Washington State came away with a Pac-12 victory when the Cougars beat visiting UCLA on a busy Thursday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball
Taylor Alt had 29 kills for Toledo in a big win over Ball State, and Bethany Clapp had 29 kills and 27 digs for Incarnate Word in a loss to Abilene Christian.
The UCLA men opened MPSF play with a victory at BYU.
The recaps follow, but first a look at Friday’s even busier schedule when we get to see both the Big Ten’s Penn State and the Pac-12’s Stanford — the two-time defending NCAA champion — for the first time this spring.
The Big Ten has five matches, and that includes Penn State, which plays host to Illinois. Also, Indiana is at Iowa, Maryland is at Nebraska, Minnesota is at Purdue, and Rutgers is at Wisconsin. Michigan at Northwestern was postponed.
The four matches in the Pac-12 show Stanford at Arizona, Utah at Arizona State, Cal at Colorado, and Oregon at USC.
Three SEC matches are on tap as Alabama goes to Ole Miss, Mississippi State is back at South Carolina, and Arkansas returns to Georgia. Tennessee at Texas A&M was postponed.
There’s a big one in the Big East between the two perennial leaders when Marquette visits Creighton.
The American Athletic Conference is busy. There is one league match when UCF is home for Tulane. Wichita State plays host to North Texas of Conference USA, SMU is home C-USA’s UTSA, East Carolina goes to the MEAC’s NC A&T, Temple is home for the MEAC’s Coppin State, and Cincinnati goes to Xavier of the Big East.
There’s a full slate in the Mid-American, including Ball State back at Toledo, and Bowling Green taking on Miami again.
Mountain West play continues with Colorado State opening against Air Force.
Other matches on the Friday slate include an Atlantic 10 match between Saint Louis and VCU, and a West Coast Conference match — finally — for Gonzaga, which is home for Pacific after seeing two matches postponed and two more canceled.
The NCAA Division I-II men’s schedule includes an MPSF match with UCLA back at BYU. There three MIVA matches, Purdue Fort Wayne at Ball State, Lewis at Ohio State, and Loyola at Quincy. In the EIVA Sacred Heart is at NJIT and Charleston goes to George Mason. The Conference Carolinas slate shows Emmanuel at Mount Olive and Erskine at Barton.
Go to the VolleyballMag.com TV and Streaming listings to get links to any match that is being broadcast.
PAC-12 — Washington State (4-1) had five players with 10 or more kills and hit .336 in its 15-25, 25-16, 26-28, 25-15, 15-9 in its win over UCLA (3-2). Pia Timmer led with 15 kills, two aces, 11 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Alexcis Lusby had 14 kills with one error in 24 attacks and hit .543 and had a dig and three blocks, one solo. Kalyah Williams, Magda Jehlarova, and Julianna Dalton had 10 kills each. Jehlarova hit .643 and had five blocks, one solo. Hannah Pukis had five kills, 48 assists, two blocks, and eight digs.
Mac May led UCLA with 16 kills, three aces, eight digs, and two blocks, one solo. Allison Jacobs had 13 kills, an ace, a block, and 11 digs. Iman Ndiaye had nine kills with one error in 16 attacks and three blocks …
Washington (4-1) had 16 aces – five each by Ella May Powell and Madi Endsley — as it beat visiting Oregon State (1-4) in four. Claire Hoffman had 13 kills, hit .333, and added an assist, two aces, and six digs. Endsley had 11 kills and two blocks, and Samantha Drechsel had 11 kills, hit .333, and had an assist, three aces, four blocks, and six digs. Oregon State, which hit .061, got 10 kills from Mychael Vernon.
SEC — Arkansas (7-4) went to Georgia (4-5) and won in Athens for the first time since 2016 as came away with a 33-31, 25-15, 20-25, 25-21 victory in the spring opener for the home team.
Jillian Gillen had 22 kills for Arkansas to go with two assists, four aces, a solo block, and 13 digs. Taylor Head had 11 kills, a solo block, and 13 digs, and Maggie Cartwright had nine kills, an assist, and two solo blocks. Arkansas hit .174, while Georgia hit .121.
