illinois, ranked No. 8, is still unbeaten — barely — after coming back from 0-2 to win at Indiana.
That was how it went Sunday, because around the nation, a lot of teams lived on the edge.
In the Pac-12, four of the five matches went five, including No. 12 Oregon coming back from 1-2 and No. 13 Washington winning after going down 0-2.
In one of those five-setters, Arizona State won at Cal for its first Pac-12 match victory since November 2016.
Of note:
Boston College won in four and is 2-0 in the ACC for the first time.
No. 10 Creighton swept No. 21 Marquette in the Big East.
There are just five matches on the schedule Monday, four in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Big Ten: Big upset for the Buckeyes — Ohio State improved to 10-4, 1-1 in the league, while Penn State is 9-3, 0-2.
“We’re young, so it’s pretty cool,” Ohio State coach Geoff Carlston told VolleyballMag.com. “We’ve got all freshmen and sophomores out there.
“It was’t the prettiest match overall, offensively, but there were a lot of long, scrappy rallies. Tons of long rallies.”
Ohio State ended the pre-conference season with a five-set loss at Dayton, a tough in-state defeat, and then got swept by Wisconsin to open B1G play last Wednesday.
“We lost every single one of those (long) points against Wisconsin. We won a large majority of them tonight, especially after 20,” Carlston said. “It was pretty cool to see the team buy into the emotional intelligence as well as the technical game. It was fun.”
With senior Audra Appold not back from a leg injury and surgery and senior transfer setter Olivia Dailey also sidelined, Mia Grunze led the Buckeyes with 12 kills. She hit just .125, but had an assist, two aces, 13 digs and two blocks. Jordan Fry had 11 kills and seven blocks and Lauren Witte had 10 kills, hit .333 and had two digs and six blocks, one solo. Ohio State hit .135.
Penn State had 29 attack errors while hitting .180 and no aces with nine serving errors. Ohio State had 28 attack errors, but eight aces to go with 11 errors.
“The reality of it was it was kind of a brawl, like something out of Anchorman. It was an unusual match,” Carlston said. “I think we won because won some of the bigger points. I don’t think either one of us played great. I think we both hope to play better next time. But those are matches in the Big Ten, especially at home, that you have to win those. You have to find a way to win those.”
Penn State, which opened with a four-set loss at Minnesota on Wednesday, got 16 kills from Taylor Leath. She had an assist, 13 digs and three blocks, one solo. Allyson Cathey had 15 kills, two digs and three blocks and Jonny Parker had 12 kills, 11 digs and two blocks. Kaitlyn Hord, who had 10 kills, hit .364 and had five blocks. Serena Gray was the only other Nittany Lion with a kill. She had five and five blocks. Penn State continued to play without injured senior outside Nia Reed.
Visiting Illinois (13-0, 2-0) grinded past Indiana 24-26, 22-25, 25-18, 25-17, 15-8 to remain the lone overall unbeaten team in the Big Ten.
Megan Cooney led with 16 kills while hitting .433. She had a dig and five blocks, one solo. Beth Prince also had 16 kills to go with a dig and two blocks. Jacqueline Quade had 15 kills, three assists, 14 digs and four blocks, and Ali Bastianelli had 13 kills, hit .391, and added an assist, two aces, a dig and seven blocks, one solo.
Breana Edwards had 10 kills, four digs and three blocks for Indiana (10-3, 1-1). Deyshia Lofton and Kamryn Malloy had nine kills each and Elizabeth Asdell had eight. Hayden Hubers had seven kills, hit .438, and had an ace, a dig and seven blocks, one solo.
“I think the kids competed hard. We are starting three freshmen against the No. 8 team in the country. It was a match, obviously disappointed we didn’t win because I am a competitive guy and the team is full off competitive people, but plenty here to suggest that we are getting better and have room to keep getting better,” first-year Indiana coach Steve Aird said.
“I am not a guy who pouts, so if the mood is somber then I’ll leave that up to other people. I am proud of the kids, I thought they played hard and the environment was great.”
Third-ranked Nebraska won its 11th match in a row and stands 11-1, 2-0 after putting away visiting Michigan State 25-18, 25-9, 21-25, 25-16.
The Huskers were led by Lexi Sun, who had 15 kills, an assist, an ace, six digs and a block. Mikaela Foecke had 12 kills while hitting .417 to go with two assists, an ace, eight digs and two blocks. Jazz Sweet and Lauren Stivrins had seven kills each and Stivrins had seven blocks, one solo.
Michigan State hit .047, including negative in sets one, two and four. The Spartans (12-3, 0-2) got nine kills each from Maddie Haggerty and Molly Johnson. Alyssa Chronowski had eight kills.
And No. 18 Michigan (12-1, 1-1) won at Iowa 25-22, 28-30, 25-23, 25-22.
