Florida won the big SEC battle with Kentucky on Friday.
Bowling Green won again to improve to 17-0 and clinch a share of the Mid-American Conference title.
High Point had to go five both times, but the Panthers stayed unbeaten and atop the Big South with two victories Friday at Charleston Southern.
Kansas City won the big Summit League showdown at South Dakota.
The bubble burst for La Salle, the team featured here earlier this week because, as the Explorers lost to Fordham.
Loyola Maryland beat American in four in the Patriot League, its first victory over the Eagles since 1992.
Big numbers included 30 kills by LSU’s Taylor Bannister in an SEC win over Georgia, 26 kills by Yossiana Pressley in Baylor’s non-conference win over Rice, Ohio State’s Kylie Murr had 26 digs in a Big Ten win at Michigan, Paige Reagor had 27 kills for Charleston Southern in a Big South loss to High Point, Alexis Adleta had 26 kills for Akron in its loss to Bowling Green, and Miami’s Abigail Huser had 38 digs in a MAC win over Eastern Michigan.
The recaps follow, but first a look at Saturday’s NCAA Division I women’s schedule.
The Big Ten is busy with Purdue at Rutgers, Penn State at Michigan State, Michigan at Ohio State, Maryland at Illinois, Iowa at Nebraska.
The Kentucky-Florida rematch highlights the SEC schedule that also has Tennessee at Alabama, Texas A&M at Missouri, South Carolina at Arkansas, and Georgia at LSU.
The ACC has Georgia Tech vs. Syracuse, Miami vs. Pitt, Florida State vs. Louisville, Clemson vs. Boston College, and Wake Forest vs. Notre Dame, all at various sites within the league.
Four Big 12 teams playing non-conference matches as TCU is home for Tarleton, Texas Tech is at SMU, Kansas is home for Wichita State, and Kansas State is home for Creighton.
The Pac-12 is off Saturday.
Among the conferences with full schedules are the ASUN, Colonial, Mountain West, Southland, Summit, and West Coast.
The NCAA Division I-II men’s schedule includes Long Beach State opening its Big West season at UC Santa Barbara; MPSF action with BYU at Pepperdine and Grand Canyon at Stanford; two MIVA matches, and three in the EIVA including Penn State at NJIT.
Want to watch a match? We’ve got the links in the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
PAC-12 — Oregon (10-3), playing for the first time in two weeks, had to go the distance to remain in third place behind idle Washington State and Washington in the conference with its 26-24, 19-25, 25-15, 21-25, 15-12 victory over visiting Oregon State (5-10). The Ducks, who hit .217, got 19 kills from Brooke Nuneviller, who had a block and 18 digs. Gloria Mutiri had 12 kills, four blocks, and two digs. Georgia Murphy had 20 digs, five assists, and an ace. Oregon State, which hit .155, got 16 kills from Mychael Vernon, who had two assists, an ace, two blocks, and 17 digs. Grace Massey had 30 digs to go with a kill and four assists …
Fourth-place Utah (11-4) fell off the pace when it got knocked off at Colorado (6-9) 19-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-22, 15-13. Leah Clayton had 22 kills for Colorado, an ace, four blocks, and 11 digs. Alexia Kuehl had eight kills, hit .462, and had seven blocks, one solo. Zoe Neverdowski had 24 digs, seven assists, and an ace. Dani Drews led Utah with 24 kills, an ace, three blocks, and 13 digs. Madelyn Robinson had 18 kills. Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres had two kills, 48 assists, two aces, three blocks, and 23 digs, and Phoebe Grace had 11 blocks, one solo …
UCLA (12-5) won 25-15, 14-25, 25-20, 25-17 at USC (3-8) as Mac May had 14 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks, and seven digs. USC’s Brooke Botkin had 15 kills, hit .314, and had an ace, a block, and eight digs …
Stanford (2-5) got 18 kills from Meghan McClure, who hit .444 after having two errors in 36 attacks, and swept visiting Arizona State (4-11) 25-22, 25-16, 25-16. McClure had two assists, two aces, and seven digs …
Arizona (8-9) swept at Cal (1-16) as five players had five or more kills, seven by Paige Whipple, who had an assist, five digs, and four blocks, one solo.
