The NCAA volleyball nonconference season comes to a close Sunday, and early-season weekends have delivered in a big way.
TV ratiings have been stronger than ever, the regular-season attendance record was set twice, there have been tremendous performances, and results have been unpredictable on a daily basis.
Saturday was no exception — a ranked Big Ten team lost twice, No. 3 Louisville won in four at No. 9 Stanford, McKenna Melville became UCF’s all-time kills leader, and Auburn beat Jacksonville State in five in a battle of unbeatens.
Recaps and notable top performances follow, but first a look at Sunday’s schedule.
The showcase match is No. 2 Nebraska at No. 13 Kentucky, which can’t be accused of having a weak nonconference schedule. The Wildcats (5-3) have losses to now No. 19 Marquette, No. 3 Wisconsin and No. 3 Louisville. Nebraska (7-1) is coming off a loss last Tuesday to No. 9 Stanford.
Also, Wisconsin, coming off its loss to No. 16 Florida on Friday, is home for Rhode Island. Fifth-ranked Ohio State plays at No. 12 Pittsburgh, No. 17 Creighton plays Rice, No. 19 Marquette is home for Illinois State, and No. 20 Oregon is at Miami (FL).
Two New Jersey teams square off when Princeton goes to Rutgers.
Three conferences are already into league play. On Sunday, there are five more matches in the CAA, including unbeaten Towson (11-0, 1-0) home for Hampton, and four in the MAAC, including perennial favorite Fairfield (7-5, 1-0) at Niagara.
Want to watch a match? We have the viewing links on the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings page.
TOP 25: Louisville (9-1) won 26-24, 27-25, 14-25, 25-13 at Stanford (5-3), capping a tremendously challenging nonconference stretch for both programs. Louisville, which hit .222, got 19 kills from Claire Chaussee, who hit .310 and had four digs. Aiko Jones had 12 kills, hit .375 and had four dig and eight blocks. Cara Cresse had three kills and 10 blocks. Stanford’s Kendall Kipp had 15 kills, an assist, two aces, four blocks and four digs. The Cardinal hit .197 …
Ohio State (4-3) hit .398 and swept Tennessee (6-5) 25-23, 25-23, 25-16 in Pittsburgh. Jenaisya Moore and Emily Londot had 11 kills each …
Minnesota (5-3) hit .364 and beat visiting Washington State 25-16, 25-13, 24-26, 25-20. Taylor Landfair had 16 kills, and Mckenna Wucherer had 15 while hitting .520. Carter Booth had 12 kills with one error in 24 swings. Lauran Jansen had 16 kills for WSU (8-3) …
Seventh-ranked Georgia Tech (7-2) swept at Georgia (9-2) 25-19, 25-17, 25-21 behind 16 kills from Julia Bergmann, who had two assists, an ace, two blocks and seven digs …
No. 8 San Diego beat San Diego State in four to improve to 9-1. The Toreros hit .373. Katie Lukes had 19 kills, hit .447 with two errors in 38 attacks and added an ace, six digs and three blocks, one solo …
No. 10 Purdue (9-1) beat Indiana foe Ball State (8-4) 25-11, 25-12, 30-28 despite hitting .198. Eva Hudson, off to one of the better starts for a freshman in Big Ten history, had 16 kills, two aces, nine digs and four blocks, one solo …
No. 11 Penn State improved to 11-0 with sweeps of UAlbany and Coastal Carolina. No Nittany Lion had more than nine kills in either match. …
No. 15 BYU (7-3) swept visiting Utah Valley (5-6) 25-16, 25-15, 25-20. Erin Livingston had 10 kills and hit .381 …
No. 17 Creighton (8-2) beat Kansas State (9-4) behind 17 kills from Keeley Davis, who hit .351 and had two assists, an ace and eight digs, and 13 kills from Norah Sis, who added two assists, an ace, a block and 12 digs. Kendra Wait had six kills in 11 errorless tries, 41 assists, an ace, two blocks and 19 digs
No. 18 Washington (8-2) swept Boise State (8-3). Madi Endlsey had 14 kills, and Claire Hoffman 13 …
No. 19 Marquette (8-1) made for a miserable day for No. 25 Illinois (5-5). Earlier, the Illini (5-5) were upset by Illinois State 25-20, 25-21, 13-25, 23-25, 15-9. ISU (7-3) got 15 kills from Sarah Kushner. Illinois’ Raina Terry had 19 kills and Jessica Nunge 17. Then Marquette beat the Illini 23-25, 25-20, 13-25, 25-19, 15-11. Jenna Reitsma had 17 kills, three assists, three aces and seven digs. Yadhira Anchante had four kills, 46 assists, two aces, 11 digs and two blocks, one solo. Kennedy Collins led Illinois with 15 kills while hitting .480, Terry had 15 kills, and Nunge 12. …
