Well, that didn’t take long.
On just the second day of the 2019 NCAA volleyball season, we had a flurry of upsets.
On one hand, it’s a credit to the coaches in the sport, who — unlike so many of their football counterparts — don’t shy away from playing the best from the get-go.
On the other hand, wow, what a Saturday.
To wit:
Florida State not only knocked off No. 3 Minnesota, it swept the Gophers.
Ninth-ranked BYU lost to No. 16 Marquette.
No. 18 Creighton lost to No. 20 Baylor.
No. 22 Washington State was swept by Iowa.
No. 23 Cal Poly lost to Utah.
And No. 25 Arizona lost to Samford.
Play continues Sunday with a much lighter schedule than the previous two days, but with some intriguing matches, including No. 14 USC at No. 4 Texas; the rematch between No. 19 Tennessee and No. 6 Illinois (the Illini won on Friday); No. 13 Washington against Hawai’i, which upset No. 21 San Diego on Friday; that same USD against St. John’s; and No. 25 Louisville plays host to Dayton.
Saturday’s upsets: Florida State had never beaten a top-five team before its 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 victory over Minnesota at North Carolina. And Jasmyn Martin, who transferred from Minnesota, led the way with 16 kills and hit .500. She also had two blocks and a dig, and Payton Caffrey had 10 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and a match-high 15 digs …
Marquette stunned BYU 22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-12, handing the Cougars their first home defeat in almost two years. It was the third time Marquette had beaten a top-10 team and first in three years. The Golden Eagles got 19 kills from Allie Barber, who hit .436 and had a block, and 17 from Kaitlyn Lines, who hit .355 and added an assist, an ace five digs and three blocks, two solo. Marquette hit .355, while BYU hit .200. Madelyn Robinson led BYU with 18 kills, an assist, six digs and a block …
Yossiana Pressley led again, this time with 19 kills, as Baylor beat Creighton 25-20, 25-20, 25-20. Pressley hit .351 and added an assist, a block and seven digs as the Bears improved to 2-0 and Creighton dropped to 2-0 …
Iowa and interim head coach Vicki Brown are 3-0 after knocking off Washington State and then beating James Madison on Saturday. Against Washington State, in the 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 victory as Meghan Buzzerio and Griere Hughes had 12 kills apiece. WSU hit .069 with 28 kills and 21 errors. In the sweep of JMU, Courtney Buzzerio and Meghan led with nine kills each…
Utah, now 3-0 after beating No. 7 Kentucky on Friday and then Cal Poly on Saturday, will certainly leap into the AVCA poll this week. In its 26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-13 victory over Cal Poly, Dani Drews led with 20 kills and Kenzie Koerber had 19. Drews had 18 digs and five blocks, two solo, and Koerber had 15 digs and five blocks. Maia Dvoracek had 20 kills, 12 digs and a block for Cal Poly, who played again without its star, Torrey Van Winden, still recovering from a concussion sustained in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the 2018 season …
Samford of the Southern Conference, which lost five-set matches Friday to Loyola Marymount and Appalachian State at Arizona and had never beaten a ranked team, bounced back against the home team on Saturday with a 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-12. Kelsi Hobbs led with 18 kills, Lauren Deaton had 15 and Grace Tiesman 13. Paige Whipple led Arizona with 14 kills.
Top-25 winners: No. 1 Stanford swept Duke and hit .432. Kathryn Plummer led with 12 kills and hit .455 and UCLA transfer Madeleine Gates had nine kills in 14 errorless swings and seven blocks … No. 2 Nebraska rolled over visiting UCLA 25-12, 25-16, 25-19. Freshman libero Kenzie Knuckles had 19 digs, giving her 41 for the first two matches of the season …
No. 5 Wisconsin beat host North Carolina 25-20, 25-13, 25-17 as Dana Rettke had 18 kills, hit .727, and added an assist, a dig and two blocks … Kentucky bounced back by sweeping Saint Mary’s as Leah Edmond led with 12 kills and hit .500. Saint Mary’s hit minus .024 …
Eighth-ranked Penn State hit .538 in a sweep of Holy Cross and then swept Wichita State. Against Holy Cross Kaitlyn Hord led with 17 kills and hit .727. Serena Gray had 18 kills and hit .708 against WSU …
Florida, ranked No. 10, had to go five to get past Dayton. Thayer Hall led with 25 kills to go with two assists, 10 digs and a solo block. Dayton’s Jamie Peterson had 23 kills … Oregon swept Boston College behind 14 kills from Willow Johnson, who hit .591, and 13 from Ronika Stone, who hit .417. They each had two blocks … Pittsburgh is 3-0 after sweeping South Carolina. Chinaza Ndee, who hit .615, and Nika Markovic, who hit .533, led with nine kills apiece …
Washington beat San Diego 25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 29-27 as Kara Bajema had 23 kills, hit .370, and added an ace, two blocks and seven aces. Thana Fayad had 17 kills for USD, which dropped to 0-2 …
No. 15 Michigan swept Tennessee Tech and is 3-0 after Paige Jones had seven kills and six of the Wolverines’ 12 aces … No. 25 Louisville went five to beat Texas A&M. Claire Chaussee led with 15 kills, an ace and three digs.
Around the nation: Hawai’i grinded to a five-set win over St. John’s on Saturday and Oregon transfer Jolie Rasmussen led again, this time with 18 kills …
UC Santa Barbara beat Wyoming in five and then lost to Colorado in four. Against Wyoming, Lindsey Ruddins had 21 kills and then added 19 more against CU. The Buffs are 3-0 and Justine Spann had 21 kills against UCSB …
Jenaisya Moore had 23 kills and hit .340 in a four-set Ohio State victory over VCU …
Erika Pritchard had 25 kills and hit .412 for Maryland in its 3-2 win over Kansas State. She also had two assists, an ace, three blocks and 10 digs … Grand Canyon got off to a 3-0 start this weekend by beating New Mexico in five on Friday and then Rutgers in five and Northern Colorado in four on Saturday. Yeny Murillo, a Colombian junior outside who transferred from Arizona Western College, had 47 kills in the three matches … Cheyenne Jones had 24 kills and four blocks for UTEP in a five-set win over Incarnate Word …
Wright State beat Notre Dame and then La Salle, 34-32 in the fourth set … Stephen F. Austin beat SMU in five to improve to 3-0 as Ann Hollas had a triple double that included 13 kills, 24 assists, an ace, seven blocks and 10 digs ..
South Dakota won twice Saturday to start the season 3-0, beating Valparaiso and Murray State, which gave coach Leanne Williamson her 100th career victory. But Valpo came back and beat host IUPUI and that gave coach Carin Avery her 400th victory at the school.
Creighton losing to Baylor is not an upset.
I agree, but in terms of the AVCA rankings No. 20 beat No. 18, so …