Ninth-ranked Penn State trailed 2-1 Saturday to visiting No. 5 Nebraska before turning it on and beating the Huskers for the first since 2014. The eight-match losing streak included a defeat in last December’s NCAA national semifinals.
Kansas won again to stay atop the Big 12 and top-ranked and unbeaten BYU swept another opponent.
No. 1 BYU and No. 2 Stanford won in sweeps.
And No. 7 Illinois settled the score with No. 8 Wisconsin with a victory that included winning the third set 35-33.
Line of the night: UIC’s Kiera James, who had 29 kills, hitting .333, in a five-set Horizon League win over Cleveland State.
A recap of Saturday’s highlights follows, but first a look at key matches Sunday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.
There are seven matches in the ACC, starting with No. 6 Pittsburgh (19-0, 7-0) at NC State (9-8, 3-4). First-place Louisville (15-4, 8-0), ranked No. 22, is idle. The big battle is between the two teams tied for third place when Florida State (10-7, 6-1) goes to Syracuse (10-5, 6-1). Click here for the ACC schedule.
There are two matches in the Big Ten as No. 13 Michigan goes to Maryland and Michigan State plays at Ohio State.
The Pac-12 slate has four matches, including No. 14 Oregon at Utah and No. 23 Arizona at No. 15 USC. No. 21 Washington State plays at Cal and Oregon State is at Colorado.
Both ranked SEC teams are in action as No. 11 Florida plays host to Alabama and No. 16 Kentucky is home for Ole Miss. Click here for the SEC schedule.
The Big 12 is off.
NCAA.com has Sunday’s schedule.
To watch any match that is being broadcast or streamed, find the link at the VolleyballMag.com daily TV listings.
Start with the Big Ten, where Penn State finally beat Nebraska, leaving both teams 15-3 overall and 6-2 in the B1G. Nia Reed led the Nittany Lions with 20 kills, three blocks and four digs. Penn State hit just .172. Nebraska’s Lexi Sun had her best outing since transferring from Texas, finishing with 20 kills despite hitting .196. She had an assist, an ace, nine digs and two blocks. Stat line of the match went to teammate Callie Schwarzenbach, who had six kills in 11 errorless swings, two digs and seven blocks, one solo …
League-leader Minnesota (14-2, 8-0) stayed two games up with a sweep of Northwestern (10-10, 0-8). Adanna Rollins and Regan Pittman led with 11 kills each … Illinois (16-3, 5-3), which lost to Wisconsin (12-4, 5-3) in four in Champaign last week, paid it back with a 23-25, 25-21, 35-33, 25-23 victory in Madison as Jacqueline Quade had a career-high 26 kills, an ace, an assist, nine digs and four blocks. Dana Rettke had 19 kills and six blocks, one solo, for Wisconsin … No. 17 Purdue (15-4, 4-4) had to come back from being down 2-1 to win at Iowa (12-7, 4-4) 25-18, 20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10 as Grace Cleveland led with 19 kills and five blocks before the third-largest Iowa crowd ever, 4,058 … And Indiana (12-7, 3-5) swept visiting Rutgers (6-15, 0-8) 25-14, 25-19, 25-23 as the Hoosiers hit .135 and Rutgers minus .029.
BYU (18-0, 8-0 West Coast Conference) keeps dismantling its opponents. This time it was a 25-19, 25-22, 25-13 win at Santa Clara (5-15, 0-8) as Kennedy Eschenberg led with 10 kills, hitting .471, and had two digs and six blocks, one solo. The other middle, Heather Gneiting, had eight kills, hit .636, and added an ace, three digs and three blocks … Also in the WCC, Pepperdine (13-5, 7-1) stayed a game back of BYU as it swept Loyola Marymount (15-4, 5-3). Hannah Frohling led with 14 kills and Rachel Ahrens had 13 and five blocks … San Diego (9-9, 6-2) swept San Francisco (8-11, 1-7) as Roxie Wiblin and Cami May had 10 kills each. May had no errors in 19 swings … Kaitlyn Lines had 21 kills in Pacific’s win over Gonzaga, which got 18 kills apiece from Sarah Penner and Kennedy Croft … And Portland beat Saint Mary’s in four as Katie Barker had 17 kills.
