The Pac-12 is never boring, especially on Fridays.
To wit: No. 16 UCLA had to go five to beat No. 22 Washington State and remain in first place with No. 8 Washington, which won in four at USC. There was a big upset as Arizona knocked off No. 15 Stanford, and No. 19 Utah not only won at No. 17 Oregon, it swept the Ducks on their home court.
No. 24 Creighton is now tied with Marquette for the Big East lead after beating the Golden Eagles in four on their home court.
In the Big Ten, Rutgers took Illinois to five before losing, but won a set off the Illini for the first time since 1981, and Iowa broke its 12-match losing streak, 10 in the conference, as it beat Michigan State.
Western Kentucky clinched the Conference USA East title while UMBC won the America East regular-season title. There were changes at the top of a few conferences, including the Ivy, MAC, MEAC, and SoCon.
Line of the night: St. John’s won its Big East match in five at Georgetown as Rachelle Rastelli had 35 kills, hit .453, and had an assist, an ace, seven blocks, and eight digs.
Saturday’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball schedule is packed and includes No. 6 Nebraska at No. 11 Minnesota. Read our preview here.
PAC-12 — UCLA (16-3, 9-2) and Washington (16-3, 9-2) are now not only tied for the lead, but they have a two-game lead over Utah (14-6, 7-4), Stanford (12-7, 7-4), and Washington State (13-8, 7-4). Oregon (15-6, 6-5) and USC (10-10, 5-6) are tied a game back.
UCLA hit .688 in the fifth set to come away with a 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 25-15, 15-11 victory over visiting Washington State. UCLA, which hit .346, got 22 kills from Mac May and 21 from Charitie Luper. May had two aces, a block, and 16 digs. Luper hit .333 and had an assist, 1 digs, and three blocks, one solo. Zoe Fleck had 27 digsd and 11 assists. WSU’s Pia Timmer had 22 kills, an assist, and seven digs. Magda Jehlarova had 13 kills, hit .321, an dhad six. blocks. Hannah Pukis had six kills, 42 assists, an ace, three blocks, and 14 digs …
Washington won 28-26, 28-26, 19-25, 25-23 at USC. Samantha Drechsel had 22 kills, hit .404, and had two assists, an ace, two blocks, and eight digs. Claire Hoffman had 13 kills, an assist, three aces, five blocks, and 11 digs. Lauren Sanders had nine blocks, one solo, and three kills. USC’s Kalen Owes had 19 kills as she hit .325 and had 10 digs …
Utah won 25-21, 25-14, 26-24 at Oregon, coming back from being down 22-19 in the third. Dani Drews had 18 kills, an ace, a block, and six digs. Oregon’s Brooke Nuneviller had 13 kills and 20 digs …
Arizona (13-9, 5-6) swept visiting Stanford 25-19, 25-14, 25-23, which was playing without three starters. As Stanford reported, the Cardinal “played without starting setter Kami Miner, starting opposite Kendall Kipp and starting defensive specialist Alex Lougeay, who all missed the match due to injury. By the end of the match, the Cardinal had only nine available players.”
Arizona’s Sofi Maldonado Diaz had 15 kills and Puk Stubbe had 12. Caitie Beard had eight kills and four blocks for Stanford …
Colorado (13-7, 4-7) won 22-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-19 at Oregon State (3-18, 1-10). Maya Tabron led with 19 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and 11 digs. Brynna DeLuzio had 30 digs, eight assists, and an ace. Jenna Ewert added 37 assists, four blocks, three kills and three aces. OSU’s Lindsey Schell and Vivian Light had 13 kills each …
Arizona State (12-10, 5-6) won its fourth in a row with a 25-15, 25-18, 25-17 sweep of visiting Cal (7-15, 0-11). Geli Cyr led ASU with 14 kills as she hit .385 and had an assist, a block, and six digs.
