The Citadel won! But more on that and the rest of Tuesday’s matches in a bit.
Wednesday is the Texas-Baylor rematch.
The first time they played, October 23 in Austin, Baylor was unbeaten and ranked No. 1. But No. 4 Texas made short work of the Bears in a 25-19, 25-10, 25-19 beatdown.
This time, Wednesday night in Waco, Texas (19-2 overall, 13-0 Big 12) is No. 1 and Baylor (21-1, 11-1) is No. 3 and neither has lost since.
What’s more, Baylor is No. 1 in the NCAA RPI and Texas is No. 2. The match will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Also in the Big 12 Wednesday the two teams tied for third-place with a lot on the line are in action as Oklahoma (16-8, 8-5, 29 RPI) goes to Kansas State (8-17, 3-10) and Iowa State (17-8, 8-5, 30 RPI) goes to Texas Tech.
There are three Big Ten matches as No. 8 Penn State (21-4, 14-2) tries to break out of the three-way tie for second it’s in with idle Nebraska and Minnesota as the Nittany Lions go to Indiana (13-16, 2-14), No. 17 Purdue (18-7, 10-6) is home for Rutgers (8-19, 2-14), and No. 23 Michigan (18-8, 11-5) is at Michigan State (14-12, 5-11).
There are two SEC matches as No. 14 Kentucky 20-6, 13-2), coming off that victory over Florida, is home for Missouri (18-6, 10-4) and No. 15 Florida (21-4, 12-2) goes to Auburn (6-19, 0-14). Kentucky is No. 8 in the RPI, Florida is ninth, and Missouri is No. 18.
The rest of the nation is off but conference tournaments get under way on Thursday along with plenty of regular-season action.
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Click here for the complete NCAA.com schedule. To watch any match that is being shown, go to the VolleyballMag.com daily TV and streaming listings. One click will take you right to the broadcast.
The Citadel stays alive: The Southern Conference tournament began with ninth-seeded Chattanooga playing at No. 8 The Citadel and the Bulldogs won a postseason match for the second time in program history. The Citadel, 11-19, won 25-23, 25-15, 25-15 to move into the quarterfinals, where it faces top-seeded Samford (21-5) on Friday at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
“First off, thank you to the corps, that was the best environment we’ve played in all year,” The Citadel coach Dave Zelenock said, referring to the cadets at the school who came to match.
“We challenged the team to come out and play with heart tonight. We didn’t really make a lot of adjustments from when we played Chatt on Friday, it was just that we needed to put out a little extra.
“It was great to host our first ever playoff game, but even better to have won it.”
Sharlissa De Jesus led with 14 kills, hit .375, and had three assists, an ace, three blocks and 10 digs. Makaya Middleton had 13 kills, hit .320, and had a block and three digs. Mellanie King had 10 kills, an an assist, an ace, a block and nine digs. Setter Megan Fuhr had three kills in seven errorless attempts, 33 assists, an ace and 12 digs.
Chattanooga’s season ended 7-23. Gylian Finch led with eight kills, an ace and 12 digs.
Army, Navy advance in Patriot: Third-seeded Army West Point (21-9) beat visiting Loyola Maryland (13-18) 25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21 and moves into a Saturday semifinals match against Colgate at American University in Washington, D.C.
Sydney Morris had 22 kills for Army, hitting .308, and had two aces, three blocks and 12 digs. Courtney Horace had 15 kills, hit .323, and had three blocks and four digs. Allie Strong had eight kills, a block and 19 digs, and setter Hannah Presley had 49 assists, an ace, five blocks and 11 digs.
Abby Hamilton led Loyola with 16 kills and had a block and 13 digs. Molly Jarvis had 11 kills and four blocks, and Ann Ernst, who had a fantastic season, had a tough night as she had 10 kills but .020. She had five blocks and 12 digs. Ernst finished the season with 493 kills (4.07/set) …
Fourth-seeded Navy (17-11) made its first home Patriot League Tournament match in two decades a 25-20, 25-21, 25-16 victory over visiting Lehigh (14-17) and advances into a semifinal against American.
Amanda Montag led Navy with 13 kills, and had three assists, two aces and nine digs. Maddi Sgattoni had nine kills, two assists, and 20 digs. Setter Paige Miles had four kills in 10 errorless tries, 30 assists, three aces, five digs and three blocks, one solo.
Julia Pressly had 11 kills for Lehigh, which hit .100.
Also: There were two other matches Tuesday as Portland State went five to beat Sacramento State in the Big Sky and UNLV beat New Mexico in the Mountain West.
Portland State (10-18, 6-11) beat Sacramento State (14-16, 9-8) 25-19, 21-25, 16-25 25-19, 15-12. Parker Webb led with 14 kills, hit .367, and had two digs and two blocks. Jasmine Powell had 13 kills, hit .323, and had eight digs and two blocks. Maddy Reeb had 11 kills, an ace, nine digs and a block.
Macey Hayden led Sacramento State with 16 kills and had two assists, seven digs and a block. Sarah Davis had 15 kills, an assist, three aces, six digs and a solo block. Setter Ashtin Olin had two kills, 52 assists, five aces, 16 digs and four blocks …
UNLV (18-10, 13-3) won at New Mexico (10-19, 5-11) 12-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-21 as Mariena Hayden had 15 kills, an assist, 13 digs and two blocks. Shelby Capilonch had 10 kills, two aces, six digs and a block. Macy Smith had eight kills with no errors in 18 swings to hit .444, and had six blocks, one solo.
Tai Bierria had 15 kills for New Mexico, hit .323, and had two assists, an ace, nine digs and two blocks.
