Top-ranked BYU improved to 27-0 with a sweep of Pacific but the Cougars had already won the West Coast Conference.
No. 3 Minnesota won the Big Ten outright.
But those teams have long been a lock for the NCAA Tournament. A handful of others, never assured of bids, won their respective leagues Saturday and are celebrating going to the postseason.
That includes Stony Brook in the America East, FGCU in the ASUN, Iona in the MAAC, Bryant in the NEC, and Murray State in the OVC.
Second-ranked Stanford at No. 20 Washington highlights the Pac-12 schedule. No. 25 UCLA is at No. 24 Arizona, No. 14 USC goes to Arizona State, No. 17 Washington State plays host to Cal, and Colorado is at Oregon State.
All four ranked SEC teams are in action as No. 11 Kentucky goes to No. 23 Missouri, No. 13 Florida plays at Georgia and No. 22 Tennessee goes to Arkansas. Also, Texas A&M is at Mississippi State, Alabama is at Ole Miss and South Carolina goes to LSU.
The are two ACC matches as No. 10 Pittsburgh goes to Miami and Virginia Tech is at Syracuse.
The Big Ten and Big 12 are off Sunday.Â
No. 21 UCF has an American Athletic Conference match at Houston.Â
To watch any match that is being broadcast or streamed, get the link or info at the VolleyballMag.com daily TV listings.
Big Ten: With three playing dates left, Minnesota (24-2, 18-0 B1G) surprisingly had to go five at slumping Ohio State (12-18, 3-15) but nonetheless clinched the title and dealt the Buckeyes their 10th consecutive loss 23-25, 25-20, 25-13, 23-25, 15-11. Regan Pittman led with career-high 20 kills and hit .594 and Stephanie Samedy had 17 kills and a career-high 21 digs …
Also, No. 4 Illinois swept Rutgers for its 11th win in a row, No. 6 Nebraska swept Indiana, No. 7 Wisconsin beat Maryland in four, No. 7 Penn State swept Northwestern, No. 12 Purdue held off Iowa in five, and Michigan beat Michigan State in four.
Big East: No. 9 Creighton (26-4) ended the Big East season 18-0 with a sweep of Providence, while No. 18 Marquette (25-5, 15-2) swept St. John’s. Marquette’s two league losses were to Creighton. St. John’s and Villanova will also be in the four-team Big East tournament that starts Thursday.
Big 12: TCU swept visiting Kansas, Oklahoma won in a sweep at West Virginia and Texas Tech came away with a four-set win at Kansas State.
Cal Poly clinches Big West: The Mustangs improved to 25-2, 15-1 with a sweep of visiting Cal State Fullerton to repeat as league champs. Torrey Van Winden had 12 kills, 12 digs, and four blocks.
Conference winners: Stony Brook is going back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year after the Seawolves beat Albany in the America East final.
FGCU beat defending-champion Kennesaw State in the ASUN title match and will make its first NCAA trip.
Iona will make its first NCAA appearance since 2004 after beating Canisius in the Metro Atlantic championship match.
Bryant won its first Northeast Conference title with a sweep of Sacred Heart. Bryant went to 11 NCAA Division II tourneys, but this is the program’s first time in Division I.
Murray State, once 0-3 in the league, upended Austin Peay for its 16th win in a row to capture the Ohio Valley Conference title.
Sunday’s title matches: All of these have NCAA bids on the line and it’s highly unlikely many of the losers will get at-large bids.
VCU and Dayton play for the Atlantic 10 title, High Point will play Radford in the Big South, James Madison faces Hofstra in the Colonial, in Conference USA league-winner Rice will play surprising FIU, the Horizon League final pits Green Bay and Northern Kentucky, Miami came back from 0-2 to beat Ball State in five and will play Eastern Michigan for the NCAA bid, North Carolina A&T faces Howard in the MEAC title match, American plays Navy for the Patriot League crown, ETSU plays Samford for the Southern Conference championship, Stephen F. Austin plays Central Arkansas for the Southland Conference bid, the SWAC final has Alabama A&M playing two-time defending champion Alabama State, Denver is in the Summit League final for the sixth year in a row and will play South Dakota, Texas State plays Appalachian State in the Sun Belt championship match.
Among those who, if they lose, could get at-large NCAA bids are ETSU, Dayton, Rice, Denver, and SFA because of their respective NCAA RPI rankings.
