NCAA: S. Carolina upsets UK; Minnesota, Oregon win; 30 kills for Ahrens; Iowa fires Brown

South Carolina dealt No. 5 Kentucky its first SEC loss, No. 11 Minnesota won a key Big Ten match at No. 7 Ohio State, and No. 18 Oregon swept its PAC-12 match at No. 19 Stanford. Also Thursday, Rachel Ahrens had a career-high 30 kills for Pepperdine in a West Coast Conference win over Saint Mary’s, and Iowa fired its coach “without cause.”

There’s a full schedule Friday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball. See who’s doing what where in our preview story.

IOWA FIRES BROWN — The Hawkeyes were certainly struggling on the court, standing 3-19 overall and 1-11 in the unforgiving Big Ten. Just last week, they won at Michigan State then lost at Michigan. Thursday, Iowa announced that “Vicki Brown has been terminated, without cause, as head coach of the UI volleyball program. A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately.”

Also from the news release:

“Brown was named Iowa’s 10th head coach in program history in September 2019. She first joined the Hawkeyes in 2017 as associate head coach, followed by three months as the team’s interim head coach. A native of Toledo, Ohio, Brown compiled a 17-56 overall record in two-plus seasons, including winning 10 matches her first season in 2019. Brown played collegiately at the University of Illinois from 2004-07.

Iowa assistant coaches Dave Brown and William Tatge will oversee the program on an interim basis.”

SEC — South Carolina (13-10, 5-8) had lost 13 in a row against Kentucky (16-4, 9-1) but this time held off the visiting Wildcats 26-24, 17-25, 13-25, 25-20, 15-12. 

Riley Whitesides led the Gamecocks with 18 kills, hit .389 and had an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 10 digs. Kyla Manning added 17 kills, an assist, three blocks, and six digs. South Carolina hit .241. 

Kentucky, which still leads the SEC by a game in the loss column over Mississippi State and Florida, lost despite hitting .345. Alli Stumler led with 21 kills, hit .300 and had 11 digs and three blocks, one solo. Madi Skinner had 19 kills, hit .419, and had a solo block and a dig. Reagan Rutherford had 16 kills, hit .400, and had a block and two digs. Emma Grome had 63 assists, an ace, two blocks, and eight digs …

No. 23 Florida (15-6, 9-2) beat visiting No. 22 Tennessee 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-16 as T’Ara Ceasar had 25 kills, hit .352, and had an assist, five aces, three blocks, and seven digs. Lauren Forte had 11 kills, hit .409, and had five blocks, and Thayer Hall had 10 kills, two assists, a block, and 12 digs. Elli McKissock had 26 digs and nine assists. Morgahn Fingall had 14 kills, four blocks, and five digs for Tennessee (16-6, 8-4), and Danielle Mahaffey had 11 kills and six blocks, one solo … 

Texas A&M (12-9, 5-6) beat visiting Auburn 27-29, 25-17, 20-25, 25-14, 15-12. Morgan Christon had 19 kills, six blocks, and five digs. Lauren Davis had 12 kills; Macy Carrabine had 19 digs, four assists, and an ace; and Brooke Frazier had 23 digs, three assists, and an ace. Camille Conner had five kills in 13 errorless attacks, 52 assists, an ace, and 11 digs. Auburn’s Rebekah Rath had 22 kills, three aces, two blocks, and three digs. Auburn (12-10, 4-8) hit .132.

BIG TEN — Minnesota (15-6, 10-3) won 25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 25-23 at Ohio State (18-5, 8-5). Stephanie Samedy maintained her red-hot pace and led the Gophers with 19 kills, an assist, 22 digs, and seven blocks, one solo. Airi Miyabe had 13 kills, two blocks, and six digs. CC McGraw had 18 digs and four assists.

Minnesota hit .175, but Ohio State hit .112. Gabby Gonzales led the Buckeyes with 11 kills. Kylie Murr had 30 digs and three assists to go with a rare kill … 

No. 9 Nebraska (17-5, 11-2) swept at Illinois (16-8, 8-5), which entered the AVCA Poll for the first time this week at No. 25. Lexi Sun had 11 kills with one error in 33 attacks to go with four digs and two blocks, one solo, and Madi Kubik had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, and eight digs in the 25-20, 25-20, 25-21 victory. The Huskers hit .206. Raina Terry had 12 kills, a block, and seven digs for Illinois, which hit .182.