Cali Hoye had 22 kills for Iowa (9-4, 1-1). She added an assist, an ace, eight digs and four blocks. Amiya Jones had 10 kills and hit .529 to go with two dig and eight blocks. Taylor Louis had 13 kills, an ace, four digs and five blocks.
Pac-12: 4 of 5 go 5 —The one that didn’t saw No. 2 Stanford beat visiting Arizona 25-17, 25-27, 25-20, 25-21. The Cardinal (10-1, 2-0) got 21 kills from Kathryn Plummer, who had three digs and four blocks, one solo. Meghan McClure had 10 kills, two assists, 11 digs and a block. Audriana Fitzmorris had 10 kills and hit .304 and had a dig and a block. Jenna Gray had 44 assists, two kills, two aces, five digs and five blocks.
Arizona (12-2, 1-1) was led by Kendra Dahlke, who had 15 kills despite hitting .022. She had an ace, seven digs and a block. Paige Whipple had 10 kills.
“There are no moral victories,” Arizona coach Dave Rubio said. “But I thought we played OK. The separator today was serving and passing. We just could not side out enough, which was frustrating.”
Oregon was home for No. 22 Washington State and beat the Cougars 22-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12.
“Honestly, that’s just what I was expecting,” Oregon coach Matt Ulmer said. “I think it’s obvious that Washington State is a very good team. They have the number one defense in the conference, and you can see why. They’re a big, physical blocking team, and if you make any mistakes they are going to make you pay for it.
“I’m just really thrilled we’re not going to Pullman this year.”
No. 12 Oregon improved to 9-3 and 2-0 in the Pac-12 in their only meeting this season as Lindsey Vander Weide led with 22 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and a career-high 28 digs. It was her first match with both 20-plus kills and 20-plus digs. Ronika Stone had 16 kills, hit .378, and had an assist, an ace, two digs and six blocks. Willow Johnson added 10 kills and two blocks. Libero Brooke Nuneviller not only had a kill, two aces and an assist, but 35 digs. Setter August Raskie had five kills, 59 assists, 14 digs and four blocks. The Ducks hit just .181.
Washington State (9-3, 0-2) got 20 kills from McKenna Woodford, who added eight digs and three blocks. Taylor Mims had 17 kills, two aces, 21 digs and three blocks, one solo. Jocelyn Urias had 11 kills, three digs and seven blocks, two solo, and Ella Lajos had 10 kills and six blocks. Setter Ashley Brown had two kills, 55 assists, 10 digs and two blocks.
Washington (10-2, 2-0) escaped Corvallis with a 20-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-10 win at Oregon State (10-4, 0-2).
Kara Bajema had 21 kills, hit .308, and had three assists, three aces, eight digs and two blocks. Samantha Dreschel had 18 kills and eight digs and Julye Destiny had 11 kills, six digs and six blocks, one solo. Avie Niece added six kills and eight blocks, one solo, and Ella May Powell had two kills, an ace, 14 digs and two blocks to go with 49 assists.
“However long it takes is what we told them after those first two sets,” Washington coach Keegan Cook said. “We’ve got nothing ahead of us but a long bus ride so we took it one set at a time and fought our way back into it.”
Oregon State’s Maddie Goings led the Beavers with 20 kills, an ace, 12 digs and a block. Amy Underdown had 11 kills but hit negative as her team hit .167. She had an ace, 10 digs and three blocks, one solo. Maddy Gravley had eight kills and three blocks. Maddie Sheehan had four kills in six errorless swings, 14 digs, 38 assists and four blocks, one solo.
“We passed the ball well early on,” OSU coach Mark Bernard said. “We just had a few breakdowns and a few spots here and there that added up in the end.
“We need to work on our sideout offense and we need to better at getting the ball on the floor.”
No. 14 USC (10-3, 2-0) also won the hard way, getting out of Boulder with a 25-18, 25-27, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10 win over Colorado (9-4, 1-1).
Khalia Lanier led USC with 21 kills, two aces and nine digs. Brooke Botkin had 19 kills, hit .361, and had an ace and seven digs. Jasmine Gross had 17 kills with one error in 26 swings to hit .615, and had two aces, a dig and four blocks.
Colorado’s Alexa Smith had 18 kills, 15 digs and three blocks, one solo. Naghede Abu had 12 kills, hit .348, and had a dig and four blocks. Anyse Smith had 13 kills and three blocks.
“I thought it was probably an exciting match to watch from the sideline,” CU coach Jesse Mahoney said. “There was a lot of offense. I thought both teams played very well. Proud of the fight that we had after that set to get back into the match and get to a fifth set.
“USC has a lot of weapons and they definitely used them today. Towards the end we couldn’t defend the way we needed to, but again I am proud of the way we played and if you look at this team today compared to four weeks ago I think we are getting better every timeout and we have some more ceiling to get to by the end of the season.”
