Idle BYU is the only NCAA Division I women’s unbeaten volleyball team left.
That’s because up-and-down Duke (13-8, 7-5 ACC) dealt Pittsburgh (23-1, 11-1) — the No. 5 team in the AVCA top-25 poll — its first defeat of the season, beating the visiting Panthers 18-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-22 Sunday.
Second-place Louisville couldn’t take advantage and lost to Syracuse to stay a game behind, while Florida State beat Virginia Tech and pulled into a tie with Louisville.
There was an upset in the Pac-12 as unranked Colorado dealt slumping No. 21 Washington its fifth loss in a row and sixth in seven matches.
Among the strongest individual performances Sunday, Kelsea Bivins had 33 kills and hit .419 with nine digs, an ace and three blocks for Memphis in a five-set victory over ECU; McKenna Melville of No. 25 UCF led the Knights with 28 kills, 16 digs and a block in a win over SMU; and Tessa Grubbs had 27 kills in Tennessee’s victory at Georgia.
There are eight matches on Monday’s NCAA schedule, including a couple in the Missouri Valley Conference and four in the SWAC.
ACC: Duke beat Pittsburgh 18-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-22 for only its second win over a top-five team in its history. Payton Schwantz led with 17 kills, an assist, nine digs and four blocks. Ade Owokoniran had 14 kills, hit .333, and had three digs and a block, and Leah Meyer had 11 kills, hit .364, and had nine blocks, two solo.
“I was screaming at the top of my lungs,” Meyer said. “We worked so hard this week and this season. Getting that satisfaction of Payton literally hammering the ball game point was just an amazing feeling. I just want to go hug every single one of my teammates because I know everyone worked their butts off today.”
Pittsburgh’s Layne Van Buskirk and Nika Markovic had 18 kills each and Kayla Lund had 14. Van Buskirk hit .567 after having one error in 30 swings to go with seven blocks, one solo. Markovic hit .371 and had 11 digs and two blocks. Lund had 16 digs and a block, and Stephanie Williams had five kills, three assists, 11 digs and two blocks.
Louisville (17-6, 10-2) lost to visiting Syracuse (13-7, 9-3) 21-25, 25-18, 17-25, 25-18, 15-13. Miami (13-6, 9-3) was idle and is tied for fourth with Syracuse.
Polina Shemanova led Syracuse with 19 kills, hit .311 and had six digs and two blocks. Ella Saade had 14 kills and 11 digs. Amber Witherspoon and Santita Ebangwese had eight kills each. Witherspoon hit .375 and had five blocks, two solo, and Ebangwese hit .438 and had two digs and four blocks, one solo.
Melanie McHenry had 22 kills and hit .354 to lead Louisville and added five digs and an ace. Jasmine Bennett had 16 kills, hit .387, and had three digs and three blocks. Marijke Van Dyke had 11 kills, hit .320 and had three digs and seven blocks, one solo.
Florida State (14-8, 10-2) kept pace by sweeping Virginia Tech (13-11, 4-8) as Payton Caffrey had 14 kills and hit .444 to go with two digs and two blocks … Notre Dame (14-8, 8-4) beat visiting Boston College (13-11, 3-9) in four as Sydney Bent had 16 kills, an ace, seven digs and eight blocks, one solo … Clemson (13-12, 4-8) swept visiting North Carolina (5-16, 1-11) behind 15 kills by Brooke Bailey … Georgia Tech (15-10, 4-8) swept visiting NC State (10-12, 4-8) as Mariana Brambila and Mikaila Dowd had 13 kills each .. Virginia (7-15, 3-9) swept at Wake Forest (8-16, 3-9).
Pac-12: Colorado (13-10, 5-7) knocked off Washington (13-9, 5-7) 25-12, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22 as Alexa Smith had 19 kills, hit .356 and had had seven digs, an ace and two blocks, one solo. Anyse Smith had 16 kills, hit .367, and had four digs and eight blocks. Washington’s Kara Bajema had 12 kills, 11 digs and an ace, Claire Hoffman had 11 kills, and Lauren Sanders — who had seven blocks, one solo — and Samantha Dreschel had 10 kills each …
Second-ranked Stanford (20-1, 12-0) swept No. 20 UCLA (11-8, 6-6) 25-22, 25-20, 26-24 behind 16 kills from Kathryn Plummer, who had two aces, two blocks and 13 digs. Mac May had 15 kills and 10 digs for UCLA … No. 16 Oregon (15-7, 8-4) beat Arizona (17-7, 6-6) 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17 as Brooke Nuneviller had 27 digs, six assists and four aces. Lindsey Vander Weide had 17 kills, hit .300, and had two assists, 12 digs and four blocks, two solo. Paige Whipple had 14 kills, eight digs, an assist and a block for Arizona, which played again without leading attacker Kendra Dahlke … No. 15 USC (16-7, 8-4) swept Cal (12-11, 4-8) 35-33, 25-20, 25-18 as Brooke Botkin had 22 kills, hit .439, and had an ace, 17 digs and two blocks. Khalia Lanier added 18 kills, an ace, three digs and a solo block. Preslie Anderson led Cal with 14 kills, hit .480, and had three digs … Oregon State (11-13, 1-11) got its first league win, winning at Arizona State (13-11, 4-8) 18-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22. Amy Underdown led with 17 kills. She hit .342 and had 19 digs and a block.
