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Things calmed down Saturday in NCAA Division I volleyball.
No upsets, but No. 23 Pepperdine fell behind 0-2 to Santa Clara before winning in five.
For that matter, there were 102 DI matches Saturday, and just 20 went five sets. One of them was Illinois winning its Big Ten match against visiting Northwestern.
And how about Kansas pulling off back-to-back five-set victories at Texas Tech, the latter a reverse sweep?
Individual stats lines of the day: Stetson’s Elena Djokovic had a school-record 32 kills and hit .450 in a win over North Alabama; Lafayette’s Leanna Deegan had 31 kills in a Patriot League victory over Lehigh; Bowling Green’s Petra Indrova had 29 kills in a MAC win over Akron; Sarah Cruz had 28 kills for UTRGV in a loss to Stephen F. Austin; and Rachel Ahrens had 28 kills in Pepperdine’s win over Santa Clara.
Team stats line of the day: Western Kentucky hit .495 in its Conference USA sweep of Marshall.Â
The recaps and highlights follow, but first a look at what is going to be a fun Sunday schedule.
The ACC was off Saturday, but Sunday’s seven matches include No. 4 Pitt, coming off its four-set win over previously unbeaten North Carolina, at NC State, and No. 5 Louisville home for Florida State. Georgia Tech, ranked No. 18, goes to Virginia Tech, UNC is home for Virginia, Notre Dame plays host to Miami, Clemson is at Wake Forest, and Syracuse goes to Duke.
The four-match Big Ten slate features Maryland, coming off that upset of No. 2 Wisconsin, at No. 9 Minnesota, and No. 3 Ohio State, coming off its loss to No. 7 Purdue, at No. 20 Penn State. Also, Purdue goes to Indiana, and Michigan State is at Michigan.Â
The Big 12 has No. 10 Baylor at Kansas State.
In the Pac-12, there are four matches, highlighted by No. 19 UCLA at No. 14 Stanford. Sixth-ranked Washington goes to Washington State, No. 13 Oregon is at Arizona State, and Oregon State is at Arizona.
The SEC has Arkansas back at No. 21 Tennessee, South Carolina at Texas A&M, and Auburn against the SWAC’s Alabama State.
The American Athletic includes Cincinnati at UCF and Wichita State at Houston, Towson tries to get to 15-1 when it plays host to UNCW in the Colonial, and Delaware State puts its 12-1 record on the line in a MEAC match at Norfolk State.
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.
ASUN — North Florida has raced out to a 13-1 start, including 2-0 in the ASUN, with its five-set win over Jacksonville State (11-4, 1-1). Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana, a grad transfer from Missouri, led with 17 kills, and Solimar Cestero had 16. JSU, in its first year in the ASUN after leaving the Ohio Valley, had five players with nine or more kills, 14 from Addie Haverson …Â
Stetson (6-6, 1-1)Â beat North Alabama (6-9, 0-2) in five as Djokovic, a junior from Serbia, had her 32 kills — including the match-ender — in 60 attacks with just five errors to hit .450. She also had an ace and seven digs. Katy Floyd had 21 kills for UNA … Liberty (6-3, 2-0) beat Eastern Kentucky (4-11, 1-1) in four, FGCU (10-4, 2-0) swept Bellarmine (4-9, 0-2), Central Arkansas (3-8, 1-1) swept Kennesaw State (7-6, 1-1), and Lipscomb (4-8, 1-1) beat Jacksonville (3-11, 0-2) in four.Â
ATLANTIC 10 — Dayton (8-5, 2-0), which played a ridiculously tough preseason schedule, beat George Mason (2-11, 0-2) for the second straight day. Jamie Peterson led with 19 kills, hit .341 and had a block and 10 digs … Duquesne (7-6, 2-0) swept George Washington (0-12, 0-2), VCU (6-8, 2-0) hit .321 as it swept Rhode Island (8-8, 0-1), and Davidson (5-7, 1-1) beat Fordham (3-10, 0-2) in four.
