The ACC’s Duke made its spring 2021 NCAA Division I women’s volleyball debut Tuesday by sweeping at VCU of the Atlantic 10.
LMU, USF, and BYU got WCC wins; UIC and Wright State stayed unbeated in the Horizon, and NM State kept on rolling in the WAC.
The recaps follow, but first a look at Wednesday’s schedule.
There are just six matches on tap, two in the SEC with Texas A&M at South Carolina and LSU at Florida.
Texas A&M is playing its first match of the spring, because it was supposed to open at Auburn, which canceled its season, and then be home for Tennessee last weekend, but those matches were postponed. LSU hasn’t played since January 31 since it was scheduled to play Auburn last weekend.
There are three West Coast Conference matches when Gonzaga is at BYU, Portland is at San Diego as the Toreros play their third match in four days with another on Thursday, and Pacific is at San Francisco.
UTSA of Conference USA plays host to Texas State, which won the Sun Belt Conference in the fall and is playing its first spring match.
Go to the VolleyballMag.com TV and Streaming listings to get links to any match that is being broadcast.
DUKE TOPS VCU — The Blue Devils, who went 6-2 in the fall, won 25-22, 25-11, 25-23 as Ade Owokoniran led with 15 kills and Gracie Johnson had 12. Owokoniran added an assist, two blocks, and five digs, and Johnson hit .310 and had an assist, two blocks, and two digs. Mackenzie Cole had 25 assists, a kill, seven assists, and three aces. VCU (5-1), which hit .123, got 10 kills, three blocks, and three digs from Lauren King. Paula Neciporuka had nine kills and 12 digs.
WEST COAST — Loyola Marymount (3-3) rode a career-high 23 kills from Rose Booth to a four-set win over visiting Portland (1-4, 0-4). Booth hit .315 and added an ace and nine digs. Kari Geissberger had 10 kills, a block, and eight digs. Isabella Bareford had 43 assists, two aces, a block, and eight digs. Portland’s Mia Wesley had 18 kills, an assist, an ace, 11 digs, and three blocks, one solo …
San Francisco (3-2) won in five despite hitting .113 at Pacific (1-2). USF got 21 kills from McKenna Marshall, who had two assists, an ace, 18 digs, and three blocks, one solo in the 19-25, 25-15, 23-25, 26-24, 16-14 victory. Greta Corti added 14 kills, an assist, 13 digs, and two blocks, one solo, and Anna Dalla Vecchia had 33 digs, 10 assists, and an ace.
Alexa Edwards had 19 kills, an assist, two blocks, and 16 digs for Pacific. Riley Patterson added 13 kills, two blocks, and 18 digs. Jadyn Tubbs had 24 kills and two assists, and Gabby Leo had 51 assists, a block and 17 digs …
And BYU (4-0, 3-0) hit .423 as it beat visiting Gonzaga (1-2) in four as four Cougars had 11 or more kills. Taylen Ballard-Nixon led with 17 and hit .361 and had two assists, two blocks and six digs. Leilani Dodson had 13 kills, hit .423, and had an assist, six blocks, and two digs. Whitney Bower had six kills and hit .455 and had 43 assists, two aces, two blocks, and 18 digs. Gonzaga’s Kennedy Croft had 14 kills and hit .333 to go with six digs.