Big Ten: The two matches on Sunday involved four unranked teams as Maryland swept Iowa and Northwestern did the same to Ohio State.
Maryland (14-10, 5-7) got 20 kills from Erika Pritchard, who had three aces, nine digs and two blocks. Reghan Coyle had 12 kills for Iowa (12-11, 4-8). Northwestern (13-11, 3-9) got 10 kills from Alana Walker, who hit .571 and had three blocks, one solo. Ohio State (12-12, 3-9) got 11 kills, five digs and three blocks from Vanja Bukilic.
SEC: All three ranked teams, No. 13 Florida, No. 14 Kentucky and No. 24 Missouri all won Sunday, although Mizzou had to go five to beat Texas A&M.
Florida (19-4, 10-1) got 12 kills from Paige Hammons and 11 from Holly Carlton in a 25-18, 25-21, 25-20 win at Mississippi State (5-19, 1-10) … Kentucky (16-4, 10-0) maintained first place with a 25-18, 25-12, 25-23 win over visiting South Carolina (15-6, 6-5). Leah Edmond led with 11 kills, and ace, seven digs and two blocks, and Alli Stumler had 10 kills, four digs, two aces and five blocks, one solo … Mizzou (20-4, 10-2) beat Texas A&M (12-11, 5-6) 23-25, 25-15, 25-22, 22-25, 15-8. Kyle Deberg led with 16 kills, 15 digs, an ace and three blocks, two solo. Leketor Member-Meneh added 17 kills, hit .432, and had three digs and a solo block. Dariana Hollingsworth had 12 kills, an ace, an assist, five digs and five blocks. London Austin-Roark led A&M with 15 kills, hitting .440, and had four blocks. Hollann Hans had 13 kills, three assists, 17 digs and eight blocks, three solo …
Tennessee (18-5, 9-2) stayed in the hunt with 19-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-11 comeback win at Georgia (12-10, 3-8). Tessa Grubbs led with 27 kills, hitting .349, and had four digs and a block. Erica Treiber added 16 kills, hit .520 and had an ace, three digs and three blocks. T’ara Ceasar led Georgia with 21 kills, nine digs, an assist, an ace and three solo blocks. Rachel Ritchie added 15 blocks … Auburn (10-11, 3-8) swept Arkansas (10-11, 4-7) behind 14 kills from Brenna McIlroy, who had eight digs, an assist, two aces and two blocks … Emily Stroup had 19 kills, 15 digs and a block as Ole Miss (13-12, 3-8) won in four at Alabama (18-7, 5-6). Mahalia Swink led Bama with 19 kills, 16 digs, three blocks, two assists and an ace.
Around the nation: UCF (20-3, 11-0 American Athletic) won its 17th in a row with a four-set victory over SMU (8-13, 5-6). McKenna Melville led UCF with a career-high 28 kills, hitting .339, and had 16 digs and a block. Nerissa Moravec added 10 kills and hit .381 with a dig and eight blocks … Also in the AAC, Tulane (19-7, 7-4) surprised Cincinnati (19-6, 9-2) behind 15 kills from Makala Heidelberg, who hit .375 and had 17 digs and two blocks, one solo. Jordan Thompson led Cincinnati with 19 kills. She hit .350 and had an assist, an ace, a block and 10 digs …
Texas State (22-5, 13-0 Sun Belt) clinched at least a tie for the regular-season title with a sweep of ULM. Halee Brewer had 11 kills and hit .714 and Cheyenne Huskey, Madison Daigle and Janell Fitzgerald had nine kills each …
Stony Brook (16-8, 9-0 America East) beat last-place UMass Lowell for its 12th win in a row as Maria Poole and Liz Oulver had nine kills each …
Rice (19-4, 10-0) won a five-set Conference USA match at UTEP to stay atop Conference USA as Nicole Lennon had 20 kills, 18 digs and three blocks, one solo … Rachel Anderson had 19 kills and hit .432 for WKU (16-9, 7-3 Conference USA) in a four-set win over UTSA (16-7, 8-3) …
FGCU (20-6, 11-1) moved into a first-place tie with idle Kennesaw State with a sweep of NJIT as Cortney VanLiew had 15 kills with no errors in 27 swings to go with 10 digs, an ace and two blocks …
VCU (16-7, 11-0) stayed unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 with a four-set win over Saint Louis. Vicky Giommarini led with 21 kills. She hit .304 and had 11 digs, an ace and two blocks …
Denver (21-1, 10-0 Summit League) made it 2-0 over Omaha (14-9, 8-3) this season as Katarina Marinkovic had eight kills, hit .429, and had four digs, an ace and two blocks, and Lydia Bartalo had eight kills, hit .467, and had two aces, nine digs and four blocks.
