Freak five-set Friday.
All within a half hour on Friday night, unranked Maryland scored the biggest victory in program history when it beat visiting and previously unbeaten No. 2 Wisconsin in five sets in a Big Ten stunner; No. 7 Purdue won another Big Ten battle in five over visiting and unbeaten No. 3 Ohio State; and unranked Mississippi State, which lost in five in Gainesville on Thursday, held on this time and won in five at No. 17 Florida after losing all 53 previous matches between the SEC programs. Shania Cromartie had 25 kills and Lilly Gunter had 33 digs.
There was one more major upset to come when No. 24 Colorado swept visiting No. 15 Utah in the Pac-12. And No. 9 Minnesota won the first two sets against visiting Michigan before holding on to win in five as Stephanie Samedy had 30 kills.
One can only imagine what Saturday holds in store as NCAA Division I volleyball continues the first weekend of conference play.
In the ACC, matches include unbeaten No. 4 Pittsburgh, coming off a four-set victory Friday night of previously unbeaten North Carolina, at NC State; and unbeaten No. 5 Louisville, which swept Miami, home for Florida State, which won at Notre Dame on Friday.
In the Big 12, West Virginia will try for back-to-back wins over visiting Oklahoma after winning in four Friday; Kansas will try to do the same after winning five at Texas Tech; and No. 10 Baylor starts a two-match set at Kansas State.
There are three matches Saturday in the Big Ten. Wisconsin goes to Rutgers, No. 12 Nebraska is home for Iowa, and Northwestern is at Illinois. Maryland has the day off to travel to play at Minnesota on Sunday.
The SEC previously didn’t schedule volleyball on football Saturdays, but there are two matches when No. 21 Tennessee is home for Arkansas and Alabama goes to LSU.
The Pac-12 has the day off with five matches on tap for Sunday, including No. 6 Washington at Washington State and No. 19 UCLA at No. 14 Stanford.
Want to watch a match? We have the links. Go to our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming listings to find any match that is being shown.
Also Friday, Indiana, which lost five of six entering league play, swept Michigan State in the Big Ten; No. 7 Kentucky swept its SEC match with Missouri; Jackson State got its first win, a SWAC sweep of new league member Florida A&M; Bryant won a set 36-34 in a sweep of Sacred Heart in the Northeast Conference, Delaware State won its ninth in a row, a MEAC sweep of Howard; Loyola beat Army in the Patriot to extend the program’s best start ever at 10-3; Brown won an Ivy League match with Yale for the first time since 2015; Ohio got its first win, a Mid-American sweep of Toledo; Kent State pulled off the reverse sweep against Ball State as Savannah Matthews had 27 kills in the MAC win; visiting Cal Poly swept Long Beach State in the Big West; Jovan Stekovic had 26 kills for LIU in its NEC win over Fairleigh Dickinson; and Olivia Lohmeier had 25 kills for Morehead State in an OVC loss to Austin Peay.
We will have recaps, notes, and stats in our comprehensive Sunday-morning weekend roundup.