BIG TEN — Ohio State (14-1) stayed a game back of idle Wisconsin with a 25-22, 24-26, 25-16, 25-23 victory over visiting Michigan (4-4) as four Buckeyes had 10 or more kills, 13 by Rylee Rader. She hit .440 and had four blocks and a dig. Lauren Witten had 11 kills with one error in 22 attacks, an ace, two digs, and six bloclks, one solo. Kylie Murr had 26 digs and five assists, and Mac Podraza had three kills in six errorless tries, 44 assists, two aces, two blocks, and 12 digs. Michigan also had four players with 10 or more kills, 15 by Jess Mruzik, who had an assist, a block, and 10 digs. May Pertofsky had 14 kills, hit .324, and had an ace, three blocks, and nine digs. Hannah Grant had 23 digs and three assists and Scottee Johnson had 45 assists, two solo blocks, and 22 digs …
Penn State (8-5) swept at Michigan State (2-8) as five players had seven or more kills in the 25-18, 25-17, 25-14 victory and the Nittany Lions hit .344. Serena Gray led with nine kills, hitting .438, and she had an ace, two digs, and two blocks, one solo. Michigan State hit .082 …
Purdue (10-5) hit .324 and won 25-21, 25-16, 24-25, 25-18 at Rutgers (2-13). Grace Cleveland led with 17 kills, hit .357, and had nine blocks and three digs. Taylor Trammell had 12 blocks to go with three kills. Beka Kojadinovic led Rutgers with 18 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and seven digs …
Illinois (3-10 beat visiting Maryland (4-11) 22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22 as Bruna Vrankovic had a career-high 16 kills. Raina Terry had 13 kills and eight of her team’s 12 aces. She also had a block and 15 digs. Illinois hit .105 and Maryland hit .059.
SEC — Florida (17-2) went toe to toe with visiting Kentucky (16-1) before coming away with a 18-25, 27-25, 17-25, 25-16, 17-15 victory over the previously unbeaten Wildcats in the conference’s showcase matchup of the season. T’ara Ceasar led Florida with 20 kills and she hit .311 and had three aces, two blocks, and 12 digs. Lauren Forte had 12 kills with one error in 19 attacks to hit .579 and she had two blocks. Thayer Hall had 10 kills but 10 errors. Marlie Monserez had two kills, 50 assists, an ace, a block, and seven digs, and Ellie McKissock had 23 digs and six assists. Kentucky, which hit .312, had four players with 11 or more kills. Avery Skinner led with 20, hitting .386, and she had two blocks and five digs. Azhani Tealer had 18 kills, hit .600, and had five blocks and two digs. Madison Lilley had three kills in five errorless attempts, 59 assists, and three blocks. Gabby Curry had 23 digs and two assists …
Taylor Bannister had 30 kills and resurgent LSU (8-11) won its third in a row, 25-16, 25-17, 20-25, 22-25, 15-13 over visiting Georgia (5-12). Bannister, who last had 30 kills two seasons ago, had five errors in 52 attacks to hit .481. She had two assists, seven digs, and six blocks, one solo. Hannah Brister had 13 kills and hit .308. Karli Roser had five kills in six attempts, 49 assists, four aces, two blocks, and 11 digs as her team hit a season-high .321. Georgia’s Kacie Evans had 21 kills, an assist, two aces, a block, and four digs …
Alabama (7-12) beat visiting Tennessee (9-8) 25-23, 25-21, 25-15. Kennedy Muckelroy led with 17 kills and Abby Marjama had 15 … Missouri (12-7) swept visiting Texas A&M (9-6) 25-14, 25-14, 25-19. Kylie Deberg led with 15 kills, an assist, five aces, four blocks, and eight digs … Arkansas (13-8) beat visiting South Carolina (12-9) 25-23, 25-21, 25-15. Jillian Gillen led the Hogs with 19 kills, four aces, a block, and 19 digs. Taylor Head had 18 kills, an ace, three blocks, and 14 digs. South Carolina’s Kyla Manning had 19 kills, two assists, an ace, three blocks, and 14 digs.
ACC — Georgia Tech (10-2) hit .341 and swept at Virginia Tech (5-7, 4-7). The Yellow Jackets got 15 kills from Julia Bergmann and 13 from Mariana Brambilla …
Miami (9-4, 8-4) hit .117 and won 26-24, 21-25, 14-25, 26-24, 15-13 at Duke (8-8, 6-5). Elizaveta Lukianova led with 22 kills, five blocks, and three digs. Duke’s Gracie Johnson had 15 kills to lead four Blue Devils with 10 or more kills. She had two blocks and nine digs. Mackenzie Cole had 28 digs …
North Carolina (9-4, 8-3) beat visiting Wake Forest (0-11, 0-10) 19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-20 as Skyy Howard had 16 kills, hit .353, and had an assist, five blocks, and seven digs. Kaya Merkler had 13 kills, hit .321, and had three blocks. Wake’s Caroline Kuhn had 14 kills … NC State (7-7, 6-7) hit .407 and swept visiting Clemson (10-8, 4-7). Melissa Evans led with 15 kills, hitting .333, to go with an ace, two blocks, and four digs. Camryn Hannah had 14 kills and hit .333 for Clemson.
