There was only one upset Friday night in NCAA Division I women’s college volleyball, but it was huge in the Pac-12.
Visiting Oregon State not only knocked off the No. 14 Huskies in five, but beat Washington for the first time since 2001.
Friday’s busy schedule was spiced with some big-time performances, like the clinic that Florida senior middle Rhamat Alhassan put on in a sweep at Ole Miss with 20 kills with no errors in 26 attacks. She hit .769.
Or Lily Johnson’s 28 kills in 88 swings and 32 digs in Missouri State’s five-set win at Drake in which the Bears had 153 digs and 266 attacks.
Or Stanford’s Kathryn Plummer, who not only had 21 kills and 10 digs, but a career-high eight service aces and four blocks.
Or Northwestern’s Symone Abbott and Nia Robinson combining for 49 kills in a five-set loss.
Or Georgia Tech’s Gabriela Stavnetchei with 27 kills and 20 digs.
And Taylor Agost led Oregon with a career-high 24 kills.
All that and more but first a look at Saturday’s schedule.
In the Big Ten, three of the five matches involve ranked teams. No. 2 Penn State entertains Michigan. In three matches where both teams are coming off losses, No. 4 Nebraska goes to No. 16 Purdue, No. 10 Michigan State goes to Rutgers and Ohio State goes to Northwestern. Also Maryland plays at Illinois.
There is one match in the Pac-12, when No. 12 UCLA plays host to Cal.
The Big 12 has three matches, including No. 5 Texas home for No. 23 Iowa State and No. 25 Baylor at Kansas State. TCU plays at Texas Tech.
The ACC has a rare Saturday match when Virginia goes to North Carolina.
The SEC doesn’t play volleyball on football Saturdays.
The two ranked West Coast Conference teams are in action as No 7 BYU plays host to Gonzaga and No. 18 San Diego is home for Portland.
No. 20 Northern Iowa is home for Missouri State in a battle of two 7-0 Missouri Valley teams.
No. 21 Colorado State plays host to Nevada in the Mountain West.
And No. 25 Cal Poly, off for a week, is back at it when the Mustangs take their 11-match winning streak to UC Santa Barbara for a West Coast Conference match.
Remember that VolleyballMag.com has all the TV and streaming listings every day for every match that is being shown.
Stunning win for Oregon State: Mary-Kate Marshall had eight of her match-high 25 kills in the fifth set as her Beavers won 19-25, 25-21, 15-25, 25-14, 15-13.
It left Oregon State 12-7 overall, 2-5 in the Pac-12, while Washington is 15-4, 5-3.
The fifth set was tied 13-13 before back-to-back kills by Marshall, who had 71 swings, hit .254 and had two aces, two blocks — one solo — and 10 digs. Maddie Goings had 10 kills and 21 digs as the Beavers broke a 27-match losing streak to Washington.
“This is the best overall team performance we’ve had this year,” OSU coach Mark Barnard said. “Mary-Kate was great. Kory (Cheshire) and Maddy Gravley were productive in the middle. Haylie (Bennett) was off on offense, but she blocked well and made some critical plays for us down the stretch. And Grace Massey made her first start at libero and was very good, and Kayla (Ellis) came in on defense and played well in that role too.”
Carly DeHoog and Tia Scambray had 13 kills apiece to lead the Huskies. Scambray had 11 digs. Courtney Schwan had eight kills and 21 digs.
The other five Pac-12 matches held form. No. 2 Stanford went to No 12 UCLA and came away with a 25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18 victory that left the Cardinal 14-2 overall and still alone atop the league at 7-0. UCLA is 11-5, 4-3.
Merete Lutz had 12 kills and seven blocks, one solo.
UCLA’s Reily Buechler and Jenny Moser had 10 kills apiece. The Bruins hit .121.