BIG TEN — No. 9 Ohio State survived the first set and swept at Michigan (12-8, 5-6) 33-31, 25-18, 25-1. The Buckeyes, who hit .310, got seven or more kills from five players, 12 by Emily Londot, who had an assist, three blocks, and three digs. Michigan’s Paige Jones had 14 kills, three blocks, and five digs …
No. 13 Penn State (15-6, 8-3) swept visiting Maryland (17-6, 5-6) as five players had seven or more kills in the 25-23, 25-10, 25-20 victory. Jonni Parker led with 13, five digs, and three blocks, one solo. Alie Holland had seven kills with no errors in 10 swings and three blocks, one solo …
Iowa (3-18, 1-10) finally broke through with a B1G win. The Hawkeyes won 27-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-21 at Michigan State (9-11, 2-9). Four Iowa players had nine or more kills, 10 by Addie VanderWeide, who had an ace and 10 digs. MSU’s Sarah Franklin had 16 kills, two blocks, and seven digs …
Rutgers (8-14, 0-11) came so close to also getting that first B1G victory, but lost to visiting Illinois (15-7, 7-4) 25-27, 25-20, 25-11, 22-25, 15-12. Megan Cooney had 16 kills for Illinois and Kennedy Collins and Raina Terry had 16 each. Collins hit .440 and had three aces, 10 digs, and eight blocks, two solo. Taylor Kuper had 27 digs, five assists, and three aces. Rutgers hadn’t taken a set off Illinois since 1981, long before it joined the Big Ten. Kamila Cieslik led the Scarlet Knights with 17 kills as she hit .325 and had two assists, two aces, and 10 digs. Beka Kojadinovic had 11 kills, two blocks, and 24 digs.
ACC — First-place and second-ranked Louisville was off, but three teams remain tied for second two games back.
No. 4 Pittsburgh (19-2, 9-2) beat visiting Wake Forest (11-11, 2-9) 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 as six players had three or more kills, 11 by Kayla Lund, who had an ace and eight digs. Serena Gray had five kills with one error in seven attacks, an ace, and seven blocks. Wake hit .099 …
No. 14 Georgia Tech (18-3, 9-2) swept visiting North Carolina (17-5, 6-5) 25-21, 25-18, 25-16 as the Yellow Jackets hit .490. They had 54 kills with seven errors in 96 attacks. Julia Bergmann led with 17 kills and hit .536 to go with an assist, an ace, 12 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Mariana Brambilla had 214 kills, hit .480, and had two assists, four digs, and a block. UNC’s Nia Robinson had 14 kills …
Miami (18-3, 9-2), the other team tied for second, beat visiting Syracuse (15-8, 4-7) 25-21, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21. Janet Kalaniuvalu and Angela Grieve had 18 kills apiece for the Hurricanes. Savannah Vach had a kill, 56 assists, a solo block, and eight digs. Marina Markova led Syracuse with 20 kills as she hit .326 and had two assists, three solo blocks, and 19 digs …
Ade Owokoniran had 23 kills, an ace, two digs, and five blocks, as Duke beat visiting Notre Dame in five … Florida State swept Boston College as the Seminoles hit .303. Syke Ekes had 113 kills and hit .417 … NC State won in four at Clemson. Melissa Evans had 16 kills and hit .344 … Virginia Tech got its first ACC win by beating Virginia in five and now the two teams are tied for last place at 1-10.
