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NCAA volleyball: Bradley first in MVC; Rice, Jax St., Samford, NM State win; AVCA polls

Bradley moved into first in the Missouri Valley, Rice rolled on in Conference USA, Samford got a scare in the Southern Conference, and NM State stayed on track in the WAC.

We also have the AVCA polls.

Tuesday’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball schedule has fewer than 20 matches, but it includes the Big 12’s Texas at Texas State of the Sun Belt. 

The Mid-American has a full slate including unbeaten Bowling Green, the East leader, at Toledo, and Western Michigan, the West leader, at Northern Illinois.

The WAC is busy, too, including league-leader NM State home for Tarleton State.

There are two Conference Carolinas men’s matches.

Want to watch a match? We’ve got the links in the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.

AVCA WOMEN — The top three — idle Wisconsin, Texas and Kentucky — stayed the same. Minnesota moved up a spot to fourth, trading places with Nebraska. The next three stayed the same. Ohio State is up two spots to No. 9, Washington State is up two spots to No. 14, and Pittsburgh is up three notches to No. 19. Florida State moved in at No. 25 and Missouri dropped out.

Click here for the complete AVCA women’s poll.

AVCA MEN — The top five — Hawai’i, BYU, UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine, and Lewis — stayed the same. UCLA moved up two spots to No. 6. Ohio State dropped out and was replaced by Ball State.

Click here for the complete AVCA men’s poll.

CONFERENCE USA — West-leader Rice (13-3, 12-0) won at UTEP (5-6, 4-4) again, this time a sweep as Nicole Lennon led with nine kills, an ace, 12 digs, and two blocks, one solo … East-leading WKU was off, but second-place Charlotte (11-4, 9-3) swept Old Dominion (7-5, 4-4) for its sixth win in a row. Sydney Rowan and Emani Foster had nine kills each … Also, Marshall swept Florida Atlantic, Middle Tennessee won in four at FIU, North Texas beat visiting Louisiana Tech, and Southern Miss won in five at UTSA. 

HORIZON — League-leading Wright State was off and second-place UIC lost at Xavier (results below). Robert Morris beat IUPUI in four as Alyson Londot (whose younger sister Emily is having an All-American season for Ohio State) led with 15 kills and four blocks. Also, Cleveland State swept Youngstown State and Milwaukee swept Oakland as Kleja Cerniauskaite had 18 kills and hit .394 and Ari Miller had 16 kills with one error in 30 attacks and four solo blocks.

MISSOURI VALLEY — Bradley is alone atop the league at 10-4 after sweeping visiting Loyola (7-6, 6-6) as six players had kills, eight by Hannah Thompson, who had two assists, two aces, a block, and 24 digs. Kora Kauling had six kills, hit .333, and had 25 assists, three digs, and two blocks, one solo … 

Illinois State (9-5, 7-3) stayed right behind with a four-set win over visiting Missouri State (12-5, 8-4) despite 26 kills by the Bears’ Amelia Flynn. Illinois State got 21 kills from Sarah Kushner, who had two errors in 43 swings and hit .443 to go with two aces, 14 digs, and four blocks, one solo. Kaylee Martin had 15 kills, an assist, eight digs, and two blocks, one solo. Missouri State’s Flynn hit .306 and had an ace, eight digs, and three blocks, one solo …

Drake (10-5, 8-4) kept its hopes alive by winning in five at Indiana State (6-9, 6-8) after losing the first two sets. Lindsey Pliapol led with 20 kills as she hit .313 and had three blocks and three digs. Haley Bush had 18 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and eight digs, and Emily Plock had 156 kills, two aces, three blocks, and eight digs. Kylee Macke had 27 digs, three assists, and an ace. Indiana State’s Kaitlyn Hamilton had 15 kills … 

Valparaiso swept visiting Northern Iowa, and Valpo noted, senior libero Rylie Cookerly, who had 11 digs and eight assists, now has 2,439 digs, putting her in 23rd position on the all-time chart — just 17 away from 19th … Evansville swept Southern Illinois as Alondra Vazquez had 17 kills with two errors in 39 attacks to hit .385 and she added two aces, two blocks, and 12 digs.

