After losing the first set the way it did, completely falling apart and squandering a 21-12 lead, it was hard to imagine No. 20 Purdue coming back to upset No. 5 Nebraska on Saturday night.
But the Boilermakers regrouped and ultimately came away with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 15-8 win, the program’s first victory over Nebraska since 2013.
There were no other upsets Saturday in NCAA Division I volleyball, as every other ranked team in action won, most in sweeps. One of those included No. 11 Marquette winning a set 42-40.
The recaps follow, but first a look at Sunday’s schedule.
There’s a lot on the line in the ACC when third-ranked Pittsburgh (20-1, 9-0) puts its nine-match winning streak on the line at Louisville (15-4, 8-1). Not only can the Panthers maintain sole possession of first place, they’ve got a good shot at being No. 1 in the new AVCA Poll that comes out Monday after No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Stanford lost. Also in the ACC, Miami goes to Georgia Tech, Notre Dame is home for Virginia, Florida State goes to Clemson, Syracuse is at NC State and Boston College goes to North Carolina.
The Pac-12, with seven teams within one game of each other at the top, has six matches, as No. 2 Stanford tries to bounce back from losing to UCLA when it goes across Los Angeles to USC, No. 15 Cal hopes for the same when it goes the other direction to UCLA, No. 9 Washington tries to get right at winless Colorado, No. 24 Washington State is at No. 18 Utah, Oregon is at Arizona, and Oregon State is at Arizona State.
Three Big Ten teams play as No. 6 Wisconsin, the last team unbeaten in league play at 9-0, is at Michigan, No. 7 Minnesota is a game back and tries to keep pace as it goes to Purdue, and Northwestern is at Rutgers in a battle of 0-9 teams.
It’s a busy Sunday in the SEC with all three of its ranked teams in action, including No. 13 Florida home for Tennessee, No. 16 Kentucky at Ole Miss and No. 25 Missouri home for Mississippi State. Georgia, tied for the lead with Florida and Kentucky at 7-1, goes to Texas A&M. Also, Auburn is at Arkansas and Alabama goes to South Carolina.
There’s a full slate in Conference USA as the two ranked teams, No. 19 Rice and No. 23 Western Kentucky, hit the floor. Rice is home for FIU, while WKU goes to Charlotte. WKU holds a half-game lead at 8-0, Rice is 7-0, and UTSA, which plays host to Marshall, and North Texas, which is home for Louisiana Tech, are both 6-2.
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Big Ten: Purdue (14-5, 6-4) knocked Nebraska (16-3, 8-2) out of second place. A big part was blocking, as the Boilers held a 16-5 advantage. Caitlyn Newton led Purdue with 17 kills and had three aces, seven digs and five of those blocks, one solo. Grace Cleveland had 13 kills, four aces, five digs and six blocks. Blake Mohler had 12 kills with one error in 19 attacks and hit .579, had three digs, and nine blocks, two solo. Emma Ellis had nine kills and two blocks, and Shavona Cuttino had five kills and six blocks.
Lexi Sun and Lauren Stivrins had 18 kills each for Nebraska. Sun had two aces, a solo block and 18 digs, while Stivrins hit .361 and had two blocks, one solo. Madi Kubik had 12 kills, two aces and 14 digs.
In that first set, Purdue went up 21-12 and appeared to make it 22-13 when Nebraska coach John Cook won a challenge that sparked a run from which the Boilers couldn’t recover. Even in the second set they held a 21-18 lead that turned into a 23-23 tie before Newton and Cleveland had kills to even things up …Â
No. 8 Penn State (16-3, 9-1) won 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 at Maryland (12-10, 4-6) to beat the Terps for the 25th time in a row. Jonni Parker had 14 kills, an ace, two blocks, and a dig for Penn State, and Tori Gorrel had 10 kills, hit .353, and had two blocks and a dig. Erika Pritchard and Katie Myers had nine kills each for Maryland …Â
No. 17 Illinois (10-9, 5-5) beat visiting Ohio State (11-11, 4-6) 25-21, 26-24, 25-17 as Jacqueline Quade had 13 kills and hit .324 to go with two aces and seven digs. Beth Prince had 11 kills and three digs. Gabby Gonzales had 12 kills, an ace, a block and 10 digs for Ohio State …
Iowa (9-12, 3-7) at Indiana (12-11, 1-9) 27-25, 20-25, 25-20, 14-25, 16-14. Amiya Jones and Griere Hughes led with 15 kills apiece. Jones had seven aces and a block, while Hughes three blocks, one solo. Hannah Clayton had 11 kills and seven blocks. Breana Edwards had 19 for Indiana to go with 10 digs and three blocks, one solo.
