In 1984, the band Talking Heads made a concert movie called Stop Making Sense.
It’s now the theme for Pac-12 volleyball.
There were three major upsets Friday in the conference, including a shocking sweep by unranked UCLA over visiting Stanford. The 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 defeat marked the first time the Cardinal got swept in four seasons.
The other unranked Los Angeles team, USC, beat visiting No. 15 Cal in four. And No. 18 Utah beat visiting No. 9 Washington in four.
Every other ranked team won Friday but there were plenty of surprising results around the nation, including Furman beating ETSU, previously unbeaten in the Southern Conference, and Georgia Tech getting its fifth sweep in a row, this time over Florida State, which it beat for the first time in six years.
The recaps follow, but first a look at Saturday’s schedule, which includes four matches in the Big Ten as No. 5 Nebraska is at No. 20 Purdue, No. 8 Penn State goes to Maryland and No. 17 Illinois is home for Ohio State. Also, Iowa is at Indiana.
Fourth-ranked Texas is at Kansas in the Big 12, No. 1 Baylor is home for West Virginia, Oklahoma goes to Texas Tech and Kansas State is at Iowa State.
The ACC, Pac-12, and SEC are off.
Both ranked teams in the West Coast Conference are in action with a lot on the line as No. 12 BYU, tied with No. 22 San Diego at the top, goes to third-place Pepperdine, while San Diego is at fourth-place Loyola Marymount. Also, Gonzaga is at Portland, Santa Clara at Pacific, and San Francisco at Saint Mary’s.
Both of the ranked teams in the Big East play Saturday as No. 10 Creighton is at Providence and No. 11 Marquette goes to Seton Hall. DePaul is at St. John’s and Villanova is at Xavier.
In the Big West, No. 21 Hawai’i is at UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara is at UC Riverside, Cal Poly goes to UC Davis and CSUN is at Long Beach State.
No. 14 Colorado State is home for a Mountain West match against Nevada.
The top two teams in the Southland square off when Stephen F. Austin, 21-1 and riding a 14-match winning streak, is at Northwestern State, a game back in the standings.
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Pac-12: It’s tight at the top. Despite both losing, Cal and Stanford are still tied for first place at 7-2, but now five teams — Washington State, Washington, Utah, USC and UCLA — are tied for second at 6-3.
UCLA (11-7, 6-3) held Stanford (13-4, 7-2) to a .157 hitting percentage, its second-lowest of the season. Mac May led with 12 kills and hit .333 to go with two assists, two blocks and 10 digs. Emily Ryan had 11 kills with one error in 15 attacks, hit .667 and had a dig and three blocks, one solo. Lexi Hadrych had 10 kills and hit .368 as the Bruins hit .291. Audriana Fitzmorris and Kendall Kipp had nine kills each for Stanford and Meghan McClure and UCLA-transfer Madeleine Gates had eight each. Setter Jenna Gray had five blocks, two solo, but missed all five of her attack attempts. Stanford continued to play without injured star Kathryn Plummer …
USC (2-7, 6-3) got 26 kills from Khalia Lanier as it beat visiting Cal (17-2, 7-2) 25-14, 25-19, 21-25, 25-19. Cal hit .088 and USC held a 15-4 blocking advantage. Lanier hit .396, and added an assist, an ace, four digs and two blocks. Kalen Owes had nine kills, two digs and four blocks, and Jasmine Gross had seven kills with no errors in 15 swings to hit .467. She had an ace, two digs and 11 blocks. Mima Mirkovic had 14 kills for Cal but hit .087. She had 12 digs. Bailee Huizenga and Maddie Haynes had 13 kills each …
Utah (14-6, 6-3) beat Washington (15-4, 6-3) 19-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-10 as the Utes hit .414, its best of the season. Dani Drews had 20 kills and hit .405 to go with three aces and six digs. Kenzie Koerber had 14 kills, hit .357, and had three assists, three blocks and nine digs, and Zoe Weatherington had 12 kills, hit .500, and had two digs. The Huskies, who hit .220, were led by Kara Bajema’s 13 kills. She had two assists, five digs, and four blocks, two solo. Samantha Drechsel had 10 kills …
Oregon State (9-11, 3-6) went down 0-2 and rallied for a 13-25, 20-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-13 victory at Arizona (11-10, 1-8). Cecilee Max-Brown led the Beavers with 16 kills and had an ace, a block and seven digs. Haylie Bennett had 15 kills and hit .406 and Maddie Goings had 12 kills and 11 digs. Oregon State hit .181. Arizona, which hit .226, got 19 kills from Katie Smoot, who had a block and three digs. Paige Whipple had 16 kills, a block and eight digs. Devyn Cross had 11 kills, hit .364, and had four digs and seven blocks, four solo …
And Arizona State (12-8, 4-5) also rallied from being down 0-2 against visiting Oregon (6-12, 2-7) to pull out a 21-25, 17-25, 25-14, 25-19, 15-12 victory. ASU also came back from 0-2 in its last match, this past Sunday at Washington State. In this one, Andrea Mitrovic led with 13 kills and hit .444. She had an assist, an ace, a solo block and four digs. Jada Burse had 12 kills and two blocks, one solo. Ivana Jeremic had nine kills, six digs, and six blocks, one solo. ASU hit .153, but Oregon hit .117. Ronika Stone led the Ducks with 14 kills, an ace, seven digs and five blocks, one solo. Willow Johnson and Brooke Nuneviller had 11 kills each. Johnson had six digs and three blocks, and Nuneviller had an ace, a match-high 20 digs, and two blocks, one solo.
