NCAA Women
NCAA volleyball round of 16 set as Stanford survives, seven others also advance
December 3, 2023
NCAA volleyball: Nuneviller leads Oregon, Utah wins, Bucknell breaks streak, huge numbers, all the recaps
Men
March 8, 2021
Brooke Nuneviller had a match for the ages Sunday as Oregon came back from 0-2 and beat visiting Washington in five in the Pac-12. Nuneviller not only had a career-high 35 kills, but had only one error — and it came late — in 65 attacks.
Utah beat Stanford and moved back into first in the Pac-12.
Bucknell, which had lost 48 matches in a row to American, beat American in the Patriot League for the first time since 1996.
La Salle improved to 4-0 by beating Rhode Island with a lineup that included just six players.
Three other players had huge numbers worth noting:
— Freshman Camryn Harris set the Clemson record with 37 kills, but the Tigers fell in five at Syracuse.
— Alondra Vazquez had 32 kills and 32 digs for Evansville in a defeat at Drake, while Drake got 29 kills from Haley Bush.
— Lafayette’s Leanna Deegan had 29 kills for Lafayette in a victory at Lehigh.
— And Rhett Robinson of North Texas had a career-high 29 kills in a five-set loss to Rice.
There was more COVID sadness in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball Sunday. Next weekend’s Big Ten matches featuring Michigan State at Purdue were postponed, and so was the doubleheader in the Metro Atlantic that had Siena at Saint Peters.
The recaps from a chock-full Sunday follow, but first a look at Monday’s NCAA Division I women’s schedule that includes Texas of the Big 12 headed to Texas State.
There is one ACC match Monday when Georgia Tech plays at Pitt.
Among the other leagues in action are the Big Sky, Conference USA, Horizon, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, SoCon, and WAC.
There are no NCAA men’s Division I-II matches Monday.
Want to watch a match? We’ve got the links in the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
PAC-12 — Brooke Nuneviller had a match of a lifetime as Oregon (9-3) rallied from being down 0-2 to beat Washington (11-3) 25-27, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-10.
Nuneviller, a 5-foot-11 junior who played libero her freshman year, had 35 kills with one error in 65 attacks to hit .523 and didn’t make that error — which came on a back-row attack — until after her 35th kill and at 13-6 in the fifth.
“I think our attitude changed, even in the first two sets,” said Nuneviller, whose Ducks were swept by Washington on Friday. “I don’t think we were down going into the third set, which is something I definitely cannot say about Friday’s match. That was a huge change. Emotionally we matured, in two days. We fought for every single point throughout the entire match.”
Nuneviller had two assists, two blocks, and 19 digs.
“Find me a better volleyball player in the country; I want to know who she is,” Oregon coach Matt Ulmer said. “There isn’t one. You won’t find it. The best player in the country is on our team.”
Said Washington coach Keegan Cook, “There’s a lot of talented players in this conference and she went for it, from the back row, front row, left and right. We weren’t able to key in on her. I thought we had enough to withstand that, but we didn’t have quite enough.”
With Utah beating Stanford and Washington State idle, the outcome left Utah (10-2) back on top of the standings, Washington in second at (11-3), followed by Oregon (9-3) and WSU (8-2). UCLA (10-4) fell off the pace with its loss at Colorado. The seven other teams in the Pac-12 all have losing records.
Three other Oregon players had 10 or more kills. Gloria Mutiri had 15 and three blocks. Morgan Lewis had 14, two blocks, and four digs, and Karson Bacon had 10 and four blocks, one solo. Abby Hansen had seven blocks, one solo, and setters Kylie Robinson and Elise Ferreira combined for 62 assists and 31 digs. Georgia Murphy also had 19 digs.