BIG 12 — Kansas improved to 10-3 and 2-0 with its second five-set win at Texas Tech in as many days. Friday, the Jayhawks won 15-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18, 15-7 as Jenny Moser led with 18 kills, two assists, an ace, 13 digs, and two blocks. Saturday, KU won 19-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-15, 15-9 as Caroline Bien led with 16 kills as she hit .353 and had an assist, five of her team’s 11 aces, and 12 digs. Moser and Caroline Crawford had 12 kills. Texas Tech, which dropped to 10-5, 0-2, got 15 kills from Reagan Cooper …Â
Baylor (6-3, 1-0) swept at Kansas State (9-3, 0-1) as the Bears hit .350. Avery Skinner led with 17 kills, hit .467, and had three blocks and eight digs. Yossiana Pressley had 16 kills, hit .406, and had an assist and five digs. Setter Hannah Sedwick had four kills in as many tries, 32 assists, and nine digs. K-State got 14 kills from Aliyah Carter … West Virginia beat Oklahoma for the second time in as many days to improve to 12-1, 2-0. Adiran Ell led with 15 kills, two assists, an ace, 19 digs, and four blocks, one solo. OU (6-7, 0-2) got 18 kills from Paige Anderson, who hit .361 and had two blocks and three digs … Iowa State (10-3, 2-0) beat visiting TCU (6-6, 0-2) in five, 15-4 in the fifth. Six Cyclones had five or more kills, including Eleanor Holthaus, who had 13 kills, three assists, three blocks, and 11 digs.
BIG EAST — No. 16 Creighton (14-1, 2-0) swept at Xavier (6-6, 1-1) as Jaela Zimmerman had 14 kills, two assists, nine digs, and a block … Marquette (11-2, 2-0) swept Georgetown (4-9, 0-2) behind 17 kills by Taylor Wolf, who had one error in 31 swings, 16 assists, two aces, two digs, and four blocks … Mariah Grunze had 15 kills, an assist, 11 digs, and two blocks as Butler (7-8, 1-1) swept Providence (12-3, 0-2) … UConn (10-4, 2-0) swept visiting St. John’s (9-6, 0-1) for the second straight day and improved to 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2016, and DePaul (9-5, 2-0) swept at Villanova (8-6, 0-2).
BIG SKY — Just three teams are still unbeaten in conference play. Rylin Adams had 23 kills as Weber State (7-5, 2-0) beat visiting Sacramento State (5-7, 0-2) in four, Northern Colorado (10-3, 2-0) swept visiting Montana State (5-8, 1-1), and Northern Arizona (4-7, 2-0) swept visiting Eastern Washington (5-5, 1-1) as Taylor Jacobsen had 15 kills and hit .419. Portland State (7-6, 1-1) beat Idaho State (5-9, 1-1) in four as Makayla Lewis had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, 14 digs, and a block, and Southern Utah (5-9, 1-1) beat Idaho (3-8, 0-2) in four.
BIG SOUTH — Just three teams are still unbeaten in conference play. High Point (10-5, 2-0) swept at UNC Asheville (2-9, 0-2), Winthrop (7-5, 2-0) swept visiting Radford (2-12, 0-2), and Campbell (7-7, 2-0) won in four at Presbyterian despite hitting .098. USC Upstate (4-10, 1-10) beat North Carolina A&T (9-5, 1-1) in five, and Peyton Thompson had 26 kills and 16 digs as Charleston Southern (5-7, 1-1) beat Hampton (1-8, 0-2) in five.Â
BIG TEN — No. 2 Wisconsin (9-1, 1-1), knocked off the night before by Maryland, swept at Rutgers (8-5, 0-2). The Badgers hit .391 as Dana Rettke had 15 kills, hit .545, and had nine blocks, one solo … Nebraska (8-3, 2-0) swept Iowa (2-10, 0-2). Madi Kubik led with 15 kills. Nicklin Hames had two kills, 40 assists, two aces, and six digs … Illinois (10-3, 2-0) hit .336 and outlasted Northwestern (5-8, 0-2) in five. Raina Terry led the Illini with 19 kills, and Megan Cooney and Kennedy Collins had 16 each.
