There were plenty of five-set NCAA Division I women’s volleyball matches Friday that should have gotten your attention.
Like No. 8 Nebraska coming back to beat visiting No. 7 Penn State, or Arizona upsetting No. 18 Washington State, or South Carolina knocking off No. 20 Missouri, and even No. 2 Stanford having to go five to hold off Colorado.
There were plenty of other matches of note and the line of the night belonged to Emily Stroup of Ole Miss, who had 31 kills in a loss to Tennessee.
The results and notes follow, but first a look at Saturday’s schedule.
There are four Big Ten matches Saturday. Nebraska plays host to winless Rutgers, while Penn State goes to Iowa. Third-ranked Minnesota is back in action when it plays host to Michigan State and Indiana goes to No. 13 Purdue.
in the Big 12, Iowa State is at TCU, Texas Tech goes to Kansas, Baylor is at Oklahoma and West Virginia is at Kansas State. The league leader, No. 6 Texas, idle.
The ACC, Pac-12 and SEC are off Saturday, but No. 9 Creighton, which goes to Seton Hall, and No. 19 Marquette, which is at Georgetown, have Big East matches.
There’s a big one in the Missouri Valley Conference where No. 25 and league-leading Northern Iowa plays at second-place Illinois State, which is a game back in the loss column. And No. 23 UCF plays an American Athletic Conference match at Temple.
NCAA.com has the complete Saturday schedule.
And links to every NCAA Division I match that is being broadcast or streamed can be found at the VolleyballMag.com daily TV listings.
Big Ten: Nebraska (17-6, 8-5) won 25-27, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 15-8. Lexi Sun, who hit .111, led Nebraska with 16 kills, including the match winner. Sun, who had six of her kills on nine swings in the fifth set, finished with two assists, 14 digs and four blocks. Mikaela Foecke had 15 kills, an assist, 29 digs and six blocks, one solo, and Lauren Stivrins had 13 kills with one error in 23 swings to hit .522 on a night her team hit .179. She had an assist, an ace, three digs and 10 blocks. Callie Schwarzenbach had six kills and nine blocks, one solo, Jazz Sweet seven kills and five blocks, and setter Nicklin Hames had 17 digs and three blocks.
Penn State (18-5, 9-4), which beat Nebraska in five in State College three weeks ago, was down 24-21 before winning the first set. Friday, the Nittany Lions hit .114. Taylor Leath led with 16 kills, but hit .127, and had 15 digs an assist and a solo block. Kaitlyn Hord had 15 kills and six blocks and Nia Reed had 12 kills, two digs and three blocks, two solo. Kendall White had 31 digs …
Illinois (21-3, 10-3) is alone in second place, three games back of Minnesota, after winning at Ohio State 25-17, 18-25, 25-11, 25-19. Jacqueline Quade led with 13 kills, seven digs and two assists. Ali Bastianelli had 12 kills, hit .526, and had a block, and Beth Prince had 11 kills, while setter Jordyn Poulter had three kills in six errorless swings, two aces, two blocks and nine digs. Ohio State (12-13, 3-10) got 14 kills from Vanja Bukilic, who had 10 digs, an assist, an ace and two solo blocks …
Iowa (13-11, 5-6) swept Rutgers (6-20, 0-13) as Cali Hoye had 13 kills and Reghan Coyle had 10 kills, a digs and four blocks, one solo … And Maryland (15-10, 6-7) beat Northwestern (13-12, 3-10) in four. Ericka Pritchard led the Terps with 20 kills, six digs and two blocks, one solo.
Pac-12: Arizona (18-7, 7-6), ranked a couple of weeks ago, won at Washington State 23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 15-12 as Katie Smoot had a career-high 22 kills, three digs and five blocks, two solo. Paige Whipple had 20 kills, four assists, and 12 digs, and Candice Denny had a career-high 14 kills, hit .429, and had six blocks, one solo.
From Arizona:
Already down two starters entering the match — Kendra Dahlke (sprained foot) and Elizabeth Shelton (concussion) — the Wildcats lost two more starters during the match. Junior middle blocker Devyn Cross suffered a concussion in the third set and junior libero Makenna Martin suffered a groin injury in the fourth. Down a total of four starters and facing a 2-1 deficit, the Wildcats rallied.
The Cougars (17-6, 8-5) got 22 kills from McKenna Woodford, who hit .413 and had three digs and three blocks, one solo. Penny Tusa and Jocelyn Urias had 12 kills each …
Stanford (21-1, 13-0) held off visiting Colorado (14-11, 6-8) 25-19, 25-21, 27-29, 27-29, 15-9 for its 19th consecutive victory and 28th in a row at home. It was only the second time Stanford has gone five this season.
