There were no upsets, but it was a pretty happening Friday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.
Among the outcomes, No. 1 Louisville and No. 2 Texas won easily, No. 3 Pittsburgh made an ACC statement at No. 13 Georgia Tech, and No. 11 Nebraska hit on all cylinders as the Huskers swept visiting No. 15 Penn State in the Big Ten.
There’s a relatively light schedule Saturday for conferences that don’t play tournaments.
Among the top matches:
The SEC has No. 8 Kentucky at Auburn, No. 20 Florida home for South Carolina, and Mississippi State at Arkansas. Kentucky leads both State and Florida by a game in the loss column.
In the Big 12, No. 7 Baylor is home for Iowa State and TCU goes to Kansas.
All three ranked West Coast Conference teams are in action as No. 4 BYU goes to Saint Mary’s, No. 23 San Diego is at Pacific, and No. 25 Pepperdine is home for Santa Clara.
There is one ACC match when NC State goes to Virginia.
Every match is being shown in some form. Go to our VolleyballMag.com TV and Streaming Listings to get the viewing links.
There are also two new Division I coaching openings.
BIG TEN — Nebraska (20-6, 14-3) played one of its best matches of the season when it overpowered visiting Penn State (19-8, 12-5) 25-14, 25-23, 25-23. Although the Huskers hit .186, they held Penn State to a .088 hitting percentage. Madi Kubik led Nebraska with 12 kills, two blocks, an ace, and three digs. Jonni Parker had 14 kills for the Nittany Lions and two blocks and five digs …
No. 5 Wisconsin (22-3, 14-3) beat visiting Michigan State (11-15, 4-13) 25-15, 25-17, 34-36, 25-17. The third set had 24 ties and seven lead changes as MSU fought off set point five times. Julia Orzol led Wisconsin with 15 kills, an assist, a block, and 10 digs. Dana Rettke had 13 kills, hit .391, and had eight blocks. Jade Demps had 12 kills, hit .313, and had two aces, three blocks, and 14 digs. Sarah Franklin had 19 kills for Michigan State to go with an assist, an ace, two blocks and 10 digs …
No. 6 Purdue (21-5, 13-4) beat visiting Michigan (15-11, 8-9) in four. Caitlyn Newton had 17 kills, two aces, three blocks, and six digs. Jena Otec had 33 digs, two assists, and two aces .. Michigan’s Paige Jones had 14 kills and Jess Mruzik had 13 …
No. 10 Ohio State (22-5, 12-5) beat visiting Iowa (5-22, 3-14) in four. Gabby Gonzales had 16 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 12 digs. Emily Londot had 15 kills, an assist, five blocks and two digs. Rylee Rader had 11 kills with no errors in 26 attacks and 10 blocks …
No. 24 Illinois (18-10, 10-7) hit .309 and swept at Indiana (9-20, 3-14). Raina Terry led with 11 kills, three aces, two blocks, and eight digs … Maryland (19-10, 7-10) won in five at Northwestern (11-17, 6-11) despite 23 kills by NW’s Temi Thomas-Ailara, who had an assist, two blocks, and 20 digs … No. 9 Minnesota got an easy win when Rutgers forfeited.
ACC — Pittsburgh (25-2, 14-2) went to Georgia Tech (21-5, 12-4) and came away with a 17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-21 victory. Leketor Member-Meneh led with 16 kills as she hit .324 and had two assists, an ace, two blocks, and 12 digs. Valeria Vazquez-Gomez had 14 kills, hit .306, and had an assist, a block, and seven digs. GT’s Mariana Brambilla had 24 kills, hit .362, and had 16 digs and two blocks, one solo …
Louisville (26-0, 16-0) swept at Duke (15-12, 6-10) as the Cardinals hit .547. They had 34 kills with five errors in 53 attacks, while Duke hit .028. Louisville’s Anna Stevenson had 10 kills, three aces, three blocks, and a dig …
Miami (22-4, 13-3) won in five at Florida State (19-7, 11-5) in a huge NCAA RPI/seeding outcome for both teams. Angele Grieve had 23 kills in the 19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12 victory to go with an ace, a block, and six digs. Savannah Vach had two kills, 58 assists, two blocks, and 21 digs. FSU’s Audrey Koenig had 17 kills, an assist, three blocks, and eight digs. Lily Tessier had a kill, 51 assists, two aces, two blocks, and 22 digs …
Virginia Tech (11-17, 2-14) beat visiting Boston College (15-5, 5-11) in four. Tasha Vipond had six kills and 12 blocks, one solo, and Marisa Cerchio had six kills and 10 blocks.
PAC-12 — No.11 Washington (21-4, 14-3 swept visiting Oregon State (4-23, 2-15) as the Huskies hit .336. Samantha Drechsel and Shannon Crenshaw had 15 kills each … No. 13 UCLA (21-4, 14-3) swept visiting Arizona State (14-14, 7-10). Mac May led with 16 kills, a block, and 11 digs … USC (12-14, 8-9) swept visiting Arizona (15-13, 7-10). Brooke Botkin had 13 kills.
SEC — Tennessee (19-8, 11-6) swept visiting Alabama (10-18, 2-14). Danielle Mahaffey had nine kills with one error in 14 attacks and six blocks. Breana Runnels had nine kills and 14 digs … Georgia (11-16, 7-9) won in five at Ole Miss (19-8, 8-8) as Kacie Evans had 20 kills, an assist, three aces, and four digs. Ole Miss, 44 in the NCAA RPI, could probably not have afforded the loss.
BIG 12 — Texas (22-1, 13-1) swept visiting Kansas State (15-10, 6-8) as the Longhorns hit .360. Brionne Butler had 10 kills with no errors in 15 attacks and two blocks. Skylar Fields had 10 kills, a block, and three digs …
No. 5 Baylor (17-5, 11-2) swept Iowa State (16-10, 8-7). Avery Skinner led with 16 kills as she had one error in 27 attacks to hit .556 and added 12 digs …
Texas Tech (17-10, 7-7) won at West Virginia (17-9, 6-8) again and dealt the Mountaineers (32 in the NCAA RPI) a tough blow for the NCAA at-large chances. Reagan Cooper had 18 kills, three blocks and two digs in the 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11 victory. Kenna Sauer had 14 kills, an assist, two blocks, and 12 digs. Adrian Ell and Kristin Lux had 17 kills each for WVU …
Kansas (13-11, 5-8) beat visiting TCU (8-15, 2-11) in five. KU’s Caroline Bien had 16 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 11 digs. Anezka Szabo had 11 kills, hit .360, and had nine blocks. TCU’s Julia Adams had 19 kills and Dani Dennison had 27 digs, eight assists, and four aces.
COACHING CAROUSEL — George Washington fired Saran Bernson, who was there since 2018. During that time GW was 40-84, 21-44 in the Atlantic 10. This season, finished 2-25, 2-14 in the A10 … Travis Filar resigned after 11 seasons at Chattanooga. The Mocs, 11-19 this season, 7-9 in the SoCon, were 122-201 in his time there.
