Thursday night was tough on the Pac-12’s Los Angeles teams as No. 12 USC lost to visiting No. 25 Washington and No. 21 UCLA lost to visiting No. 18 Washington State.
No. 2 Stanford beat Oregon and clinched at least a share of the Pac-12 title.
Rice saw its hopes for an undefeated Conference USA season end at FAU, while Stephen F. Austin won again in the Southland Conference to extend its nation-best winning streak to 25.
And No. 1 BYU recorded another sweep to remain the nation’s only unbeaten team.
The recaps and notes follow, but first a look at Friday’s NCAA schedule.
Four matches involving ranked teams spice the Big Ten schedule as No. 3 Minnesota is home for Indiana, No. 4 Illinois plays host to Rutgers, No. 7 Penn State goes to Northwestern to open its spectacular new facility, and No. 8 Wisconsin plays host to No. 12 Purdue.
The three matches in the Pac-12 have Stanford at home for Oregon State, Arizona at Utah and Arizona State at Colorado.
The only Big 12 match has TCU at Oklahoma.
League-leading Pittsburgh is off, but there are four matches in the ACC, including Louisville at Boston College, Miami at Wake Forest, Virginia Tech at Virginia and NC State at Notre Dame.
The SEC slate shows No. 11 Kentucky at home for Mississippi State, Georgia at Arkansas and South Carolina at Texas A&M.
Both ranked Big East teams are in action as No. 9 Creighton plays host to Georgetown and No. 18 Marquette goes to Butler.
No. 22 UCF has an American Athletic Conference match against visiting Cincinnati, a battle of the top two teams in the league.
There are plenty of other matches with huge late-season significance around the country. The complete schedule is available at NCAA.com.
And for all the links to every NCAA Division I women’s volleyball match that is being broadcast or streamed can be found at the daily VolleyballMag.com TV listings.
Pac-12: Washington (16-9, 8-7) won its third in a row with its 27-25, 23-25, 25-21, 27-25 victory at injury-depleted USC (18-8, 10-5). Samantha Dreschel led the Huskies with 19 kills and hit .545 as she had one error in 33 swings to go with an assist and five blocks. Kara Bajema 18 kills and nine digs to go with an assist and two blocks. Lauren Sanders added 16 kills, hit .583, and had three blocks, one solo.
USC —playing with three starters out — was led by Emily Baptista, who had 24 kills, two assists, two aces, 18 digs and a block. Jasmine Gross added 12 kills, hitting .478, and had four digs and four blocks.
UCLA (12-10, 7-8) got a school-record 38 digs from Zana Muno, but nonetheless lost to Washington State (19-6, 10-5) 25-19, 27-29, 28-26, 25-21. McKenna Woodford led WSU’s balanced attack with 15 kills, 10 digs, two assists, and two blocks. Penny Tusa and Taylor Mims had 14 kills each. Mac May led UCLA with 18 kills, nine digs and a block.
No. 2 Stanford (23-1, 15-0) beat visiting No. 17 Oregon (16-9, 9-6) 26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 25-11.
Kathryn Plummer led Stanford with 21 kills, hit .311, and had an ace and six blocks. Meghan McClure had 10 kills, 14 digs and three blocks. Holly Campbell had eight kills, hit .467, and had eight blocks. With Tami Alade out, Courtney Bowen had seven kills and 10 blocks.
Ronika Stone, who had five blocks, one solo, and Lindsey Vander Weide had 11 kills each for Oregon.
Also, Cal (14-12, 6-9) swept Oregon State (11-16, 1-14) 28-26, 25-21, 25-17. Mima Mirkovic led the Bears with 15 kills, hitting .315, and had an assist, 10 digs and a solo block.
BYU now 24-0: The Cougars (24-0, 14-0 West Coast Conference) swept visiting Santa Clara (6-21, 1-14) 28-26, 25-17, 25-11. Heather Gneiting led with 11 kills, hit .500, and had six blocks. Roni Perry-Jones had nine kills. Kamrin Caoili led SC with 15 kills, hitting .423.
Also in the WCC San Diego won in four over visiting San Francisco behind 15 kills by Roxie Wiblin, Pacific swept Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s came back to beat Portland in five.
Around the nation: Rice saw its 15-match winning streak end as it dropped to 21-5, 12-1 in Conference USA with a five-set loss at Florida Atlantic (21-5, 10-3). Nicole Lennon led Rice with 21 kills and hit .378 with nine digs, three blocks and an ace, while Sigourney Kame led a balanced FAU attack with 16 kills …
Stephen F. Austin is 28-2, 15-0 in the Southland after winning its 25th in a row, a sweep of Nicholls State (3-25, 1-14). Hayley Coleman led SFA with 11 kills, hitting .385. She had six digs, two aces and a block … Another SLC team, Southeastern Louisiana, will be looking for a new coach. Jim Smoot announced on social media that he is retiring. His Lions (2-26, 1-14) lost at McNeese on Thursday …
No. 16 Cal Poly (22-2, 12-1 Big West) won at UC Davis (16-10, 8-6) as Torrey Van Winden led with 12 kills, hit .321, and had seven digs and six blocks …
Idaho (19-8, 13-2) kept its lead in the Big Sky with a sweep of Montana (8-19, 5-10) while second-place Northern Arizona (20-8, 12-3) swept Southern Utah (5-22, 4-11). SUU’s Janet Kalaniuvalu had 22 kills and hit .316 to go with 13 digs and three blocks …
MAC West-leader Ball State swept Toledo … Colorado State, leading the Mountain West, swept Utah State …
WAC-leader UT Rio Grande Valley (18-8, 9-3) swept Grand Canyon for its eighth road win of the year, a school record.