No. 20 Oregon (5-2) swept South Carolina (6-4) as it hit .368 in the 25-15, 25-18, 25-14 victory. Brooke Nuneviller had 19 kills, with one error in 29 attacks to hit .691, and added two aces, a block and 10 digs …
No. 21 WKU (12-2) beat Indiana 19-25, 26-24, 25-12, 25-23 behind 20 kills by Paige Briggs, who hit .425 and had eight digs and two blocks, one solo. Lauren Matthews had 10 kills and nine blocks. IU’s Sady Morris had 17 kills and five blocks …
No. 23 Kansas (10-2) got eight aces from freshman Ayah Elnady and beat Omaha (5-5) 25-16, 25-17, 20-25, 25-16. Elnady also had nine kills, an assist and nine digs. London Davis had 14 kills while hitting .475 and added 11 digs and four blocks. McKenna Ruch had 12 kills and hit .391 for Omaha (5-5) to go with six blocks, one solo.
ACC: Polina Shemanova had 23 kills, 22 digs and two blocks, but it wasn’t enough as Syracuse lost to Bryant in five. Bryant then lost to Connecticut in five. UConn earlier beat Brown in four … Boston College, coming off back-to-back losses, improved to 11-2 with a sweep of Columbia as the Eagles hit .476 … Duke is 9-2 after sweeping Harvard as Taylor Atkinson had 14 kills, hit .355 and had four aces, three digs and two blocks … Emma Clothier had 11 kills with one error in 17 attacks, an ace, four digs and four blocks as Florida State swept UAB … Clemson is 9-3 after getting past Murray State in five … Virginia (8-3) is still off to its best start since 2004, but it was swept by Maryland (9-3) … North Carolina swept UMBC as Mabrey Shaffmaster had 15 kills, an assist, two aces and nine digs. UMBC also lost in five to VCU despite 28 kills by Kamani Conteh … Notre Dame beat Ohio in four to improve to 5-5 … Wake Forest swept Charlotte and held Emani’ Foster to 11 kills.
BIG 12: Iowa State won twice. The Cyclones beat Missouri State in four as they hit .365 and then beat Saint Louis in five. Against Missouri State, Maya Duckworth had 12 kills and hit .476 to go with three blocks, and against SLU she had 18 kills, hit .341 and had two aces and three digs … TCU split, beating Abilene Christian in five behind 18 kills from Audrey Nalls then losing in four to Texas State, which got 21 kills from Janell Fitzgerald. She also hit .342 and had an assist, an ace, 12 digs and three blocks … Texas Tech is 11-2 after pulling a 23-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-21, 15-13 reverse sweep over UTRGV (11-3). Reagan Copper had 17 kills. Sarah Cruz had 24 kills for UTRGV.
PAC-12: Arizona beat CSUN in four to improve to 10-1. Sofia Maldonado Diaz had 16 kills, hit .387 and had two aces, three digs and a block … Cal beat UC Davis in five as Leah Schmidt had 24 kills, three ace, nine digs and two blocks, one solo … Oregon State beat Tulane in four. Nursena Baliloglu had 13 kills, three assists and 16 digs for OSU … Tulane later was swept by LSU, which got 16 kills from Sanaa Dotson, who hit .324 and had an ace and nine digs … Arizona State beat Oral Roberts in four as Iman Isanovic and Marta Levinska had 17 kills each.
BIG TEN: Also in the B1G, Rutgers swept Fairleigh Dickinson but then got swept by FIU, Michigan State beat Chicago State in four and swept Evansville , and Iowa swept UNI.
AUBURN BEATS TWO JSUs: Auburn of the SEC, which did not play a Power 5 team in nonconference action, is 11-0, its best start in program history. Auburn swept the SWAC’s Jackson State earlier behimd 12 kills each from Chelsey Harmon, Akasha Anderson and Bel Zimmerman. Then the Tigers beat host Jacksonville State (12-1) of the ASUN 25-19, 25-20, 19-25, 23-25, 15-11 behind 22 kills from Madison Scheer, who hit .409 and had two blocks and three digs. Anderson had 14 kills and Zimmerman 13. Courtney Glotzbach led Jacksonville State with 16 kills, hit .538 and had a solo block and 12 digs.
