Minnesota’s first-place lead in the Big Ten grew to three games Saturday.
That’s because the No. 3 Gophers (18-2 overall, 12-0 B1G) swept No. 12 Michigan (16-6, 7-5), while No. 17 Purdue (19-4, 8-4), riding a big-time performance by Sherridan Atkinson — was knocking No. 4 Penn State (18-4, 9-3) out of sole possession of second place — beating the Nittany Lions for the first time since 2010. Now the Nittany Lions are tied with No. 6 Illinois (20-3, 9-3), which beat 11th-ranked Nebraska (16-6, 7-5) and Wisconsin (16-4, 9-3), which swept Michigan State (15-10, 3-9).
Saturday’s action also included another West Coast Conference win by No. 1 and unbeaten BYU, three matches in the Big 12 and wins by No. 10 Creighton and No. 18 Marquette of the Big East.
Recaps and notes follow, but first a look at Sunday’s schedule.
There’s a full slate in the Pac-12, starting with No. 2 Stanford at No. 20 UCLA. No. 16 Oregon is at Arizona, Cal is at No. 15 USC, No. 21 Washington goes to Colorado and Oregon State is at Arizona State.
Both ranked ACC teams are in action, including No. 5 Pittsburgh at Duke and No. 22 Louisville at home for Syracuse. Also, Virginia is at Wake Forest, Virginia Tech is at Florida State, North Carolina goes to Clemson, NC State is at Georgia Tech and Boston College is at Notre Dame.
There are two Big Ten games on a rare day when there are league matches not involving ranked teams as Iowa goes to Maryland and Ohio State plays at Northwestern.
The SEC schedule shows No. 13 Florida at Mississippi State, No. 14 Kentucky home for South Carolina and No. 24 Missouri playing host to Texas A&M. Also, Tennessee goes to Georgia, Arkansas is at Auburn and Ole Miss is at Alabama.
No. 25 UCF goes to SMU for an American Athletic Conference match. The ranked teams in the Big 12, West Coast Conference, Big East and Big West all have Sunday off.
NCAA.com has the complete Sunday schedule.
And to watch any NCAA Division I women’s volleyball match that is being broadcast or streamed, get the link at the daily VolleyballMag.com TV listings.
Big Ten: Minnesota beat Michigan 27-25, 25-10, 25-20 as it hit .364 and had a season-best 14 blocks. Morgan Taylor led a balanced attack with 13 kills and hit .632 after having one error in 19 attacks. She had five blocks, one solo. Alexis Hart had 12 kills and hit .345 to go with four digs and three blocks and Stephanie Samedy and Regan Pittman had 10 kills each. Pittman hit .500 and had eight blocks, two solo.
Paige Jones had 18 kills and hit .349 for Michigan and had nine digs. Carly Skjodt had eight kills and hit .108 as her team hit .150 .…
Purdue won an up-and-down affair at Penn State 11-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 20-18 as Sherridan Atkinson had 32 kills, the most for a Boilermaker in four years. Atkinson hit .518 with just three errors in 56 swings and added five digs and three blocks, one solo. Caitlyn Newton had 15 kills and Blake Mohler nine.
Penn State, which hadn’t lost at home this season, got 21 kills from Taylor Leath, who hit .333 and had 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Nia Reed had 18 kills …
Illinois won at Nebraska 27-29, 25-19, 27-25, 25-22 as the Huskers lost for the fourth time in five matches. Jacqueline Quade led with 23 kills, 13 digs, an ace and two blocks. Ali Bastianelli had 10 kills, hit .348, and had five blocks, two solo. Ashlyn Fleming added nine kills and six blocks, two solo.
Mikaela Foecke led Nebraska with 17 kills, 14 digs, an ace and three blocks, and Lexi Sun had 15 kills, two aces 20 digs and three blocks …
Wisconsin won at Michigan State 25-14, 25-20, 25-23 as Dana Rettke and Grace Loberg had 11 kills each. Rettke, who hit .381, had four blocks. Alyssa Chronowski and Molly Johnson had eight kills each for the Spartans … Rutgers (6-19, 0-12) stayed winless in the league, but the Scarlet Knights took a set off Indiana (14-9, 5-7) as the visiting Hoosiers won 21-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-12. Breana Edwards and Lexi Johnson had 12 kills each for Indiana. Edwards had five digs and six blocks, two solo. Tali Marmen led Rutgers with 17 kills and nine digs.
BYU sweeps Gonzaga: The Cougars (22-0, 12-0) won at Gonzaga (6-16, 4-8) 25-19, 25-20, 25-23. Roni Jones-Perry had 18 kills and hit .484 to go with eight digs, an assist and an ace. Heather Gneiting added 11 kills, hit .625, and had five blocks, one solo. Sarah Penner led Gonzaga with 13 kills … Also in the WCC San Diego (13-9, 10-2) won at Portland (16-7, 4-7) in five as Roxie Wiblin led four Toreros with double-figure kills with 13, 17 digs and three blocks. Katie Barker had 14 kills and eight blocks, two solo, for Portland … Pepperdine (15-7, 9-3) swept San Francisco (8-15, 1-11) as Tarah White had 10 kills with no errors in 16 swings to go with two aces, two digs and a block … Sara Kovac had 25 kills as Loyola Marymount (17-6, 7-5) beat visiting Santa Clara (6-18, 1-11) in five. Kovac, who hit .455, had eight digs and an assist. Emma Johnson had 12 kills with no errors in 18 swings. Michelle Shaffer had 18 kills to lead Santa Clara.