HORIZON — Milwaukee (3-3) went down 0-2 and rallied for a five-set victory over visiting Green Bay (2-4) a day after sweeping the Phoenix. Ari Miller had 15 kills, hit .348, and had an assist, a dig, and five blocks, one solo. Carmen Heilemann had 15 kills and Abby Keonen 14. Rylie Vaughn had 28 assists, an ace, and 23 digs. Alexandra Zakutney led Green Bay with 14 kills, two assists, three aces, a block, and seven digs. Shannon Coughlin had 13 kills and four blocks, and Kristen Paulus had 12 kills, two assists, two aces, three blocks, and four digs …
UIC (6-0) swept Youngstown State (2-4) as Paola Santiago led a balanced attack with 14 kills, hitting .393, and had an assist, two blocks and three digs … Wright State is also 6-0 after sweeping Oakland (2-2). Megan Alders had 13 kills with one error in 30 attacks, Celia Powers had 11 kills and 11 digs, and Jenna Story had 37 digs, six assists, and an ace. Patti Cesarini had 12 kills, six digs, and two blocks, one solo, for Oakland … Katie Crowe had 22 kills as Purdue Fort Wayne (4-2) swept at IUPUI (0-6). Crowe hit .541 after having two errors in 37 attacks and added two blocks and six digs. Allie Pogue had 11 kills for IUPUI …
Northern Kentucky (2-2) went down 0-2 and came back to beat visiting Cleveland State (3-3) in five. Four players had 13 or more kills for UNK, including Kaelin Gentile and Miranda Wucherer with 16 each. Wucherer had 28 asissts, an ace, five blocks, and 13 digs. CSU’s London Portis had 16 kills, two blocks, and two digs, and Emily DeGeorge had 12 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 22 digs.
WAC — Grand Canyon (4-0) swept visiting Dixie State (3-4, 2-4) behind 19 kills by Yeny Murillo, who had two errors in 44 attacks and hit .386. She had three digs and two blocks, one solo … Utah Valley (3-2, 3-1) won in four at California Baptist (3-1). Kazna Tanuvasa led UVU with 18 kills, an assist, two digs, and three blocks, one solo. Tori Dorius had 11 kills and five blocks, and Kendra Nock had 11 kills, two assists, and six blocks. Christine Graf led CBU with 12 kills and Calissa Hoye had 11, an ace, a block, and 10 digs … NM State hit .356 and improved to 4-0 with a sweep at UTRGV (0-6, 0-4). Eight Aggies had kills, led by Savannah Davison with 11 while hitting .429. She also had an assist, two blocks, and eight digs. Victoria Barrett also had 11 kills and hit .381 …Tarleton (4-6, 2-4) swept at Seattle U (0-4) as Amber Strange had 13 kills, a block, and 11 digs, and Lauren Kersey had 11 kills, hit .391, and had two blocks, and a dig. Seattle’s Sophia Bertotti Metoyer had 10 kills, an assist, two blocks, and two digs.
AROUND THE NATION — Saint Louis (1-3) of the Atlantic 10 swept visiting Butler (2-3) of the Big East. Jillian Mattingly led the Billkens with 10 kills on 15 errorless swings and had three blocks, one solo. Lily Welti had eight kills and eight digs. Elana Brueggemann and Brittany Robinson had 11 kills each for Butler …
George Washington (1-4) of the Atlantic 10 fell behind 0-2 and then rallied for a 9-25, 20-25, 28-26, 25-15, 15-11 victory over Howard (1-1) of the MEAC in a battle of Washington, D.C., schools. Ashley Waggle led GWU with 15 kills, an assist, three blocks and 12 digs. Paz Dozie-Nnamah had 11 kills, three aces, two blocks, ans six digs. Heather Merryman had three kills in five errorless attempts, 33 assists, five aces, and nine digs. Jennifer Bolden led Howard with 11 kills and Marcelle Butler and Tamar Wells had eight each …
Ten players had kills as UCF (6-0) of the American Athletic swept at the ASUN’s Jacksonville (2-2). McKenna Melville led with 14 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 14 digs. Amber Olson had two kills, 27 assists, an ace, a block, and eight digs. Jacksonville had 22 kills and hit .049 …
North Florida (1-4) of the ASUN swept at Georgia Southern (5-13) of the Sun Belt, which was playing for the last time this spring. Kailey McKnight had 13 kills and hit .391 for UNF and had two assists, two aces, and seven digs. Julianna Askew had five kills, 26 assists, four aces, 12 digs, and five blocks, one solo. Georgia Southern’s Chamblee Russell had seven kills …
FIU (1-1) won its Conference USA opener by sweeping visiting Old Dominion (2-2). Emily Meyer led with 12 kills and hit .435. ODU hit minus .033 …
Southern (2-2) swept its SWAC match with visiting Mississippi Valley (0-2). Elaine Fulton led a balanced attack with seven kills in as many attempts and Princess Stark had six kills with no errors in 13 attacks, 15 assists, an ace, three blocks, and 12 digs.