Arizona State (10-4, 1-1) beat Cal (8-5, 0-2) 25-20, 25-27, 25-22, 21-25, 18-16. Ivana Jeremic led a balanced attack with 17 kills. She had an ace, an assist, 19 digs and four blocks. Alyse Ford had 16 kills despite hitting .064 and Nicole Peterson and Megan Beedie had 10 kills each. Claire Kovensky had seven kills, eight digs, two aces and a block.
“I’m happy for the girls,” second-year ASU coach Sanja Tomasevic said. “They worked really hard and they put themselves out there. I’m happy for them to feel the taste of their first Pac-12 win because that is definitely a different feeling and it’s something special that they earned.”
Cal’s Preslie Anderson had 12 kills, hit .417, and had an assist, four digs and seven blocks. Mima Mirkovic had 11 kills, 12 digs, an assist and four blocks, and Lauren Forte had nine kills and seven blocks, one solo.
SEC: Three ranked teams win — No. 11 Florida (11-3, 2-0) swept visiting Mississippi State 25-12, 25-21, 25-14. Paige Hammons led a balanced attack with 11 kills and no errors in 20 swings to hit .550. She added two aces, four digs and a block. Taelor Kellum and Mia Sokolowski had eight kills apiece and Rachael Kramer had three kills, two digs and six blocks.
State (4-11, 0-2) hit .097.
No. 20 Kentucky had all it could handle at Tennessee in its league opener, winning 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23 as Leah Edmond had 23 kills, nine digs, an ace and a block. Alli Stumler had 10 kills, three aces, 14 digs and three blocks. UK (7-4, 1-0) hit .185.
Tennessee (10-4, 1-1) got 15 kills from Tessa Grubbs, who hit .316. Raquel Perinar added 11 kills and hit .346. Erica Treiber had nine kills, hit .364 and had five blocks.
No. 25 Alabama is 13-2, 1-1 after beating Auburn 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23. Ginger Perinar led the Tide with 16 kills, a dig and three blocks, one solo. Doris Carter had 13 kills and 12 digs and Hayley McSparin had 11 kills, hit .375 and two blocks, one solo.
Auburn (7-5, 0-2) got 14 kills from Gwyn Jones, who hit .393 and had six blocks. Anna Stevenson had 12 kills and hit .476 and had five blocks, one solo, and Brenna McIlroy had 10 kills.
Missouri (12-2 2-0) won at Arkansas 25-18, 25-20, 14-25, 25-18 as Leketor Member-Meneh had 16 kills, hit .400, and and had six digs and two blocks. Kylie Deberg had 11 kills, seven digs, three aces and two blocks, and Dariana Hollingsworth had 10 kills, three assists, 12 digs and five blocks. Arkansas (6-6, 0-2) got 17 kills from Hailey Dirrigi, who had an ace and five digs. Logan Brown had eight kills and six digs.
Texas A&M (9-5, 2-0) had to rally back to beat visiting Georgia (10-3 1-1) 25-20, 25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 15-9.
Georgia relied on its one-two punch of T’ara Ceasar, who had 16 kills, and Rachel Ritchie, who had 14. Ceasar had two aces, three blocks and 13 digs, while Ritchie had an ace, a block and a dig. Majesti Bass had nine kills and six blocks.
LSU dropped to 5-8, 0-2 with a 25-19, 25-22, 25-19 loss at South Carolina (11-1, 2-0), which won its first two SEC matches for the first time since 2008. Brittany McLean led South Carolina with nine kills, five digs and an ace. Mikayla Shields and Mikayla Robinson had eight kills each, both had two errors in 19 swings, and both hit .319.
LSU, which hit .112, got 12 kills from Taylor Bannister.
ACC: New look at the top — How about Boston College?
The Eagles beat visiting Georgia Tech 25-18, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18 to improve to 12-2 and 2-0 in the ACC for the first time since joining the league in 2005.
Clare Naughton led BC with 18 kills. She hit .343 and had seven digs and three blocks. Cat Balido had 14 kills and McKenna Goss had 10, two digs and three blocks.
Georgia Tech (11-4, 0-2) got 15 kills from Mariana Brambilla, who hit .324 and had 10 digs and two blocks. Kodie Comby had 14 kills and hit .600 and Mikaila Dowd had 10 kills, five digs and two blocks, one solo.
Florida State (6-6) is also 2-0 after beating visiting Wake Forest (5-9, 0-2) 25-17, 25-15, 28-26. Payton Caffrey led with 18 kills in 30 errorless swings to hit .600. She had three aces, seven digs and three blocks, one solo. Taryn Knuth added nine kills, hitting .500, and three digs and six blocks, one solo.
Myca Mitchell had 10 kills for Wake Forest, which hit .115.
Louisville, Miami and Syracuse all improved to 2-0 in ACC play.
