The first matchup this season between the SEC‘s two ranked teams, No. 1 Florida, the nation’s only undefeated team, and No. 8 Kentucky, happens Sunday in Gainesville. It will go a long way in determining the league’s overall champion and will also put in the winner in a good position to get one of the four national NCAA Tournament seeds.
Florida is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA RPI behind Penn State, while Kentucky is No. 3. They play again in Lexington on November 1.
Florida-UK comes a day after an upset-free Saturday in the power-five conferences.
There were many mid-major results of importance, like No. 24 Cal Poly winning for the 12th time in a row and No. 7 BYU and No. 18 San Diego scoring West Coast Conference sweeps.
But not too many teams had back-to-back nights like Missouri State.
The Bears, coming off a five-set win Friday against another unbeaten in the Missouri Valley, Drake, then went to previously unbeaten No. 20 Northern Iowa and knocked off the Panthers in four as Lily Johnson had 12 of her 22 kills in the fourth set. Johnson had 152 swings in two days.
The roundup followw, but first a look at Sunday’s schedule, starting with that Kentucky-Florida match.
Kentucky (15-2, 6-0 SEC) had Friday off, while Florida (14-0, 6-0) won in a sweep at Ole Miss.
Missouri (5-1) will be tied with the loser if it wins at Tennessee, while LSU (5-2) tried to keep pace when Alabama visits. Also, Ole Miss is at South Carolina, Auburn goes to Texas A&M and Georgia plays at Mississippi State.
There is one match in the Big Ten as No. 6 Minnesota plays host to Iowa.
The Pac-12 has four matches on tap, with all eyes on No. 3 Stanford at No. 19 USC. Stanford is the lone unbeaten in the league at 7-0, while USC is a game back at 6-1. No. 13 Utah — also 6-1 —is at Arizona State. Oregon State, coming off that upset at Washington, goes to Washington State, and Colorado plays at Arizona.
The ACC has six matches, including league leaders Pittsburgh at Boston College and NC State home for Virginia Tech. Miami goes to Wake Forest, Clemson is at Notre Dame, Florida State is at Duke and Georgia Tech is at Louisville, which is 6-1 and one game back of Pittsburgh and NC State, both 7-0.
The Big 12 has the day off.
Remember that VolleyballMag.com has all the TV and streaming listings every day for every match that is being shown.
Four of five B1G matches end in sweeps: That included No. 2 Penn State (17-1, 7-1 Big Ten) crushing visiting Michigan (13-7, 3-5) 25-17, 25-18, 25-14.
Simone Lee had 15 kills, hit .393 and had five digs and two blocks for the Nittany Lions, who got 12 kills from Haleigh Washington, who hit .571. Ali Frantti had nine kills and 11 digs to go with a solo block and two aces.
Carly Skjodt had 12 kills for Michigan.
Fourth-ranked Nebraska won at No. 16 Purdue 25-16, 22-25, 25-14, 25-18 as it held the Boilermakers to a .134 hitting percentage. It left Nebraska 14-4, 7-1, while Purdue is 15-4, 5-3.
Mikaela Foecke had 21 kills and hit .476 to go with an ace and five digs. Annika Albrecht had 13 kills, hit .321 and had seven digs. Danielle Cuttino led Purdue with 14 kills.
No. 10 Michigan State, coming off a loss to Penn State, won at Rutgers 25-17, 25-13, 25-21 to get to 13-4, 6-2, as Autumn Bailey had 10 kills. Rutgers is 5-15, 0-10.
Also, Illinois stayed a game back of the lead with a 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 sweep of Maryland that left the Illini 15-4, 6-2. Beth Prince had 14 kills and hit .538 as her team won its third in a row. Jacqueline Quade had 12 kills and so did Ali Bastianelli, who hit .346. Setter Jordyn Poulter had four kills in five errorless swings, 42 assists, 14 digs and three blocks, one solo.
Maryland (15-4, 3-5) got eight kills apiece from Erika Pritchard and Gia Milana.