Big 12: No. 8 Texas (14-5, 9-1) beat visiting Oklahoma (13-9, 5-5) 25-15, 25-20, 25-23 as Micaya White had 13 kills, hit .344, and had nine digs, two assists and an ace. Logan Eggleston had 10 kills. OU’s Alyssa Enneking had 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks …
Baylor (14-7, 6-4) swept visiting Kansas (13-7, 6-3) 25-21, 25-21, 25-17. Shelly Fanning had 18 kills with no errors in 26 swings to hit .692 and had a dig and four blocks. Yossiana Pressley had nine kills, seven digs, an ace and three blocks. Ashley Smith led KU with 13 kills and Jada Burse had 12 … Texas Tech (16-8, 5-5) swept visiting TCU (12-9, 4-6) 26-24, 25-11, 25-23. Brooke Kanas led Tech with 13 kills — hitting .478 — and five blocks, and Emily Hill had 12 kills. Lexi MacLean had 12 kills for TCU.
Creighton, Marquette sweep: The two ranked teams in the Big East won as Creighton (20-4, 12-0) swept DePaul (5-18, 3-9) 25-15, 25-13, 25-19 and Marquette (20-5, 10-2) beat Providence (8-15, 2-10) 25-18, 25-19, 25-15.
Taryn Kloth had 14 kills and hit .379 for Creighton, which got 12 kills and three blocks from Megan Ballenger, who hit .556. Allie Barber had 19 kills and hit .548 for Marquette and had an assist, two aces, two digs and two blocks. Hope Werch added 12 kills.
Around the nation: A night earlier, Hawai’i (14-7, 10-2 Big West) upset No. 11 Cal Poly, but Saturday the Rainbow Wahine got swept by UC Santa Barbara (14-9, 6-5). Lindsey Ruddins led UCSB with 11 kills as idle Cal Poly moved back into first place …
Also in the Big West, UC Irvine (14-8, 5-2) beat Long Beach State (13-12, 5-7) in four as Loryn Carter had 16 kills and four blocks and Makayla Wolfe had 15 kills and eight blocks. Hailey Harward had 13 kills, hit .379, and had an assist, an ace, 16 digs and three blocks for Long Beach State …
Colorado State created a tie in the loss column at the top of the Mountain West as the Rams (18-6, 10-2) swept visiting Fresno State (17-7, 9-2). Kirstie Hillyer had 12 kills and hit .611 for CSU and had four blocks, one solo, and Breana Runnels had 12 kills and two aces. Taylor Slover led Fresno with 12 kills …
Kennesaw State (20-5, 11-1) still holds a half-game lead over FGCU in the ASUN, but things tightened when the Owls were upset by Stetson (13-10, 5-6), which got 13 kills from Riley Nieporte. Lauren Chastang led KSU with 12 kills as the Owls saw a 14-match winning streak broken … Lipscomb (15-9, 10-2) stayed in the mix with a win at North Florida (9-20, 4-9), Megan Kuper led the Bison with 17 kills, hitting .577, to go with three digs and two blocks …
Idaho (16-8, 10-2) held onto first in the Big Sky with a four-set win over Weber State (13-8, 8-4) as Kaela Straw had 15 kills and a block and Sarah Sharp had 14 kills and four blocks … Kortney Lockey had 19 kills, 14 digs and two aces in Northern Colorado’s five-set win over Montana …
UNCW (13-8, 6-5) scored a Colonial upset over first-place James Madison (18-5, 10-2) as Maddy Kline had 18 kills,13 digs, two aces, an assist and two blocks …
Northern Iowa (16-7, 12-0) kept its one-game lead in the loss column over Illinois State (20-5, 12-1) in the Missouri Valley as the Panthers swept swept Loyola as Piper Thomas has 18 kills, hitting .457, and Jaydlin Seehase had 17, hitting . 412. Illinois State won at Evansville in five as Ali Line had 19 kills with no errors in 38 swings to hit .500. She had six digs and three blocks. Kaylee Martin had 16 kills, hit .351, and had six digs and four blocks. Alondra Vazquez had 20 kills for Evansville …
Patriot leader American (18-9, 12-0) had to go five to beat Loyola as Aleksandra Kazala had 16 kills, 18 digs and three blocks. Ann Ernst had 21 kills and 16 digs for Loyola …
ETSU (21-5, 10-1) built its Southern Conference lead to three games over Samford (13-13, 8-4) after beating the Bulldogs in five, coming back from 0-2. AJ Lux and Leah Clayton had 16 kills each for ETSU and Kaela Massey, who hit .419, had 15, 17 digs and four blocks. Lauren Deaton had 19 kills and 15 digs to go with an ace and two blocks for Samford …
The team with the most wins in the country, Stephen F. Austin, improved to 25-2 overall and 12-2 in the Southland Conference with a sweep of Lamar. Sam Houston (19-5, 11-1 stayed a game back with a five-set win at Houston Baptist. Taylor Cunningham led SHSU with 18 kills, 15 digs and six blocks, one solo …
Ragni Steen Knudsen had 21 kills in a five-set win by UT Rio Grande Valley over NM State in the WAC … Madison Hill of UT Arlington had 26 kills, hit .450 and had an ace, four digs and four blocks in a Sun Belt loss to Louisiana.
