No more unbeatens in NCAA volleyball as Iowa St. knocks off Texas
NCAA Women
Lee Feinswog
October 20, 2022
The last time a team went through the NCAA Division I volleyball season unbeaten was 2009, when Penn State, in the midst of a four-year title run, had back-to-back 38-0 finishes.Â
The next chance it can happen again is in 2023, because Wednesday night in Ames, Iowa, unranked Iowa State knocked off visiting No. 1 and previously unbeaten Texas.Â
The 18-25, 27-25, 12-25, 27-25, 15-10 victory was an obvious huge boost for Iowa State, which is No. 48 in the NCAA RPI this week and needs all the good wins it can get to put itself into NCAA Tournament at-large consideration.
Winless no more: Saint Peter’s beat Manhattan to claim a victory after starting 0-23.
Georgia not only won its SEC match at No. 11 Florida, it swept the Gators.
Second-ranked Nebraska swept at No. 12 Purdue, No. 6 Ohio State swept Illinois, No. 9 Minnesota swept at Iowa, No. 14 Baylor beat Texas Tech, Ball State took over sole possession of the MAC West by beating Toledo, and then there was Lily Felts.
Until three matches ago, Felts, the Tennessee grad transfer, had a total of 127 kills for FGCU this season. But in the last three matches, Felts has 66, including a remarkable performance Wednesday in a sweep at Stetson when she had 27 kills with one error in 34 attacks. What’s more, in those three matches, she has made seven errors in 128 attacks.
The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Thursday’s schedule, which is relatively light but has some key mid-major battles on tap.
The two East leaders have a big Sun Belt battle when Coastal Carolina goes to James Madison. They are both 7-1, a game up on idle Georgia Southern (4-2). Texas State and South Alabama are both 7-1 in the West and they’re off, too.
WAC-leading UTRGV is at Grand Canyon and second-place Utah Valley is home for Utah Tech as part of a six-match WAC slate.
Big South leader Campbell is home for Charleston Southern and second-place High Point is home for USC Upstate.
Conference-leading San Jose State, 9-0 in the Mountain West, plays at second-place UNLV, which is 7-1. Colorado State, tied with UNLV, is home for Boise State.
Eastern Illinois, a half game back but tied in the loss column for the Ohio Valley lead with idle UT Martin, is at Morehead State.
The two Southland leaders are on the road as HCU goes to Nicholls and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is at Southeastern Louisiana.
Summit League-leading South Dakota (7-1) is at Denver (6-3), second-place Omaha (7-2) is home for South Dakota State and North Dakota State (6-2) is home for Western Illinois.
Fourth-ranked San Diego and No. 17 BYU are off, but No. 22 Pepperdine plays one of the four West Coast Conference matches when the Waves go to Portland. LMU is at Gonzaga, Pacific is at Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s is at San Francisco.
BIG 12: Texas (14-1, 6-1) was pushed to the limit in a five-set win at Kansas in the conference opener a month ago, but since then had only lost one set in league play. Iowa State (13-7, 5-2) won its fourth match in a row and beat a top-ranked team for the first time since 2012 when it beat Nebraska. The Cyclones had lost 10 in a row to Texas.
Iowa State celebrates beating Texas/Iowa State photo
On paper, Texas dominated. The Longhorns had more kills (80-64), blocks (13-5), digs (73-65) and outhit Iowa State .359 to .273.
Iowa State’s Eleanor Holthaus led with 14 kills, an ace, a block and 11 digs. Annie Hatch had 14 kills and a block, Maya Duckworth had 14 kills, two aces, a block and seven digs, and Solei Thomas had 11 kills, an assist, two blocks and three digs. Kelsey Perry had seven kills in 10 errorless attacks and two blocks. Brooke Stonestreet had 25 digs, eight assists and two aces.
Madisen Skinner led Texas with 19 kills and hit .350 to go with three blocks, an assist and a dig. Logan Eggeston had 18 kills but hit .167 and added an assist, an ace, 12 digs and four blocks, one solo. Asjia O’Neal had 17 kills with one error in 27 attacks, five blocks and seven digs. Molly Phillips had 13 kills, hit .417 and had five blocks. Kayla Caffey was back in the lineup and she had 12 kills with one error in 20 attacks and seven blocks …
Baylor (16-4, 5-2) beat visiting Texas Tech (14-6. 3-4) in four as four players had nine or more kills in the 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-19 victory. Lauren Harrison led with 16 kills, an assist and seven digs. Mallory Talbert had 13 kills, hit .524 and had an ace, five digs and three blocks. Reagan Cooper had 6 kills for Texas Tech and had two digs and two blocks, one solo. Caitlin Dugan had 13 kills, two assists, seven digs and six blocks, two solo …Â
Kansas State (12-8, 3-4) won in five at Oklahoma (11-8, 1-6). Aliyah Carter had 16 kills for K-State to go with an assist, two aces, a solo block and seven digs. Savannah Davison had 17 kills for OU …Â
Kansas (15-5, 5-3) won in four at West Virginia (7-13, 0-7). Caroline Bien had 17 kills, hit .310, and had two blocks and four digs. Lauren Dooley, who had eight kills and hit .353, had 11 blocks, four solo. WVU’s Adrian Eli had 18 kills, hit .341, and had 14 digs, an ace, 19 assists and three solo blocks.