Big Ten: Things held form in the B1G, as the four ranked teams in action won, but No. 7 Minnesota (14-3, 8-1) got all it could handle at Michigan (13-6, 6-3), coming back from 0-2 to win 15-13 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-13.
Alexis Hart led Minnesota with 20 kills, hit .379 and had five blocks and four digs. Stephanie Samedy had 12 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 13 digs. Adanna Rollins had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks and 10 digs, and Regan Pittman had 10 kills, hit .348, and had three assists, two aces, four digs and a career-high 11 blocks, one solo. Setter Bayley McMenimen had a kill in her only try, 49 assists, a block and four digs. Paige Jones led Michigan with 26 kills an had an assist, four aces, three blocks and six digs. Jess Robinson had 13 kills and hit .476 and had two digs and four blocks, and Sydney Wetterstrom had 11 kills, three assists, two aces, a block and 18 digs. Setter Mackenzi Welsh had eight kills with one error in 11 attacks to hit .636, had 56 assists, a block and seven digs …
Indiana (12-10, 1-8) took the first set, but just made No. 5 Nebraska (15-3, 7-2) mad as the Huskers (16-2, 8-1) then cruised to a 22-25, 25-13, 25-16, 25-14 win. Lauren Stivrins led Nebraska with 17 kills, hit .394 and had six blocks and a dig. Jazz Sweet had 14 kills, hit .321 and had a block and three digs, and Lexi Sun had 13 kills, an assist, three aces, a block and 17 digs. Nicklin Hames had three kills, 51 assists, five blocks and 12 digs. Breana Edwards had 15 kills for Indiana, which also got 10 from Kendall Beerman. The Hoosiers hit .100 …
Sixth-ranked Wisconsin (13-4, 9-0) remained the only team unbeaten in league play with a 25-19, 25-16, 25-21 win at Michigan State (13-6, 4-5). Molly Haggerty led with 14 kills and hit .306. She had an ace and four digs. Grace Loberg had 12 kills, hit .308, and had two blocks and two digs. The Badgers won again without injured Dana Rettke. Meredith Norris had 11 kills for Michigan State …
And Purdue (13-5, 5-4) beat visiting Iowa (8-12, 2-7) 20-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-15. Hayley Bush led with 17 kills and hit .333 to go with an assist, an ace, 11 digs and four blocks. Shavona Cuttino had 10 kills, hit .368, and had a dig and nine blocks. Courtney Buzzerio had 15 kills and four digs for Iowa.
ACC: With both No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Stanford losing, Pittsburgh could end up being No. 1 in next week’s AVCA Poll after the visiting No. 3 Panthers (20-1, 9-0) beat Notre Dame (14-5, 7-2) 25-20, 25-21, 25-23. Kayla Lund led with 13 kills as Pitt hit .228. She added an ace, three blocks and 15 digs. Stephanie Williams had 10 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 10 digs. Caroline Meuth had 16 kills for Notre Dame …
It set up a big battle Sunday, when Pittsburgh goes to Louisville (15-4, 8-1), the second-place team that swept Virginia (9-3, 1-8) 25-18, 25-12, 25-13. Claire Chaussee led Louisville with 10 kills, hit .333, and had three blocks and two digs. Virginia hit minus .040 …
Georgia Tech (13-7, 6-3) scored a surprising sweep — its fifth in a row — of visiting Florida State, the first time it beat the Seminoles since 2013. Mariana Brambilla had 14 kills and hit .414 for GT to go with two assists, four aces and 10 digs. Mikaila Dowd had 10 kills, 10 digs and a solo block. Setter Matti McKissock had a kill, 34 assists, eight digs and two blocks. Florida State, which hit .070, got nine kills from Payton Caffrey …
Also in the ACC, Clemson swept Miami, Duke beat Virginia Tech in four, and North Carolina did the same to Syracuse despite 23 kills by the Orange’s Polina Shemanova. Boston College won at NC State in five as Jewel Strawberry had 18 kills, hit .441, and had an assist, 16 digs and two blocks.