BIG EAST — Creighton (21-3, 9-2), which lost to Marquette (18-4, 9-2) won 25-23, 23-25, 25-12, 25-20 in Milwaukee to leave both teams in a tie for first. Jaela Zimmerman returned to the lineup and led the Bluejays with 16 kills, five assists, four blocks, and 17 digs. Norah Sis had 16 kills, two assists, two blocks, and 13 digs. Taylor Wolf had 13 kills and hit .444 for Marquette to go with 19 assists, two blocks and 19 digs. Savannah Rennie had 11 kills, an ace, and six blocks … St. John’s won in five at Georgetown as Rachelle Rastelli had 35 kills with six errors in 54 attacks to hit .453. She had an assist, an ace, eight digs, and seven blocks. Ariadni Kathariou had 14 blocks, one solo, and seven kills with one error in 13 attacks. She also had five assists and two digs. Georgetown’s Peyton Wilhite had 23 kills, three assists, an ace, eight digs, and a block … Villanova beat Seton Hall in four as Riley Homer had 15 kills, hit .355, and had eight digs and two blocks … Butler swept at Xavier … DePaul beat Providence in four.
AROUND THE NATION — No. 25 Pepperdine swept its West Coast Conference match at Loyola Marymount. Rachel Ahrens had 17 kills, four digs, and four aces that left her as the school’s all-time ace leader …
In the only Big 12 match of the night, Oklahoma (10-10, 4-5) battled to a 20-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-23, 18-16 victory at Kansas (11-9, 3-6). OU, which has beaten Kansas six times in a row, got 22 kills from Megan Wilson, who had three blocks, one solo, and a dig. Savannah Davison had 17 kills, three digs, and four blocks. The Sooners hit .103. Caroline Bien led Kansas with 14 kills, an assist, 14 digs, and two blocks, one solo. Caroline Crawford had eight kills and nine blocks, one solo …
No. 18 Western Kentucky (22-1, 10-0) won the Conference USA title with a sweep of visiting Old Dominion. WKU, which has won 15 in a row, hit .379. Lauren Matthews led with 17 kills as she hit .625 and had a solo block and five digs … In the C-USA East, first-place Rice (15-7, 9-0) won its ninth in a row as Nicole Lennon had 17 kills in a four-set victory at UAB. Lennon had 16 digs and three blocks, two solo. Carly Graham had three kills in six errorless tries, 38 assists, an ace, a block, and 12 digs … Also in C-USA UTEP won in five at UTSA as Serena Patterson had 20 kills, an ace, 15 digs, and three blocks, one solo …
There were two SEC matches as LSU (10-12, 6-7) swept at Auburn (12-9, 4-7) and Ole Miss (16-5, 5-5) beat visiting South Carolina (12-9, 4-7) in five. LSU got 15 kills from Kylie Deberg, who hit .361 and had three aces, a block, and seven digs … Ole Miss got 22 kills from Sasha Ratliff and 20 from Anna Bair. Ratliff hit .571 and had an assist, an ace, a dig, and eight blocks. Kylee McLaughlin had 54 assists, a kill, two aces, six blocks, and 17 digs. South Carolina’s Kyla Manning had 21 kills, hit .383, and had an assist, ance, a block, and 11 digs …
Ball State (21-3, 11-1) won the big showdown between the respective division leaders in the Mid-American Conference by sweeping visiting Bowling Green (15-7, 11-1). Ball State, which hit .328, got 12 kills from Natalie Risi, who hit .321 and had 11 digs. Maggie Huber had 20 digs, a kill in her only attempt — her second of the season — and five assists. BGSU, taking its first league loss, got 13 kills from Kat Mandly and 12 from Katelyn Meyer …
UCF (17-6, 10-1) maintained its two-game American Athletic lead over Houston (19-5, 9-3) as the Knights swept Tulsa behind 21 kills by McKenna Melville, who hit .452 and had 15 digs and a block … Houston swept Temple as Abbie Jackson had 15 kills, four assists, five digs and two blocks …
