Second-seeded Texas trailed UC Santa Barbara 2-1 — at home — before coming back Friday to win its first-round NCAA Tournament match in five.
Colorado State had a 13-8 lead in the fifth, but South Carolina came back to win 18-16.Â
One seeded team, No. 15 Western Kentucky, lost to Louisville. WKU finished its season 32-2 and its only losses were to Louisville in the fifth match of the season and then again Friday night.
There were three other matches that went five, including Utah beating Illinois, Towson extending its winning streak to 23 by beating American, and — with senior Torrey Van Winden playing for the first time this season — Cal Poly came back from 0-2 to beat Georgia.
There are 12 more NCAA matches Saturday and a few of them should be all that and more, including Utah at BYU, Marquette at Purdue, USC at Baylor and San Diego at Hawa’i’i.
And combined with the NIVC, there will be plenty of volleyball to watch and we’ve got you covered.
We have all the NCAA broadcast and streaming links. Go to VolleyballMag.com’s TV listings page for easy one-stop clicks that will take you right to the match you want to see.
Into the round of 16: Texas, Louisville, Florida, and Texas A&M all advanced.
Texas (23-3) was on its heels after three sets against UCSB (23-6) before ultimately winning at home 25-22, 19-25, 18-25, 25-18,15-10. The Big 12 co-champs got 22 kills from Logan Eggleston, who had two errors in 47 attacks to hit .426. She had eight digs and four blocks.
Micaya White had 17 kills, three assists, nine digs and five blocks. Brionne Butler had 14 kills, hit .522 — Texas hit .346 as a team — and had a dig and 11 blocks, one solo. Setter Jhenna Gabriel had a kill, 54 assists, five digs and three blocks.
Texas changed liberos after the third set, subbing Autumn Rounsaville. Starter Sydney Peterson had nine digs and an assist, and Rounsaville, playing libero for the first time, had five digs and an assist.
“That was an incredible volleyball match,” UCSB coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “I asked our team to come out here and put everything they have on the floor and they did that and more.Â
“We came to a tough environment on the road — the No. 2 seed in the whole tournament — and we played our butts off, and we made them work for everything they got. I couldn’t be prouder of my team and everyone in this program for the efforts that we put out there tonight.”
UCSB, an at-large from the Big West, got 23 kills from Lindsey Ruddins, who hit .388 and had 16 digs and a block. Tallulah Froley and Tasia Farmer had 13 kills each. Torre Glasker had 12 kills, hit .321, and had nine digs and two blocks. Deni Wilson had six kills and four blocks, one solo. Setters Olivia Lovenberg and Romoni Vivao combined for a kill, 62 assists, and 21 digs.
Texas will play Louisville next Friday in Austin …Â
Louisville of the ACC (21-9) got Conference USA-champion Western Kentucky 32-2) again, this time 21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 15-5 to end the Hilltoppers’ 28-match winning streak. That streak started after the loss at Louisville on September 6 and ended Friday against the Cardinals.
“We have been in five set matches a lot this year and we have not always come out on top,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “I think the experience of being here before and knowing we can do it, and if it gets close in that fifth set, we still had a ton of confidence that our team believed that we could win.Â
“We expected to win. That is how we talk about positivity and expectations. We visualize ourself winning the match before it even starts.”
Aiko Jones led the Cardinals with 20 kills, two aces, six digs and six blocks, one solo. Claire Chaussee had 14 kills, two assists, two aces, a block and nine digs as Louisville continued to play well without injured offensive leader Melanie McHenry.
Amber Stivrins had 13 kills, an ace, four blocks and eight digs. Tori Dilfer had two kills in five errorless tries, 46 assists, three blocks and 13 digs. Louisville hit .179.
WKU, playing before a record home crowd of 5,023, hit .162. Paige Briggs led with 19 kills, two blocks and eight digs. Lauren Matthews had 17 kills, two digs and five blocks, one solo. Nadia Dieudonne had two kills, 50 assists and 12 blocks.