WEST COAST — Sixth-ranked BYU (22-1, 12-0) hit .354 and won 25-9, 25-19, 25-21 at Gonzaga (7-17, 3-10). Taylor Ballard-Nixon and Erin Livingston had nine kills each, and Heather Gneiting and Kenzie Koerber had eight each. Gneiting added an ace and four blocks, one solo … Grace Frohling had 19 kills and hit .421 as No. 20 San Diego (17-4, 11-1) won at Portland (5-17, 2-11) 25-18, 25-21, 15-13. Frohling had 19 kills, two assists, three aces, three blocks, and five digs …. Rachel Ahrens had a career-high 30 kills and hit .411 as Pepperdine (17-4, 9-3) beat visiting Saint Mary’s (13-9, 7-6). Ahrens also had an ace — but seven serving errors — two blocks, and eight digs as the Waves won 25-17, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16. Ella Ammerman had 16 kills, hit .481, and had three digs, and Grace Chillingworth had 10 kills, hit .308, and had two blocks and three digs. Isabel Zelaya had a kill in her only try, 60 assists, two blocks, and five digs, and Madison Shields had 27 digs and four assists. Elena Baka had 12 kills for the Gaels, and Hawley Harrer and Jennifer Laird had 10 each … Pacific (11-13, 8-5) won in four at Loyola Marymount (15-7, 6-6). Alexa Edwards had 13 kills, a block, and eight digs.

AROUND THE NATION — In the only PAC-12 match of the day, Oregon (17-6, 8-5) swept at Stanford (12-9, 7-6) as Brooke Nuneviller had 19 kills in a 27-25, 25-23, 25-23 victory. Nuneviller added an ace, a block, and nine digs. Morgan Lewis had 10 kills, hit .417, and had two blocks, and two digs. Stanford, still missing starters because of injuries, got setter Kami Miner back. She had two kills in five errorless attempts, 29 assists, two blocks, and 10 digs. Sami Francis had 12 kills …

West Virginia (15-7, 5-6) swept visiting Kansas 25-18, 30-28, 25-15 as Kansas (12-10, 4-7) hit .018 in the Big 12 match. Adrian Eli had 13 kills for WVU, two solo blocks, and 13 digs … 

In the Mountain West, Colorado State, which leads the league, and San Jose State and Utah State, tied for second a game back, all won. Colorado State hit .355 and swept Nevada. San Jose State won in five at Wyoming as Haylee Nelson had 19 kills, an ace, and 16 digs. Utah State beat Air Force in four …

Summit League-leader Omaha won to stay a game ahead of Denver and South Dakota, which also won. Omaha swept North Dakota State, Denver swept North Dakota, and South Dakota swept Western Illinois …

In the WAC, California Baptist, which moved into first place last weekend, lost in five at Chicago State. Chicago State got its 15th win, its most since moving to Division I, and snapped CBU’s six-match winning streak. No stats were available. NM State kept pace in the West Division with a sweep of Dixie State …

Sacramento State knocked Portland State out of a tie with idle Weber State atop the Big Sky. Four players had 10 kills or more kills in the win, including 12 each by Caitlin Volkmann and Macey Hayden … UC Riverside won its Big West match in five against visiting UC Irvine as Amarachi Osuji had 17 kills, two assists, 23 digs, and a block … Horizon-leading Milwaukee swept Cleveland State … Canisius beat Niagara in the MAAC, and Hannah Nelson had 19 kills, five aces, 18 digs, and two blocks … 

In the Southland, first-place Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beat Southeastern Louisiana in four as Rachel Young had 14 kills and hit .423 with two assists, an ace, three digs, and two blocks, one solo. Second-place HBU got 20 kills from Emma Gadway and won in four at New Orleans … 

Delaware of the Colonial swept America East-leading UMBC … Alabama State of the SWAC beat visiting Southern Miss of Conference USA in five, but the line of the match went to USM’s Mia Wesley, who had 27 kills, two aces, and four digs. ASU’s Jada Rhodes had 17 kills, hit .318, and had 10 digs.