No. 13 Utah (15-3, 6-1) kept pace, winning at Arizona for the first time in 10 tries. Adora Anae led with 14 kills despite hitting .102 as her Utes hit .156 and won 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23. Carly Trueman had 11 kills and Berkeley Oblad 10 while hitting .381.
Arizona (8-8, 2-5) got 17 kills from Kendra Dahlke, who also had seven digs and six blocks, two solo.
No. 15 Oregon (11-5, 4-4) won at Washington State 22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 17-25, 15-13. Agost, still learning the outside hitter position, also had seven digs and two blocks. Ronika Stone had 10 kills, five blocks and seven digs, and Willow Johnson — who broke a 13-13 tie in the fifth with back-to-back kills to end it — had 10 kills, three blocks and five digs.
WSU (13-6, 2-5) got 17 kills from Casey Schoenlein. Taylor Mims added 16 kills and 16 digs.
No. 19 USC beat visiting Cal 25-21, 27-29, 25-15, 25-23 as Brittany Abercrombie had 16 kills and hit .308. It left the Trojans 14-4 and a game back of Stanford at 6-1, while Cal dropped to 11-7, 2-5. Khalia Lanier added 15 kills, nine digs and two aces for USC and Niki Withers had 13 kills and hit .458.
Cal’s Carmen Annevelink led the Bears with 14 kills as she hit .367. Antzela Dempi added 12 kills and Mima Mirkovic had 11 and 14 digs.
And Colorado won at Arizona State 25-21, 25-16, 26-24 to improve to 13-5, 3-4 while dropped the hosts to 10-9, 0-7. Frankie Shebby led CU with 11 kills.
Alhassan leads No. 1 Florida: The Gators had to rally in the first set, down 21-16 before riding on the back of the big senior middle and eventually winning 25-23, 25-18, 25-16.
In that first set, Alhassan had kills on Florida’s last six points, starting with the one that pulled the Gators to 21-20. Alhassan also had five blocks, one solo.
“We’ve had a history of some pretty elite middles, but this was a special performance,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “For a middle to score 23 points in a three-set match … she just made such great decisions all night long and was the difference-maker.
“Even the ones she didn’t touch, she altered some hitting choices by (Ole Miss). There were even more points she was responsible for than show up in the box score.”
Her teammates combined for just 19 kills as the Gators hit .305.
Florida, 14-0 overall and 6-0 in the SEC, now awaits No. 8 Kentucky (15-2, 6-0). The Wildcats, off Friday, visit Florida on Sunday for the battle of the top of the SEC.
Ole Miss (12-8, 3-4) hit minus .036. Emily Stroup led with eight kills and 13 digs.
Missouri had a rough start to the season, but the Tigers have won five in a row and eight of nine and are now just a game back in the SEC loss column at 12-7, 5-1 after beating visiting Mississippi State 25-22, 25-15, 25-20.
Alyssa Munlyn and Kira Larson had seven kills each to lead Mizzou. State, which hit .034, is 9-13, 0-7.
LSU (14-4, 5-2) kept pace with a sweep at Auburn (11-5, 4-3) as Gina Tillis and Jacqui Armer had eight kills each.
Also in the SEC, Arkansas (13-6, 3-4) swept visiting South Carolina (9-8, 2-3) 25-19, 25-15, 25-14 as Pilar Victoria and Hailey Dirrigi had 13 kills each.
Penn State, Wisconsin win in Big 10: The No. 2 Nittany Lions held off No. 10 Michigan State 25-17, 15-25, 30-28, 25-18 as Simone Lee had 17 kills and 13 digs and Haleigh Washington had 14 kills, hit .433 and had four blocks. Penn State is 16-1, 6-1 in the B1G.
Michigan State is 12-4, 5-2. The Spartans got 17 kills from Autumn Bailey, who had 10 digs. Brooke Kranda added 12 kills.
No. 11 Wisconsin (13-4, 4-4) got 10 kills from Lauryn Gillis, who hit .529, to beat visiting Indiana 25-21, 25-19, 25-17. Tionna Williams and Dana Rettke added nine kills each.