“That’s what this tournament is about and when somebody outplays you it’s their time to move on and your time to bow out,” WKU coach Travis Hudson said. “And there will be 63 teams who go through the same process over the next couple weeks and tonight was our turn.”
Tenth-seeded Florida (27-4), SEC co-champion, swept visiting UCF of the American Athletic Conference (25-8) as Paige Hammons had 16 kills and hit .314 in the 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 victory. She had a block and 10 digs.Â
Rachael Kramer had 15 kills, hit .667 after having one error in 21 attacks, and had three blocks, one solo, to go with an ace. Holly Carlton had eight kills with no errors in 15 swings and hit .533 and had two aces, two blocks and four digs. Marlie Monserez had a kill, 39 assists, two blocks and nine digs.
Florida, which hit .380, was without offensive leader Thayer Hall, who was on the sidelines and fully engaged in team cheers. Florida made no mention of it in its news release and ESPN’s announcers did not say in the early part of the broadcast if she was injured, or if she was, what the injury is.
UCF’s Kristina Fisher had 10 kills and three assists. McKenna Melville had nine kills and 19 digs.
Florida will play the winner of Saturday’s Creighton-Minnesota match …Â
The SEC’s Texas A&M (23-7) got all it could handle and then some for two sets before finally pulling away from Rice of Conference USA (27-4) 26-28, 32-30, 25-20, 25-15.
“That was probably one of the best team wins and grind matches I’ve had with this group and it was a roller coaster,” A&M coach Bird Kuhn said. “They just had to steady it out and earn points, but again, just like last night, the way they finished. They finished a very good team.Â
“Rice is a great team. They were fighting and I’m just proud of this team and the way they fought.”
A&M, into the second round for the first time since 2009, got 28 kills from Hollann Hans, who also had an assist, four aces, four blocks and 17 digs. Lauren Davis had 13 kills, two blocks and two digs. Mallory Talbert had 10 kills, hit .381, and had an assist, a dig and six blocks. Camille Conner not only had 56 assists, but six kills, three blocks and nine digs.
Rice hit .118. Nicole Lennon led with 15 kills but hit .063. She had an ace, 12 digs and five blocks, one solo. Grace Morgan had 12 kills, an ace and four blocks. Anota Adekunle had 11 kills, three digs and eight blocks, two solo.
The Aggies will play the winner of Saturday’s match between Wisconsin and UCLA.
At Baylor: The top-seeded Bears (26-1) hit .443 as they moved into the second round with their 10th victory in a row, a 25-20, 25-18, 25-8 rout of visiting Sacred Heart of the Northeast Conference (20-12). Baylor will play host to the Pac-12’s USC (18-13), a 25-18, 25-19, 25-16 winner over the Southland Conference’s Stephen F. Austin (31-2).
Marieke Van der Mark led Baylor with 13 kills and hit .600 after having one error in 20 swings. She had two blocks and a dig. Yossiana Pressley had 12 kills, hit .320 and had a block and three digs. Sacred Heart hit .031 …
USC broke SFA’s 24-match winning streak as the Trojans hit .387. Brooke Botkin led with 17 kills and hit .378 to go with 16 digs. Khalia Lanier had 15 kills, hit .361, and had two blocks and 10 digs, and Raquel Lazaro had four kills in six errorless tries to go with 45 assists, two blocks and six digs.Â
Danae Daron led SFA with 11 kills as she hit .500 and had three blocks.
At Stanford: Third-seeded Stanford (25-4), the Pac-12 champion, extended its winning streak to 12 with 25-20, 25-11, 25-15 win over Denver (23-9), the Summit League champion. The Cardinal will play Cal Poly of the Big West (21-8), which made a remarkable comeback against the SEC’s Georgia (20-10) after being down 0-2 to win 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-10.
Stanford, 39-0 in NCAA first-round matches, hit .356. Kathryn Plummer led with 17 kills as she hit .433 and had five of Stanford’s seven aces, a block and eight digs. Audriana Fitzmorris had seven kills, six blocks and five digs, and Meghan McClure had five kills with no errors in 14 attacks, three assists and 14 digs. Setter Jenna Gray had two kills, 30 assists, an ace, seven digs and two blocks, one solo.