Big 12: Top-ranked Baylor (17-1, 7-1) bounced back from its first loss, at Texas on Wednesday, with a 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18 victory over visiting West Virginia (10-11, 1-7). Yossiana Pressley led with 14 kills, four blocks and nine digs, Shelly Stafford had 12 kills with no errors in 19 attacks to hit .632 to go with three aces and a block, and Kara McGhee had 11 kills and nine blocks, one solo. Katelyn Evans had 19 kills and three blocks for WVU …Â
No. 4 Texas (14-2, 8-0) won at Kansas (6-12, 2-6) 25-19, 25-18, 25-15. Skylar Fields and Logan Eggleston had 10 kills each and the Longhorns hit .375. Micaya White had seven kills with no errors in 20 swings and hit .350 and had two assists, four blocks and seven digs. Kansas hit .087 …Â
Oklahoma (14-5, 6-2) won 22-25, 25-21, 27-25, 26-24 at Texas Tech (14-8, 4-4) as both teams struggled offensively. OU hit .165 and Texas Tech .146. Sarah Sanders led the Sooners with 16 kills, a dig and four blocks, one solo. Ashlynn Dunbar and Paige Anderson had 11 kills each. Dunbar had an assist, an ace, 14 digs and five blocks, one solo. Emily Hill had 20 kills for Texas Tech and had an ace, a block and 16 digs …
And Iowa State (13-7, 4-4) swept visiting Kansas State (7-13, 2-6) 25-20, 25-23, 25-16 as Annie Hatch had 12 kills and Candelaria Herrera 11.
West Coast Conference: Both No. 22 San Diego and No. 12 BYU won, leaving them tied and two full games ahead of Pepperdine in the standings.Â
That’s because San Diego (16-5, 9-1) beat Loyola Marymount (12-10, 6-4), and BYU (18-3, 9-1) beat Pepperdine (11-10, 7-3).Â
In San Diego’s 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15 win at LMU, Grace Frohling had 12 kills, hit .500, and had two aces, two digs and three blocks, one solo. Megan Jacobsen and Thana Fayad had 11 kills each. Fayad had two aces, nine digs and three blocks, one solo. Megan Rice had 16 kills, two aces, three assists, seven blocks and three digs for LMU. Savannah Slattery had 10 kills and Emmelyn Walters had eight with no errors in 11 swings to hit .727 and she had four blocks, two solo …Â
BYU’s 25-21, 25-15, 29-27 victory saw the Cougars rally back from being down 24-20 in the third. McKenna Miller had 18 kills, including the last two points of the match, and hit .452. She had two aces, two digs and a block. Madelyn Robinson 16 kills and added two assists, seven digs and a block. Heather Gneiting had 11 kills and three blocks. Rachel Ahrens had 10 kills and hit .300 for Pepperdine and had three blocks, one solo …Â
Also in the WCC, Portland swept Gonzaga behind 15 kills by Liz Reich, Santa Clara beat Pacific in four despite 18 kills by Pacific’s Allison Dennemann, and Saint Mary’s swept San Francisco.
Big East: Both ranked teams in the league won as No. 10 Creighton won in three at Providence for the second day in a row, and No. 11 Marquette swept at Seton Hall.
Creighton (17-3, 10-0) won 25-14, 25-21, 25-16 as Jaela Zimmerman had 13 kills with no errors in 25 attempts to hit .520 and had three assists, an ace, a block and 12 digs. PC (5-18, 0-10) hit .000 …
Marquette (19-3, 9-1) stayed a game back with its 25-12, 42-40, 25-12 victory that saw 22 ties and eight lead changes in the second set. Allie Barber led with 20 kills and hit .474 and she had a block and two digs. Hope Werch had 12 kills, three assists, two aces and 15 digs. Seton Hall (7-17, 2-8) got 19 kills from Haylee Gasser, who had nine digs …
Also in the Big East, Villanova swept Xavier and St. John’s beat DePaul in four.
Big West: UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly are tied for the lead and No. 21 Hawai’i is a game back in the loss column after all three won in sweeps Saturday.