AROUND THE NATION: UCF of the American Athletic Conference is 8-0 after hitting .408 and sweeping visiting Lipscomb behind 10 kills from McKenna Melville. That gives her 2,156 for her career, five ahead of the 2,151 by Renata Menchikova 25 years ago. Melville is the active NCAA career leader in kills and total attacks and is second to Chicago State’s Yanlis Feliz in attacks per set … South Dakota is 11-1 after sweeping host South Florida. Elizabeth Juhnke had 18 kills and hit .516 after having two errors in 31 attacks to go with nine digs and three blocks, one solo. Juhnke is averaging 4.98 kills per set … South Dakota State lost in five to North Florida, but Crystal Burk had 24 kills and 16 digs. UNF’s Rocio Moro had 25 digs, nine assists and two aces … Bellarmine beat Southern Illinois in five behind 26 kills by Jayme Scott, who had two aces, seven digs and a block … Yale beat Fordham in four as Mila Yarich had 23 kills, hit .425 and had two assists, two aces, 18 digs and a block …
Portland State beat Seattle U in four as Sophia Meyers had 23 kills, hit .400 and had two aces, 13 digs and two blocks, one solo … Cal State Fullerton beat Grand Canyon in five, but GCU’s Tatum Parrott had 23 kills, hit .321 and had four aces, 17 digs and two blocks, one solo … Long Beach State beat Loyola Marymount in five; Katie Kennedy had 14 kills with two errors in 24 attacks, a dig and eight blocks, one solo … Oakland beat Evansville in five as Patti Cesarini had 24 kills, hit .389 and had an ace, seven digs and five blocks, two solo … IUPUI beat Bradley in five behind 21 kills by Briana Brown, who had four aces and nine digs … Drake lost to North Dakota in five but the Bulldogs’ Mariana Rodrigues had 21 kills, an assist, two aces, 18 digs and three blocks, one solo. Drake later swept Western Illinois, and Rodrigues had 11 kills with one error in 19 atacks … UT Arlington beat Lamar in four for its sixth win in a row as Meredith Fisher had seven kills with one error in 22 attacks, two digs and 10 blocks, four solo …
ALL-OHIO: Five Xavier plays had 10 or more kills and the team hit .337 in a five-set win over Cincinnati. Brooklyn Cink had 18 kills and hit .441 for Xavier. Abby Walker had 20 kills and hit .390 for Cincinnati … Wright State beat Wichita State in five despite hitting .057 and having 42 kills, 13 fewer than the Shockers, who hit .179 …
ALL-CHICAGO: Northwestern of the Big Ten improved to 11-1 with a sweep of UIC of the Missouri Valley and a five-set win over Loyola Chicago of the Atlantic 10. The Wildcats hit .312 against UIC, and Temi Thomas-Ailara had 14 kills with two errors in 37 attacks, two blocks and three digs. Thomas-Ailara then had 24 kills against Loyola, hit .367 and had three blocks and five digs. UIC later beat DePaul of the Big East as five players had nine or more kills, including 17 and four blocks each by Mikala Henderson and Martina Delucchi … Earlier, DePaul beat Loyola in four as Jill Pressly had 17 kills, hit .368 and had two blocks and 10 digs.
CAA: The Colonial Athletic Association began conference play as Towson swept Hampton, Hofstra beat Stony Brook, Charleston swept UNC Greensboro, Elon beat N.C. A&T, Delaware swept Northeastern, and UNC Wilmington got past William & Mary in five. N.C. A&T’s Nalya Sawtelle had 23 kills; UNCW’s Brooke Hanschumaker had 16 kills and seven blocks, three solo, and Katie Lanz had 16 kills and three blocks, one solo.
MAAC: The Metro Atlantic also began conference play. Marist swept Manhattan, Fairfield did the same to Canisius, Rider beat Saint Peters in four, Niagara beat Quinnipiac in four, and Iona swept Siena. The line of the day belonged to Aryanah Diaz of Quinnipiac, who had 26 kills, hit .436 after having two errors in 55 swings, and added two assists, an ace and 11 digs.
PATRIOT: Patriot League play is underway. On Saturday, Bucknell swept Lehigh, Colgate did the same to American, Loyola Maryland beat Holy Cross in four, and Army West Point swept Navy.