OHIO VALLEY — Jacksonville State (12-0) moved back into a tie for first with idle Morehead State as the Gamecocks swept visiting Eastern Kentucky (2-10). Kaylie Milton and Lena Kindermann had 13 kills each. Kindermann had seven blocks, one solo …

Southeast Missouri (10-2) won its 10th in a row and stayed two games back with a five-set win over visiting Austin Peay (8-4). Laney Malloy led with 19 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks, and 11 digs. Zoey Beasley had 15 kills, two assist, three blocks, and nine digs … SIUE (8-4) swept visiting UT Martin (5-7) as Rachel McDonald had 17 kills, hit .412, and added eight digs. Jordyn Klein had 24 kills, two assists, and an ace … Murray State (5-7) beat visiting Eastern Illinois in four despite 21 kills by EIU’s Danielle Allen, who hit .486. Murray State’s Kolby McClelland and Darci Metzger had 12 kills each … Aniya Williams had 18 kills, hit .364, and had two blocks as Tennessee State (2-9) beat visiting Tennessee Tech (4-7) in five. Taylor Dorsey had 15 kills and hit .379 for Tennessee Tech.

SOCON — League-leading Samford (11-1) got all it could handle from visiting Furman (4-8) before finally winning 23-25, 25-18, 25-12, 19-25, 15-9. Lauren Deaton led with 20 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and 10 digs. Kenya McQuirter had 14 kills. Furman’s Courtney Hoffman had 16 kills and three blocks, one solo … 

Mercer (10-7, 10-4) fell off the pace when it got swept at Western Carolina (8-7, 8-5). Seven Catamounts had kills, eight in 16 errorless attacks by Haley Multerer, who had five blocks, four solo. Mercer, which could ill afford back–to-back losses, got 13 kills from Annie Karle, who had an assist and 15 digs … Wofford (9-4) swept at UNCG (2-10) … And The Citadel (6-11, 5-9) won in five at ETSU (5-7). Sharlissa de Jesus had 18 kills, 12 digs, and three blocks. Jenna Forster had 19 kills for ETSU and two aces, a block, and 17 digs.

Yeny Murillo of Grand Canyon attacks the UTRGV block of Sophia Bertotti Metoyer, left, and Nicole Taylor as KJ Adams covers/GCU photo

WAC — NM State improved to 12-1 and ensured itself a share of the league title with its sweep of visiting Tarleton (10-10, 6-7). The Aggies, who hit .311, got 16 kills from Lia Mosher, 14 from Victoria Barrett, and 12 from Shaney Lipscomb … Second-place Grand Canyon (9-2) swept visiting Seattle U (2-9). Kaira Moss led with 11 kills as she had no errors in 16 attacks and six blocks, five solo … The other team in the race, Utah Valley (10-4, 10-3) won in four at UT Rio Grande Valley (2-11, 2-9) as Kazna Tanuvasa had 15 kills, four blocks, and four digs. Also, Dixie State (8-8, 7-8) swept visiting Chicago State (0-5).

AROUND THE NATION — VCU (10-3, 5-2) swept Duquesne (1-6) in the only Atlantic 10 match of Monday as Qairo Bently had 14 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 10 digs … 

Xavier (5-5) of the Big East beat visiting UIC of the Horizon (11-2) in four as Moriah Hopkins and Norah Painter had 14 kills apiece. Hopkins had five blocks, one solo. UIC’s Paolo Santiago had 13 kills and 14 digs … 

In the MEAC, Delaware State (7-2, 3-1) swept visiting Morgan State (3-3, 3-3) as Mayah Ngundam and Valeria Otero had 13 kills each …

Prairie View (9-2, 8-1) swept its SWAC match at Southern (5-6) as five players had five or more kills, nine by Tamaira Armstrong, who had a solo block and nine digs … Also in the SWAC, Mississippi Valley swept at Alcorn State. No stats were available.

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