UCSB (18-2, 8-1) beat UC Riverside (5-15, 1-8) 25-22, 25-18, 25-21 behind 20 kills by Lindsey Ruddins, who hit .514 and had seven digs and three blocks, one solo …
Cal Poly (15-6, 8-1) won 25-19, 28-26, 25-11 at UC Davis (12-10, 4-5) as Nikki Jackson and Maia Dvoracek had 11 kills each …
Hawai’i (18-3, 8-2) won at UC Irvine (4-16, 1-7) as Skyler Williams had nine kills and hit .500 to go with seven blocks, one solo, in the 27-25, 25-17, 25-21 victory …
And Long Beach State (7-13, 4-4) beat CSUN (8-12, 3-5) in five as Kashauna Williams and Yizhi Xue had 19 kills each. Xue hit .586 and had a dig and six blocks.
Mountain West: No. 14 Colorado State won again, its 19th in a row, but Wyoming won’t go away and stayed a game back atop the standings.
Colorado State (20-1, 10-0) beat visiting Nevada (14-8, 4-6) 25-12, 25-16, 27-25. Breana Runnels led with 14 kills and hit .333 and had an ace, a block and six digs. Katie Oleksak had three kills in seven errorless attempts and had 35 assists, an ace, two blocks and four digs. Nevada hit .095 …Â
Wyoming (14-7, 9-1) beat visiting San Jose State (7-14, 2-8) 29-27, 25-15, 25-19 for its seventh win in a row. KC McMahon had 13 kills and hit .391 and Tara Traphagan and Halie McArdle had 11 kills each …
Also in the MW, Air Force swept New Mexico, Boise State did the same to Fresno State despite 17 kills by Amaria Kelley, and San Diego State swept Utah State as Hannah Turnlund had 14 kills, an ace and seven digs.
Patriot League: There’s a two-team tie at the top after American (16-7, 9-1) beat visiting Colgate (16-6, 9-1) 25-14, 25-17, 25-21. Helena Elbaek led with 15 kills and hit .520 and added an assist, a block and two digs. Zeynep Uzen had 14 kills, three assists, two blocks and four digs, and Asli Celikkol had 12 kills, hit .440, and had a block and a dig. Setter Olivia Wassner continued to sparkle, this time with two kills in eight errorless attempts, 38 assists, 10 digs and five blocks, one solo. Colgate, which beat AU in four last month, got 10 kills from Alli Lowe …
Also in the Patriot League, Loyola Maryland beat Holy Cross in four and sophomore libero Katie Forsythe set the conference record when she got 46 digs. Ann Ernst had 18 kills … Lehigh swept Bucknell and Navy beat Army West Point in five as Maddi Sgattoni had 17 kills for the Mids and Sydney Morriss had 18 for Army to go with an ace, 11 digs and four blocks.
Big Sky: Northern Colorado (15-7, 9-1) kept its Big Sky lead at two games with a sweep of Southern Utah and Idaho (11-11, 7-3) swept Idaho State. Taylor Muff had 11 kills, hit .391, and had two assists, two aces, seven digs and two blocks for UNC … Also in the Big Sky, Weber State beat Eastern Washington in four as Dani Nay had 16 kills, hit .342 and had an ace, seven digs and two blocks … There were big numbers in Montana State’s five-set win over Sacramento State. Kira Thomsen had 22 kills, an assist, two aces, 18 digs and two blocks for Montana State and teammate Hannah Scott had 20 kills, hit .333, and had 11 digs and three blocks. Sacramento State’s Sarah Davis had 26 kills, an ace, 21 digs and a block … Montana beat Portland State in four and Amethyst Harper led with 19 kills, an assist, 14 digs and four blocks, one solo.Â
MAC-tion: The Mid-American Conference is never boring. Three of the six matches Saturday went five, and that included Buffalo (8-14, 4-6), the last-place team in the East, stunning West leader Central Michigan (18-4, 8-2) on its home court after being down 0-2. Polina Prokudina and Rachel Sanks had 20 kills each for Buffalo in its 16-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-12 victory. CMU still has a three-game lead over Ball State in the West …Â
Akron (15-6, 7-2) stayed a game back of Miami (13-8, 8-2) in the win column by bouncing back from losing to CMU with a four-set win at Eastern Michigan. Elya Karsner had 19 kills for Akron, 19 digs, and five blocks, one solo. Ashley Richardson had 15 kills and not only hit .343 and had a dig and nine blocks. EMU’s Franki Strefling had 15 kills and 26 digs for EMU …Â
Kent State beat Western Michigan in five as Savannah Matthews had 21 kills for Kent State to go with 16 digs and two blocks, and WMU’s Rachel Bontrager had 24 kills, hit .333, and nine digs and three blocks …
Bowling Green beat Ball State in five as Katelyn Meyer had 20 kills, four digs and four blocks, while Natalie Risi had 25 kills for Ball State to go with an assist, an ace, 14 digs and a block .
