Rutgers stuns Minnesota; Citadel is 18-0; Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn St. win; Lamar!
Ali Ruffin serves as plenty of The Citadel classmates look on/Brian Stone photo
If you read these NCAA Division I women’s volleyball roundups regularly, you know there haven’t been too many times when we’ve led with Rutgers, The Citadel and Lamar.
But here you go.
Rutgers beat a ranked team for the first time ever when the Scarlet Knights knocked off visiting Minnesota, No. 16 in both the VolleyballMag.com Super Media Poll AVCA top 25; The Citadel continued the unbeaten start to its best season ever to improve to 18-0; and Lamar got it first victory of the season after starting 0-17.
The line of the day: Northwestern’s Julia Sangiacomo had 32 kills, an assist, two blocks and 11 digs in a five-set win at Michigan State.
Also Saturday, Penn State had to rally to beat visiting Ohio State, BYU’s Erin Livingston went off at Oklahoma, and it starts all over again with a super schedule on tap for Sunday.
The Saturday recaps and top peformances follow, but first a look at a Sunday that has six Pac-12 matches, including the big one when No. 3 Stanford goes to No. 4 Washington State. Stanford is 12-2, 5-0 in the conference, while WSU is 14-1 and also 5-0. Stanford, which leads the overall series 68-4, has won the last 11 matches, a streak started in 2016. WSU is ranked its highest in program history at No. 4 in both the VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll and the AVCA top 25.
Also in the Pac-12, No. 5 Oregon is at Utah, AVCA No. 23 Arizona State is home for UCLA, Oregon State is at Colorado, USC is at Arizona and Cal is at Washington
There are seven ACC matches, including No. 7 Louisville at Duke, No. 9 Pittsburgh home for Clemson and No. 12 Georgia Tech at Virginia. Also, Wake Forest is at Syracuse, Notre Dame is at North Carolina, Virginia Tech is at Boston College and NC State is at Florida State.
The SEC’s five ranked teams are in action as No. 6 Florida is home for Alabama, No. 10 Tennessee plays host to LSU, No. 13 Arkansas is home for Missouri, AVCA No. 22 Kentucky is home for Ole Miss and AVCA No. 25 Auburn is at South Carolina.
The Big Ten and Big 12 have Sunday off.
Three teams are trying for their first victories.
St. Peter’s, 0-18, plays host to Niagara in the MAAC.
Alcorn, 0-9, gets two shots at a win when it plays SWAC matches against Jackson State and Mississippi Valley State.
Hampton, 0-9, plays a CAA match against Stony Brook after losing to the same Seawolves on Saturday.
Want to watch? We have the conference-by-conference schedule with viewing links for any match that is being shown in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
BIG TEN: Rutgers (9-7, 1-5), the longtime doormat of the conference, stunned visiting Minnesota (6-8, 2-4) as the Scarlet Knights came away with a 25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 25-14 victory. Rutgers, which finished 2-18 in the B1G last year and last won a conference match last November 4 at Iowa, beat a ranked team for the first time in program history. Alissa Kinkela led with 17 kills, an ace, two blocks and 13 digs. Anna Hartman had 12 kills with one error in 27 attacks to hit .407 and had an assist, a block and a dig. Rikki Williams had 10 kills, two digs and three blocks, one solo. Alyssa Nayar had two kills in five errorless tries, 45 assists, an ace and 14 digs. Minnesota’s Mckenna Wucherer had 16 kills, an assist, two blocks and eight digs. Lydia Grote had 13 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks and eight digs. Taylor Landfar had 12 kills, two assists, two aces, three blocks and eight digs. Setter Melani Shaffmaster, who has battled injuries and missed her team’s five-set loss at Maryland on Friday with an illness, played three sets and had three kills in five errorless tries, 23 assists and nine digs. The other setter, Elise McGhie, had 13 assists and six digs …
Top-ranked Wisconsin (15-0, 6-0) swept at Illinois (7-9, 2-4). Sarah Frankllin had 11 kills and hit .421 and Anna Smrek had 10 kills with one error in 22 attacks to hit .409 to go with seven blocks … No. 2 Nebraska (15-0, 6-0) continued to attract big crowds on the road, this time 7,831 for the second-best in Michigan history, as the Huskers got 15 kills from Lindsay Krause in the sweep. She had one error in 27 attacks to hit .519 and had two aces and five digs. Harper Murray had 13 kills, hit .423 and had three blocks and 11 digs. Michigan is 3-12, 1-5 …