Samantha Drechsel had 19 kills and hit .313 for Washington and had an ace, two blocks, and 16 digs. Claire Hoffman had 18 kills, an assist, three aces, two blocks, and nine digs. Lauren Sanders had eight kills and six blocks, one solo, Madi Endsley had eight kills and six blocks, and Marin Grote had six kills with no errors in 11 attacks and five blocks. Setter Ella May Powell had two kills, 49 assists, and 16 digs, and Shannon Crenshaw had 22 digs and four assists …
Colorado (5-7) knocked off visiting UCLA (10-4) 27-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20 as four players had 10 or more kills, led by Sterling Parker who had 15 with two errors in 28 attacks to hit .467. She had four blocks and two digs. Leah Clayton had 14 kills, two assists, a solo block and 12 digs. élan McCall had 11 kills and 11 digs for UCLA. Emily Ryan had 10 kills and six blocks, one solo …
Utah (10-2) beat visiting Stanford (1-5) 16-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-19 despite hitting .153. Dani Drews led with 19 kills, but hit .105. She had two aces, two blocks, and seven digs. Kenzie Koerber, Utah’s second-leading attacker, did not play. Caitie Beard had 13 kills, two blocks and 10 digs for Stanford …
Oregon State (5-7) hit .322 and swept at Cal (1-13) as Mychael Vernon had 13 kills in the 25-23, 25-13, 25-20 victory. Vernon had two assists, seven digs, and two blocks, one solo. Lydia Grote had 16 kills and hit .344 for Cal and had two blocks and a dig …
Arizona State (2-10) not only rallied from being down 0-2 to beat visiting Arizona (5-7) 26-28, 12-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-10, the Sun Devils broke a 10-match losing streak. Marta Levinska led with 16 kills and hit .371 to go with an ace, six digs, and five blocks, one solo. Iman Isanovic had 15 kills, three aces, and four digs. Sofia Maldonado Diaz had 15 kills for Arizona to go with an ace, three digs, and two blocks, one solo, and Paige Whipple 14 kills, an assist, a block, and 19 digs.
ACC — Georgia Tech (8-1) opened its spring season with a sweep of Virginia (2-10, 0-10) at Pitt. The Yellow Jackets hit .350 and Mariana Brambilla had 21 kills, hitting .529 to go with an assist, 16 digs, and a block. UVa’s Christine Jarman had 12 kills, hit .381, and had an assist, 11 digs, and two blocks …
Louisville (7-2, 6-2) swept visiting Wake Forest (0-8, 0-7). Aiko Jones led with 15 kills as she hit .500 and had two blocks, and a dig …
Notre Dame (9-1,8-1) swept visiting Miami (6-4) as Charley Niego had 12 kills for the Irish and Angela Grieve had 12 for Miami …
And freshman Camryn Hannah had a school-record 37 kills, but Syracuse (5-5) outlasted visiting Clemson (10-7, 4-6) in five as Viktoria Lokhmanchuk had 17 kills, an ace, 12 digs and two blocks, one solo. Naomi Franco had 15 kills, hit .394, and had four blocks. The 6-2 Hannah had just 10 errors in 71 attacks as she hit .380 and had 17 digs. Cate Long had 12 kills, three aces, 13 digs, and two blocks, one solo.
SEC — in the only match of Sunday, South Carolina (12-6) beat visiting Ole Miss (1-15) in four as Riley Whitesides had 12 kills, an assist, a block, and four digs.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC — In the only AAC match of the day, Temple (7-4, 1-3) beat visiting UConn (1-4, 1-2) in four. Miray Bolukbasi led Temple with 16 kills, two aces, two blocks, and 15 digs.
ASUN — Erin Shomaker had 22 kills and five blocks as FGCU (8-2, 6-2) beat visiting North Florida (6-8, 5-3) in four. Emma Szypszak had seven kills and seven blocks .. Bellarmine (3-9, 2-6) won at North Alabama (1-10, 1-9) again, this time in five as Abbie Oetting had 18 kills, Ashley Price had 15, and Abbie Stefanon had 13. Karleigh Wilson had 27 digs and seven assists. Libby Goodman had 14 kills and four blocks for UNA.
AMERICA EAST — Four of the five matches were sweeps except for Albany’s four-set win over UMBC. Kamara Kelly led Albany with 18 kills, two assists, two aces, five blocks, and seven digs. UMBC’s Darina Kumanova had 17 kills. Both UMBC and Albany swept Binghamton … Stony Brook swept NJIT twice.
ATLANTIC 10 — La Salle (4-0) beat Rhode Island (3-6, 2-2) in four. There are just six Explorers on the team right now. Elizabeth Osborn led with 15 kills, hit .380, and had two assists, an a block, and 12 digs. Isa Lopez had 26 digs, four assists, and two aces … Fordham (2-1, 2-0) won in four at George Mason (3-7, 3-2) as Whitley Moody led with 17 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and 15 digs.
BIG SKY — Northern Arizona (9-2) beat visiting and previously unbeaten Weber State (10-1) in four. Taylor Jacobsen led wtih 14 kills, two assists, a solo block, and 14 digs. Rylin Adams had 14 kills for Weber State …
Montana State (9-2) kept pace with a sweep at Idaho (5-6, 4-5). MSU hit .311 and Kira Thomsen had 11 kills, an assist, and nine digs … Sacramento State (7-5) beat Eastern Washington (5-8, 4-8) in five as Caitlin Volkmann led with 12 kills and Macey Hayden and Karlee Soderberg had 11 each. Caty Cordano had 28 digs and three assists. EWU’s May McClellan had 13 kills, six digs, and four blocks, one solo … Portland State (2-11, 1-0) beat Montana (2-11) in four. Parker Webb and Gabby Hollins had 15 kills each. Madi Chuhlantseff had 17 kills and hit .452 for Montana … And Southern Utah (6-7, 6-6) beat visiting Idaho State (4-10, 2-1) in five despite the Bengals getting 24 kills from Kennedee Tracy, who added two aces, a block, and 14 digs. Andreanna McKee had 17 kills for SUU and Stacey Hone had 13 kills and six blocks, one solo.
