The battle of the unbeatens delivered, as No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 1 Wisconsin by the slimmest of margins.
And it happened in front of yet another record crowd as attendance marks continue to be broken in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball. In this case, Nebraska’s five-set victory over visiting Wisconsin was played before 9,198, a Devaney Center record crowd since the arena was reconfigured for volleyball in 2013.
The Citadel won again, although the Bulldogs had to win their SoCon match in five over Chattanooga to get to 22-0.
And Saint Peter’s dropped to 0-24 when the Peacocks lost their MAAC match in four to Rider.
Saldy Amparo-Smith attacks for Alabama A&M against Florida A&M/AAMU photo
The line of the day: Alabama A&M beat Florida A&M in five in the SWAC as Saldy Amparo-Smith had a career-high 34 kills and hit .483 after having five errors in 60 attacks. The 6-foot-1 junior outside from the Dominican Republic, added an assist, two aces, 12 digs and two blocks, one solo.
The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Sunday’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball schedule.
There’s a big Pac-12 matchup at Oregon when the No. 9 Ducks play host to No. 3 Stanford. No. 4 Washington State, coming off its loss at USC, goes across Los Angeles to UCLA. No. 14 Arizona State is at Colorado, USC is home for Washington, Arizona is at Utah and Cal is at Oregon State.
The big match in the SEC has No. 7 Arkansas at AVCA No. 20 Kentucky. AVCA No. 23 Auburn is home for South Carolina, LSU is at Alabama, Georgia is at Texas A&M and Ole Miss is at Mississippi State.
In the ACC, No . 7 Pittsburgh is off, but No. 5 Louisville is at Georgia Tech and No. 13 Georgia Tech is home for North Carolina. Florida State entertains Syracuse, Notre Dame is at Wake Forest, Virginia is at NC State, Duke is at Clemson and Boston College is at Miami.
The Big Ten has VBM No. 11 Penn State home for AVCA No. 19 Purdue, Michigan State at Minnesota and Illinois at Rutgers.
TCU plays at AVCA No. 14 Kansas in the Big 12.
Hampton, 0-13, tries again when it plays host to UNC Wilmington, which it lost to on Saturday in the CAA.
Nebraska’s Harper Murray hits line against Wisconsin/Nebraska photo
BIG TEN: The headline on the story on Nebraska website pretty much summed it up: “HUSKERS DEFEAT BADGERS IN EPIC 1 VS. 2 BATTLE”
Read the Nebraska recap here after a 25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-13 victory left No. 2 Nebraska 19-0, 10-0 in the B1G, and dropped Wisconsin to 18-1, 9-1.
The fifth set was one for the ages as Wisconsin had nine kills with no errors in 18 attempts and Nebraska had 13 kills with one error in 22 swings. That included seven kills in nine errorless attempts by Harper Murray, including the match winner.
Nebraska’s Ally Batenhorst beats the Wisconsin block/Nebraska photo
Indiana (16-7, 6-4) held off visiting Ohio State (7-12, 4-6) in five despite 25 kills by Emily Londot, who had 17 digs and two blocks. Indiana’s Kaley Rammelsburg had 15 kills and Candela Alonso-Corcelles 14 to go with seven blocks, one solo …
Northwestern (10-10, 4-6) beat visiting Michigan (3-16, 1-9) in five despite 21 kills each by the Wolverines’ Kendall Murray and Valentina Hunt. Northwestern had 45 kills, 21 fewer than Michigan, but had 11 aces with only two errors …
Maryland (14-8, 4-6)beat visiting Iowa (8-14, 0-10) in four as Samantha Schnitta had 13 kills with one error in 18 attacks to hit .667.
BIG 12: AVCA No. 21 Baylor (11-7, 5-3) put an end to the seven-match winning streak of AVCA No. 24 UCF (16-3, 7-1). Baylor’s Elise McGhee had 19 kills and hit .349 to go with two aces and five digsin the four-set win and Riley Simpson had 17 kills. UCF’s Emily Wilson had 21 kills … AVCA No. 22 Houston (11-7, 4-5) swept at Texas Tech (8-14, 1-9) as Kellin Morin and Kenna Sauer had 10 kills each.
