All three teams tied for the Big Ten lead won Saturday, No. 1 Nebraska, No. 5 Wisconsin and No. 6 Ohio State.
A handful of winning streaks continued.
Hawai’i won in five at UC Davis to remain atop the Big West, and what a match for Amber Igiede: She had a career-high 24 kills, hit .432 and added an ace, three digs and seven blocks.
But the line of the night goes to Youngstown State’s Paula Gursching, who had 32 kills, hit .369, and had three assists, three aces, 17 digs and two blocks. Gursching, a sophomore outside from Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany, leads the NCAA with 513 total kills, just ahead of South Dakota’s Elizabeth Juhnke, who has 500.
The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at a very busy Sunday schedule in NCAA Division I volleyball.
It’s all on the line for Washington in the Pac-12 as the No. 19 Huskies play host to No. 8 Stanford. Stanford is 10-1 and two full games ahead of the Huskies, No. 18 Oregon and USC.
Oregon is at Arizona State and USC is at Colorado. Washington State, a game back in fifth, is home for Cal. Also, UCLA is at Utah and Oregon State is at Arizona.
Fourth-ranked Louisville is off, but the seven-match ACC slate includes No. 7 Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech and No. 10 Georgia Tech at NC State. Virginia is at Wake Forest, Clemson is at North Carolina, Florida State is at Boston College, Miami is at Syracuse and Duke is at Notre Dame.
The two Big 12 matches have No. 13 Baylor home for West Virginia and Oklahoma at Kansas.
No. 15 Creighton plays a Big East match at St. John’s,Â
Only one ranked Big Ten team is in action when No. 12 Purdue plays host to Indiana. Illinois is at Rutgers, Michigan State is at Michigan and Iowa is at Northwestern.
In the SEC, No. 14 Florida is back home for Arkansas, No. 20 Kentucky is home again for Auburn and State is back at LSU.
No. 22 Rice plays host to UTEP in one of five Conference USA matches.
There are six American Athletic Conference matches including lNo. 23 Houston home for East Carolina and No. 25 UCF back at Wichita State. UCF played two home matches a month ago at Wichita State — beating Tulsa and Wichita State — when it had to evacuate because of Hurricane Ida.
The two teams tied for the top of the ASUN face off when Lipscomb plays at Liberty.
In the MEAC, Coppin State, a game up in the win column, plays host to second-place Howard.Â
BIG TEN: Wisconsin (17-3, 11-1) won its 10th in a row, beating visiting No. 9 Minnesota 25-20, 25-20, 16-25, 25-23. Sarah Franklin led with 18 kills, eight digs and three blocks, one solo. Devyn Robinson and Julia Orzol had 13 kills each. Setters Izzy Ashburn and MJ Hammill combined for 51 assists and had eight digs each. Their team hit .192. Shanel Bramschreiber, getting the start at libero for injured Gulce Guctekin, had 19 digs and an ace.
The Gophers (13-7, 8-4) hit .211. Taylor Landfair and Mckenna Wucherer had 15 kills each. Carter Booth had eight kills with no errors in 14 attacks and 10 blocks, one solo …Â
Ohio State (15-5, 11-1) won 19-25, 27-25, 26-28, 25-14, 17-15 at Penn State (17-6, 6-6) behind 24 kills from Gabby Gonzales, who had two blocks and 10 digs. Emily Londot had 16 kills, three assists, five blocks and seven digs. Rylee Rader had 12 kills in 21 errorless swings, an ace, four blocks and three digs. Mac Podraza had four kills, 53 assists, an ace, 13 digs and four blocks, one solo. Her team hit .266. Kylie Murr had 22 digs and nine assists. Penn State, which hit .183, got 24 kills from Kash Williams, who hit .314 and had two digs and two blocks, one solo. Allie Holland had 14 kills, hit .364 and had six digs and eight blocks, one solo. Katie Clark had 12 kills, hit .476 and had three blocks and two digs. Seleisa Elisaia had four kills, 51 assists, four aces, two blocks and 14 digs …Â
Nebraska (19-2, 11-1) overpowered visiting Maryland (13-11, 4-8) as three players had seven kills and three others had five each in the 25-16, 25-9, 25-19 win. Whitney Lauenstein had seven kills, an ace, two digs and eight blocks. Maryland hit .000.