Denver hit .063 …
Van Winden, who missed NCAA play with a concussion and then all of last spring’s beach season and, before Friday, this indoor season, had 13 kills, an assist, a block and a dig. Click here to read her story about dealing with concussions.
Maia Dvoracek led Cal Poly with 14 kills and had 12 digs and five blocks. Jessica McRoskey had 11 kills, hit .333 after having one error in 33 attacks, and had two digs and seven blocks, one solo. Madilyn Mercer had eight kills, hit .438, and had five blocks.
Freshman Kacie Evans led Georgia with 23 kills and she had an assist, an ace, four blocks and 11 digs. Kianna Young had 13 kills, hit .385, and had five blocks and seven digs. Rachel Ritchie had 11 kills, three blocks and three digs. Setter Meghan Donovan had four kills in seven errorless attempts, 55 assists, three blocks and nine digs.
“Tonight’s match was a battle from the start,” Georgia coach Tom Black said. ”To get this experience, win or lose, is a huge step in the right direction for our program looking ahead to the future.
At Wisconsin: The fourth-seeded Badgers (23-6) beat the Missouri Valley’s Illinois State (22-12) 25-13, 25-14, 26-24 and now the Big Ten champs will play UCLA. The Bruins (19-11) of the Pac-12 swept the ACC’s Notre Dame (19-10) 25-16, 25-19, 25-20.
Wisconsin’s Dana Rettke had 13 kills, hit .400, and had an ace, two digs and seven blocks, one solo. Kaylee Martin had 11 kills and 15 digs for Illinois State, which hit .063 …
Mac May led UCLA with 20 kills as she hit .487 and had an assist and nine digs. Savvy Simo had 11 kills with no errors in 24 swings and hit .458 and had nine digs and three blocks, one solo.Â
Caroline Meuth had 11 kills for Notre Dame, which hit .085.
At Nebraska: Nebraska of the Big Ten (26-4), the sixth seed, blasted visiting Ball State of the Mid-American (20-12) Â 25-13, 25-18, 25-10 and will play Missouri. Missouri of the SEC (22-7) swept Northern Iowa of the Missouri Valley (24-11) 25-11, 25-13, 25-14.
Nebraska, which hit .425, got 11 kills each from Madi Kubik and Lauren Stivrins. Kubik had no errors in 16 attacks and hit .688 and had two blocks and seven digs. Stivrins had one error in 15 swings, hit .667, and had five blocks and a dig. Nicklin Hames had four kills, 34 assists, four blocks and eight digs.
Ball State hit .010 …
Tyanna Omazic led a balanced Missouri attack with 10 kills, hitting .500 to go with five blocks and six digs. Leketor Member-Meneh had nine kills, hit .412, and had three aces and seven digs. Kylie Deberg had nine kills, four digs and five blocks, three solo.Â
UNI hit .030.
At Pittsburgh: The sixth-seeded Panthers (30-1) made short work of the MEAC’s Howard (20-13) 25-11, 25-13, 25-14. Now the ACC champions take their 19-match winning streak into the second round against Cincinnati of the American Athletic Conference. Cincinnati (26-6) grinded past the Atlantic 10’s VCU (24-7) 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23.
Pittsburgh, into the second round for the fourth year in a row, hit .329. Stephanie Williams led with 10 kills, hit .412, and had two assists, an ace, three blocks and a dig. Kayla Lund had seven kills, two aces, two blocks and nine digs. Sabrina Starks had five kills, hit .400, and had 10 blocks, two solo. Kailyn Williams had 10 kills for Howard, which hit .033 …Â
Cincinnati coach Molly Alvey got her 200th career victory as the Bearcats got 27 kills from Jordan Thompson. She added an assist, an ace, two blocks and 10 digs. Maria Mallon had 16 kills, four blocks and six digs.