Georgia’s Kacie Evans had 16 kills but hit .096, and had 10 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Amber Stivrins had eight kills but hit .050, and had 15 digs, and two blocks, one solo …
Five players had eight or more kills as South Carolina (8-3) hit .400 and swept visiting Mississippi State (2-7) 25-18, 25-17, 25-19. Kyla Manning led with 11 kills as she hit .455 with one error in 22 swings to go with a block and nine digs. McKenzie Moorman had nine kills, hit .438, and Riley Whitesides had nine kills, an ace, four digs, and two blocks, one solo. Ellie Ruprich had eight kills with no errors in nine attacks and three blocks, one solo. Gabby Wadden had 11 kills, a block, and five digs for State, and Logan Brown and Lauren Myrick had eight kils each.
MOUNTAIN WEST — They played in Belmont, California, about 30 miles from the San Jose State campus, as Boise State won in four over the Spartans in the spring opener for both teams.
Lauren Ohlinger led Boise State with 15 kills, an assist, an ace, and 14 digs. Kayla Pau had 11 kills and four blocks, one solo. Jessica Donahue had 10 kills and hit .444 and had two aces, four digs, and four blocks, one solo. Setter Danielle Boss had four kills in 11 errorless tries, 34 assists, two aces, 10 digs, and five blocks, one solo. Haylee Nelson led San Jose State with 16 kills, an assist, an ace, a block, and nine digs. Latahevai Lousi added 12 kills. Sarah Smevog had 19 digs and two assists. …
And UNLV swept visiting San Diego State in the opener for both teams as Mariena Hayden and Shelby Capllonch had 10 kills each and Kate Brenna had eight kills, hit .429, and had six blocks. Hayden hit .348 and had two aces, three blocks, and eight digs. Capllonch added an assist, an ace, a block, and 13 digs. Victoria O’Sullivan led SDSU with 11 kills as she hit .300.
MID-AMERICAN — Freshman Taylor Alt went off for 29 kills as Toledo (2-3) knocked off previously unbeaten Ball State (4-1) 25-17, 17-25, 25-21, 20-25, 21-19 in a fifth set that was as gripping as the score would indicate. Toledo faced match point four times before Alt ended it with a kill.
Alt hit .246 after taking 65 swings and added an assist, three aces, nine digs, and three blocks, one solo. Liz Beasley had 13 kills and six digs. Ryann Jaqua had 37 digs and three assists. Setter Payton Morman had 57 assists, two blocks, and 10 digs, but her team hit .163.
Maggie Huber had 35 digs, six assists, and two aces for Ball State. Allison Hamaker had 17 kills and hit .361. Kia Holder had 12 kills, two blocks, and three digs, and Natalie Risi had 10 kills, two blocks, and 15 digs. Ball State interim coach Fritz Rosenberg, filling in for Kelli Miller Phillips while she’s on maternity leave, no longer has a perfect record as a head coach …
Western Michigan (3-2) swept at Eastern Michigan, which was playing its spring opener. Rachel Bontrager led WMU with 11 kills, hit .350, and had eight digs. Andelyn Simkins had nine kills, two aces, a solo block, and 13 digs. EMU hit .019 …
Savannah Matthews had 16 kills, hit .520, and had two blocks and five digs as Kent State (3-0) hit .329 and swept at Buffalo (0-5). Emma Gielas had nine kills for Buffalo …
Anna Erickson had 25 kills and 13 digs as Central Michigan (2-3) won in five over visiting NIU (1-4). Savannah Thompson had 14 kills, 13 digs, and two blocks, one solo, and Maddie Whitfield had 10 kills and three blocks, two solo. Hannah Warners had 31 digs and three assists. NIU’s Katie Jablonski had 16 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 19 digs. Kennedy Wallace had 15 kills, an ace, three blocks, and five digs, and JoDee Kovanda had 15 kills. Grace Balensier had 55 assists, 15 digs, and three blocks, one solo, and Samantha Juarez had 32 digs …
Ohio (2-1) won in four at Akron (1-4) as four players had 10 or more kills. Tia Jimerson led with 14 as she hit .300 and had six blocks, an ace, and two digs. Marian Rodrigues had 12 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 11 digs. Sam Steele had 27 digs and three assists. Akron’s Jen Durra had 11 kills and Shelby Fulmer and Faith Johnson had nine each. Fulmer had five blocks, and six digs …
And Bowling Green improved to 5-0 by sweeping visiting Miami (3-2). Katelyn Meyer led with 11 kills and Petra Indrova had nine. Sara Wojick had 11 kills and hit .450 for Miami.