Around the nation
No. 15 Dayton, led again by Lexie Almodovar, improved to 22-2, 11-0 in the Atlantic 10, with a four-set win over visiting Saint Louis. Almodovar had 18 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and 10 digs as the Flyers won their 11th in a row …
Marquette is alone atop the Big East at 9-1 after the Golden Eagles swept at Xavier and St. John’s lost in four at Villanova. St. John’s is a game back, tied with AVCA No. 15 Creighton at 8-1 after the Bluejays swept at Providence. Aubrey Hamilton had 14 kills with one error in 31 attacks for Marquette and Jenna Reitsma had 10 kills with one error in 25 swings. Villanova’s Abby Harrell had 17 kills, an ace, eight digs and four blocks. Creighton hit .430 as Norah Sis led with 13 kills and two errors in 25 attacks to go with five digs and three blocks …
League-leading SMU beat Rice again in the AAC as Jamison Wheeler had 23 kills in the five-set victory and Emma Clothier had 14 kills and nine blocks, one solo. Rice’s Danyle Courtley had 24 kills …
The Citadel is 22-0, 10-0 in the SoCon, after beating Chattanooga in five. Four Bulldogs had 12 or more kills, 23 by Ali Ruffin, who had four assists, two blocks and 21 digs. Morgan Romano had 25 kills for Chattanooga, hitting .377 to go with two aces, two blocks and 10 digs. Also in the SoCon, Western Carolina lost in four at ETSU but Bailey Hartsough had 24 kills …
UC Santa Barbara maintained its Big West lead with a sweep of CSUN as Michelle Ohwobete had 14 kills with one error in 42 swings, an ace, seven digs and two blocks. Hawai’i hit .388 and swept UC Riverside and Long Beach State hit .372 as it did the same to Cal State Fullerton to stayed tied two games back. UH’s Amber Igiede had 18 kills with two errors in 27 attacks to hit .556 and had four blocks …
Milwaukee took over sole possession of the Horizon League at 9-1 with four-set win at IUPUI and Northern Kentucky knocked off Wright State in five. UNK and Wright State are tied for second, a game back, and three teams follow at 7-4. Milwaukee’s Ari Miller had 16 kills with no errors in 28 attacks, an ace, a dig and two blocks …
In the MAC, East-leading Buffalo beat Ball State again in five as Stacia Gollogly had 24 kills, hit .457 and had two blocks. Abby Leigh had 16 kills with one error in 31 attacks. Ball State’s Aniya Kennedy had 23 kills and hit .352 to go with three solo blocks and Marie Plitt had 17 kills with one error in 36 swings. MAC West leader Western Michigan swept at Eastern Michigan …
Eastern Illinois built a one-game lead in the win column atop the Ohio Valley over idle Southeast Missouri with a five-set win at Tennessee Tech as Giovana Larregui Lopez had 26 kills and hit .311 to go with an assist, an ace, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Also in the OVC, Keyana Cruse had 22 kills for Western Illinois in a five-set win over visiting Southern Indiana, which got 24 kills from Abby Bednar and 23 from Leah Anderson …
Omaha beat St. Thomas in five and now has a two-game lead in The Summit League win column. Shayla McCormick had 17 kills and three teammates had 12 each for Omaha. Kansas City fell off the pace when the Kangaroos lost in five at South Dakota State, which got 22 kills from Sylvie Zgonc …
Stephen F. Austin won in four at Southern Utah to improve to 21-3, 10-0, with its 10th victory in a row. SFA hit .357, which included 15 kills by Ielan Bradley, who had two errors in 28 attacks to go with a dig and five blocks. Grand Canyon stayed a game back with a four-set win over Seattle U …
Pepperdine has a two-game lead at 9-0 in the West Coast Conference after sweeping San Diego, which is now with idle Loyola Marymount. Pepperdine, which has won 12 in a row, got 18 kills from Grace Chillingsworth, who had an assist, a block and 11 digs …
ASUN-leading FGCU had to go five to win at Eastern Kentucky. Shelby Kent had 22 kills … Gardner-Webb’s Madison Smith had 25 kills in a five-set Big South win over Presbyterian … Western Kentucky swept Sam Houston in Conference USA to improve to 20-4, 10-0 with its 15th win in a row … In Manhattan’s five-set MAAC win over Siena, Maike Bertens had 28 kills, hit .323 an dhad two assists, an ace, 15 digs and two blocks … Missouri Valley-leading Northern Iowa won in four at Murray State as Emily Holterhaus had 20 kills, two digs and two blocks … Southeastern Louisiana maintained its Southland lead with a four-set win at Texas A&M-Commerce and Rachel Hartman had 22 kills with two errors in 42 attacks, an assist, an ace, 15 digs and three blocks … Coastal Carolina beat James Madison again, this time in five, to improve to 1-0 in the Sun Belt. Jasmine Rivest had 21 kills for Coastal, while Sophie Davis had 22 and Miette Veldman had 20 for JMU. Texas State beat South Alabama again as Ryann Torres had five kills in nine errorless tries, 38 assists, 11 digs and four blocks.