Indiana (11-9, 0-8) got 10 kills from Kamryn Malloy.
Rutgers finally won a set in B1G play, but still lost to visiting Michigan 25-12, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16. Rutgers (5-14, 0-7) had lost seven matches in a row, all by sweeps.
Michigan (13-6, 3-4) got 13 kills from Carly Skjodt and 12 from Claire Kieffer-Wright, who had six blocks, one solo.
Sahbria McLetchie and Stasa Milijevic, who hit .429, had 10 kills each for Rutgers.
Also in the Big Ten, Illinois (14-4, 5-2) beat visiting Ohio State (10-8, 3-4) 25-23, 25-19, 25-20 as Ali Bastianelli and Megan Cooney had 11 kills each. Ashley Wenz had 15 kills for Ohio State, which has lost three of four.
And check out these scores as Maryland won at Northwestern 34-36, 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 17-15. It left the Terrapins 14-5, 3-4, while Northwestern dropped to 12-7, 2-5. Gia Milana led with 21 kills and Samantha Drechsel had 12. Northwestern’s Symone Abbott not only had 29 kills, but hit .319 and had eight digs. Teammate Nia Robinson had 25 kills and hit .468.
Pittsburgh, NC State win again in ACC: Pittsburgh maintained first by sweeping an early afternoon match at Syracuse, and then NC State held off Virginia Tech in four as both teams stand 7-0 in the league. Louisville is a game back after sweeping Clemson.
Pittsburgh won 26-24, 26-24, 25-19 and is 14-4 overall. The Panthers hit .388, led by Nika Markovic and Stephanie Williams, who had 14 kills each. Chinaza Nadee had 10 kills and hit .643.
Syracuse fell to 14-7, 6-2. Anastasiya Gorelina led with 16 kills as she hit .400, had four digs and three blocks, one solo.
NC State is to its best ACC start ever after beating visiting Virginia 25-20, 25-19, 25-17. The Wolfpack won its eighth in a row and 12th in 13 matches as Julia Brown had 12 kills, hit .379 and had three aces, three blocks and eight digs. Bree Bailey and Teni Sopitan had nine kills each.
Virginia (4-14, 0-7) got 10 kills from Alex Spencer, who hit .444 and had eight digs.
Louisville is 12-5 and a game back at 6-1 after sweeping visiting Clemson 25-14, 25-16, 25-13. Amanda Green led with nine kills and Megan Sloan had eight while hitting .467.
Clemson is 5-14, 0-7 and hit .013.
North Carolina held off visiting Virginia Tech 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-16 to improve to 8-7, 5-2 in the ACC, while VT is 7-11, 1-6. The match, held in UNC’s big Dean Smith Center as a prelude to the first men’s basketball practice, was played before a crowd of more than 10,000.
Taylor Leath led UNC with 17 kills and hit .382 to go with two blocks and nine digs. Holly Carlton had 14 kills and hit .333 and Beth Nordhorn had 10 kills and hit .500.
Virginia Tech (7-11, 1-6) got 19 kills from Kaity Smith, who hit .302 and had nine digs.
Also in the ACC, Florida State beat Wake Forest in four, Miami broke a three-match losing streak and got out of Duke with a five-set win and Georgia Tech won at Notre Dame in four as Gabriela Stavnetchei had 27 kills and 20 digs.
WVa beats Oklahoma: In the only Big 12 match on Friday, the Mountaineers broke a four-match losing streak to top the Sooners 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-16. It left West Virginia 13-6 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12, while Oklahoma dropped to 4-15, 1-5. Payton Caffrey led WVa with 19 kills and hit .343.
UNI wins in tight MVC race: No. 20 Northern Iowa beat visiting Southern Illinois 25-16, 25-14, 25-17 and is 17-4 overall and 7-0 in the Missouri Valley.