BIG 12 — Conference teams won three non-league matches, including Baylor (18-4) escaping with a 23-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-21, 15-10 victory at Rice (12-4) of Conference USA. Yossiana Pressley led with 26 kills as she hit .350 and had 15 digs and two blocks, one solo. Lauren Harrison had 19 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and five digs. Baylor hit .233. Rice’s Nicole Lennon had 15 kills, three assists, 10 digs, and four blocks, one solo …
West Virginia (9-9) won 24-26, 25-20, 25-12, 25-21 at Delaware (2-6) of the Colonial Athletic Association. Kristin Lux led the Mountaineers with 15 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 10 digs …
And Texas Tech (8-13) won in five at SMU (8-5) of the American Athletic Conference as Samantha Sanders had 26 kills in in the 22-25, 26-24, 25-21, 19-25, 15-12 victory. Sanders hit .318 and had an assist, a block, and 13 digs. Five SMU players had 10 or more kills, 16 by Rachel Woulfe, who had three blocks and two digs.
ASUN — Lipscomb won its seventh in a row as the Bisons improved to 13-2, 10-1 in the ASUN, with a 25-10, 20-25, 25-16, 25-21 win over visiting Bellarmine (4-11, 3-8). Lipscomb is now tied for the lead in the North division in the win column and a game up in the loss because Kennesaw State (10-2) was off. Samantha Rubal led with 15 kills and two blocks …
FGCU (11-2, 9-2) clinched the South division with a 20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 15-9 win at Jacksonville (3-12, 1-10) as Erin Shomaker had 21 kills, five aces, three blocks, and 14 digs, and Cortney Vanliew had 20 kills, an ace, three blocks, and 15 digs. Sydney Bolding had 19 kills for Jacksonville … Also, Liberty swept North Alabama and Stetson won in five at North Florida.
ATLANTIC 10 — Earlier this week we featured La Salle, playing its season with just six players. Fordham (5-1, 5-0) swept the Explorers (4-1) as Whitley Moody had 11 kills, hit .313, and had an assist, an ace, two blocks, and seven digs. La Salle’s Elizabeth Osborn led with 17 kills and eight digs … VCU (11-3, 6-2) swept at Saint Louis (7-8, 6-2) as Paula Neciporuka had 12 kills, an ace, 16 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Qairo Bentley had 11 kills, four aces, two blocks, and 11 digs. SLU’s Maya Taylor had 16 kills, an assist, three digs, and two blocks, one solo, and Emily Imo had 25 digs and five assists … Dayton (8-1, 5-1) rolled on with a sweep at Duquesne (1-7). Jamie Peterson and Lexie Almodovar had 11 kills each, both hit .400, and Peterson had two aces, four blocks and six digs, while Almodovar had an ace, two blocks, and five digs.
BIG EAST — Villanova (4-2, 3-1) held off visiting Seton Hall (3-5, 1-4) 25-18, 24-26, 25-14, 28-30, 16-14 as four players had 12 or more kills, 19 each by Sophia Howling and Clare Delaplane. Howling hit .452 and had seven blocks, one solo. Averi Salvador had 26 digs, two assists, and six aces. Seton Hall’s Tsvetelina Ilieva had 20 kills, an assist, two blocks, and nine digs, and Raygan Murray had 29 digs, three assists, and an ace …
St. John’s (8-3, 4-2) beat visiting Providence (5-2, 3-2) in four. Rachelle Rastelli led with 17 kills as she hit .350 and had an ace, five blocks, and four digs … Xavier (6-5, 2-1) beat visiting Butler (4-9, 1-6) in four despite 22 kills by Butler’s Brittany Robinson, who hit .333 and had an assist, three aces, two blocks, and 22 digs. MaryAnn O’Toole led Xavier with 14 kills as she he had one error in 41 attacks, two assists, and 15 digs. Carrigan O’Reilly had five kills in 20 errorless attempts, 54 assists, an ace, 19 digs, and three blocks, one solo.