Louisville (9-4) had to go the distance at North Carolina to come away with the 25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-13 victory. Melanie McHenry led with 19 kills, 14 digs, two aces and two blocks. Megan Sloan added 18 kills, hit .372 and had three digs and seven blocks. Amanda Green had nine kills, nine digs and four blocks, one solo, and Emily Scott had seven kills and eight blocks.
UNC (4-7, 0-2) got 20 kills from Ava Bell, who had no errors in 35 swings and hit .571. She added four digs and five blocks. Skylar Wine had 15 kills and Destiny Cox had 10.
Miami (6-3) beat Duke in a match where all four scores were the same 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23. Kolby Bird led the Hurricanes with 17 kills, two aces, four blocks and four digs. Elizaveta Wallenberger had 15 kills, hit .314, and had two solo blocks. Chloe Brown added 11 kills, two aces, 12 digs and two blocks.
Duke (6-5, 0-2) got 14 kills from Payton Schwantz, who had 13 digs, 12 kills by Leah Meyer, who had two aces, five blocks and seven digs, and 11 kills from Ade Owokoniran, who had three blocks.
Syracuse (6-4) beat visiting Clemson 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-21 as Polina Shemanova had 14 kills, hit .343, and had 13 digs. Amber Witherspoon and Ella Saada had 11 kills each. Witherspoon hit .526 and had three blocks, one solo.
Brooke Bailey had 16 kills for Clemson (9-6, 0-2).
NC State (7-5, 1-1) beat Notre Dame (7-5, 1-1) 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22. NC State’s Teni Sopitan had 18 kills, four digs and three blocks, one solo. Melissa Evans had 17 kills, six digs and three blocks, and Jade Parchment had 15 kills and hit .326. She had 12 digs, an ace, and three blocks.
Jemma Yeadon had 18 kills for Notre Dame to go with five blocks and Charley Niego had 18 kills and 29 digs.
Virginia Tech (10-4, 1-1) swept Virginia (4-8, 0-2) as Jalia Tolbert had 13 kills and hit .333 to go with four blocks and three digs, and Kaity Smith had 11 kills, 11 digs and a block. Virginia’s Jelena Nivakovic had nine kills.
The league’s only ranked team, No. 9 Pittsburgh (13-0, 2-0), had Sunday off.
Creighton sweeps Marquette: The Bluejays (10-4, 2-0) made short work of Marquette (10-4, 1-1), winning 25-17, 26-24, 25-20 as Taryn Kloth had 16 kills, hit .464, and added an ace, three digs and two blocks. Jaali Winters had 15 kills, hit .300 and had an assist, 11 digs and a block. Setter Madelyn Cole had two kills, 38 assists, two blocks and 12 digs.
Marquette’s Allie Barber had 16 kills and a block. Anna Haak had eight kills and 12 digs.
Also in the Big East, Providence (7-6, 1-1) beat DePaul (2-11, 0-2) in five. Addison Root had 19 kills, hit .348, and had an assist, two digs and two blocks.
Around the nation: Western Kentucky (11-5, 2-0 Conference USA) held off visiting Charlotte (10-7, 1-1) in five as Rachel Anderson and Lauren Matthews had 20 kills each. Anderson hit .45 and had five blocks, two solo, and Matthews hit .400 and had seven blocks, four solo as the Lady Toppers won their 57th home conference match in a row …
In the American Athletic Conference, UConn (9-6) won at Houston (13-4, 0-2) as Caylee Parker had 16 kills, seven digs and two blocks … VCU won its third in a row and beat Duquesne to improve to 7-7, 2-0 in the Atlantic 10 as Vicky Giommarini had 13 kills, an ace, 13 digs and three blocks …
Kennesaw State is 11-4, 2-0 in the ASUN after its sweep at North Florida. The Owls hit .386 as Lauren Chastang had 12 kills, five digs and two blocks …
Hawai’i (6-5, 2-0 Big West) outlasted UC Irvine (7-7, 1-1) in five as McKenna Granato had 24 kills, five aces and 15 digs …
James Madison is 11-3, 3-0 in the Colonial after sweeping Delaware … Fairfield won its fourth in a row, a four-set victory over Iona, to improve to 5-8 overall but 4-0 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic League. Mayda Garcia led with 21 kills, 13 digs and three blocks …
Army West Point beat Holy Cross in five as Emmy Barnhorst had 18 kills, hit .405, and had an assist, an ace, five blocks and three digs …
And Texas State is 11-5, 2-0 in the Sun Belt after winning at Louisiana-Lafayette in four. Amy Pflughaupt led Texas State with 19 kills and Volleyball Baton Rouge product Madison Daigle had 14 kills, hit .500, and had two digs and three blocks, one solo. Former VBR teammate Hanna Rovira had 11 kills for Louisiana-Lafayette.
