NC State, Northwestern get huge wins; WSU tops Oregon; Citadel now 16-0

The VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll voters had a lot to consider when the volleyballs stopped bouncing this past weekend.

On Sunday alone, unranked NC State knocked off last week’s No. 5 Louisville; No. 7 Washington State won in four at No. 7 Oregon; Northwestern, which had lost four of its last five matches, got 33 kills from Julia Sangiacomo and pulled off a reverse sweep AT Purdue; surging USC won its ninth in a row; The Citadel won again to improve to 16-0; and Arizona State bounced back from its only loss behind 30 kills by Marta Levinska.

And all that came after a Saturday in which Penn State won in four at Minnesota and Nebraska, which won in five at Purdue on Friday, won in four at Indiana.

Sunday’s recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at what’s on tap in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.

There are four matches on the Monday schedule, including Alcorn vs. Texas Southern and Southern vs. Prairie View in the SWAC. Southern Illinois goes to Missouri State in the Missouri Valley, and in the WAC Utah Tech plays host to Southern Utah.

Things are a little busier Tuesday, with 18 matches that Dayton at Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 and Western Kentucky at Liberty in Conference USA. In the Mountain West, Colorado State is at Wyoming.

Coming later this morning, the second VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll and this afternoon the AVCA top 25 is unveiled.

ACC: NC State (13-2, 3-1) beat a top-five opponent for the first time with its 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-15 victory over visiting Louisville (12-2, 3-1). The Wolfpack, which hit .338 got 16 kills from Amanda Rice, who had three errors in 30 attacks to hit .433. She had four blocks and two digs. Ava Brizard had 14 kills with one error in 32 attacks to hit .406 and had an assist, an ce, a block and five digs. Madison Williams had 11 kills, two blocks and three digs. NC State had three aces and 12 errors. Louisville, which had won 12 ACC matches in a row and 37 of 39, hit .164 and had 11 serving errors against four aces. Anna DeBeer led with 14 kills, an ace, two blcoks and 12 digs. PK Kong had 11 kills, a dig and four blocks, one solo. Elena Scott had 29 digs, an assist and an ace … 

That leaves Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Florida State tied atop the standings at 4-0, while Louisville, NC State and Miami are all 3-1.

Pittsburgh hit .458 and had a 15-1 blocking advantage as the Panthers swept Syracuse. Pitt had 39 kills with six errors in 72 attacks. Torrey Stafford had nine kills, hit .467, and had 15 digs and four blocks … Georgia Tech won in five at Wake Forest as Bianca Bertolini had 22 kills with three errors in 54 swing and added four assists, 14 digs and four blocks, three solo … Florida State beat visiting Duke in five as Audrey Koenig had 19 kills, hit .417 and had 10 digs and two blocks. Duke’s Gracie Johnson had 25 kills, hit .429 and had an assist, two aces, 15 digs and a block … 

Boston College won in four at Virginia, Clemson beat visiting Virginia Tech in five  and Miami beat visiting North Carolina in four.

BIG TEN: Northwestern (7-7, 1-3) pulled off a17-25, 15-25, 27-25, 25-11, 15-12 reverse sweep at Purdue (8-5, 2-2). Julia Sangiacomo had 33 kills with seven errors in 65 attacks to hit .400 and had an assist, an ace, four digs and four blocks, one solo. Averie Hernandez had 13 kills, two blocks and three digs. Ellee Stinson had 21 digs and six assists and Alexa Rousseau had four kills, 46 assists, two blocks and 16 digs. Eva Hudson had 17 kills, an ace, two blocks ans six digs. Raven Colvin had 12 kills, hit .321 and had two aces, five blocks and four digs …

Wisconsin hit .416 and improved to 13-0, 4-0 with a sweep of Michigan. Devyn Robinson had 13 kills and hit .458 … Ohio State swept Maryland and Michigan State had four players with 10 or more kills in a four-set win over Rutgers.

