Wisconsin is back.
The top-ranked Badgers came back after a month and stayed unbeaten with a four-set Big Ten victory at Minnesota that showcased the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball action Sunday.
Oregon swept its Pac-12 match at Oregon State and coach Beth Launiere got her 600th victory as Utah swept Colorado, so four teams are within two games of each other atop the conference. Also in the Pac-12, Arizona State beat Stanford on its home court for the first time since 1982.
The ACC saw North Carolina beat Notre Dame and Virginia Tech and Pitt get five-set victories.
There is one ACC match Monday when Boston College plays at Duke. No other Power 5 teams play Monday.
The Horizon League has five doubleheaders. Other conferences with busy schedules include the Ohio Valley, Missouri Valley, America East, Conference USA, SoCon and WAC.
There are no NCAA Division I-II men’s matches Monday
Want to watch a match? We’ve got the links in the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
WISCONSIN WINS — The Badgers are 11-0 after winning 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 at Minnesota (11-2). Wisconsin was off for exactly a month because of COVID cases. Neither team had its setter and both lineups were a work in progress.
“Man it’s been a long time. I thought our kids were fired up to play. I thought our resiliency was really good after errors, we didn’t let one error turn into two, turn into three. I thought we did a really good job on serve-pass and our defensive game, I thought was really good,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought MJ (Hammill) did a solid job for her first collegiate match against a pretty good team. A lot of things to feel pretty good about.
“We’re just so happy to be playing. This was a month to the day without playing. For two of those weeks, we didn’t even get a practice. It’s really hard to find some type of practice rhythm. These guys really stuck with it. You’re just so happy that they get a chance to play. They got themselves ready to go. They got a win out of it.”
Wisconsin hit .303. Dana Rettke led with 17 kills as she hit .371 with four errors in 35 attacks. She had an ace, seven blocks, and a digs. Grace Loberg had 17 kills, hit .317, and had an assist, two aces, four blocks, and six digs. Devyn Robinson had 10 kills, hit .333, and had three blocks and a dig. Danielle Hart had eight kills and hit .385. With All-American setter Sydney Hilley out, MJ Hammill had one kill in two errorless tries, 46 assists, two blocks, and nine digs. Lauren Barnes had 20 digs and six assists.
Minnesota hit .205 as its setter, Melani Shaffmaster, sat out. Bayley McMenimen had 24 assists, two aces, and nine digs, and Hunter Atherton got her first action for the Gophers and had nine assists and three digs.
Taylor Landfair led with 15 kills and hit .400 and she had two blocks. Regan Pittman had nine kills with one error in 17 attacks and added three blocks, two solo. Adanna Rollins had nine kills, an assist, an ace, and eight digs, and Stephanie Samedy had seven kills, an assist, two blocks, and nine digs. Libero CC McGraw was out and Jenna Wenaas had 13 digs and an assist.
“We won’t get into the discussion of noble losses, but I do think that the team competed and relative to what we could control, we were doing a lot of good things against a good team,” Minnesota coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “The credit goes to Wisconsin for playing a good match and we congratulate them. I think there’s a lot of good that we got from tonight and some important lessons we can learn from that outcome that I think can help us, moving forward.
“Given this was the first time we played this system, and players in different spots doing different things, I thought there were a lot of really good things to take from that performance.”
The B1G is off until Wednesday when Rutgers goes to Maryland and then Thursday Nebraska is at Michigan.
PAC-12 — Oregon (11-3) won 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 at Oregon State (5-11). Brooke Nuneviller led with 15 kills and nine digs, and Taylor Borup had 11 kills, an ace, a solo block, and six digs. Gloria Mutiri had nine kills with one error in 19 attacks, two digs, and four blocks, one solo.
Mychael Vernon had 12 kills and hit .310 for Oregon State and had two blocks and six digs …
Utah (12-4) kept pace with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-20 sweep of visiting Colorado (6-10) that gave 31st-year coach Beth Launiere her 600th career victory, all at the Salt Lake City school.
Dani Drews led with 16 kills, an ace, a block, and six digs. Madelyn Robinson had 11 kills, two digs, and two blocks, one solo.
“I’ve been proud about the longevity I’ve been able to sustain,” Launiere said. “Each milestone is nice to celebrate, but honestly the best thing about today was getting a 3-0 win against Colorado and keeping us in position for our goals. I always take a little time to celebrate these type of things because I think it’s important, but I’ll be watching video tomorrow on our next opponent for sure.”
Colorado hit .075 …
Arizona State (5-11) won at Stanford (2-6) for the first time since 1982 as Iman Isanovic had 21 kills and 13 digs in the 19-25, 26-24, 25-22, 19-25, 15-11 victory. Roberta Rabelo had 15 kills, three digs and three blocks, two solo. Ella Snyder had two kills in three errorless tries, 41 assists, two blocks, and 14 digs. Her team hit .173. Annika Larson added 19 digs and eight assists.
