You don’t have to go out on a shaky limb to accurately predict that when the AVCA top-25 comes out Monday, for the second straight week it’s going to look quite a bit different than the poll before.
Friday was another one of those unpredictable days.
To wit:
— No. 17 Baylor won at Wisconsin — behind 31 kills by Yossiana Pressley — dealing the fourth-ranked Badgers back-to-back losses to open their home season
— Fifth-ranked Illinois was knocked off by No. 16 Washington
— No. 12 Kentucky lost to No. 23 Creighton before bouncing back to beat No. 15 USC
— No. 14 Michigan was swept by unranked Missouri
— No. 18 Purdue lost to unranked Notre Dame
— No. 21 Tennessee was swept by unranked Cincinnati
There are plenty of other results from Friday’s NCAA women’s Division I volleyball that will get your attention. The recaps follow, but first a brief look at Saturday’s schedule as non-conference match-ups spice the early going.
In the Big Ten, the highlight is No. 7 Florida of the SEC at No. 8 Minnesota. Both are coming off defeats, Florida to top-ranked Stanford and Minnesota first to Florida State and then to Texas. Sixth-ranked Penn State takes on LSU at Iowa State and Illinois plays Colorado at Iowa. Later, No. 2 Nebraska is at No. 25 San Diego.
The ACC slate includes No. 10 Pittsburgh in action twice, playing host to Green Bay and Duquesne, and No. 22 Florida State playing Colorado State at TCU.
In the Big 12, Kansas plays South Carolina at UCF and West Virginia faces Arizona in San Diego.
In the SEC, Kentucky is back at it, playing Northern Iowa on its home court, and Tennessee is at Michigan State.
The Pac-12 schedule is loaded. Surprising Cal, now 4-0, plays UNLV at UC Irvine and later the Anteaters. USC is also playing Northern Iowa on its home court, where USC plays Creighton.
Also, No. 13 BYU is home for Weber State, and No. 11 Marquette, coming off that upset Friday at Wisconsin, plays host to Syracuse.
Top 25: Nebraska (3-0) defeated Arizona 25-17, 25-14, 17-25, 25-17 at San Diego. The Huskers dominated much of the match, but hit a lull in the third and early fourth set as the Wildcats took a fourth set 8-5 lead before the Huskers regained control. Lexi Sun, who is from nearby Encinitas, led with 15 kills and hit .353 to go with two aces, eight digs and three blocks, one solo. Madi Kubik had 13 kills, 13 digs, two blocks and an ace, and Jazz Sweet had 11 kills and six digs. Paige Whipple had 13 kills for the 2-2 Wildcats …
Baylor (4-0) lost the first set but came storming back to hand Wisconsin (2-2) a 21-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-17 defeat. Pressley, who when healthy, is one of the most dynamic hitters in college volleyball, had 10 kills each in both the second and fourth sets. When Baylor upset then No. 2 Wisconsin almost a year ago at Baylor, Pressley had 32 kills.
This time she had her 31 kills in 63 swings and hit .270 and added an ace, two blocks and 16 digs. Shelly Stafford had eight kills with no errors in 26 attacks and hit .308 to go with two assists, an ace, three digs and two blocks. Setter Hannah Lockin had five kills, 50 assists, an ace, three blocks and 11 digs. Baylor goes to Marquette on Sunday.
Wisconsin, playing with right-side Madison Duello out with a minor injury, got 16 kills from Molly Haggerty. Grace Loberg had 14 kills and Dana Rettke had 11, hit .348, and had an ace, a dig and eight blocks.
Washington (3-1) beat Illinois (2-1) 25-22, 20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-10 at Iowa as Kara Bajema had 25 kills, hitting .367. She had an assist, an ace, six digs and three blocks, one solo. Samantha Drechsel and Claire Hoffman had 11 kills each. Jacqueline Quade led Illinois with 23 kills, hitting .405, and had two assists, an ace and eight digs. Beth Prince added 14 kills, two aces and two blocks …
Penn State (4-0) swept Iowa State (2-2) 25-22, 25-16, 25-16. Kaitlyn Hord led with 12 kills and hit .647 and Jonni Parker had 10 kills and hit .391. Candaleria Herrera had 10 kills and hit .600 for ISU …
Pittsburgh (4-0) swept visiting Ohio State (2-2) 25-21, 25-19, 25-19. The Panthers, who have not lost a set this season, got 13 kills from Kayla Lund and 11 from Stephanie Williams. Jenaisya Moore had 12 kills for the Buckeyes, who hit .107 …
Kentucky stood 3-2 after losing to Creighton in four but beating USC in four. Creighton, meanwhile, evened its record at 2-2 by later going five to beat Northern Iowa.
In the UK-Creighton match, Naomi Hickman led the Bluejays with 20 kills and hit .655 after having one error in 29 swings. She added an assist, two digs and three blocks. Erica Kostelac and Keely Davis had 12 kills apiece. Kentucky’s Leah Edmond had 18 kills and Alli Stumler had 17.
In the UK-USC match, Edmond led again, this time with 17 kills. Stumler had 13. USC (1-2) was playing without All-American outside Khalia Lanier, who didn’t travel because of an undisclosed injury. Her team hit .140, led by Brooke Botkin’s 14 kills.
