NCAA volleyball: Saturday’s winners include Baylor, Va Tech, Texas State

Baylor kept on winning, Virginia Tech finally won at Duke, and Texas State rolled on in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball Saturday.

There are two ACC matches Sunday when Louisville is back at Pitt and Virginia Tech returns to Duke.

In the only Big 12 match of Saturday, Baylor improved to 9-1 with a 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 victory at Iowa State (2-6) despite hitting .145. However, the Bears held a 13-8 blocking advantage.

Yossiana Pressley led with 12 kills but hit .088. She had four blocks and three digs. Kara McGhee had nine kills, an ace, 11 blocks, and three digs. Callie Williams had four kills, 29 assists, an ace, and 14 digs. 

Iowa State, which hit .078, got nine kills from Candelaria Herrera, who had five blocks, and three digs.

ACC — Notre Dame (6-1) went to Boston College (0-8) and came away with a 25-19, 22-25, 25-11, 25-16 victory to end the fall schedule for both teams.

Aubrey Hamilton led Notre Dame with 20 kills while hitting .425 and she had three blocks. Charley Niego had 16 kills, an assist, three of her team’s five aces, and two digs. Caroline Meuth had nine kills, five blocks, and 14 digs, and Zoe Nunez had three kills in four errorless attempts, 44 assists, an ace, three blocks, and 16 digs. Hattie Monson had 23 digs. ND hit .329.

Clare Naughton and Amaka Chukwujekwu had 13 kills each for the Eagles, and Silvia Ianeselli had 11. Naughton had an ace, a block, and 19 digs. Chukwujekwu hit .458 and had three blocks. Ianeselli had two aces, seven digs, and two blocks, one solo.

Virginia Tech (5-1) won at Duke’s Cameroon Indoor Stadium for the first time ever and won its fourth match in a row this season as Marisa Cerchio had 18 kills and Kaity Smith 17 in a 25-17, 25-19, 16-25, 20-25, 15-13 victory. 

Cerchio, who hit .500, had two blocks and two digs. Smith hit .306 and had 16 digs. Ashley Homan had nine kills, an ace, a block and 10 digs.

Duke (4-2) was led by Gracie Johnson, who had 15 kills, an ace, two blocks, and five digs. Lily Cooper had 14 kills, hit .455 and added two blocks. Lizzie Fleming had 13 kills, also hit .455, and had an assist, two aces, four blocks, and three digs. Payton Schwantz had 10 kills, two assists, and 14 digs. Ade Owokoniran had nine kills, an assist, three blocks, and three digs.

And NC State (2-4) won at Virginia (1-5) 24-26, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18.

Jade Parchment led with 15 kills, four blocks, and nine digs. Melissa Evans had 13 kills, two aces, three blocks, and 12 digs. Lydia Adams added 10 kills, a block, and a dig. Kristen McDaniel had 44 assists, a block, and 14 digs. 

Milla Ciprian and Grace Turner had 13 kills apiece for Virginia and Sarah Billiard had 11. Ciprian hit .355, and had an assist, eight blocks, and a dig. Turner had an assist, two blocks, and 11 digs, and Billiard had all three of Virginia’s aces, five blocks, and five digs. Alexandra Spencer had 27 digs, and Megan Wilson had a kill, 47 assists, four blocks, and nine digs.

Sun Belt — Texas State (14-1) won its 10th match in a row, a 25-18, 25-21, 25-18 victory over visiting Little Rock (1-11). Janell Fitzgerald led with 15 kills while hitting .300 and had she had two blocks and two digs. Kenedi Rutherford had 12 kills, a block, and a dig. Emily DeWalt had two kills in four errorless attempts, 39 assists, and 12 digs. Nicole Medlin led Little Rock with 10 kills as she hit .400 and had an ace, two blocks, and two digs. Leigh Maher had 24 digs.

Louisiana (13-4) closed out its series with visiting Arkansas State (6-5) with a 25-21, 25-23, 25-20 win as Kelsey Bennett had 15 kills, two assists, four blocks, and 12 digs. Lauren Tishkoff added 11 kills, a block, and a dig, and Kara Barnes had eight kills, hit .333, and had five blocks. Avery Breaux was good on her only attack and had 40 assists, a block, and nine digs. Hannah Ramirez had 21 digs. Madison Brown led ASU with 18 kills and six digs, and Kendahl Davenport had seven kills in 13 errorless attacks go with a dig and five blocks, two solo.

Texas-Arlington (8-1) won at Louisiana-Monroe (1-15) 27-25, 25-22, 25-14. Brooke Townsend had 15 kills and hit .379 to go with nine digs, an assist, two blocks, and an ace. Brianna Ford had 14 kills and hit .393 and added two assists, two aces, 11 digs, and three blocks. Briana Brown had 13 kills, hitting .423.

The Warhawks, who lost their 15th in a row, got 10 kills from Haley Coulter.

And Georgia State (3-9) won twice at App State (1-4), both times in four sets.

In the first match, Georgia State won 25-23, 11-25, 25-20, 25-18 behind 20 kills from Clara Bednarek, who hit .515 after having three errors in 33 attacks. She added a block and two digs. Meisheia Griffin and Leah Wilcox had eight kills each. Setter Jordan Shoemaker had seven kills in nine errorless attempts, 33 assists, an ace, and six digs.

App State’s Lexi Kohut had 20 kills, two aces, 10 digs, and three blocks, one solo. Kara Spicer had 12 kills, hit .435, and added two aces, two blocks, and a dig. Sam Bickley had two kills in three errorless tries, 30 assists, an ace, and three digs.

In the nightcap GSU won 25-16, 25-14, 17-25, 25-22. Erin Watt led with 16 kills, Bednarek had 13 kills and three blocks, and Wilcox had 11 kills. Shoemaker had three kills in 10 errorless attempts, making her 10 for 19 with no errors for the day, and she had 41 assists. McCall Denny led App State with 16 kills and Victoria Wilform had 13.

USM tops La Tech — The two Conference USA teams met at Southern Miss, which won both matches, 22-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-14, and 25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-12. It was the only time they’ll play until the spring. According to the USM website, Duquesne Moratzka had 31 kills in the two matches, 15 and 11 digs in the first, and 16 kills and seven in the second. 

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