FGCU (20-4, 12-0) kept rolling as it built its ASUN East lead to three games by beating North Florida (20-4, 9-3), now tied with Kennesaw State (15-8, 9-3) for second. FGCU’s Erin Shomaker had 15 kills, an ace, 11 digs, and three blocks, one solo … Kennesaw State won in five at Liberty. Lauren Chastang had 15 kills, four assists, an ace, 18 digs, and four blocks. Jasmine Brown had nine kills and eight blocks … ASUN West-leader Jacksonville State swept Bellarmine …
UMBC extended its winning streak with a four-set win over Hartford to clinch the America East title as four players had 11 or more kills, 19 by Mia Bilusic, who had two assists, two aces, and 13 digs …
In the Big South, first-place High Point (19-5, 11-0) swept at Hampton, while second-place Campbell (15-8, 10-1) stayed a game back by winning in five against visiting N.C. A&T. Sydney Palazzolo, who hit .419 and had three aces, and Dylan Maberry had 16 kills each for High Point. Campbell got 20 kills from Chloe Cook, who had three assists, 12 digs, and a block. Claranne Fechter had 24 digs and seven assists …
UC Santa Barbara won in five at UC Irvine and Hawai’i swept visiting UC Davis as both teams stayed tied for the Big West lead. UCSB’s Michel Ohwobete had 12 kills, two aces, seven digs, and five blocks. Hawai’i, which hit .333 got 12 kills from Brooke Van Sickle, who had five aces, nine digs, and a block … Also in the Big West, Tommi Stockham had 23 kills for Cal Poly in its five-set win over Cal State Fullerton …
Four Horizon League teams are within a game of each other in the loss column as Wright State (17-7, 9-3) dealt Milwaukee (18-8, 12-2) its second straight defeat and Northern Kentucky (14-7, 10-2) swept Green Bay. Idle UIC is (13-10, 9-2). Wright State’s Sam Ott had 18 kills, hit .469, and had three digs and a block …
Brown is alone again atop the Ivy League standings after the Bears swept at Columbia. Princeton dropped a game back when it got swept at Harvard …
There’s a tie atop the MEAC after North Carolina Central knocked off visiting Delaware State in five and Howard swept Morgan State. N.C. Central and Howard are 8-2 in the conference, while Coppin State is a game back after beating Norfolk State. Ammaarah Williams had 19 kills for N.C. Central and an assist, 12 digs, four blocks, two solo. Teammate Arlanda Faulkner had 18 kills, hit .375, and had an assist, an ace, six digs, and a block. Kristi Gomez had 20 kills for Delaware State … Howard hit .393 against Morgan State …
In the Ohio Valley, second-place Southeast Missouri swept Austin Peay to knock the visitors out to a tie for first place. Morehead State is a game up in the standings in the loss column after beating visiting SIUE in five. Morehead State’s Bridget Bessler had nine kills, hit .300, and had 54 assists, 12 digs, and two blocks …
Colgate still holds the lead in the Patriot League but Army West Point and Lafayette are tied for second, a game back, after Army beat Colgate in five and Lafayette beat Loyola Maryland in five. Army’s Paige Fixemer had 19 kills, hit .433, and had three digs and three blocks. Sayler Butters had 26 digs and five assists. Colgate’s Libby Overmyer led the Red Raiders with 21 kill, an assist, two digs, and three blocks, one solo … Lafayette’s Leanna Deegan had 20 kills despite hitting .077 and had an ace, 15 digs, and a block. Loyola’s Abby Hamilton had 28 kills, an ace, 14 digs, and two blocks, one solo … Also in the Patriot, American beat Bucknell in four as Zeynep Uzen had 21 kills, hit .400, and had an ace, 12 digs, and two blocks …
Mercer (13-9, 9-2) is alone atop the Southern Conference standings after beating visiting UNCG (19-5, 8-3) in four. Mercer had four players with nine or more kills, 14 by Annie Karle, who had an assist, four digs, and four blocks. Rayanne de Oliveira had 12 kills, hit .360, and had an ace and nine blocks, one solo …
Texas State hit .380 in its Sun Belt sweep of Georgia Southern. Caitlan Buettner had 13 kills with one error in 25 attacks, five digs, and an ace … Also in the SBC, Troy beat Coastal Carolina in four as Julia Brooks had 15 kills, two digs, and seven blocks, one solo.