The only Pac-12 match of the day saw No. 2 Stanford (16-1, 8-0) sweep visiting No. 18 Washington (13-5, 5-3) as Kathryn Plummer dominated, getting 17 kills while hitting .483 to go with six digs and two blocks. Audriana Fitzmorris had 10 kills with no errors in 18 swing and four blocks. Washington, which hit .112, got 11 kills from Samantha Dreschel.
Kansas followed its Big 12 upset of Texas with a sweep of Texas Tech, its ninth win in a row, as the Jayhawks (13-4, 6-0) won with Ashley Smith leading with nine kills and four blocks, one solo. Three others had seven kills each. Texas Tech (15-6, 4-3) got 15 kills from Emily Hill as the Red Raiders hit .096 … Texas (11-4, 6-1) got all it could handle at Oklahoma (11-8, 3-4) 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-9. Micaya White led with 17 kills and eight digs and Morgan Johnson had 12 kills and five blocks. Oklahoma’s Alyssa Enneking had 20 kills, an ace, six digs and a block … No. 24 Baylor (12-6, 4-3) also had to rally to win at West Virginia (9-10, 1-5) 22-25, 13-25, 25-22, 25-20, 17-15 behind a career-high 20 kills from Shelly Fanning, who hit .471. Yossiana Pressley, out two matches with an injury, had 21 kills and 20 digs. Katelyn Evans had 19 kills for the Mountaineers, who led 15-14 in the fifth before Pressley had a kill to tie it, Fanning and Hannah Fluegel had a block, and Fanning ended it with a kill … And Iowa State (10-10, 3-4) swept visiting TCU (11-7, 3-4). Jess Schaben led with 12 kills, 10 digs and two blocks, one solo.
Creighton (16-4, 8-0 Big East) won at Villanova (11-10, 4-5) 25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 25-17 behind Jaali Winters’ 16 kills. Taryn Kloth had 13 kills and and Megan Ballenger 12 and three blocks, one solo. Clare Delaplane continued to lead Villanova, this time with 18 kills, four digs, two blocks and an ace … Big East foe Marquette (16-4, 7-1) swept Seton Hall (7-15, 2-7) 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 as Allie Barber had 15 kills and Anna Haak 14 and 12 digs … Also in the Big East, Georgetown (13-8, 6-3) beat visiting Providence in four as Symone Speech had 12 kills, an assist, an ace, two digs and four blocks … Laura Grossman had 21 kills and 24 digs for Xavier in its four-set win over Butler, which got 21 kills from Brooke Gregory … And St. John’s beat visiting DePaul in five as Efrosini Alexakou had 23 kills, 11 digs and four blocks, one solo.
Around the nation: Lipscomb (11-8, 6-1 ASUN) swept Jacksonville as Ca’Layci Coffey had a career-high 14 kills with no errors in 19 swings to hit .737 …
After Saturday in the Big Sky, four teams — Weber State, Idaho, Idaho State and Sacramento State — are all tied for the lead at 6-2 and three more are at 5-3, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado and Montana. A big reason things got so tight was Sacramento sweeping Weber State as Mikaela Nocetti had 18 kills and 13 digs … Reece Carman had 15 kills and hit .520 in Idaho’s sweep of Montana … Idaho State beat Portland State in five as Abby Garrity had 20 kills and 19 digs.
High Point (13-6, 8-1) maintained its game lead over Winthrop (11-10, 7-2) in the Big South as Molly Livingston had 12 kills, four digs, an ace and three blocks while hitting .688.
Hawai’i (11-6, 7-1) stayed a half game back of idle No. 12 Cal Poly in the Big West with a four-set win over visiting CSUN. Three Hawai’i players had 12 kills each, Natasha Burns, Sarah Liva and Casey Castillo.
In the Horizon League, UIC continually had to rally in five as James had her career-high 29 kills. Both UIC and Cleveland State are 6-2, a game back of Green Bay, which won its seventh in a row by sweeping Youngstown State. Taylor Wolf led Green Bay with 14 kills, 11 digs, an assist, an ace and three blocks.
Princeton swept Columbia to improve to 13-5 overall, 6-1 atop the Ivy League, as Maggie O’Connell had 11 kills, hit .455, and had two blocks … Ellis DeJardin had 17 kills, 14 digs, and two blocks in Yale’s sweep of Harvard.