SEC: Florida (17-4, 9-2) maintained its one-game lead in the win column as the Gators and second-place Kentucky (13-6, 8-2) both won, and Georgia (17-5, 8-3) stayed in the hunt with another win at Missouri.Â
Florida swept visiting Arkansas (14-6, 5-5) while Kentucky handed Auburn (18-4, 7-4)Â its third loss in four matches. Kentucky, which hit .369, got 17 kills from Adanna Rollins, who hit .452 and had two aces and 10 digs. Â
Georgia swept at Missouri (8-13, 1-10) as Kacie Evans had 18 kills and hit .500 to go with seven digs and two blocks.
LSU (13-8, 7-4) battled to a five-set win over visiting Mississippi State (11-10, 4-7). Paige Flickinger led with 17 kills as she hit .375 and had an assist, two aces, 14 digs and two blocks, one solo.Â
WEST COAST: Third-ranked San Diego (20-1, 11-0) won its 17th in a row, blasting visiting Gonzaga 25-12, 25-11, 25-14 as the Toreros hit .584. San Diego had 51 kills with six errors in 77 attacks. Katie Lukes had 17 kills with one error in 24 attacks, three aces, seven digs and two blocks. Zoe Thiros had seven kills for the Zags (5-18, 1-11) …Â
No. 17 BYU (16-5, 9-2) swept visiting Portland. Erin Livingston led with 14 kills as she hit .375 and had an assist, four digs and two blocks … Loyola Marymount (13-7, 9-3) hit .385 and swept visiting Santa Clara (8-16, 4-8). Kari Geissberger had 16 kills with one error in 29 attacks and an ace, six digs and four blocks … San Francisco (13-10, 6-6) lost the first two sets but then won in five at Pepperdine (16-7, 7-5). Claire Crijins had 21 kill, an assist, an ace five digs and 10 blocks, one solo.
BIG SKY: Hawai’i (14-6, 11-1) holds a one-game lead in the loss column over idle UC Santa Barbara )13-8, 9-2) after the Rainbow Wahine won 16-25,25-12,28-26,19-25,15-9 at UC Davis (9-13, 4-8). It gave UH coach Robyn Ah Mow her 100th victory since taking over for legendary Dave Shoji. Amber Igiede led with a career-high 24 kills as she hit .437 and had an ace, three digs and seven blocks. Caylen Alexander had 18 kills, hit .385, and had a block and four digs. Kate Lang had five kills in six errorless tries, 50 assists, two aces, five blocks and six digs. Her team hit .301. UC Davis got 21 kills from Demari Webb, who hit .386 and had two blocks and a dig …Â
Long Beach State (14-6, 9-3) won its eighth in a row and pulled into a tie for third as the 49ers beat visiting Cal Poly (12-10, 9-3) 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 16-25, 15-13. Morgan Chacon had 15 kills, two aces and 11 digs. Victoria O’Sullivan had 13 kills, three blocks and three digs. Callie Schwarzenback had 11 kills, hit .381 and had six blocks and a dig. Katie Kennedy had 10 kills, six blocks and six digs, and Kameron Bacon had four kills and eight blocks. Tommi Stockham had 19 kills for Cal Poly and Maia Dvoracek had 17 and 15 digs …Â
UC Irvine (14-8, 7-5) won in five at CSUN (7-17, 2-10) as Onye Ofoegbu had 19 kills, hit .389 and had an ace and six digs, and Cal State Fullerton (12-8, 6-6) beat visiting CSU Bakersfield (5-19, 2-10) in four.