Ohio State (11-8, 4-4) swept Northwestern (12-8, 2-6) 25-13, 25-18, 25-15. Ashley Wenz led the Buckeyes with 11 kills.
Texas, Baylor win in Big 12: The Longhorns made short work of visiting No. 23 Iowa State 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 as Ebony Nwanebu led with 11 kills. She hit .474 and had four blocks. Chiaka Ogbogu had eight kills, hit .583 and had six blocks.
Texas is 14-2, 6-0 in the Big 12, while ISU is 12-4, 3-3. The Cyclones, who hit .121, got nine kills from Jess Schaben.
Baylor’s balanced attack was too much for Kansas State, winning 25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-11. It left the Bears a half-game back of Texas at 16-4, 6-1, while K-State fell to 9-11, 2-5.
Yossiana Pressley led with 20 kills as she hit .381 and had eight digs and four blocks. Katie Staiger had 14 kills, 13 digs and three blocks, while Aniah Philo had 12 kills, hit .407 and had 23 digs and two blocks. Camryn Freiberg had 10 kills in 14 errorless swings to hit .714 and she also had six blocks, one solo.
Kylee Zumach had 13 kills and hit .303 for K-State, while getting six digs and two blocks.
Also in the Big 12, Emily Hill had 18 kills and 17 digs as Texas Tech (13-6, 2-4) beat visiting TCU (9-9, 1-5) 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 25-21.
UCLA, North Carolina get victories: The No. 12 Bruins easily put away visiting Cal 25-16, 25-22, 25-15 as freshman Mac May had 12 kills, seven digs and three blocks. It left UCLA 12-5, 5-3 in the Pac-12, while Cal is 11-8, 2-6.
North Carolina got an ACC win over visiting Virginia 25-12, 25-19, 25-16 as Taylor Leath had 10 kills and hit .381. Beth Nordhorn had eight kills, hit .438 and had six blocks, while Taylor Fricano had seven kills, hit .636 and had eight blocks. UNC is 9-7, 6-2 in the ACC.
Virginia is 4-15, 0-8 and hit .051.
BYU, USD get WCC wins: BYU maintained its hold on first with a 25-11, 26-24, 25-16 sweep of visiting Gonzaga. Veronica Jones-Perry led with 15 kills while hitting .300. Cosy Burnett had 10 kills and hit .350 to go with two aces and five blocks, while Kennedy Redding had seven kills, hit .385 and had five blocks, one solo.
BYU is 19-1, 8-0 in the WCC.
Gonzaga (11-9, 6-2) had 10 kills from Sarah Penner.
San Diego took care of visiting Portland 25-21, 25-23, 25-19 as Jayden Kennedy had 16 kills. Kaity Edwards added nine while hitting .316. San Diego is 14-4 and a game back of BYU at 7-1.
Portland (13-7, 4-4) got nine kills from Reghan Pukis. Portland hit .093.
Missouri State alone atop Valley: After slugging its way to road victories in back-to-back nights, Missouri State is 8-0 in the Missouri Valley, a half game ahead of the team it beat Friday night, Drake, and the team it upset on Saturday, Northern Iowa.
Missouri State beat UNI on its home floor 25-23, 29-27, 20-25, 25-22 as Lily Johnson had 22 kills in 64 swings, hit .313, and had 18 digs and two blocks. The night before, in the five-set win at Drake, Johnson had 28 kills in 88 swings and 32 digs.
Aubrey Cheffey added 14 kills for the Bears, while Lynsey Wright had 11 and five blocks, one solo.
Missouri State is 8-0 in the Valley for the first time since 2009 and has won nine matches in a row.
UNI (17-5) got 10 kills from Piper Thomas, who hit .471. Bri Weber had 14 kills and 23 digs, while Karlie Taylor and Jaydlin Seehase had 11 kills each. Taylor had 19 digs.
Drake (18-4, 7-1) bounced back with a 25-16, 25-22, 17-25, 25-16 win over Southern Illinois (4-15, 3-5) as Kyla Inderski had 15 kills and 14 digs and Emily Plock had 13 kills.