BIG SOUTH — High Point improved to 12-0 with two five-set victories at Charleston Southern (7-3). In the first, the Panthers won the fifth set 19-17. Annie Sullivan led with 19 kills. CSU’s Paige Reagor had 27 kills, hit .525, and had five blocks. In the nightcap, Sullivan had 15 more kills and Abby Bottomley had 29 digs, five assists, and three aces, while Dayana Chara led Charleston Southern with 17 …
Campbell (2-10) swept visiting Presbyterian (9-3) as Melody Paige and Lailah Green had 10 kills each … Winthrop (7-3) swept at Radford (3-9) … USC Upstate (5-7) swept visiting UNC Asheville (6-7).
MID-AMERICAN — Akron (4-14) gave Bowling Green all it could handle before the Falcons (17-0) won 25-17, 19-25, 14-25, 25-18, 15-13. It gave BGSU a share of the regular-season title and gave it the No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament. Petra Indrova led with 20 kills, two assists, two blocks, and 19 digs. Katelyn Meyer had 13 kills, two blocks, and a dig. Yelianz Torres had 29 digs, two kills in her only tries, and three assists and an ace. Jaden Walz had two kills, 44 assists, an ace, and nine digs. Alexis Adleta led Akron with 26 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and 16 digs. Taylor Sharrits had 30 digs, three assists, and five aces. Emily Wiegand had six kills in 15 errorless attempts, 37 assists, three aces, and 11 digs …
Ohio (8-6) beat visiting Western Michigan (13-3) in four. Caitlin O’Farrell led with 16 kills. Rachel Bontrager had 17 kills for WMU and two assists, 12 digs, and three blocks … Morgan Copley had a career-high 19 kills as Kent State (11-6) beat visiting Northern Illinois (8-10) in five. Copley hit .514 and had three blocks, one solo. NIU’s Katie Jablonski had 15 kills, an ace, and eight digs … Miami (9-8) beat visiting Eastern Michigan (7-9) in four as four players had 13 or more kills, 18 by Sophie Riemersma. Morgan Seaman had 17 assists and 16 digs, and Abigail Huser had a career-high 38 digs, a kill, a dig, and eight asists … Ball State (8-9) beat visiting Central Michigan (9-9) in five. Kia Holder led with 18 kills, five blocks, and five digs … Taylor Alt had 24 kills as Toledo (4-12) beat visiting Buffalo (3-5) in five.
PATRIOT LEAGUE — Loyola Maryland (1-2), playing for the first time in 20 days, beat American University (2-2) for the first time since 1992. Four Loyola players had 10 or more kills, 16 each by Abby Hamilton and Cat Vaccaro. Corinne Filograna had 24 digs, an assist, and four aces … Colgate (6-1) won in five at Lafayette (2-4) as Alli Lowe led with 19 kills and 15 digs … Army West Point (3-2) beat visiting Holy Cross (3-4) in five as four Knights had 12 or more kills, 19 by Allanah Cutler. Ana Ogilve had 24 digs, seven assists, and an ace, and Hannah Presley had four kills, 53 assists, two blocks, and 23 digs.
SUMMIT LEAGUE — Kansas City (12-1) won 25-22, 16-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-12 at South Dakota (11-5, 10-2) in a the battle for first place. Four players had 11 or more kills for Kansas City, including Melanie Brecka with 14. She had an assist, four blocks, and 14 digs. Alex Ratzlaff had 13 kills, a block, and 19 digs. Maddie Renn had 27 digs, nine assists, and an ace. Alli Schomers had three kills, 39 assists, three blocks, and 12 digs. Elizabeth Juhnke led South Dakota with 18 kills, an assist, an ace, two solo blocks, and 13 digs. Madison Jurgens and Lolo Weideman had 25 digs apiece …
Denver (10-2) hit .356 and stayed a game back with a sweep of visiting North Dakota State (8-7, 6-7). Tina Boe led with 10 kills. She had one error in 18 attacks, three aces, five blocks, and a dig … Western Illinois (1-13) finally broke through when the Leathernecks beat visiting North Dakota (2-13, 2-11) in four. It WIU’s first win over North Dakota in program history after going 0-4 previously. Emma Norris led with 13 kills, hitting .385 … South Dakota State (6-10,6-9) swept at Oral Roberts (2-13, 2-11). Crystal Burk led with 14 kills and 15 digs.