BIG WEST — Just three teams are still unbeaten in conference play. Hawai’i hit .396 and improved to 5-5, 2-0 with a sweep at UC Davis (5-8, 1-1) behind 14 kills in 23 errorless swings by Brooke Van Sickle, UC Santa Barbara is 6-8, 2-0 after sweeping visiting UC Irvine (8-4, 1-1), and Cal Poly is 4-9, 2-0 after winning in five at Cal State Fullerton (4-5, 1-1). Jamie Stivers led Cal Poly with 19 kills, two assists, 23 digs, and three blocks, one solo … UC San Diego (4-9, 1-1) won in four at CSUN (1-11, 0-2) for its first Big West victory ever, and CSU Bakersfield (8-2, 1-1) won in four at Long Beach State (6-7, 0-2).Â
CONFERENCE USA — Western Kentucky (13-1, 2-0) swept Marshall (4-11, 0-2) for the second straight day and won its 32nd consecutive CUSA match. Lauren Matthews had 17 kills with no errors in 22 attacks to hit .773. Paige Briggs had 11 kills, and so did Kayland Jackson, who had no errors in 14 attacks …Â
UTSA (5-9, 2-0) beat visiting Louisiana Tech (6-10, 0-2) in four … Old Dominion (8-6, 1-1) won in four at Florida Atlantic (9-6, 1-1), Alex Kells and Fernanda Maida had 18 kills each as UAB (6-6, 2-0) beat visiting Southern Miss (8-8, 0-2) in four, Nicole Lennon had 17 kills and hit .455 as Rice (6-5, 1-0) swept at North Texas (7-6, 0-1), and Middle Tennessee (4-3, 2-0) won in five at Charlotte (7-7, 0-2). Charlotte’s Sydney Rowan had 25 kills, hit .300 and had two assists, an ace, and 11 digs.Â
COLONIAL — Elon (8-5, 3-0) beat visiting Delaware (5-7, 0-3) in five, and Northeastern (7-6, 3-0) did the same to Hofstra (7-7, 1-2) and are the only teams still unbeaten in conference play. Elon’s Leah Daniel had 22 kills. Nine players had four or more kills for Northeastern, nine by Nailah Jenkins … College of Charleston (8-6, 1-2) won in four at James Madison (8-3, 1-2), and Towson (14-1, 2-1) swept visiting UNCW (1-11, 0-1).Â
HORIZON –Northern Kentucky (5-5, 1-0) won in five at Wright State (8-5, 0-1) as Anna Brinkmann had 18 kills, an assist, and 20 digs. Miranda Wucherer had 11 kills, 26 assists, three blocks, and 15 digs … Cleveland State (4-9, 2-0) won in five at Youngstown State (3-10, 0-2) as London Portis had 16 kills with no errors in 24 attacks to go with two digs and three blocks … Oakland (8-5, 2-0) hit .343 as it swept at Robert Morrris (7-7, 0-2).
METRO ATLANTIC — Fairfield (8-6, 3-0) swept at Canisius (2-10, 2-1) and Niagara (6-6, 3-0) beat visiting Quinnipiac (2-9, 1-2) in four to remain the only unbeatens in league play. Fairfield hit .324. KJ Johnson had 16 kills, hit .344, and had nine digs … Morgan Romano had 21 kills and hit .444 as Rider (5-8, 3-1) swept Saint Peter’s (1-13, 0-3), Marist (6-8, 1-2) swept Manhattan (0-6, 0-2), and Siena (1-13, 1-2) finally broke through and beat visiting Iona (3-8, 1-2) in five. Four players had 10 or more kills for Siena, with 15 by Maddy Dunigan, who hit .464 and added two digs and four blocks.
MID-AMERICAN — Just three teams are still unbeaten in conference play, Buffalo, Bowling Green, and idle Western Michigan.
Buffalo (9-5, 2-0) hit .368 and swept visiting Miami (2-10, 0-2), as Courtney Okwara had 14 kills with no errors in 23 attacks, hit .609 and also had five blocks, one solo … Petra Indrova had 29 kills as Bowling Green (6-6, 2-0) won in four at Akron (6-8, 0-2) as the Falcons hit .328. Petrova hit .377 and had an assist, 10 digs, and six blocks, four solo. Teammate Kat Mandly had 22 kills, and Katelyn Meyer had 17. Teagan Ochaya had 23 kills for Akron to go with an ace, eight digs, and four blocks, two solo … Toledo (10-4, 1-1) swept at Ohio (1-11, 1-1), Jaclyn Bulmahn had 19 kills with one error in 30 swings as Ball State (11-3, 1-1) swept at Kent State (6-8, 1-1), and Northern Illinois (7-5, 1-1) won in four at Central Michigan (7-7, 1-1) as NIU’s Katie Jablonski had 18 kills, an assist, 14 digs, and a block.