Colorado State cruises on: The Rams (18-2) are also 8-0 in their league, the Mountain West, after dispatching visiting Nevada 25-21, 25-19, 25-18. Nevada is 5-15, 3-5. Jasmine Hanna and Breana Runnels had eight kills apiece to lead Colorado State.
CSU holds a two-game lead over Wyoming (11-9, 6-2) as it threatens to run away with the league title. Wyoming beat San Jose State on Saturday 25-10, 25-20, 25-17.
A dozen for Cal Poly: The Mustangs won their 12th in a row, a 26-28, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15 victory at UC Santa Barbara as Torrey Van Winden led with 21 kills, seven digs and six blocks. Sister Adlee Van Winden added 18 kills, hit .375 and had seven digs and seven blocks, three solo. and Raeann Greisen had nine kills, three digs and two blocks.
Cal Poly is 17-2 overall, 7-0 in the Big West, while UCSB is 3-15, 2-4.
Lindsey Ruddins led the Gauchos with 21 kills, eight digs and five blocks.
Hawai’i remained a game back at 13-6, 7-1 with a five-set win at CSUN. McKenna Granato had 24 kills for the Rainbow Wahine …
Around the nation: Fairfield is 13-6 overall but 8-0 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after winning at Marist 25-12, 25-12, 28-26. Fairfield, which won its 38th consecutive MAAC match, got 11 kills from Skyler Day …
UTRGV — the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley — took over first place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 25-15, 25-12, 23-25, 25-20 win over visiting CSU Bakersfield. UTRGV (12-8, 6-1 WAC) has now won eight-straight home matches and is 8-0 at home for the first time in NCAA Division I program history. Senior Bojana Mitrovic led UTRGV with 14 kills and 10 digs and Barbara Silva had 13 kills, hit .407 and had four blocks. CSUB is 12-10, 5-2 and tied for second in the league with NM State (13-7, 5-2), which beat Grand Canyon in four, and Utah Valley (10-12, 5-2). Utah Valley beat Kansas City in four …
FGCU swept North Florida and Kennesaw did the same to NJIT and they remained tied atop the ASUN at 6-1. Amanda Carroll had 16 kills, hit .483 and had seven digs and two blocks for FGCU, while Kennesaw had a balanced attack and hit .463 as a team …
No. 17 Creighton (13-5, 6-1) was off in the Big East but moved a half game closer to first when the only team to beat the Bluejays, Marquette, got knocked off by Villanova in five. Villanova is 12-7, 5-3. Marquette (13-6, 7-1) got 25 kills from Allie Barber, who hit .375 …
Sacramento State won again in the Big Sky to improve to 17-7, 8-0. The Hornets beat visiting Northern Arizona 25-23, 25-11, 22-25, 27-25 as four players hit .300 or better. They won for the 14th time in 16 matches and tied their best league start since 2007. Mikaela Nocetti led with 21 kills, hit .300 and had 22 digs. Shannon Boyle had 14 kills and 21 digs …
High Point is 15-6, 8-0 in the Big South after sweeping UNC Asheville … The three-way tie didn’t last long. Yale is alone in first in the Ivy League at 12-4, 6-1 after beating Harvard (10-6, 5-2) in four and Princeton (12-5, 5-2) lost at Columbia in five …
Bowling Green (11-8, 7-1) swept Central Michigan and is a game up on Miami in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. Western Michigan, Ball State (which both lost Saturday) and Toledo (which swept Kent State) are tied for first in the West at 5-3 …
Bryant’s bubble burst Saturday when it lost to visiting Saint Francis in five. Bryant (15-9, 6-1) had won six in a row. SFU is 10-10, 4-3 after Kelsey Roush had 23 kills and 16 digs …
In the Patriot League, American and Navy are now tied for first after American (16-7, 7-1) won in five at Colgate and Navy (17-4, 7-1) lost at Army (13-8, 6-2) in five … Furman is 14-7, 8-0 in the SoCon after sweeping Samford … South Alabama (13-5, 8-0) maintained its hold on first in the Sun Belt with a sweep at Georgia State.