Stanford, which hit .145, got 20 kills from Caitie Baird, who had four blocks and 12 digs. Meghan McClure had 13 kills, an ace, a block and 20 digs. Annabelle Smith had eight kills and 11 blocks, Mackenzie Fidelak had six kills, nine assists, five aces, four blocks, and 19 digs, and Elena Oglivie had 21 digs and three assists …
Brooke Botkin had 23 kills, three blocks and 19 digs as USC (4-8) dealt UCLA (12-6) a tough 27-25, 25-23, 14-25, 21-25, 15-11 loss on its home court despite some great numbers by the Bruins. Brooklyn Schirmer had 16 kills, an ace and 11 digs. Raquel Lazaro had a kill, 56 assists, an ace, four blocks, 13 digs. UCLA hit .318 and got 25 kills from Mac May and 24 from élan McCall. May hit .304 and had a block and 12 digs, while McCall hit .408 and had an assist, an ace, and 19 digs. Zoe Fleck had 23 digs, eight assists, and an ace, and Audrey Pak and Kate Lane combined for 59 assists, eight digs, and an ace …
Arizona (9-9) swept at Cal (1-17) as Merle Weidt and Sofia Maldonado Diaz had 11 kills each in the 25-18, 26-24, 25-23 victory. Weidt hit. 500 and had a block and a dig.
ACC — North Carolina (10-4, 9-3) surprised visiting Notre Dame (11-3, 10-3) 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 15-9. UNC, which hit .136, had four players with 10 or more kills, 15 from Skyy Howard. She had four digs and eight blocks, one solo. Emily Zinger had 14 kills, two blocks, and 10 digs, and Karenna Wurl had 24 digs, two assists, and three aces. Annabelle Archer had a kill, 43 assists, two aces, two blocks, and 10 digs.
“I couldn’t be any more proud of how our team just stayed with it,” UNC coach Joe Sagula said. “There were times when Notre Dame played really well and put a lot of pressure on us. We played really gritty at the end. We showed our competitiveness. I liked the team believed in themselves and played with confidence. We earned a lot of points today and put the pressure back on Notre Dame. I’m so proud of how this team stayed together and played for each other.”
Notre Dame, which hit .149, was led by Charley Niego’s 21 kills. She had an assist, two aces, a block, and 10 digs. Caroline Meuth had 14 kills, five blocks, and nine digs. Zoe Nunez had 47 assists, a block, and 24 digs …
Pitt (11-4, 10-4) went way into overtime in the fifth set to win 20-25, 25-15, 25-11, 19-25, 22-20 at Duke (8-9, 6-6). The Panthers, who won their seventh in a row, faced match point four times and had eight match points of their own. Kayla Lund led with 21 kills as she hit .315 and had an assist, an ace, and 20 digs. Chinaza Ndee, who had six blocks, and Valeria Vazquez Gomez had 11 kills each. Duke’s Ade Owokoniran, who had five blocks, and Gracie Johnson had 16 kills each …
Virginia Tech (6-7, 5-7) also won in five, beating visiting Syracuse (5-7) 23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 24-26, 15-11 as Kaity Smith had 19 kills, Marisa Cerchio 16, and Ashley Homan 15. Cerchio hit .394 and had two assists, five blocks, and four digs. Logan Mosley had 25 digs, three assists, and an ace. Syracuse got 14 kills from Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk, who had three aces, a block, and four digs …
NC State (8-7, 7-7) swept visiting Boston College (1-11, 0-11) 25-14, 25-22, 25-19. Jade Parchment had 13 kills, an ace, and 14 digs.
CONFERENCE USA — Western Kentucky improved to 16-0, 10-0 in the league, with its sweep at Middle Tennessee. WKU hit .330 as Lauren Matthews led with 13 kills. She had no errors in 18 attacks to go with five blocks and a dig …Ciara DeBell had 23 kills as Marshall won in five at Old Dominion. Bell had 14 digs and three blocks, one solo … North Texas swept at Southern Miss. Valerie Valerian and Rhett Robinson had 14 kills each … UAB swept visiting UTSA. Fernanda Maida had 15 kills, a block, and 14 digs … UTEP swept at Louisiana Tech … And FAU got its first win of the spring after losing 11 overall, nine in conference, with a five-set victory over FIU (2-10, 2-9) as Camryn Vogler had 19 kills, three aces, an assist, a block, and 17 digs. Fiorella Murillo had 20 kills for FIU and an assist, an ace, five blocks, and 10 digs.
MISSOURI VALLEY — Bradley (11-4) swept at Missouri State. Hannah Thompson led with 14 kills as she had one error in 27 attacks to hit .481. She had nine digs and two blocks, one solo .. Drake (9-4) kept pace as it won its fifth in a fow, a sweep at Southern Illinois. Haley Bush led with 16 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 14 digs … Illinois State (8-3) hit .321 and stayed in the mix weith a sweep of visiting Evansville. Kaylee Martin led with 13 kills as she hit .345 and had three blocks and four digs … Emily Holterhaus had 21 kills, an assist, two blocks, and 14 digs as UNI beat visiting Loyola Chicago in five … Valparaiso swept visiting Indiana State as Jaclyn Bulmahn had 20 kills with one error in 35 attacks to hit .543. She had two digs and four blocks.