CONFERENCE USA — Western Kentucky is 12-0, 7-0 in the league after sweeping visiting FIU (1-7, 1-6). WKU hit .303, which included 13 kills from Paige Briggs, who had two aces, seven digs, and two blocks, and 11 kills from Lauren Matthews, who hit .450 and had four digs and two blocks, one solo …
Nicole Lennon had 26 kills and Anota Adekunle 23 as Rice (10-3, 9-0) stayed two games ahead in the win column with a five-set win over visiting North Texas (6-8, 2-5). Lennon had 25 digs and Adekunle had six blocks, one solo, with an ace. Setter Carly Graham had 66 assists, an ace, 10 digs, and two blocks. UNT’s Rhett Robinson had 29 kills, hit .323, and had eight digs and five blocks …
Emani Foster had 21 kills and hit .442 as Charlotte (8-4, 6-2) won in four at Florida Atlantic (1-7, 1-5). Foster had two blocks and nine digs. Sydney Rowan had 10 kills, an assist, a block, and 15 digs, and Nalani Lyde had 10 kills, four blocks, and four digs. Amani Arther had six kills and 10 blocks, five solo … Marshall (6-3, 4-3) won in five at Middle Tennessee (1-7, 1-5). Ciara DeBell had 14 kills, four blocks, and 16 digs and Sarah Schank had 21 digs, three assists, and an ace. Kayla Henry had 19 kills for MTSU to go with an ace, a block, and eight digs. Samira Lawson Body had 16 kills, three digs, and four blocks, two solo. Taylor Eisert had two kills in five errorless tries, 51 assists, 21 digs and two blocks, one solo … UTSA (4-9, 2-5) hit .311 and won in three at Louisiana Tech (1-14, 0-7). Kirby Smith led with 12 kills, Hunter Coppola had 11, and Bianca Ejesieme had 10 … Fernanda Maida had 23 kills as UAB (7-6, 6-3) won in four at Southern Miss (7-5, 2-3). Maida hit .333 and had nine digs. Alex Kells had 13 kills, tweo assists, two aces, a block, and 17 digs. USM’s Duquesne Moratzka had 17 kills, a block, and six digs.
COLONIAL — Towson (3-1, 1-0) swept visiting Delaware (1-3, 0-1) as Emily Jarome and Nina Cajic had 11 kills each … William & Mary (3-1) won in five at Charleston (2-2, 1-1) as Kate Dedrick had 18 kills, an ace, a block and seven digs … Elon (2-3, 2-2) beat visiting UNCW (0-7, 0-4) in four as Haylie Clark and Gabi Croll had 11 kills each … Northeastern (5-1, 2-0) beat Hofstra (3-2, 0-2) for its fifth consecutive win. Erica Staunton had 17 kills, three blocks, and six digs.
METRO ATLANTIC — The MAAC got its spring season under way on Sunday with four scheduled doubleheaders but the twinbill featuring Siena at Saint Peters was postponed. Nonetheless, Canisius swept visiting Siena and then won in four. Hannah Nelson had 25 kills in the opener and had 10 more in the sweep … Iona won twice at Marist … And Fairfield beat visiting Rider twice, in four and then five.
MID-AMERICAN — The MAC’s only match of the day saw Western Michigan (10-3) sweep visiting Ball State (6-7). Rachel Bontrager had 15 kills, an assist, a block, and two digs.
