Wyoming pulled off an upset and reverse sweep Tuesday to drop Colorado State back into a tie for first place in the Mountain West, and Arkansas State also fell behind 0-2 and came back to beat Little Rock in five in the Sun Belt.
In other Tuesday match highlights, No. 3 Pittsburgh of the ACC, playing a rare midweek nonconference match, swept at American of the Patriot League, and Florida State of the ACC beat visiting North Florida of the ASUN in four.
And there is another coaching opening in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE — There are nine matches on tap, two in the SEC, when No. 7 Kentucky plays host to Georgia, and South Carolina goes to Auburn. Kentucky has a one-game lead over Mississippi State, and South Carolina sits in 11th place. But the Gamecocks are No. 37 in the NCAA RPI, sixth-best in the conference, and hope for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
There are two key Southern Conference matches. First-place Mercer is at Samford, and UNC Greensboro, a game back in second place, is home for Western Carolina.
Also, there’s an American Athletic match between Tulsa and Wichita State, Gardner-Webb is at Winthrop in the Big South, and Austin Peay is at Murray State in the Ohio Valley.
In matches involving Conference USA teams, Southern Miss goes to Clemson of the ACC and UTEP plays at New Mexico State of the WAC.
Want to watch a match? We have the links. Go to our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming listings to find any match that is being shown.
UTSA COACH OUT — The coaching carousel has started spinning early this season. Add UTSA to the mix, where 20th-year coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff has resigned. She was 339-260 and leaves as the winningest coach in program history.
UTSA finished 8-16 this season, including 5-7 in Conference USA.
There also are Division I openings at North Dakota, App State, Long Beach State, and Robert Morris.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS — Wyoming (15-12, 7-8) won the Border War match 22-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-9 to drop visiting Colorado State (16-8, 12-3) into a first-place tie in the loss column with idle Utah State (16-8, 11-3).
Naya Shime led Wyoming with 21 kills, hit .500 and had a block and a dig. KC McMahon had 15 kills and four blocks, one solo. Jackie McBride had 10 kills with one error in 19 attacks, two digs, and three blocks, one solo.
Coach Tom Hilbert of Colorado State was out because of COVID protocol, so associate head coach Emily Kohan coached the Rams. Kennedy Stanford led with 18 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and six digs. Annie Sullivan had 17 kills, a block, and four digs, and Karina Leber had 13 kills, three digs, and six blocks. Alexa Roumeliotis had 20 digs, an ace, and six assists … Also in the Big Sky, Eastern Washington (11-12, 7-8) had six players with five or more kills and beat visiting Idaho (5-19, 2-13) in four …
Pittsburgh (23-2) hit .410 and won 25-7, 25-11, 25-16 at American (16-13). Five Panthers had five or more kills, nine by Serena Gray, who had no errors in 13 attacks. She added two aces, a dig, and three blocks, one solo. AU hit .000 …
In the Big West, UC Irvine (15-10, 8-7) beat visiting UC San Diego (9-17, 6-9) as four Anteaters had 10 or more kills in a 25-13, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18 victory. Joy Umeh had 14 kills, six blocks, and three digs, and Onye Ofoegbu had 13 kills with one error in 19 attacks and 10 blocks. UCSD’s Zaria Henderson had 14 kills, 10 digs, and two blocks, one solo …
Florida State (18-6) hit .387 and beat visiting UNF (22-5) 25-12, 25-15, 21-25, 25-23. Sky Ekes led with 13 kills, and Emma Clothier and Audrey Koenig had 11 each …
Macey Putt had 23 kills as Arkansas State (15-13, 6-10) won its Sun Belt match over visiting Little Rock 15-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-17, 15-10. Putt had an assist, seven digs, and four blocks, three solo. Tatum Ticknor added 27 digs and eight assists, and Julianna Cramer had 29 assists, an ace, and 23 digs. Nedima Kamberovic had 18 kills, two blocks, an assist, and four digs for Little Rock (14-14, 5-11), and Laura Jansen had 16 kills, an assist, three blocks, and 15 digs. Alyssa Nayar had three kills, 38 assists, an ace, two blocks, and 21 digs …
In the Southern Conference, Chattanooga (10-18, 6-9) beat visiting ETSU (11-15, 7-8) in five. Maia Rackel led with 16 kills as she hit .302 and had an ace, three blocks, and 17 digs. Paige Gallentine had 22 digs, two aces, and two assists. ETSU’s Josannah Vazquez had 19 kills, an ace, 17 digs, and four blocks, one solo …
Niagara won its MAAC match in four over visiting Canisius, which traveled the 23 miles in upstate New York in what the schools call the Bridge Series. Canisius won their match last Thursday … McNeese of the Southland swept Prairie View of the SWAC.