UCSB plays host to UC San Diego (11-12, 4-7) on Sunday.Â
Sophia Meyers of Portland State hits against the Colorado State block of Syd Cole, left, and Cece Huhn/Scott Larson photo
AROUND THE NATION: In the only Conference USA match, No. 22 Western Kentucky swept visiting Louisiana Tech to improve to 22-2, 10-0 in the league. WKU, which has won 11 in a row, hit .400. Paige Briggs had 12 kills with one error in 28 attacks …Â
FGCU knocked Kennesaw State out of a tie for first place in the ASUN — and into a tie for second with the Eagles — with a four-set road victory … Loyola Chicago won its program-record 14th in a row, all in the Atlantic 10, as the Ramblers stayed two games up with a sweep of visiting VCU. Also in the A10, Saint Louis beat visiting Dayton in four, but the Flyers’ Lexie Almodovar had 26 kills, hit .356 and had two assists, two aces, 15 digs and two blocks … In a five-set Big East loss to Providence, Georgetown’s Karis Park had 28 digs, five assists and an ace … Northern Colorado tightened things up in the Big Sky with a sweep at first-place Portland State, which left UNC a game behind in second. Portland State had won seven in a row …Â
High Point and Campbell remained tied for the Big South lead after High Point won in four at Winthrop and Campbell bounced back from its first loss as it hit .316 and swept at Presbyterian. High Point’s Sydney Palazzolo had 19 kills, five aces, 10 digs and two blocks … Wright State had the right stuff when it swept at Milwaukee to win its 16th in a row and maintain its two-game lead in the Horizon League. The Huskies (21-3, 13-0) hit .350 as four players had nine or more kills. Also in the HL, Youngstown State won in five at IUPUI and the incredible Paula Gursching lit it up again, this time with 32 kills. The hard-hitting German had eight errors in 65 attacks to hit .369 and had three assists, three aces, 17 digs and two blocks …Â
Yale also won its 16th in a row as the Bulldogs improved to 18-1, 10-0 in the Ivy League with a sweep of Columbia . Mila Yarich had 12 kills, hit .308 and had three assists, two aces, a block and nine digs. In Brown’s five-set Ivy win over Cornell, Sophia Miller had 20 kills, hit .304 and had an ace, 11 digs and two blocks … Fairfield won its sixth MAAC match in a row as the league-leading Stags swept at Quinnipiac, hitting .329. Ella Gardiner had six kills in nine errorless attacks, an ace and five blocks …Â
Bowling Green won its MAC match in four over visiting Toledo and Petra Indrova had 15 kills, hit .542, and had 25 digs and three blocks. Ohio, tied with Bowling Green for the East lead, swept NIU. West leader Ball State hit .409 in its sweep at Miami … Northern Iowa swept visiting Belmont to improve to 20-6, 13-0 in the Missouri Valley as the Panthers gave coach Bobbi Peterson her 550th victory. UNI won its 13th in a row as it hit .333 and Kira Fallert had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, a block and nine dig. Also in the Valley, Bradley beat Missouri State in five as Karagan Coggin had 20 kills, hit .486, and had an ace, two digs and four blocks, one solo …Â
The three teams bunched at the top all won in the Mountain West, as first-place UNLV had to go five at Utah State.Colorado State, tied with San Jose State a game back, beat Fresno State in four and SJSU won in four at New Mexico. UNLV’S Isabel Martin had 20 kills, 11 digs and five blocks, while Utah State’s Tatum Stall had 27 kills, hit .330 and added an assist, two ades, eight digs and a solo block. Fresno lost but Ella Rud had 22 kills, hit .404 and had an assist, two aces, 13 digs and two blocks, one solo … UT Martin and Tennessee Tech both swept to stay 1-2 atop the Ohio Valley. UTM hit .363 in its sweep at SIUE. Tennessee Tech swept Little Rock …Â SoCon-leading ETSU maintained its two-game advantage by beating visiting Samford in four, which dropped the Bulldogs out of a tie for second. Lundyn Coffman had 13 kills, hit .550 and had eight blocks, two solo …Â
HCU and McNeese remain tied for the Southland Conference lead after HUC hit .449 and swept visiting Lamar and McNeese swept at New Orleans. HCU had 51 kills and seven errors in 98 attacks. Anna Gadway had 14 kills, hit .545 and had two digs and a block …
North Dakota State stayed a game back in the Summit League loss column of idle South Dakota as it swept at Oral Roberts …
In the Sun Belt, East leader James Madison maintained its two-game lead with a sweep at Georgia Southern for its eight win in a row. Texas State and Troy remain tied atop the West after Texas State held off visiting Arkansas State in five and Troy beat visiting South Alabama in four. Texas State’s Janell Fitzgerald had 18 kills, hit .326 and had an assist, 13 digs and six blocks, three solo. Troy’s Tori Hester had 21 kills, three asissts, an ace and 12 digs …
Utah Valley and UTRGV remain tied for the WAC lead at 9-1 and Stephen F. Austin is a game back in the loss column at 9-2 after UTRGV hit .435 as it swept UT Arlington, Utah Valley got 20 kills from Kazna Tanuvasa and won in four at Abilene Christian, and SFA hit .340 in a sweep NM State.
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