Ball State won again, this time sweeping visiting Kent State to improve to 16-5, 7-1 atop the MAC West. Ellie Dunn led with 13 kills, seven digs, a block and two aces and Meg Starling had 12 kills, hit. 455, and had four blocks, one solo … East leader Bowling Green (13-8, 7-1) knocked Eastern Michigan (13-9, 5-3) farther back of Ball State with a four-set victory that saw Katelyn Meyer get 16 kills, two digs and a block. Miami (15-5, 7-1) kept pace in the East with a four-set win over Central Michigan as Margaret Payne had 17 kills, hit .452 and had four blocks.
In the Mountain West, Fresno State (14-6, 6-1) maintained its lead with a sweep of New Mexico, while Colorado State and Wyoming stayed a half-game back at 6-2. Fresno’s Taylor Slover led with 14 kills, 10 digs and a solo block. Colorado State swept Utah State as the Rams hit .442. Paulina Jensen-Hougaard led with 16 kills. She had no errors in 22 swings and hit .727 and aded a dig, an ace, and five blocks, one solo. Kirstie Hillyer had 10 kills, hit .438 and had two blocks … Wyoming won its fourth in a row, beating Boise State in four as Tara Traphagan had 14 kills, hit .393 and had two digs and four blocks.
Iona (10-5) kept its lead in the Metro Atlantic at 8-1 with a four-set win over Fairfield (8-11, 7-3). Claire Archibald led again, this time with 18 kills, nine digs and and ace … Marist (11-9, 8-2) stayed a half-game back by sweeping Siena as Sarah Austin had 11 kills, four digs, an ace and a block.
Northern Iowa (15-6, 9-0) held its lead in the Missouri Valley Conference after winning at Missouri State 25-11, 22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 17-15. Piper Thomas led with 22 kills, hit .463, and had seven blocks, one solo. Jaydlin Seehase had 21 kills and Karlie Taylor 16, 19 digs and five blocks, one solo. Amelia Flynn had 25 kills and six digs for Missouri State … Illinois State (15-5, 7-1) stayed in second place with its sweep of Loyola in which Kaylee Martin had 16 kills, hit .342 and added two digs and a block.
In the Ohio Valley Conference, Austin Peay and Morehead State are tied for the lead at 7-1, two games up on the pack. Austin Peay (17-3) won in four at Tennessee State as Cecily Gable had 17 kills, eight digs, an ace and a block … Morehead State (16-5) beat Southeast Missouri in four behind 15 kills by Olivia Lohmeier, who hit .433, and Lauren Rokey, who hit .355.
ETSU (18-5, 7-1 Southern Conference) swept The Citadel as AJ Lux had 14 kills.
In the Southland Conference, league-leader Stephen F. Austin (20-2, 7-0) was idle but three teams are tied for second at 6-1, Central Arkansas, Sam Houston State and Abilene Christian. Central Arkansas swept Incarnate Word as Hayley Tippett had 16 kills, hit .462 and had 12 digs … Sam Houston beat New Orleans in four as Breanne Chausse had 16 kills and Caroline Sheaff 15. She hit .444 and had eight digs and two blocks … Abilene Christian won in four at Nicholls State as Jacey Smith led with 17 kills. She hit .400 and had eight digs and a block.
Sun Belt leader Texas State (18-5, 9-0) is atop the West with a three-game lead and beat East leader Coastal Carolina (6-9, 5-2). Volleyball Baton Rouge alum Madison Daigle had 10 kills, hit .381, and had four digs and seven blocks.
And in the Western Athletic Conference, Cal Baptist (15-5, 6-2) beat CSU Bakersfield (11-9, 4-3) 25-11, 22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 17-15 to improve to 5-0 in five-set matches this season. Summer Avery had 18 kills while hitting .378 and had 18 digs and Tesa Oaks had 20 kills, 10 digs and two blocks … Second-place New Mexico State (15-5, 5-2) beat UT Rio Grande Valley (14-8, 5-3) in five as Cat Kelly had 14 kills, hit .400, and had two digs and a block. Ragni Steen Knudsen, who is having a fantastic season, led UTRGV with 22 kills while hitting .327. She had 12 digs and two aces.