SEC: No. 13 Florida and No. 25 Missouri both won in sweeps.
Florida (16-3, 7-1) got 15 kills from Thayer Hall, who hit .484, in a 25-18, 25-16, 25-16 victory over visiting Alabama (11-8, 3-5). The Gators hit .391, which included seven kills by Lauren Dooley, who hit .545. She had three blocks, one solo. Doris Carter had 14 kills for Alabama …
Missouri (13-4, 5-2) won 25-15, 25-19, 25-23 at Arkansas (7-13, 1-7). Kylie Deberg led with 14 kills, hit .357, and had an ace, a block and nine digs …
South Carolina swept visiting Tennessee and Mississippi State beat Auburn in four.
Big East: Creighton swept Providence, while Marquette won at St. John’s in four.
Creighton, which plays at Providence (5-17, 0-9) again Saturday, improved to 16-3 overall, 9-0 in the league, with its 25-23, 27-25, 25-22 victory. The Bluejays, who hit .195, got 14 kills from Erica Kostelac, who had three blocks and two digs …
Marquette (18-3, 8-1) won 25-23, 28-26, 23-25, 25-25 as Allie Barber had 18 kills, Hope Werch 15 and Ellie Koontz 11. Werch had an ace, three blocks and 12 digs. Efrosini Alexakou had 19 kills for St. John’s (13-9, 5-4).
Also, Seton Hall beat DePaul in four despite 21 kills from Brittany Maxwell, Xavier went five to beat Georgetown, and Villanova did the same at Butler.
Around the nation: The only Big West match of the day saw No. 21 Hawai’i (17-3, 7-2) sweep at Cal State Fullerton (10-9, 2-6) 25-12, 25-19, 25-18 behind 12 kills by Hanna Helvig, who had seven digs. Norene Iosia and Amber Igiede had eight kills each. Iosia hit .375 and had 14 assists, an ace, eight blocks and 12 digs, and Igiede hit .400 and had an ace, six digs and four blocks, one solo. Julia Crawford led Fullerton with 13 kills and eight digs …
Western Kentucky (22-1, 8-0), ranked No. 23, hit a season-best .458 in its Conference USA victory at UAB (11-9, 3-4). Lauren Matthews led with 14 kills and had one error in 17 attacks to hit .765. She had four blocks and a dig. Paige Briggs had eight kills, hit .389, and had an ace, two blocks and seven digs. UAB hit .043 …
The other ranked C-USA team, No. 19 Rice, was off, but also in the league, Middle Tennessee won at North Texas in five despite Valerie Valerian going off for UNT with 28 kills, an assist, 12 digs and a block …
Things have tightened up on both sides of the American Athletic Conference, where SMU (14-5, 7-2) and Houston (13-11, 7-2) are now tied atop the West, with Tulsa (13-9, 6-3) and Tulane (16-6, 6-30) right behind; and Cincinnati (16-5, 8-10) and UCF (15-6, 8-1) running away with the East. UCF swept visiting Houston behind 18 kills by McKenna Melville, who hit .417 and had an assist, an ace, 12 digs and two solo blocks … Cincinnati swept visiting Memphis as Jordan Thompson had 17 kills, hit .483, and had an ace, nine digs and three blocks … SMU won in four at East Carolina as Hannah Jacobs had 18 kills …
Kennesaw State (15-6, 8-1) and FGCU (20-3, 8-1) stayed tied atop the ASUN as they both swept. Quin Sutphin had 17 kills with one error in 22 swings to hit .767 for KSU in its win over North Alabama, while Cortney VanLiew had 16 kills for FGCU in its win at Jacksonville. VanLiew hit .469 and had two assists and eight digs …
Dayton (15-6, 8-0) remained atop the Atlantic 10 with a sweep of George Washington as Jamie Peterson had 15 kills, an ace, 13 digs and five blocks … VCU (16-5, 7-0) kept pace with a sweep at Duquesne as Gina Tuzzolo had 11 kills, hit .409 and had three blocks … Saint Louis (12-8, 6-1) stayed a game back with a five-set win over visiting George Mason behind 27 kills by Sien Gallop …
All four matches in the Big South were sweeps, including league-leader Winthrop (16-4, 8-0) beating Presbyterian as Nikkia Benitez had 15 kills, hit .438, and had two assists, 11 digs and four blocks, one solo … Maggie Salley had 16 kills, six digs and four blocks for High Point (15-9, 7-1) as it kept pace by beating UNC Asheville …