BIG TEN: Nebraska (17-1, 9-0) rolled on with a 25-21, 25-20, 25-18 sweep at Purdue (15-4, 6-3). Bekka Allick led with 12 kills and hit .611 after having one error in 18 attacks to go with four blocks and two digs. Madi Kubik had nine kills, hit .304, and had an ace and nine digs. Purdue’s Emma Ellis had nine kills …
Ohio State (12-5, 8-1) beat visiting Illinois (9-0, 4-5) as the Buckeyes hit .370 in the 25-10, 25-23, 25-23 sweep. Adria Powell led with 12 kills after having one error in 19 attacks to go with two blocks. Raina Terry had 15 kills for Illinois …Â
Minnesota (11-6, 6-3) swept at Iowa (7-13, 1-8). Taylor Landfair had 13 kills, hit .324 an had an ace, two digs and eight blocks.
SEC: Georgia (13-5, 4-3) won 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 at Florida (15-4, 7-2). The last time Georgia beat a ranked opponent on the road was at Florida two seasons ago. Kacie Evans had 16 kills, an assist, an ace, six blocks and five digs. Amber Stivrins had nine kills, an ace and two digs, and Sophie Fischer had eight kills, hit .308 and had an assist and nine blocks. Florida, which hit .090, got 14 kills from Marina Markova, who hit .333 and had two digs and three blocks, one solo. Her teammates combined for 21 kills with 23 errors …Â
South Carolina (10-8, 4-4) beat visiting Mississippi State (11-8, 4-5) in five. Riley Whitesides led with 14 kills in the 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 16-25, 15-12 victory to go with two aces, three blocks and 10 digs. Gabby Waden had 17 kills for State …Â
Arkansas (14-5, 5-4), playing without injured leading attacker Jillian Gillen, held off visiting Texas A&M (10-9, 2-8) in five. Taylor Head had 23 kills in the 25-18, 25-12, 20-25, 23-25, 15-11 win. Head hit .362 and had two aces, 15 digs and a solo block. Maggie Cartwright had 21 kills, hit .312 and had two blocks. Logan Lednicky had 28 kills for A&M to go with 16 digs and two blocks. Caroline Meuth had 13 kills, an assist, six digs and three blocks …Â
LSU (11-8, 5-4) rallied for a 25-19, 17-25, 26-28, 27-25, 15-7 victory at Alabama (7-13, 1-7). Sanaa Dotson had 18 kills, an assist, an ace, four blocks and 14 digs. Paige Flickinger had 16 kills, an ace, four blocks and 13 digs. Anita Anwusi had 10 kills and nine blocks, one solo. Ella Larkin had 31 digs and three assists. Alabama’s Kendyl Reaugh had 16 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks and 11 digs. Alyiah Wells had 10 blocks to go with eight kills, two assists and four digs.
AROUND THE NATION: As mentioned, Lily Felts went off for FGCU (15-5, 5-2 ASUN) in its 29-27, 25-12, 25-10 sweep at Stetson (12-7, 3-4). FGCU, which hit .304, has beaten the Hatters 20 times in a row. Felts’ previous career high was 25, set just two matches ago against Central Arkansas. Felts, who had 27 kills against Stetson as her teammates combined for 20, also had an ace, seven digs and two blocks, one solo …Â
There was one ACC match as Duke (12-8, 3-6) beat visiting NC State (11-9, 5-4) in four. Gracie Johnson had 22 kills, an assist, two aces, four blocks and seven digs. Nikki Underwood had 20 digs, five assists and an ace …Â
In the only American Athletic Conference match of the day, UCF improved to 16-1, 8-1 with a sweep of visiting South Florida as Claudia Dillon had 11 kills with one error in 15 attacks, an assist, an ace, a digs and four blocks …Â
Connecticut swept Providence in the only Big East match as Caylee Parker had 15 kills and hit .375. She had three aces and 10 digs …Â
In the Mid-American, visiting Ball State broke its tie with Toledo atop the West division with a four-set victory in which Cait Snyder had 19 kills, hit .342 and had two digs and two solo blocks. Also in the MAC, Central Michigan swept Eastern Michigan and East-leading Bowling Green hit .349 and swept last-place Miami …
Saint Peters (1-23, 1-10 MAAC) beat visiting Manhattan (1-20, 1-10) in five as four players had 11 or more kills in the 26-28, 25-20, 21-25, 25-20, 15-10 victory. Elena Bilhartz had and Sydney Kuzma had 15 kills each. Bilhartz had three aces, five digs and six blocks, three solo. Kuzma had two assists, two blocks and 19 digs. Manhattan’s Camila Gomez had 23 kills, an ace and 19 digs, and Julia Menocal had 21 kills, two aces, a solo block and 12 digs.
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KJ Adams of Texas Tech goes for the punch up against Baylor/Matt Smith photo