MISSOURI VALLEY — Loyola (9-5, 2-0), which won in four at Southern Illinois (5-10, 0-2) and idle Indiana State are the last teams unbeaten in conference play. Addie Barnes had 25 kills and hit .391 for Loyola … In what is expected to be a battle for the top, Illinois State (5-9, 1-1) won in five at Northern Iowa (6-9, 1-1). Tamara Otene had 22 kills for Illinois State to go with an ace, two blocks, and eight digs. Sarah Kushner had 18 kills, two assists, an ace, 14 digs, and five blocks, one solo … Missouri State (10-4, 1-1) won in four over visiting Valparaiso (10-3, 1-1), and Bradley (5-8, 1-1) won in four at Drake (6-4, 1-1). Haley Bush had 20 kills for Drake.Â
MOUNTAIN WEST — Just three teams are unbeaten in this conference, too, after a day with some superior hitting percentages. They are: San Jose State (8-4, 2-0), which swept San Diego State (4-10, 1-1); Colorado State (6-5, 2-0), which swept visiting Utah State (9-5, 1-1), and idle New Mexico (11-2, 2-0).Â
San Jose State hit .412 against SDSU. Haylee Nelson led with 18 kills as she had one error in 27 attacks, an assist, an ace, and two digs. Colorado State hit .400. Kennedy Stanford led with 16 kills as she hit .467 and had an ace, six digs, and two blocks, one solo … Boise State (12-2, 1-1)Â hit .409 as it swept at Wyoming (8-6, 0-2) … Air Force (4-8, 1-1) swept visiting Fresno State (4-6, 0-2) … and UNLV (10-3, 1-1) swept at Nevada (3-10, 0-2).
NORTHEAST — Three of Saturday’s four matches went five. Bryant (9-8, 2-0) beat visiting Central Connecticut (4-10, 1-1) in five despite hitting .097 … Sacred Heart (7-6, 1-1) hit .443 as it won in three at Merrimack (0-2, 0-16). Dominque Felix had 10 kills in 16 errorless attacks … Saint Francis (6-8, 2-0) got 24 kills from Madi Tyus and 21 from Nicole Adams, who hit .413, as it beat visiting LIU (4-10, 1-1) in five … St. Francis Brooklyn (4-12, 1-1) won in five at Fairleigh Dickinson (5-10, 0-2). Lainie Putt had 17 kills and hit .406.
OHIO VALLEY — Murray State (8-4, 2-0) swept visiting Eastern Illinois (7-5, 0-2) … Austin Peay (8-6, 2-0) swept visiting Morehead State (4-9, 0-2) … Tennessee Tech (7-6, 2-0) won in four at SIUE (3-10, 0-2) … Tennessee State (9-3, 1-2) beat visiting Southeast Missouri (10-4, 1-1) in four … UT Martin (5-10, 1-1) swept at Belmont (4-9, 2-1).Â
PATRIOT — Loyola Maryland (11-3, 3-0) hit .368 in sweeping visiting Holy Cross (1-13, 0-3) and is the lone unbeaten in conference play. Abby Hamilton led with 19 kills as she had one error in 39 attacks to hit .462. She had an assist, an ace, six digs, and two blocks …Â
Leanna Deegan had 31 kills and hit .355 as Lafayette (6-6, 3-1) won in four at Lehigh (3-10, 0-3). She had an assist, 15 digs, and a block … Paige Fixemer had 18 kills and hit .593 as Army West Point (9-4, 3-1) won in four at Navy (5-7, 1-2) … Colgate (6-7, 3-1) swept at American (6-7, 0-1) as Alli Lowe had 20 kills, hit .390, and had an assist, nine digs, and a block.
