This is a serious Friday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.
Not that things weren’t serious for No. 1 BYU on Thursday, as the unbeaten Cougars clinched the West Coast Conference title behind 31 kills by Roni Perry-Jones.
In many of the mid-majors, conference tournaments are either under way or beginning. For that matter, a handful of teams saw their seasons end Thursday as action began in five different leagues.
But the big one is in the ACC where 10th-ranked Pittsburgh (26-1 overall, 14-1 ACC) plays at second-place Florida State (17-8, 13-2). They played in Pittsburgh on September 30 and the Panthers, unbeaten at the time, won in four.
And Louisville (20-7, 13-3) is hoping to get back into the mix when it plays at Notre Dame (15-11, 9-7). Also in the ACC, Virginia Tech goes to Boston College, Georgia Tech is at Virginia and Wake Forest goes to Clemson.
The Big Ten slate starts with league-leader and No. 3 Minnesota, which has all but wrapped up the title, at Maryland. Sixth-ranked Nebraska goes to No. 12 Purdue, No. 7 Wisconsin is at Ohio State, and Iowa plays at Indiana.
The Pac-12 race is over as second-ranked Stanford plays to hold onto its top-four NCAA Tournament seeding. The Cardinal goes to No. 18 Washington State. No. 14 USC plays at No. 24 Arizona, 16th-ranked Oregon is home for Colorado, No. 20 Washington is home for Cal, No. 25 UCLA goes to Arizona State, and Utah is at Oregon State.
Texas has wrapped up the Big 12. The No. 5 Longhorns, also hoping to be a top-four seed, go to Baylor in the only conference match of the day.
And in the SEC, just one of the league’s four ranked teams plays when No. 13 Florida is home for LSU. Ole Miss goes to South Carolina and Alabama is at Mississippi State.
The Big East’s two ranked teams are at home. No. 9 Creighton, which has won the league, plays Providence, while No. 17 Marquette faces Seton Hall.
No. 15 Cal Poly, which holds a one-game lead over Hawai’i in the loss column, is home for UC Riverside, while Hawai’i, which beat UC Irvine on Thursday, is home for UC Davis.
No. 21 UCF plays early, a 3 p.m. Central start at SMU in the American Athletic Conference.
To watch any match that is being broadcast or streamed, find the link at the VolleyballMag.com daily TV listings.
BYU clinches WCC title: The top-ranked Cougars, at 26-0 overall and 16-0 in the WCC the only unbeaten team left, won at Saint Mary’s 25-23, 25-23, 24-26, 25-16.Â
Jones-Perry not only had 31 kills, but hit .381 after taking 66 swings. She had two assists, an ace, 11 digs and six blocks.
Kennedy Eschenberg had eight kills and two blocks, and Madi Robinson and setter Lyndie Haddock-Eppich had six kills each. Haddock-Eppich had no errors in 13 swings and hit .462, had 16 digs and had six blocks. Heather Gneiting had four kills and 11 blocks.
“I’m so proud of the team and the way they fought,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “Roni was really special tonight and took some big time swings. Winning the WCC championship is a moment they will have with them the rest of their life. They deserve it.”
Saint Mary’s (17-9, 9-7) got 16 kills from Sarah Chase, who had 13 digs and four blocks, one solo. Lindsey Knudsen had 11 kills, hit .308, and had six assists, an ace, 14 digs and a block …Â
Displaced Pepperdine (18-8, 11-4) had to play Gonzaga (9-18, 6-10) at UCLA and came away with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-15 victory. Shannon Scully had 16 kills and one error in 30 attacks to hit .500 and had eight digs and a block. Hannah Frohling had 14 kills, hit .407, and had a block for Gonzaga (9-18, 6-1) .. Also in the WCC, Loyola Marymount (19-7, 9-6) swept Portland (18-10, 6-1) as Sara Kovac had 14 kills and hit .462 … San Diego’s match at Pacific was postponed because of the fires.
Colorado State wins MWC: The Rams (23-6, 15-2) beat visiting UNLV (19-10, 10-7) 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 to win the program’s 15th Mountain West regular-season title.
“I was sitting on my couch when we were 3-2, talking to my daughter and she’s asking me, ‘Are we getting in the NCAA Tournament’ and I said ‘I think, because Fresno State is good, we’re going to have to win the rest of our matches,’ and we won the rest of our matches,” CSU coach Tom Hilbert said. “We have one more to complete that, and that’s a pretty amazing thing that this team has been able to do.”
Kirstie Hillyer led Colorado State with 16 kills, hitting .545, and had three blocks, one solo. Paulina Jensen-Hougaard had 10 kills, hit .563 and had five blocks, one solo. Breana Runnels had 12 kills, hit .409, and had four digs and two blocks. Thea Sweder led UNLV with 12 kills and hit .385 … Also in the MWC, San Jose State beat Fresno State in four for its third win in a row and sixth of seven, San Diego State beat Nevada in four, Wyoming swept New Mexico, and Air Force beat Boise State in five …Â
Around the nation: Hawai’i (17-8, 13-2) swept visiting UC Irvine (16-12, 10-6) as Casey Castillo had 14 kills and hit .323. Abby Marjama led UCI with 10 kills and five digs …Â
Auburn (11-15, 4-12 SEC) swept Georgia (13-13, 4-11) behind 16 kills by Brenna McIlroy, who had an assist, three aces and eight digs …Â
Northern Arizona (22-8, 14-3 Big Sky) pulled into a tie with Idaho (20-9, 14-3) by sweeping the Vandals. Idaho had won 12 in a row, while NAU won its ninth in a row. Harris Heaven had 15 kills for NAU, hitting .314 to go with three digs and two blocks …
And in the WAC, UT Rio Grande Valley (21-8, 12-3) clinched a share of the title with a four-set win over Chicago State. Ragni Steen Knudsen led UTRGV with 14 kills, 14 digs and four blocks … Â
Conference tournaments: Liberty beat Stetson and Lipscomb ousted North Florida to advance to the ASUN semifinals …
In the Sun Belt, Arkansas State beat South Alabama and UT Arlington knocked out Troy …Â
The MAC tournament saw Eastern Michigan sweep Kent State and Ohio sweep Northern Illinois …
The Metro Atlantic tournament saw Fairfield, Rider, Quinnipiac, and Saint Peter’s advance …Â
There were four matches in the Ohio Valley Conference tourney as top-seeded Austin Peay swept Tennessee State and second-seeded Murray State did the same to UT Martin. Morehead State swept Southeast Missouri and Jacksonville State swept SIUE.Â