OHIO VALLEY — Morehead State (13-0, 12-0) kept rolling with a sweep at Eastern Kentucky as Olivia Lohmeier led with 19 kills as she hit .324 and had 12 digs and six blocks, two solo … Jacksonville State (13-0) stayed a game up in the win column as it hit .356 and swept at UT Martin. Lena Kindermann led with 14 kills as she hit .345 and had two blocks, and four digs … Southeast Missouri (11-2) stayed close with a sweep at Eastern Illinois as Laney Malloy and Zoey Beasley had 12 kills each … Tennessee Tech won in four at Murray State behind 16 kills by Jayla Holcombe, who had two blocks and three digs … Belmont beat Tennessee State in four. Taylor Floyd had 15 kills, hit .400, and had an assist, nine digs, and two blocks.
PATRIOT LEAGUE — Colgate improved to 7-1 with a sweep of visiting Lafayette as Alli Lowe had 18 kills with two errors in 35 attacks to hit .435 to go with an ace, a block, and six digs. Leeana Deegan led Lafayette with 15 kills as she hit .324 and had two assists, a solo block, and eight digs … Lehigh won in five at Loyola Maryland as Lylah Washington had 19 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 13 digs. Abby Hamilton had 19 kills for Loyola and added an ace, a solo block, and 22 digs. Katie Forsythe had 39 digs and an assist … Army West Point won in four at Holy Cross as Mackenzie Karing and Allanah Cutler had 14 kills each.
SOCON — Samford (12-1) won in four at Chattanooga as Kenya McQuirter had 18 kills, a solo block, and nine digs. Samford had 100 digs with six players having eight or more, 19 by Lauren Deaton, who also had 13 kills, two assists, an ace, and three blocks. Corinne Meglic had two kills, 50 assists, two blocks, and 16 digs … Mellanie King had 22 kills and Sharlissa de Jesus 20 as The Citadel beat visiting UNCG in four. King hit .304 and had two assists, an ace, and 17 digs. de Jesus hit .326 and had four aces, 15 digs, and four blocks, one solo … Wofford (10-4) got its 10th win, matching the program high, with a sweep of visiting Furman. Sarah Barham had 12 kills and five blocks, one solo … And Mercer swept visiting ETSU. Annie Karle led with 12 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 12 digs.
AROUND THE NATION — In the lone West Coast Conference match Sunday, Loyola Marymount (5-6) swept visiting Santa Clara (1-4) as four players had eight or more kills, 12 by Rose Booth. She hit .407 and had two blocks and six digs. Audrey Klemp had 10 kills with one error in 19 attacks, an assist, two aces, three blocks, and five digs …
East Carolina (3-7) of the American Athletic won in five at Davidson (2-9) of the Atlantic 10 as four ECU players had 10 or more kills, 19 by Sydney Kleinman, who had an ace, 12 digs, and three blocks, one solo. Janiece Jefferies had 25 digs, 29 assists, a block and two aces. Davidson’s Hattie Rodriguez had 19 kills, an assist, a block, and 15 digs …
In the Colonial Athletic Association, James Madison swept visiting College of Charleston as Miette Veldman had 7 kills, hit .400, and had an assist, an ace, and 10 digs …
The Big Sky race was already decided, but Weber State improved to 15-1 as it swept visiting Montana State (10-4). It’s the best finish in program history and Weber State next plays in the conference tournament March 31 at Northern Colorado. Speaking of which, UNC won in four at Idaho and Sacramento State won in four at Montana …
In the SWAC, Grambling won in five at Texas Southern, while Prairie View swept visiting Arkansas -Pine Bluff …
The Metro Atlantic had six matches, including Fairfield improving to 7-0 with two sweeps over visiting Siena. Click for the MAAC schedule and results.
The America East had two gatherings, one at NJIT and one at Albany.
Click here for the AE schedule and results.
MEN — The Big West had two matches as Long Beach State (1-1) bounced back with a four-set win against visiting UC Santa Barbara (5-4, 3-1) after losing in four to the Gauchos on Saturday. Five LBSU players had 11 or more kills, 16 by Spencer Olivier, who hit .333 and had two assists, 17 digs, and five blocks, three solo. Aidan Knipe had three kills in as many tries, 57 assists, and five digs. UCSB’s Randy DeWeese had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and five digs … CSUN (1-1) got a split with UC Irvine (2-6, 2-2) by winning in four as four players had 11 kills or more. Kyle Hobus led with 15 as he hit .444 and had three assists, an ace, and six digs. Joel Schneidmiller had 13 kills for UCI …
In the lone MIVA match Sunday, Lewis improved to 13-2, 8-2 in the conference, as it swept at Lindenwood. Ryan Coenen led with 19 kills, hitting .417, and had had an assist, an ace, eight digs, and five blocks, one solo …
The EIVA saw George Mason (11-5, 8-4) sweep visiting winless Sacred Heart twice. In the first match, Hayden Wagner had 13 killls, three blocks, and a dig. Sam Greenslade led in the second with 11 kills, hitting .321.