SEC — No. 21 Tennessee (9-2, 1-0) had 21 blocks held the Razorbacks to an .087 hitting percentage as it beat visiting Arkansas (10-2, 1-1) in four. Tennessee, which hit .195, got 15 kills from Breana Runnels. Jillian Gillen led Arkansas with 21 kills, an ace, four blocks, and 13 digs … LSU (5-6, 1-1) grinded to a five-set win over visiting Alabama (8-6, 0-2). LSU, which hit .362, got 21 kills from Sanaa Dotson, who had three errors in 31 attacks to hit .581.
SOUTHERN — UNCG (13-2, 2-0) won in four at ETSU (4-9, 0-2) as it hit .307 and Kayla White had 17 kills, 16 digs, an assist, an ace, and five blocks, two solo … Western Carolina (6-7, 2-0) won in four at Chattanooga (4-11, 0-2) … Wofford (7-8, 1-2) won in four at Mercer (5-8, 1-1) … Samford (3-10, 2-0) beat visiting The Citadel (4-4, 0-2) in four.
SOUTHLAND — Houston Baptist (10-5, 1-0) swept McNeese (6-6, 0-1) …Â
Southeastern Louisiana (2-8, 1-0) won in four at Northwestern State (6-10, 0-1) as Cicily Hidalgo had 20 kills, hit .308, and had 10 digs and a block … New Orleans (1-8, 1-0) broke through with a four-set win at Nicholls (7-6, 0-1) as Emily Gauthreaux had 20 kills for UNO, hit .319 and had two assists, two aces, 10 digs, and two blocks, one solo … Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (5-7, 1-0) swept at UIW (5-10, 0-1).Â
SUMMIT — Denver (11-1, 2-0) swept visiting St. Thomas (1-11, 0-2) … Kansas City (11-3, 2-0) won in four at North Dakota (1-13, 0-2) … Oral Roberts (8-3, 2-0) swept at North Dakota State (6-8, 0-2) … Omaha (5-7, 2-0) swept visiting Western Illinois (1-12, 0-2).Â
SUN BELT — Georgia Southern (9-3, 2-0) won in five at Louisiana (6-4, 1-1), although Kelsey Bennett had 24 kills and hit .412 for the Ragin’ Cajuns and had an assist, two aces, 19 digs, and a block … South Alabama (9-5, 2-0) swept visiting Texas State (5-10, 1-1) … Troy (8-5, 1-1) swept visiting UT Arlington (2-9, 0-2).Â
WAC — NM State (11-3, 2-0) won in four at Dixie State (2-8, 1-1) … SFA (10-3, 1-0) won in four at UTRGV (8-6, 0-1) but UTRGV’s Sarah Cruz had 28 kills, hit .400, and had four aces, 21 digs, and a block … Grand Canyon (9-2, 1-1) won in five at Utah Valley (5-8, 0-2) … California Baptist (6-5, 1-0) swept visiting Chicago State (9-5, 1-1).Â
WEST COAST — All three ranked teams won, but Pepperdine did it the hard way.Â
No. 11 BYU (12-1, 2-0) swept visiting Saint Mary’s (6-5, 0-2) as the Cougars hit .404. Kenzie Koerber led with 16 kills as she hit .500 and had five blocks and three digs … No. 23 Pepperdine (10-1, 2-0) won at Santa Clara (4-8, 0-2) 21-25, 25-27, 25-21, 25-23, 15-13 as Rachel Ahrens had 28 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Meg Brown had 14 kills. Sophia Tulino had 23 kills and hit .333 for Santa Clara to go with an ace, nine digs, and four blocks … No. 25 San Diego (8-3, 2-0) swept visiting Pacific (3-10, 0-2) … Portland (4-6, 1-0) swept visiting Gonzaga (4-8, 0-1), Loyola Marymount (11-1, 2-0) swept at San Francisco (0-10, 0-2).
AROUND THE NATION — UMBC (6-10) beat Stony Brook ( 6-9) in four in the America East opener for both as Mia Bilusic had 23 kills, an assist, two aces, 14 digs, and two blocks … In the lone Ivy League match of the day, Columbia (4-6, 1-0) beat visiting Cornell (4-5, 0-1) in four as Emily Teehan had 20 kills, hit .333, and had a block … And Florida A&M and Mississippi Valley played a SWAC match. If anyone knows how it came out, please comment.
