Miami’s Elizaveta Lukianova had 30 kills and hit .440 Thursday, but the Hurricanes lost at Clemson, which finally got to open its season and won in five.
TCU got 24 kills apiece from Afedo Manyang and Julia Adams as the Horned Frogs beat visiting Texas Tech in five.
Also Thursday, Texas swept Iowa State, Baylor had to go five to get past visiting Oklahoma, and Arkansas State swept visiting Louisiana-Monroe.
All the recaps follow, but first a look ahead to Friday’s relatively busy schedule in this abbreviated fall NCAA Division I season. To watch any match that is being broadcast or streamed, go to our VolleyballMag.com TV listings.
There are four Big 12 matches, Iowa State back at Texas, Oklahoma again at Baylor, Texas Tech at TCU and Kansas home for West Virginia.
In the ACC Miami is back at Clemson, Duke goes to North Carolina, Syracuse is at Louisville, and Boston College plays at Pitt.
The Sun Belt shows a handful of day-night doubleheaders as App State, Coastal Carolina, and UTA finally open their seasons. South Alabama goes to App State, Coastal Carolina is at Georgia State, ULM plays at Arkansas State, and Texas-Arlington is at Little Rock.
Clemson tops Canes — Clemson won 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 14-25, 15-10 as Miami dropped to 3-2 despite a remarkable line from Lukianova, who not only had those 30 kills — 10 in the fourth set alone — but had just eight errors in 50 swings. She had a block and six digs.
Freshman Camryn Hannah had 14 kills for Clemson, which twice saw its season openers postponed because of positive coronavirus tests. Hannah added a block and nine digs. Another freshman, Cate Long, added 10 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 13 digs. Solei Thomas had 10 kills, two blocks and two digs. Setter McKenna Slavik had four kills and hit .429 to go with 46 assists, two aces, a block, and 10 digs.
“It was great to play tonight and play at home,” Clemson coach Michaela Franklin said. “We are pleased to see things we have been working on in practice come to fruition in match play.
“I was very impressed with our team’s competitive composure through the entire match, especially for our younger players in their college debut. They didn’t get rattled and continued to compete. Overall I thought our teams energy was positive and contagious and our focus stayed dialed in on the right things.”
Miami’s Janice Leao had nine kills with one error in 13 swings to hit .615. She also had two blocks and two digs. Angela Grieve had eight kills, nine digs, and four blocks, three solo. Setter Savannah Vach had 51 assists, an ace and 10 digs.
GT sweeps FSU again — The Yellow Jackets hit .446 as they improved to 3-1 with their second sweep of Florida State in two days, this time 25-14, 25-17, 25-20.
Mariana Brambilla led Georgia Tech with 17 kills, hit .394, and had an assist, 11 digs, and three blocks. Julia Bergmann had 13 kills with no errors in 19 attacks, two aces, seven digs, and a block. Mikaila Dowd had nine kills and hit .333.
Florida State (0-2) hit .181 and got eight kills from Emma Clothier and seven each from Morgan Chacon and Jasmyn Martin.
Texas tops Iowa State — The Longhorns (5-0) cruised to a 25-19, 25-22, 25-14 victory as Logan Eggleston continued to lead, this time with 14 kills while hitting .400. She had two errors in 30 attacks, two aces, two blocks and seven digs.
Brionne Butler had nine kills with one error in 16 swings and three blocks, one solo. Skylar Fields had eight kills and three blocks, and Molly Phillips had eight kills with no errors in 22 attacks, two blocks and three digs. Asjia O’Neal had five kills in 11 errorless attacks and five blocks. Texas hit .378.
Iowa State (2-3) hit .133. Brooke Anderson led with nine kills and six digs.
Baylor beats OU — The Sooners (0-3) gave Baylor (4-1) all it could handle in a 25-16, 25-13, 17-25, 22-25, 15-13 outcome.
Yossiana Pressley broke out with 22 kills, two assists, three blocks, and 10 digs. She hit .264 after taking 53 swings and her team hit .266.
“I had a sense of urgency,” said Pressley, who had a total of 45 kills in Baylor’s first four matches. “I dialed in more and more focused. I need to make sure that I do well and do my job as a hitter, or as a passer, or as a blocker, or whatever it may be.”
Kara McGhee had 14 kills and hit .333 to go with an ace, three blocks and a dig. Marieke van der Mark had nine kills, an assist, two aces, three digs, and five blocks, one solo. And Callie Williams not only had 49 assists, but six kills in eight errorless swings, an ace and seven digs.
The match was tied at 13 before Baylor ended it with kills by van der Mark and Pressley.
Guewe Diouf led Oklahoma with 20 kills and had an ace, two blocks — one solo — and 13 digs. Sarah Sanders added 14 kills, an assist, a dig, and two blocks. Sanaá Dotson had 13 kills, a block and three digs, and Grace Talpash added a couple of kills, 42 assists, a block, and 11 digs.
TCU tops Texas Tech — The Horned Frogs (2-1) gridded to a 27-25, 23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 17-15 victory as Manyang and Adams combined for 48 kills in 98 attacks.
Manyang — who had back-to-back kills to end the match — hit .410 and had an ace, three blocks, and two digs, while Adams hit .276 while taking 58 swings. She had seven digs and two blocks, one solo.
“Julia and Smiley were steady throughout the match tonight,” TCU coach Jill Kramer said. “Both came up with big plays for and made some great adjustments down the stretch.”
Setter McKenzie Nicholls had a program-record 64 assists to go with two kills, an ace, and six blocks.
Katie Clark added 11 kills, two blocks and a dig, and Grayson Schripik had nine kills, an ace, a block and six digs. Sarah Swanson had six kills, hit .455, and had three blocks, and a dig. The Horned Frogs hit .260 and their 76 kills was the most by a TCU team since 2007.
Texas Tech (2-3) hit .280 and was led by Samantha Sanders, who had 20 kills, hitting .288 after taking 52 swings. She had an assist, two digs, and four blocks, two solo. Brooke Kanas had 13 kills, two blocks, and two digs. Caitlin Dugan, who had eight blocks, one solo, and Cadi Boyer had nine kills each. Boyer hit .500 and had an assist, and four blocks, one solo. Alex Kirby had two kills, 51 assists, and 12 digs.
Little Rock rocks ULM — The Red Wolves (2-1) dropped ULM to 1-8 as Josie Stanford had 11 kills in a 26-24, 25-14, 25-19 sweep.
Stanford had four blocks and six digs. Madison Brown added nine kills, an assist, three blocks and five digs. Kendahl Davenport had six kills in 10 errorless swings and had an ace, five blocks, and two digs. Little Rock hit .171, while ULM hit .159.
SEC predicts — The league opens play next week, but Thursday came out with the coaches poll that has Kentucky on top and Florida second. Kentucky got 11 of the 13 first-place votes and Florida the other two. There are 14 schools in the SEC, but Vanderbilt doesn’t play volleyball.
Missouri was picked third, Texas A&M fourth, and LSU, which didn’t make the NCAA Tournament last season, made a big jump to fifth.
Kentucky has three players on the preseason All-SEC team, senior libero Gabby Curry, senior setter Madison Lilley, and junior outside Alli Stumler. Missouri has two on the team, senior outside Kylie Deberg and senior middle Tyanna Omazic.
Click here for the story about the poll and preseason all-SEC team.
The SEC starts next Friday when Tennessee goes to Kentucky.