Karlie Taylor led the Panthers with 16 kills as she hit .394 and had 13 digs. Piper Thomas added 12 kills and Bri Weber had 11 and 15 digs.
SIU is 4-14, 3-4. Nellie Fredriksson led the Salukis with nine kills and hit .304.
Also in the Valley, Missouri State dropped Drake from the three-way tie for first 20-25, 25-20, 25-18, 30-32, 15-9.
It left Missouri State 15-5, 7-0 for the first time since 2009 and headed to UNI on Saturday, while Drake is 17-4, 6-1.
Missouri State, which won its 23rd MVC match in a row, set school records for digs (153) and attacks (266) in a match.
The leader was Johnson, who had seven errors in those 88 swings. She also had four blocks and six of her kills came in the fifth set. Lynsey Wright had 16 kills and Lauren Boone had 11.
Libero Emily Butters had 44 digs and Daniele Messa, who also had four kills, had 29 digs.
Drake, which had won 10 in a row, got 17 kills apiece from Cathryn Cheek, who had 10 digs, and Kyla Inderski, who had 24 digs and four blocks.
Creighton escapes Butler: The No. 17 Bluejays had to rally for a 19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-23, 15-9 home victory that left Creighton 13-5 overall and 6-1 in the Big East. Butler is 14-6, 4-4.
Creighton’s Jaali Winters had 28 kills — with 10 errors in 75 swings — and 19 digs. Taryn Kloth had 18 kills and hit .357 to go with seven digs and Marysa Wilkinson had 15 kills and hit .389.
Brooke Gregory, who hit .500, and Whitney Beck led Butler with 16 kills each.
Marquette leads the league at 7-0 and plays at Villanova on Saturday.
Wichita State alone atop AAC: The Shockers broke a tie for the American Athletic lead by beating SMU 23-25, 25-18, 25-12, 25-12.
Abbie Lehman had 20 kills and hit .576 for Wichita State (15-3, 7-0). Tabitha Brown had 13 kills and nine digs.
SMU (12-6, 6-1) got 10 kills apiece form Kelly Brunstein and Lauren Mills, who added 14 digs.
Around the nation: VCU won again. The Rams are 20-2, 6-0 in the Atlantic 10 after sweeping George Washington for their 17th victory in a row … Kennesaw State beat USC Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast beat Jacksonville and now KSU, FGCU and Jacksonville are tied atop the ASUN at 5-1 …
Emily Maglio had 14 kills and 10 blocks as Hawai’i (12-6, 6-1) stayed a game back of Cal Poly in the Big West with a 16-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-22 win at Long Beach State (5-15, 2-5) …
Western Kentucky won its 19th straight set with a Conference USA sweep of UAB to improve to 20-2, 6-0 … Charleston beat Elon in four and is 17-4 overall, 6-1 in the Colonial as Devon Rachel had 19 kills … Cornell knocked off Princeton in four and left Princeton, Yale and Harvard tied atop the Ivy League at 5-1 …
Bryant is 15-8, 6-0 in the Northeast Conference after sweeping Robert Morris as Julia Flynn had 16 kills and hit .355 …
Austin Peay’s sweep of Tennessee Tech left the Govs 6-0 in the Ohio Valley, a game up on SIUE, Eastern Kentucky and Belmont. SIUE beat EKU in five … Furman is 13-7, 6-0 in the Southern Conference after beating Mercer.
Volleyball Baton Rouge product Sydney Davis had 31 digs as Louisiana (14-7, 7-0) stayed unbeaten in the Sun Belt with a five-set win over Arkansas Little Rock. South Alabama (12-5, 7-0) beat Georgia Southern is tied with the Ragin Cajuns atop the league …
And high fives to Miami (Ohio) coach Carolyn Condit.
She became the first Miami University coach in any sport to win 600 matches at the school as the RedHawks knocked off Central Michigan 23-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-20. Miami is 13-7, 5-2 in the Mid-American Conference.Â