Vicky Giommarini had 13 kills to lead VCU and had an ace, a solo block and 11 digs. Jasmin Sneed had five kills in 11 errorless swings and had eight blocks.
At Minnesota: Seventh-seeded Minnesota of the Big Ten (24-5) routed visiting Fairfield of the Metro Atlantic (24-6) 25-13, 25-14, 25-11 and will play Creighton. The Big East’s Creighton (25-5) ousted the Big 12’s Iowa State (17-12) 25-22, 25-15, 25-19.
Five Minnesota players had kills as the Gophers hit .434. Adanna Rollins led with 14 kills and hit .519 as she had no errors in 27 swings. She had an assist, five digs and four blocks, one solo. Alexis Hart had nine kills and hit .500, and Taylor Morgan had eight kills in 14 errorless attacks and had four digs and five blocks, one solo. Fairfield hit minus .038 …
Creighton, which hit .366, was led by Keeley Davis, who had 15 kills, hit .448, and had an assist, eight digs and two blocks, one solo. Jaela Zimmerman had 10 kills, two aces, two assists and four digs, and Annika Welty had nine kills, hit .500, and had a block and three digs.
Josie Herbst and Michal Schuler had nine kills each for Iowa State.
At Washington: The Huskies of the Pac-12, (25-6), seeded No. 8, beat visiting Winthrop of the Big South (24-5) 25-23, 25-10, 25-10 and will now play South Carolina. The SEC’s USC (20-11) not only ended the 28-match winning streak of Mountain West-champion Colorado State (29-2), but came back from being down 13-8 in the fifth to win 27-25, 17-25, 25-22, 14-25, 18-16.
Washington, 18-0 in first-round matches, was led by Kara Bajema (featured here last week), who had 18 kills with no errors in 27 attacks to hit .667. She had a block and 10 digs. Avie Niece had seven kills, hit .500, and had three blocks and a dig. Setter Ella May Powell had two kills in five errorless attempts, 34 assist, two aces and 10 digs. Washington hit .358, while Winthrop hit .022.
Mikayla Robinson had 16 kills and hit .481 for South Carolina to go with two blocks. Mikayla Shields had 15 kills — including the match winner — an assist, two aces, a block and eight digs. Brittany McLean had 12 kills and two blocks and Jess Vastine had seven kills, three assists, a block and 14 digs. Setter Courtney Koehler had two kills, 42 assists, an ace, two blocks and 11 digs.
While South Carolina hit .255, Colorado State lost despite hitting .317. Breana Runnels led with 24 kills and hit .333 and had an assist, an ace, seven digs and three blocks. Jessica Jackson had 15 kills, hit .424 after having one error in 33 swings, and had two blocks and three digs. Katie Oleksak had three kills, 59 assists, three aces, three blocks and 15 digs …Â
At Kentucky: The ninth-seeded Wildcats (24-6) won their ninth in a row, a 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 sweep of the Ohio Valley’s Southeast Missouri State (23-11). Now the SEC co-champion will play Michigan after the Big Ten’s Wolverines (21-10) swept the Horizon League’s Northern Kentucky (19-13) 25-22, 25-15, 25-22.
Leah Edmond led Kentucky with 18 kills, hit .405, and had four digs. Alli Stumler had 12 kills, an ace, two blocks and nine digs. Madison Lilley had three kills in six errorless tries, 33 assists, two aces, a block and 10 digs. Laney Malloy had 12 kills for SEMO to go with three assists, a solo block and 11 digs …
Michigan’s Paige Jones had 11 kills, a block and six digs. Cori Crocker had nine kills, hit .500, and had two blocks. Jess Robinson had eight kills, hit .500, and had two blocks and a dig. Sydney Wetterstrom had eight kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and nine digs. Setter Mackenzi Welsh had two kills, 36 assists, an ace, a block and nine digs.
Abby Kanakry had 10 kills and hit .316 for the Norse and had three blocks.