PAC-12: Washington State (14-1, 4-0) won 25-14, 20-25, 29-17, 25-23 at Oregon (13-2, 3-1) despite hitting .164 having seven fewer kills than the Ducks (56-49). Iman Isanovic had 14 kills for WSU to go with a solo block and nine digs. Pia Timmer had 13 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks and nine digs. Magda Jehlarova had 12 kills and seven blocks, two solo. Julia Norville had 18 digs, three assists and an ace … Oregon, which had won seven in a row, had four players with 10 or more kills but hit .110. Morgan Lewis had 13 kills and three blocks and Karson Bacon had 11 kills and six blocks, one solo … 

Arizona State beat Cal in five as Marta Levinska had 30 kills with three errors in 56 attacks to hit .482 and she had an ace, nine digs and three blocks … Stanford hit .420 and swept Arizona as Kendall Kipp had 20 kills, hit .425 and had eight aces, two digs and two blocks. Elia Rubin had 17 kills with one error in 27 attacks, an assist, 15 digs and two blocks … Utah swept at UCLA as Amelia Van Der Werff had 13 kills with no errors in 20 swings … Washington won in four at Oregon State and USC beat visiting Colorado in four for its ninth win in a row. Skylar Fields had 23 kills, hit .459 and had 12 digs and a block.

SEC: Florida won in four at South Carolina as Kennedy Martin had 15 kills and AC Fitzpatrick and Sofia Victoria had 13 each … Auburn held off Georgia in four as Akasha Anderson had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, six digs and three blocks … Tennessee swept at Ole Miss for its eight victory in a row … Missouri won in four at Texas A&M …  Kentucky won in four at Alabama as Brooklyn DeLeye continued to light it up, this time with 25 more kills, 10 digs and a block … LSU beat Mississippi State in four as Sanaa Dotson had 14 kills with one error in 22 attacks.

Around the nation

Baylor swept visiting Iowa State as Kyndall Stowers had 18 kills, hitting .484 to go with two blocks, one solo … Creighton swept Seton Hall in their Big East match … Also in the Big East, Marquette swept Providence as Aubrey Hamilton had 16 kills, hitting .406, and had five digs and three blocks … DePaul won its Big East match at UConn in five behing 26 kills by Jill Pressly, who had two assists, two aces, 20 digs and two blocks, one solo. Emma Werkmeister had 24 kills for UConn and 15 digs and five blocks, one solo … 

The Citadel, off to its best start in program history, grinded a 25-21, 28-26, 23-25, 22-25, 15-11 home SoCon victory over Mercer to improve 16-0, 4-0. Ali Ruffin had 22 kills, an assist, four aces, a block and 14 digs. Jaelynn Elgert had 25 digs, an assist and an ace … 

Wichita State had four players with 10 or more kills, including 15 by Barbara Koehler, in a four-set American Athletic win over SMU. Koehler had an assist, an ace, 17 digs and two blocks … Both ASUN matches Sunday went five. In FGCU’s win over Kennesaw State, Alexandra Zakutney had 24 kills, three assists, 11 digs and four blocks. In Stetson’s win over Queens, Amaris Carter had 22 kills, an assist, an ace and 13 digs and Haruka Sugimoto had 23 digs and eight assists … George Washington beat Rhode Island in four an Liv Womble had 11 kills with no errors in 24 attacks and four blocks in the Atlantic 10 win … 

In the CAA, Towson won in five at Hofstra as Nina Cajic had 20 kills, hitting .326, and added two assists, an ace, eight digs and two blocks … 

Coppin State won its MEAC match at N.C. Central in five as TaKenya Stafford had 27 kills, 23 digs and two blocks … Sienna swept its MAAC match at Saint Peter’s, which fell to 0-17 … Morgan State won its MEAC match in four to drop South Carolina State to 0-17 … William & Mary swept its CAA match over Hampton, which is 0-8.