Central Arkansas had to cancel its weekend matches because of positive coronavirus tests.
The SEC finally released a schedule.
The ACC, close to getting under way, released a coaches poll for a league in which few of the teams play each other.
And there is more NCAA Division I women’s volleyball Friday and Saturday, mostly involving teams from the Sun Belt and Southland conferences.
UCA COVID — Central Arkansas was scheduled to play host to Little Rock on Friday and Arkansas State on Saturday and then travel to Arkansas State on Sunday.
Now the Sugar Bears have made history as the first program to postpone newly scheduled matches because of positive COVD-19 tests.
“Unfortunately, this is not an unusual occurrence now,” Dr. Brad Teague, UCA’s director of athletics, said in a statement. “We want to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants so it is best that we postpone these matches.”
UCA, a member of the Southland Conference, opened play last weekend at Stephen F. Austin and lost to SFA and Texas State.
SEC schedule — The league was the last holdout and announced this week that its fall slate begins October 16 when Tennessee goes to Kentucky, and finishes on November 22 when Tennessee plays at Auburn.
In between, teams will play twice at home and twice on the road, a total of eight matches over the six weeks.
The SEC said in a news release that: “Each school will compete against four opponents, twice in the same weekend on back-to-back days. Matches may be played Wednesday/Thursday, Thursday/Friday, Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday. The schedule includes a week at the end of the season for any makeups matches for all schools.
“SEC volleyball teams will participate in spring competition as well, with details of formats contingent on final decisions by the NCAA to conduct spring championships in those sports.”
Click here for the complete SEC schedule that does not include a match between the conference’s top teams, Kentucky and Florida.
ACC predicts — The league’s 15 coaches did the voting and they pick Pitt to win its fourth ACC title in a row. Pitt got 11 first-place votes. Louisville and Georgia Tech got two first-place votes. Coaches couldn’t vote for their own teams.
1. Pitt (192 points, 11 first-place votes)
2. Louisville (175 points, two first-place votes)
3. Georgia Tech (172 points, two first-place votes)
4. Notre Dame (158 points)
5. Florida State (145 points)
6. Syracuse (126 points)
7. North Carolina (121 points)
T8. Boston College (89 points)
T8. Miami (89 points)
10. Duke (82 points)
11. NC State (70 points)
12. Clemson (68 points)
13. Virginia (42 points)
14. Wake Forest (28 points)
15. Virginia Tech (18 points)
Click here for the story and the all-ACC preseason team that includes the reigning player of the year, Kayla Lund of Pittsburgh.
The ACC begins fall play in three pods of five teams each. Click here for more on that.
Friday-Saturday schedule — We have all the matches in our VolleyballMag.com TV and streaming listings. Some only have links for live stats and a couple will be shown on ESPN+ (all times Eastern):