At Penn State: Penn State of the Big Ten (25-5) beat visiting Ivy League-champion Princeton (17-8) 25-21, 25-20, 25-19 and now play some other Tigers, Colonial-champion Towson. Towson (29-2) won its 23rd match in a row with a 25-23, 15-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12 victory over the Patriot League’s American (24-8).
Jonni Parker led Penn State with 14 kills, hit .313, and had a block and seven digs. Serena Gray had 11 kills, hit .450, and had an ace and two blocks, one solo. Gabby Blossom had a kill, 39 assists, two aces, a block and 10 digs. Libero Kendall White had six assists, an ace and 13 digs.
Maggie O’Connell led Princeton with 10 kills and hit .563 after having one error in 16 attacks. She also had two blocks. …Â
Towson, which won an NCAA match for the first time, got 23 kills from Olivia Finckel. She hit .362, had three assists, seven digs and five blocks. Lydia Wiers had 11 kills, hit .333, had a dig and six blocks, one solo. Silvia Grassini had eight kills, hit .316, and had two aces, five digs and five blocks, one solo. Setter Marissa Wonders had two kills in four errorless tries, 49 assists, an ace and 15 digs
Zeynep Uzen led American with 19 kills, two assists, two aces, 11 digs and three blocks, two solo. Olivia Wassner had seven kills, 48 assists, three aces, 17 digs and six blocks, one solo.
At Hawai’i: The 12th-seeded Rainbow Wahine (25-3) ousted visiting Big Sky-champion Northern Colorado (26-8)  26-24, 24-26, 25-8, 25-15 before a crowd of 7,818. Now the Big West champions will play West Coast Conference-champion San Diego, because the Toreros (25-5) won their 10th in a row, a 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 25-14 victory over the Pac-12’s Washington State (23-10).
McKenna Ross led Hawai’i with 14 kills and added an assist, an ace, six digs and three blocks, one solo. Skyler Williams had nine kills with no errors in 11 attacks to hit .818 and had six blocks, one solo. Brooke Van Sickle had nine kills, an assist, a block and 15 digs, and Amber Igiede had nine kills, four digs and five blocks.
Hawai’i hit .315, while UNC hit .145. Taylor Muff led Northern Colorado with 19 kills and she had an assist, an ace, a block and five digs. Kailey Jo Ince had 14 kills …
Grace Frohling led San Diego with 17 kills as the Toreros won their 10th match in a row. She had an ace and five digs. Katie Lukes had 15 kills, hit .333, and had two blocks and six digs. Thana Fayad had 12 kills, three assists, an ace, a block and 10 digs. Megan Jacobsen had 11 kills, hit .409, and had an assist, three blocks and two digs. Setter Anna Newsome had eight kills in 12 attacks with one error to hit .583, had 57 assists and 15 digs. Her team hit .308.
Washington State, which hit .168 and finished the season with five losses in its last seven matches, got eight kills each from Alexcis Lusby and Magda Jehlarova. Lusby had seven blocks, one solo, and Jehlarova had eight blocks.Â
At BYU: BYU of the West Coast Conference (26-4) swept visiting WAC-champion NM State (27-4) 25-7, 25-23, 25-19. Now the Cougars will play one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament because Utah of the Pac-12 (23-9) advanced by beating the Big Ten’s Illinois (15-14) 25-23, 24-26, 25-27, 25-23, 15-10.
McKenna Miller led BYU with 13 kills, hit .379, and had three aces, a dig and four blocks. Kate Grimmer had 10 kills, hit .667, and had an ace, three digs and two blocks.
Savannah Davison led NM State with 12 kills as she hit .348 and had five digs and two blocks …
Dani Drews led Utah with 27 kills and had two assists, an ace, four blocks and six digs. Kenzie Koerber had 13 kills, an assist, an ace and nine digs, and Zoe Weatherington had 13 kills, two blocks and two digs. Berkeley Oblad had 10 kills, hit .333, and had a dig and eight blocks, two solo. Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres had two kills, 57 assists, four blocks and 11 digs.