And in the Creighton-UNI match, the Bluejays won 19-25, 25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 15-11 to leave UNI also 2-2. Kostelac led with 15 kills and Megan Ballenger and Hickman had 10 each. Karlie Taylor had 29 kills for UNI to go with an assist, an ace, two blocks and 14 kills …
BYU (4-1) beat visiting Sam Houston State 24-26, 25-13, 25-16, 25-18 as Madelyn Robinson had 16 kills, two blocks and 11 digs and McKenna Miller had 15 kills and three blocks. Ashley Lewis had 15 kills for SHSU (1-4) …
Michigan (4-1) got swept by Missouri 25-12, 25-13, 25-23 before beating Northern Illinois 25-19, 25-18, 25-9. Missouri (3-0) got 15 kills from Kylie Deberg, who had one error in 22 attacks and hit .636 to go with an assist, two aces, two blocks and two digs.
Against NIU, the Wolverines hit .500 and had four players with eight or more kills, nine from Sydney Wetterstrom.
Missouri later beat Dayton in four, getting 19 more kills from Deberg, who hit .375, had two assists, two more aces, nine digs and two solo blocks. Jamie Peterson had 17 kills for Dayton (2-4) …
Purdue dropped to 2-1 when it lost at Notre Dame (4-1) 16-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21, 15-12. Sydney Bent had 20 kills for the Irish and Caitlyn Newton 21 for Purdue …
No. 19 Utah (6-0) won twice, sweeping UC Davis and then Portland State. Kenzie Koerber had 17 kills for the Utes against UC Davis, which dropped to 4-2 after also getting swept by Utah Valley. Zoe Weatherington had 16 kills and hit .636 for Utah against Portland State and Dani Drews added 13 kills …
No. 20 Hawai’i (5-0) swept visiting Sacramento State as Skyler Williams and Amber Igiede had nine kills each. Williams had no errors in nine attacks to hit 1.000, and Igiede had no errors in 16 swings and hit .563 …
It’s been a tough start to the season for No. 21 Tennessee, which opened with back-to-back five-set losses to Illinois and then got swept by Cincinnati on Saturday before sweeping Miami. Cincinnati was led by Jordan Thompson, who had 26 kills and hit .417. Tessa Grubbs had 11 kills for the Vols.
Then Grubbs had 13 more kills as Tennessee beat Miami. Cincinnati, however, couldn’t sustain. The Bearcats (3-1) lost in four to host Michigan State (4-0), which earlier in the day swept Indiana State.
No. 22 Florida State had to go the distance against Florida Atlantic, getting past the Owls at TCU 23-25, 25-11, 25-22, 27-29, 15-5. FSU (2-1) got 22 kills from Payton Caffrey, who hit .386 to go with an ace, 14 digs and three blocks. Massiel Matos hd 16 kills for FAU (2-2) …
No. 24 Louisville swept Tennessee Tech and then beat Western Kentucky in four, and No. 25 San Diego swept visiting Arkansas.
Around the nation: Northwestern is 5-0 after wins over Austin Peay and Texas Tech. Tech’s Emily Hill had the line of the night, however, with 33 kills. She hit .386 after taking 70 swings and had 12 digs and four blocks, one solo …
Colorado (4-0) won at Iowa (3-1) 25-22, 25-20, 25-23. Sterling Parker had 11 kills and four blocks for the Buffs …
Indiana swept Oregon State on Friday but then lost in five to Oklahoma. Against OSU, the Hoosiers hit .406 and Breana Edwards had 13 kills. Maddie Goings had 16 for the Beavers. Sarah Maras had 17 kills for the Sooners, who won despite hitting .171 as IU hit .125. Earlier in the day OU (4-2) beat Yale in five and Maras had 18 kills, 10 digs, an assist and two blocks …
Cal is 4-0 after sweeping North Carolina as Maddie Haynes had 14 kills and hit .542 after having just one error in 24 swings. She added two digs and two blocks, one solo. Savannah Rennie had 10 kills and no errors in 18 attacks and hit .556 to go with an ace, five digs and four blocks …
Florida Gulf Coast is 5-0 after sweeping South Florida and then Auburn, its first program win over an SEC school. Courtney VanLiew combined for 31 kills in the two matches … Brynn Carlson had 17 kills for Kansas State in a five-set win over Omaha. Isabella Sade had 21 kills, three aces, 15 digs and two blocks for Omaha …
Shannon Scully had 14 kills, 12 digs, three aces and four blocks as Pepperdine beat visiting Fairfield in four … Georgetown lost in five to Marshall but Iva Vujosevic had 22 kills and 11 digs … JoJo Kruize had 22 kills for Western Illinois in its five-set win over Evansville as Evansville’s Rachel Tam had 21 …
San Francisco (3-2) won twice Friday. Kathya Garcia had 26 kills in a five-set win over UC Riverside and 13 more kills in a sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne …
Lindsey Ruddins has 18 kills, 11 digs and two blocks as UC Santa Barbara beat NC State … Trinniti Hall had 19 kills and hit .400 for Cleveland State in a five-set win over Butler and also had an assist, three aces, five digs and five blocks, one solo. Then she went off for 23 kills in a sweep of Charlotte, hitting .500 and adding an ace, two digs and a block …
Desiree Sukhov had 30 kills and 15 digs as Fresno State beat Santa Clara in five. She added two assists, three aces and two blocks, one solo …
Bethune-Cookman won at Texas Southern in five as Jordan Jefferson had 22 kills and 15 digs. BCU remained in Texas after last week’s season-opening tournament at Houston Baptist with the campus in Daytona Beach, Fla., closed due to Hurricane Dorian. BCU and Texas Southern, scheduled to play in BCU’s tournament this weekend, arranged a two-match series, but had to find other places to play with HB&E Arena undergoing preparations for next week’s Democratic Presidential debate …
And Wyoming won twice Friday, beating Buffalo and College of Charleston, which made Chad Callihan — 125 victories — the winningest coach in school history.