WEST COAST — Pepperdine (13-2, 13-1) won in four at Loyola Marymount (5-9). Rachel Ahrens led with 17 kills, five aces, and a block. Shannon Scully had 14 kills and seven digs …
Gonzaga (5-10) hit .381 and swept at San Francisco (6-9). Sarah Penner led with 11 kills as she hit .385 and had two aces, four blocks, and six digs. Kennedy Croft had 10 kills with no errors in 18 attacks …
Santa Clara (4-6) beat visiting Saint Mary’s (7-8) in four as Julia Sangiacomo had 19 kills, hit .341, and added four aces, 14 digs, and two blocks. Sophia Tulino had 13 kills, an ace, five digs, and two blocks.
AROUND THE NATION — Texas Southern (2-6) swept at Mississippi Valley (0-7) as the Tigers hit .357 in their SWAC match. Danielle Lilley had nine kills and hit .400 and Thalia Cordero-Moreno had nine kills and hit .471 …
South Florida (6-5, 3-3) swept visiting Tulane (7-9, 5-3) in their American Athletic match. Makayla Washington led with 13 kills, hitting .346 …
Two Big Sky matches ended in sweeps as Southern Utah beat Eastern Washington and Portland State beat Idaho State …
UNCW (2-8, 2-5) won its Colonial match at William & Mary (3-2) as Katie Lanz had 22 kills, an assist, two blocks, and four digs. William & Mary’s Julia Brown had 21 kills, she hit .405, and had a solo block and two digs …
In the Metro Atlantic, Canisius beat Rider in five, Rider then swept Canisius, and Iona beat Quinnipiac in four …
Coppin State (8-4, 7-1) won its MEAC match in four over visiting Delaware State (7-4, 3-3) as Miajavon Coleman led a balanced attack with 11 kills, an assist, two blocks, and six digs …
UNLV (8-0) stayed atop the Mountain West with a four-set win over visiting San Jose State (4-7) as the Rebels played for the first time in two weeks. UNLV hit .321, led by Mariena Hayden, who had 122 kills, hit .409, and added an assist, four aces, a solo blocks, and nine digs … Also in the MW, Utah State (3-7) beat visiting Air Force (5-6) in five. Bailey Downing led with 15 kills, an assist, three blocks, and a dig.
MEN — Lewis (12-2, 7-2) won its fourth in a row, a MIVA sweep at McKendree (4-8, 1-8) as the Flyers hit .367. Ryan Coenen led with 14 kills as he hit .324 and had three blocks and five digs … Siapanis Sotiris had 23 kills, hit .465, and had two aces, eight digs and a block as Ohio State (6-7, 5-4) won in four at Purdue Fort Wayne (3-6). Martin Lallemand had 16 kills, three aces, 12 digs and three blocks. PFW’s Jon Diedrich had 14 kills with one error in 21 attacks, seven digs, and two blocks … Ball State (9-4, 6-3) won in four at Quincy (4-8, 1-8) as Kaleb Jenness had 15 kills and Blake Reardon had 14 … Luke Denton had 25 kills as Loyola (11-3, 7-3) beat visiting McKendree (8-3, 7-3) in four. Denton had an assist, an ace, 11 digs, and three blocks, one solo. Cole Schlothauer had 17 kills, hit .353, and had two assists, eight digs, and a block …
In the MPSF, Stanford (1-7) got its first win as the Cardinal swept visiting Grand Canyon (3-5). Kupono Browne led with 14 kills, an assist, an ace, and five digs. Luke Turner had 12 kills, an assist, four digs, and five blocks, one solo. Camden Gianni had 12 kills for GCU …
In the EIVA, Penn State (13-2, 10-1) won at NJIT (11-4, 11-2) to not only break the Highlanders’ nine-match winning streak, but take over sole possession of first place. Penn State, which hit .382, got 15 kills from Michael Valenzi, who hit .370 and had four digs. Brett Wildman had 13 kills, seven digs, and two blocks. Julian Meissner had 15 kills and hit .408 for NJIT to go with an assist, five digs, and three blocks, one solo … Saint Francis (4-14, 3-8) won in five at Charleston (4-9). Michael Fisher led with 15 kills …
In Conference Carolinas, Emmanuel (6-10, 4-6) beat visiting North Greenville (11-3, 7-3) in five. Aleksa Lakic led Emmanuel with 20 kills, two aces, four blocks, and nine digs. North Greenville’s Jackson Gilbert had 21 kills, two aces, 11 digs, and five blocks, one solo … Belmont Abbey (9-5, 5-3) swept at Erskine (8-10, 3-5) as Matteo Miselli had 15 kills, hitting .500, with three blocks and three digs … King got swept by independent Limestone.