Kathryn Plummer led with 23 kills, two assists, two aces, 15 dig and five blocks, one solo. Tami Alade had eight kills with no errors in 11 swings to hit .727 and lead with a school-record (in the rally-scoring era) 15 blocks, one solo. Meghan McClure had 15 kills, an assist, an ace, 12 digs and two blocks, while Holly Campbell had 12 kills and five blocks. Audriana Fitzmorris had 11 kills and seven blocks.
Justine Spann led Colorado with 24 kills and hit .304. She had eight digs and a solo block. Alexa Smith had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, eight digs and four blocks, one solo …
No. 15 USC (17-7, 9-4) won at No. 16 Oregon (15-8, 8-5) 30-28, 25-23, 25-17 four weeks after Oregon won in three at USC. Brooke Botkin led USC with 19 kills and hit .333 to go with seven digs, two aces and a solo block. Khalia Lanier had 15 kills, 13 digs, a block and two aces.
Lindsey Vander Weide led Oregon with 13 kills, two assists, an ace, seven digs and a block. Ronika Stone had 11 kills and three blocks …
No. 22 UCLA (12-8, 7-6) had to come back from 0-2 to win at Oregon State 26-28, 24-26, 25-18, 26-24, 15-9. Madeleine Gates led with 17 kills and hit .311 and had six blocks, one solo. Mac May and Kyra Rogers had 15 kills each. Rogers hit .519, had six digs and six blocks, one solo, while May had 16 digs, three aces and two blocks. Maddie Goings and Amy Underdown had 21 kills and 16 digs each for Oregon State (11-14, 1-12) …
Washington (14-9, 6-7) beat visiting Arizona State (13-12, 4-9) in four with the oddest of scores 25-20, 18-25, 29-27, 25-4. Washington, which had lost five matches in a row, got 17 kills from Kara Bajema, who had 18 digs, an ace and six blocks, two solo. Alyse Ford led ASU with 24 kills, nine digs and three aces …
And Cal (13-12, 5-9) beat visiting Utah (13-11, 5-8) 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-17 as Mima Mirkovic had 16 kills, 15 digs, an ace and a block, and Maddie Haynes had 15 kills. Dani Drews led Utah with 21 kills, 13 digs and a block.
SEC: South Carolina (16-6, 7-5) beat visiting Missouri (20-5, 10-3) and ended the Tigers eight-match winning streak. Mikayla Shields led with 19 kills, 10 digs, a block and two aces. USC’s other Mikayla, Mikayla Robinson, had 12 kills and hit .478 and added two blocks. Kylie Deberg led Mizzou with 19 kills, eight digs, four aces and a block. Dariana Hollingsworth added 18 kills and hit .361 to go with five digs and five blocks …
No. 25 Tennessee (19-5, 10-2) won in four at Ole Miss (13-13, 3-9) to move ahead of Missouri into a tie with idle No. 11 Florida. Tessa Grubbs led the Vols with 22 kills, four digs and a block, and Addisyn Rowe had 17 kills, a dig and four blocks, while Erica Treiber had 14 kills, hit .565, and had two digs, five blocks and an ace. Emily Stroup had 31 kills for Ole Miss, hitting .393 after having seven errors in 61 swings. She had seven digs, an ace, an assist and a block …
Georgia (13-10, 4-8) broke a six-match skid and beat Alabama (18-8, 5-7) in four behind 19 kills by Rachel Ritchie, who had a career-high 16 digs and an ace, and Anna Kate Karstens, who had a career-high 13 kills and hit .480 to go with a career-high eight blocks … LSU (8-14, 3-9) hit .366 and swept Mississippi State (5-20, 1-11).
ACC: Tenth-ranked Pittsburgh (24-1, 12-1) maintained its hold on first with a 25-12, 25-19, 25-19 sweep of Georgia Tech (15-11, 4-9). Layne Van Buskirk led with 14 kills, hitting .824, and had two digs and six blocks …
Louisville (18-6, 11-2) kept pace as it knocked Miami (13-7, 9-4) out of the race for first 21-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22. Amanda Green led the Cardinals with 16 kills, 10 digs and five blocks, one solo … Florida State (15-8, 11-2) stayed tied with Louisville for second as it won at Notre Dame (14-9, 8-5) 25-23, 25-16, 23-25, 29-27. Payton Caffrey led with 24 kills, hitting .367, and had eight digs, an ace and a block. Sydney Bent had 20 kills, 12 digs, an ace and two blocks for Notre Dame … Syracuse (15-7, 11-3) stayed close with a four-set win at Virginia Tech (13-12, 4-9). Polina Shemanova led the Orange with 13 kills, 12 digs, two aces and three blocks. Jalia Tolbert had 21 kills and hit .400 for VT …
Duke (14-8, 8-5) swept North Carolina (5-17, 1-11) … Clemson (14-12, 5-8) beat Virginia (8-15, 3-10) in four … and NC State (11-12, 5-8) beat Wake Forest (8-17, 3-10) in five as Teni Sopitan had 20 kills, three digs and three blocks, one solo.