Colonial-leading Towson (19-2, 9-0) won its 13th match in a row as Lydia Wiers had 13 kills and hit .571 to go with four blocks and two digs in the win over Northeastern … Also in the Colonial, James Madison beat College of Charleston despite Charleston’s Mandy Napieraia getting 22 kills, an ace, seven digs and two blocks …
Milwaukee (21-2, 8-1) swept Youngstown State to stay a game ahead of Green Bay (15-6, 7-2), which swept Cleveland State. Shari Volpis had 13 kills and hit .357 to go with two blocks for Milwaukee, while Taylor Wolf had 15 kills, hit .312 for Green Bay, to go with an assist, an ace five digs and two blocks …
Grace Wiczek had 18 kills, hit .552, and had four digs and two blocks for Dartmouth in a sweep of Harvard …
It was a battle of the respective MAC division leaders, but it was a no contest as Central Michigan (18-3, 8-1) steamrolled visiting Akron (14-6, 7-2) 25-16, 25-18, 25-13. Savannah Thompson led a balanced CMU attack with nine kills and 10 digs. Akron hit .097 … Also in the MAC, Jacqueline Askin had 18 kills for Bowling Green in its four-set win at Toledo to go with four digs and two blocks … and Maggie Nedoma had 23 kills, an ace, eight digs and six blocks for Ohio but the Bobcats lost in five at Western Michigan. WMU’s Rachel Bontrager had 19 kills, five digs and a block …
Hannah Becker had 20 kills as Southern Illinois surprised Illinois State in the Missouri Valley. She hit .462 and had a block for the Salukis … Drake won a Valley match in five at Evansville as Emily Plock had 20 kills, an assist, 13 digs and three blocks. Evansville put up big numbers as Rachel Tam had 24 kills and Alondra Vazquez 22 and Gabriela Macedo had a remarkable 46 digs, which broke her own school record … Also in the Valley, Amelia Flynn had 20 kills for Missouri State as it beat Bradley in five. She had an ace, 10 digs, and two blocks, one solo …
LIU lost in five to Central Connecticut State, but Karolina Nova had 26 kills in the Northeast Conference match to go with an assist, 14 digs and three blocks …
Morehead State, Southeast Missouri and Jacksonville State are in a tie at 7-2 atop the Ohio Valley and Murray State, SIUE and Tennessee Tech are right behind at 6-3 … The line of the night in the league went to Ali Verzani of Tennessee Tech, who had 21 kills, hit .326, and had an assist, an ace, 10 digs and five blocks, one solo, in a four-set win over Austin Peay …
Colgate beat Loyola Maryland in four in the Patriot League, but Ann Ernst had 23 kills and 18 digs for Loyola … Lafayette beat Bucknell in four as Leanna Deegan had 23 kills, hit .405, and had two digs and three blocks …
We had a story Friday about ETSU (17-4, 8-1) Southern Conference, which then got knocked off by Furman (5-15, 5-4) in five. Courtney Hoffman and Nicole Mack had 14 kills each for Furman. Hoffman had two digs and six blocks, three solo, and Mack had 22 digs and a block. Lauren Hatch had 21 kills, 17 digs, and a block for ETSU, which fell a half game back of Samford in the standings. That’s because Samford (15-5, 9-1) beat The Citadel in four as Kelsi Hobbs had 20 kills and hit .425 to go with an ace, nine digs and three blocks … UNCG got swept by Western Carolina, but Maria Esch had 19 kills, eight digs and a block …
And in the Sun Belt, in a battle of the respective division leaders, Texas State (17-7, 9-1), which owns the West, beat Coastal Carolina (18-3, 8-1), which saw its lead shrink to one game over Troy and South Alabama. Janell Fitzgerald had 17 kills for Texas State and Cheyenne Huskey and Lauren Teske had 14 each. Ann Nemeth had 26 kills for Coastal Carolina as she hit .327 and had 12 digs and two blocks, one solo.