Jacqueline Quade led Illinois with 23 kills and had two aces, a block and six digs. Megan Cooney had 15 kills, a dig and six blocks, and Ashlyn Fleming had 12 kills, hit .333, and had an assist, two aces and five blocks. Diana Brown had a kill, 53 assists, 11 digs and three blocks, one solo.
You can read more about four of the key players in Saturday’s Utah-BYU match. Last month we profiled BYU’s Bower and Utah’s dynamic lefties, Drews and Koerber. And this week we featured BYU’s Miller.
At Purdue: The 16th-seeded Boilermakers of the Big Ten (23-7) dispatched the Horizon League’s Wright State (24-6) 25-9, 25-22, 25-11 and will play Marquette in another of the tournament’s highly anticipated second-round matches. Marquette of the Big East (28-5) swept the Atlantic 10’s Dayton (21-9) 25-23, 25-19, 25-22.
Purdue, which hit .393, got 14 kills from Caitlyn Newton, who hit .324 and had an assist, three aces, four digs and five blocks, one solo. Grace Cleveland had eight kills in 15 errorless swings to hit .533 and had an ace, three blocks and seven digs. Blake Mohler had six kills, hit .400, and had two digs and seven blocks, three solo. Hayley Bush had two kills in as many tries, 33 assists, an ace and 15 digs. Wright State hit .036 …
Marquette hit .303, led by Allie Barber. She had 17 kills, hit .378, and had a dig and two blocks, one solo. Hope Werch had 11 kills, hit .381, and had an ace and nine digs.
Jamie Peterson had 11 kills, an ace, two blocks and five digs for Dayton, and Alli Papesh had 10 kills, hit .333, and had three aces and three digs.
Conference update: The league with the most teams, the Big Ten, went 6-1 in the first round.Â
The SEC, which six teams in, went 5-1 and then 2-0 in the second round with Florida and A&M advancing.
The Pac-12 went 5-1.
The ACC went 2-1 in the first round and is 1-0 in the second with Louisville moving on.
The Big 12 went 2-2 in the first round and is 1-0 in the second.The Big West went 2-1 in the first round and is 0-1 in the second.
The Big East and West Coast Conference went 2-0, but the Horizon League and Missouri Valley went 0-2.
Conference USA went 2-0 in the first round and 0-2 in the second.
Click here for the NCAA bracket.
NIVC: Tulane (22-10) beat New Hampshire (17-10) in four and Colgate (23-7) did the same to Boston College (20-12). They’ll play Saturday at Colgate. Tulane’s Lauryn Green had 13 kills, hit .458, and had an assist, an ace, two digs and nine blocks, one solo. Alex Stein and Alli Lowe had 14 kills apiece for Colgate …Â
Troy (23-9) swept NC A&T (16-15) and Saturday will play Georgia Tech (22-8), which swept Alabama A&M (17-15. Cheyenne Haynes had 15 kills for Troy. Georgia Tech had four players with 10 or more kills and hit .545 as a team with 49 kills and seven errors in 77 attacks. Mariana Brambilla led with 12 kills, she hit .556, and had two aces and 11 digs …
South Dakota (29-2) swept UNLV (20-11) and faces UT Arlington on Tuesday. UTA (20-13) swept Sam Houston State (19-14). Elizabeth Juhnke led South Dakota with 16 kills, hit .382 and had an assist, two blocks and six digs. Mariena Hayden had 17 kills for UNLV. UTA’s Kylie Jedlicka had 13 kills and hit .348 …
TCU (11-17) swept Bowling Green (20-13) as Audrey Nalls led a balanced attack with 13 kills, two aces, a block and 11 digs. TCU plays the Tulane-Colgate winner next week.
Weber State (26-8) beat Wyoming (22-9) in five and plays Tulsa next week. Dani Nay led Weber State with 22 kills hitting .321 and she had two blocks and two digs. KC McMahon had 26 kills and hit .370 for Wyoming.
There are two other matches Saturday when Morehead State plays High Point and and La Salle faces Liberty.
Click here for the NIVC bracket.