MISSOURI VALLEY — Taylor Venuto had a career-high 20 kills and hit .500 as Loyola (7-3, 6-3) beat visiting Missouri State (11-3, 7-2) in five. Venuto had four errors in 32 attacks and had six blocks and three digs. Grace Hinchman had 29 digs and five assists, and Jenna Appel had four kills, 58 assists, four blocks, and nine digs. Missouri State’s Amelia Flynn had 22 kills and Brooklyn Cink had 20 …
Talk about some stats in this one: Drake (7-5, 5-4) beat visiting Evansville (3-10, 2-9) in four as Hayley Bush had 29 kills for Drake and hit .333 to go with two blocks and seven digs, and teammate Emily Plock had 25 kills, hit .333, and had an ace, a block, and 11 digs. And Evansville’s Alondra Vazquez had a career-high 32 kills with only four errors in 83 attacks to hit .337 and she had two assists, 32 digs, and two blocks, one solo …
Valparaiso (7-6, 6-5) swept visiting Bradley (7-4). Haley Hart had 14 kills and four blocks, one solo … Indiana State (5-7, 5-6) hit .348 and swept at Southern Illinois (2-11, 1-10). Five Sycamores had six or more kills, including Taylor Shelton with 10 … DePaul (4-5) of the Big East won in four at Northern Iowa (6-8) as Jill Pressly had 18 kills and hit .394 to go with two assists, three aces, and 16 digs. Kaylissa Arndorfer led UNI with 12 kills and hit .370 and she had eight blocks, one solo.
OHIO VALLEY — Lena Kindermann had 19 kills and hit .382 and her team hit .301 as Jacksonville State (9-0) stayed unbeaten as it won in four at Belmont (1-9, 1-8). Kindermann had three blocks and three digs. Kaylie Milton had 12 kills and hit .314 and had 12 digs and two blocks. Taylor Floyd had 18 kills for Belmont and hit .351 …
Morehead State (9-0) kept pace at the top with a five-set win at Tennessee Tech (4-5). Olivia Lohmeier led with 19 kills, an assist, two aces, seven digs, and two blocks, one solo …
Chloe Stitt had a career-high 26 kills and hit .339 as Austin Peay (7-2) beat visiting Murray State (4-5). Stitt had an assist, four blocks, and seven digs. Jayla Holcombe had 20 kills for Murray State … SIUE (5-4) swept at Eastern Kentucky (2-7). Sydney Hummert had 14 kills with one error in 30 swings to hit .433 … Kendall Bullock had 16 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks, and eight digs as Tennessee State (1-8) broke through with its first win as it beat Eastern Illinois (0-9) in five … Southeast Missouri (7-2) swept at UT Martin (5-4) as Laney Malloy had 14 kills, two assists, an ace, and 10 digs.
PATRIOT — Bucknell (1-1) hadn’t beaten American (1-1) since 1996 but broke a 48-match losing streak to the perennial league leader with a five-set victory. Lisa Zoch had 19 kills for Bucknell to go with two assists, two aces, a block, and 17 digs. Helena Elbaek had 21 kills for AU and 17 digs and three blocks, one solo … Lafayette (2-2) won in four at Lehigh (0-4) as Leanna Deegan had 29 kills, an assist, and 17 digs. Sabrina Lancaster had 19 kills for Lehigh …
Alli Lowe had 15 kills and Libby Overmyer 14 for Colgate (5-1) in its sweep at Holy Cross (2-2).
SOCON — Mercer (9-5, 9-2) beat visiting Wofford (7-3) in five as five players had eight or more kills, 18 by Annie Karle and 17 by Brittany Major. Karle had two assists, a block, and 14 digs, and Major had two assists, four aces, four blocks, and 14 digs. Wofford had four players with 12 or more kills. Megan Yaffa had 15, while Riley Coonan had 13 and seven blocks, three solo. Sarah Barham had 12 kills and 13 blocks, two solo …
Lauren Deaton had 21 kills and 13 digs as Samford (8-1) won in four at ETSU (4-5). Emily Naubert had seven aces, seven assists, and 17 digs. … The Citadel (4-10, 2-7) swept visiting Chattanooga 5-8, 3-8) Mellanie King and Sharlissa de Jesus led with 15 kills each … And Furman (4-5) won in four against visiting Western Carolina (5-7, 5-5) behind Neci Harris, who had 18 kills, hit .390 after having two errors in 41 attacks, an assist, three digs, and three blocks, one solo. Mikaela Schultz had 16 kills, a solo block, and 13 digs.
SOUTHLAND — Sam Houston (6-1) swept at Lamar (1-10, 1-5). Ashley Lewis led with 13 kills, three aces, a block, and 19 digs.
SUMMIT — South Dakota (10-4, 9-1) swept visiting Oral Roberts (2-10, 2-8) as Aimee Adams and Elizabeth Juhnke had nine kills each. Adams hit .412 and had 14 digs, while Junke had an ace, nine digs, and four blocks, two solo.
MEN — UC Santa Barbara (5-0) beat visiting UC Irvine (0-5) twice in Big West action. Randy DeWeese had 21 kills in the morning sweep, with two errors in 33 attacks to hit .576. He had two aces, seven digs, and two blocks. In the four-set win in the nightcap, DeWeese and Ryan Wilcox had 11 kills each. Joel Schneidmiller had 14 kills for UCI.