SOUTHLAND — McNeese opened its spring season with a sweep of visiting Southeastern Louisiana (1-2, 0-1). Kendall Glueck had 13 kills, hit .393 and had a solo block and two digs, while Regan Stiawalt had 12 kills, hit .375, and had an ace, a block, and eight digs. Three players had seven kills for SLU …
Katelyn Mueller had 22 kills, four assists, four blocks, and 16 digs to lead Abilene Christian (2-1, 1-0) to its five-set victory at Incarnate Word (0-3, 0-1). Kate Blasingame had 18 kills, an assist, two aces, and 17 digs. Bethany Clapp had 29 kills and hit .360 for UIW after having only two errors in 75 attacks. She added three assists, 27 digs, and two blocks. Taylor Henderson had 15 kills, hit .500 and had four blocks and five digs. Britney Ong had 28 digs and Alyssa Carlin had 27 digs …
And Stephen F. Austin (13-4, 1-0) won in five at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-1, 1-0). Leah Powell led with 14 kills and Taya Mitchell had 11. Chloe Simon had 19 kills for TAMUCC …
Sam Houston (1-1) swept visiting Northwestern State (2-1, 0-1). Ashley Lewis led with 17 kills as she hit .359 and had three blocks and nine digs. NSU hit .000 … New Orleans (2-2, 2-0) swept at Nicholls State (0-2, 0-1) behind 13 kills from Atira Jells, who hit .500. Trinity Jackson had nine kills with no errors in 13 attacks, three assists, two blocks, and 13 digs. Emily Gauthreaux led Nicholls with 11 kills.
AROUND THE NATION — BYU (3-0) of the WCC swept at Utah Valley (2-1) of the WAC. Taylen Ballard-Nixon led BYU with 19 kills as she hit .371 and had an assist, an ace, two blocks, and 13 digs. Kate Grimmer had 15 kills, hit .343, and had two blocks, and two digs. Kazna Tanuvasa led UVU with 18 kills as she hit .389. Tori Dorius had 14 kills, an ace, four blocks, and five digs …
Delaware State (2-1) won a four-set MEAC match over Norfolk State (1-2). Valeria Otero led Delaware State with 14 kills, an assist, two aces, a block, and 10 digs. Norfolk State hit .063 …
Butler of the Big East (2-0) beat visitng Indiana State (1-2) of the Missouri Valley in five. Elana Brueggemann led Butler with 17 kills as she hit .353. Melody Davidson and Brittany Robinson had 16 kills each. Gretchan Kuckkan led Indiana State with 14 kills and 13 digs …
High Point hit .427 and won its Big South-opening match for both teams at Presbyterian in four. Annie Sullivan led with 16 kills and Maria Miggins had 10 kills with no errors in 18 attacks, 26 assists, four aces, a block, and four digs …
SMU (3-0) of the American Athletic swept visiting UTSA (2-2) of Conference USA. Jadyn Bauss had 13 kills and hit .407 to go with a block and 13 digs. Hannah Jacobs had 12 kills and hit .321 …
And Wichita State (4-0) of the American Athletic swept visiting North Texas of C-USA (1-1) as Sophia Rohling had 14 kills with no errors in 23 attacks to hit .609. UNT hit .000.
MEN — UCLA (2-0) won its MPSF match at BYU, which was opening its season. Ethan Champlin led the Bruins in the 25-22, 25-21, 15-25, 25-22 victory with 11 kills, two assists, an ace, nine digs, and five blocks, one solo. Sam Kobrine had three kills in as many attempts, 28 assists, an ace, two blocks, and seven digs. Gabi Garcia Fernandez had 16 kills, three blocks, and eight digs for BYU …
There were two EIVA matches, as Penn State (4-1, 1-0) swept visiting Saint Francis (1-7, 0-1) and NJIT (1-2, 1-0) swept visiting Sacred Heart, which opened its season.
Cal Fisher led Penn State with 15 kills as he hit .591 to go with an assist, two aces, two blocks, and six digs. Michael Fisher (no relation) led Saint Francis with 11 kills, two aces, a block, and a dig … Nine players had kills for NJIT, which hit .370, led by Alvaro Gimeno, who had eight. He hit .389 and had an assist, an ace, three blocks, and four digs. Sacred Heart hit minus .068.