Ranked teams all win: That would include top-ranked an unbeaten BYU, which had to go four to beat visiting San Diego. BYU is 23-0, 13-0 in the Big West, while USD is 13-10, 10-3. The second-largest BYU crowd ever saw the Cougars win 25-19, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20 as Roni Jones-Perry and McKenna Miller had 18 kills each. Jones-Perry, who hit .316, had an assist, an ace, 13 digs and two blocks, and Miller hit. 333 and had three digs and five blocks. Roxie Wiblin had 11 kills, two assists, two aces, eight digs and four blocks, one solo, for USD …
No. 9 Creighton improved to 21-4, 13-0 in the Big East with a sweep of St. John’s (20-9, 9-5) as Jaali Winters had 13 kills, six digs and four blocks, two solo … Also in the Big East, No. 19 Marquette (21-5, 11-2) won in four at Villanova (13-12, 6-7) as Allie Barber had 15 kills …
No. 17 Cal Poly (21, 2, 11-1 Big West) swept at UC Santa Barbara (14-10, 6-6) as Torrey Van Winden had 17 kills and hit .350. She had 13 digs, an ace and a block. Lindsey Ruddins and Megan Lewis had 11 kills each for UCSB … Also in the Big West, Hawai’i (15-7, 11-2) stayed a game back with a sweep at CSUN (7-18, 3-10) …
And No. 25 Northern Iowa (19-7, 13-0 Missouri Valley) swept Bradley (19-7, 9-5) as Karlie Taylor had 14 kills and seven digs. Illinois State (20-5, 12-1) did the same to Drake (17-19, 5-7).
Around the nation: VCU (17-7, 12-0 Atlantic 10) won its 13th match in a row with a sweep of George Washington as Skylar Lott had 15 kills, two digs and four blocks, one solo …
High Point (18-8, 13-1) made sure Radford (19-4, 11-3) would stay in second place in the Big South by sweeping the Highlanders …
ETSU (23-5, 12-1 Southern Conference) won its seventh match in a row as Leah Clayton had 19 kills in the victory at Furman …
Denver won its fifth consecutive Summit League title as the Pioneers (24-1, 13-0) swept Oral Roberts. It was Denver’s 22nd win in a row …
American University won its 14th in a row and clinched the regular-season Patriot League title with a four-set win at Colgate to improve to 19-9 overall,13-0 Patriot …
Texas State, which had won 17 in a row and was hoping to clinch the Sun Belt regular-season title, but the Bobcats (22-6, 13-1) sustained their first league loss at Arkansas (16-10, 8-5). Carlisa May had 22 kills, two solo blocks and 13 digs in the 25-18, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18, 15-13 victory.
Katherine Carlson had 24 kills and hit .444 to go with 16 digs and three blocks, two solo, in Valparaiso’s five-set win at Loyola … Cincinnati improved to 20-6, 10-2 in the American Athletic Conference with a sweep of Wichita State as Jordan Thompson had 24 kills while hitting .611 … Tulane swept an AAC match at Houston for its eighth win in a row …
Albany (14-8, 8-1) won its fifth in a row and stayed a game back of idle Stony Brook in the America East with a sweep of Hartford …
ASUN leaders Kennesaw State and FGCU both swept and are tied at 12-1 atop the league, while Rice swept Charlotte to keep its two-game lead atop Conference USA …
James Madison (19-5, 11-2) beat William & Mary in five to keep its one-game lead in the Colonial as Kelly Vahos had 14 kills, six digs and six blocks …
Taylor Wolf had 22 kills, 12 digs, an ace and six blocks, but her Green Bay team, which leads the Horizon, lost in five to Oakland … Cleveland State was idle and pulled into a tie for first as both teams are 10-3 in the league … Ball State still has a three-game lead in the MAC West, but the Cardinals were swept at last-place Central Michigan.