Around the nation: Stephen F. Austin not only improved to 22-1 and 10-0 in the Southland, but it increased its lead to two games with a four-set win over Northwestern State (16-8, 8-2). Corin Evans had 18 kills for SFA, which won for the 15th time in a row. Evans had an ace, 12 digs and a block. Hannah Brister had 20 kills, an assist, 18 digs and three blocks, two solo, for Northwestern State … Sam Houston (12-10, 8-2) stayed in the hunt with a sweep of Nicholls State … Also in the SLC, Ehlze Omoghibo had 19 kills for New Orleans and hit .424 in a three-set loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi …Â
In the Horizon League, Milwaukee (22-2, 9-1) won again and maintained its one-game lead over Green Bay (16-6, 8-2). Milwaukee beat Cleveland State in four as five players had 10 or more kills. Green Bay swept Oakland as Ashley Sledge and Taylor Wolf had 13 kills each …Â
Northern Iowa beat Evansville in a five-set Missouri Valley victory that produced a lot of big numbers. Karlie Taylor had 22 kills for UNI to go with an assist and 21 digs. Kaylissa Arndorfer had 19 kills and hit .405 and had five digs and four blocks, one solo. Evansville’s Alondra Vazquez had 20 kills, two aces and 14 digs …
Olivia Lohmeier had 21 kills, an assist, an ace and nine digs as Morehead State remained one of three teams — along with Southeast Missouri and Jacksonville State — tied for the Ohio Valley Conference lead with a five-set win over SIUE … Also in the OVC, Tennessee State beat UT Martin and Logan Wallick had 24 kills and hit .391 to go with an assist, six digs and four blocks .. Rachel Giustino had 22 kills for Murray State in its four set win over Tennessee Tech. Giustino hit .370 and had two assists an ace, 18 digs and three blocks …Â
Nicole Mack had 20 kills for Furman but the Paladins were swept by Western Carolina in a Southern Conference match … Also in the SoCon, Kelsi Hobbs had 19 kills, 13 digs and four blocks, one solo, for Samford in its win over Wofford …Â
In the WAC, UT Rio Grande Valley beat California Baptist in four and in doing so gave coach Todd Lowery his 500th career victory. He’s 500-102 in 17 seasons as a head coach. This is his fifth season at UTRGV … Also in the WAC, Savannah Davison had 16 kills and hit .414 as NM State won its 11th in a row, a sweep of Seattle U. Cat Kelly added 13 kills, hit .524, and had four digs and two blocks … CSU Bakersfield’s Brooke Boiseau, who hit .417 and had 10 blocks, and Milica Vukobrat had 17 kills each in a five-set WAC win over Chicago State. Vukobrat had three assists, 15 digs, and three blocks …Â
Brown got swept by Yale in the Ivy League, but Sophia Miller and Makena Ehlert had 17 kills apiece …
In the Metro Atlantic, Fairfield (15-4, 10-0) has a three-game lead. The Stags swept Quinnipiac on Saturday as Joelle Battles had 12 kills, hit .450 and had two digs and two blocks … Also in the MAAC, Rider swept Marist and Morgan Romano had 21 kills, hit .348, and added two assists, two aces, seven digs and three blocks …Â
Winthrop (17-4, 9-1) has won five in a row and still holds a one-game lead over High Point in the Big South after sweeping Charleston Southern for its fifth win in a row. Makayla Doyle had 11 kills, hit .364, and had four blocks for Wintrop …Â
Hofstra won a Colonial match over William & Mary in four and Ana Martinovic had 20 kills, hit .485, and had three digs … In another CAA match, Athena Ardila had 19 kills for Northeastern in its four-set win over Elon. She hit .300 and had six aces, 13 digs and three blocks.