VBM No. 14 Penn State (12-3, 6-0) stayed tied with Wisconsin and Nebraska atop the standings after the Nittany Lions rallied for a 25-23, 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-7 over AVCA No. 24 Ohio State (6-9, 3-3). Jess Mruzik had 22 kills, an assist, three blocks and 12 digs. Alexa Markley had a career-high 15 kills, four blocks and a dig, and Camryn Hannah had 12 kills, four blocks and four digs. All-American setter Mac Podraza, playing her first match against her old team, had a kill, 48 assists, two blocks and 14 digs. Her team hit .190. Gillian Grimes had 23 digs and four assists. Ohio State, which hit .150, got 16 kills from Emily Londot, who hit .031 and had an assist, an ace, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Chelsea Thorpe had 15 kills, three blocks and three digs, and Rylee Radar had 13 kills with one error in 29 attacks to hit .414 and had two assists, an ace, two blocks and four digs. Setter Mia Tuman had three kills, 45 assists, an ace, 16 digs and four blocks, one solo …
Indiana (13-6, 3-3) swept at Maryland (13-5, 3-3) as Savannah Kjolhede had 12 kills in 23 errorless attacks, an assist, an ace, four blocks and seven digs … Purdue (10-5, 4-2) swept visiting Iowa (8-10, 0-6) as Chloe Chicoine had 17 kills with two errors in 33 attacks to hit .455 to go with an assist, two aces, a solo block and 10 digs … Northwestern (8-8, 2-4) won in five at Michigan State (11-6, 3-3) as Julia Sangiacomo had 32 kills, an assist, two blocks and 11 digs in a five-set win at Michigan State. Sangiacomo, who had nine errors in 80 attacks, had 33 kills six days earlier in the Wildcats’ win at Purdue. Against Michigan State, Averie Hernandez had 17 kills, hit .353 and had two blocks and a dig. Alexa Rousseau had four kills, 50 assists, three aces and 14 digs, and Ellee Stinson had 27 digs, six assists and two aces. Michigan State’s Grace Kelly had 20 kills.
BIG 12: VBM No. 11 BYU (14-3, 3-2) hit .400 and won 25-23, 25-21, 28-26 at Oklahoma (6-8, 0-5). Erin Livingston had 22 kills with one error in 29 attacks to hit .724 and had four digs. Kamalie Hiapo had 18 digs, 10 assists and an ace … AVCA No. 21 Houston (9-5, 2-3) routed visiting West Virginia (7-11, 0-5) 25-11, 25-20, 25-16. Abbie Jackson had 11 kills and three blocks … TCU (11-6, 4-2) swept at Cincinnati (9-6, 2-3) 25-19, 25-14, 25-15 as Jayln Gibson had 16 kills with one error in 32 swings and four blocks.
Anna Jaworski of Southern Illinois goes all out against Belmont/Sam Bischel photo
Around the nation
The Citadel remained one of three unbeatens (along with Wisconson and Nebraska) as the Bulldogs won a wild one over visiting Wofford to improve to 18-0, 6-0 in the SoCon. Ali Ruffin had 25 kills in the 29-31, 28-26, 25-21, 25-23 victory that left Wofford 14-3 and a game back at 5-1. Ruffin had seven errors in 60 attacks to hit .300 as The Citadel continued the best start by far in program history. She added three assists, three aces, 15 digs and two blocks, one solo. Mackenzie had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, 19 digs and three blocks, one solo. Jaelynn Elgert had 29 digs, seven assists and two aces, and setter Belle Hogan had three kills, 54 assists, two aces, two blocks and 10 digs. Wofford had six players with eight or more kills, 13 by Addison Foote, who had 17 digs. Sarah Barham had 12 kills, hit .321 and had five blocks …
In the Southland, Lamar got its first victory, improving to 1-17, 1-6 in the SLC, with a five-set win at Nicholls. Taisha Rhone had a career-high 27 kills in the 25-21, 26-28, 14-25, 25-21, 15-12 victory and added six of her team’s 11 aces, nine digs and five blocks, one solo …
Dayton, No 20 in the AVCA Poll, swept George Mason as Taylor Russell had 12 kills with one error in 25 attacks. The Flyers are 18-2 and 7-0. VCU is 6-0 after beating Fordham in four as Jasmine Knight had 16 kills, hit .448 and had eight blocks, three solo …
Creighton, VBM No.15, bounced back from its Big East loss to Marquette with a sweep at DePaul. Destiny Ndam-Simpson had 16 kills, seven digs and two blocks …
In the ASUN, FGCU and Lipscomb won to get to 6-0 and EKU kept pace to stay a game back. FGCU got 13 kills, an ace, six digs and three blocks, one solo, from Alexandra Zakutney in a sweep of Central Arkansas. Lippy beat Bellarmine in four behind 20 kills from Courtney Jones, who hit .429, and EKU swept Austin Peay as AG Vandagriff had 12 kills in 22 errorless attacks and three blocks …
Makenzie Harris had 19 kills, an ace, 14 digs and three blocks for Northern Colorado in a five-set Big Sky win over Montana State. Sacramento State stayed atop the standings at 6-0 with a four-set win at Eastern Washington in which Caitlin Volkmann and Ellie Tisko combined for 25 kills …
Jenna Otts had 20 kills in Gardner-Webb’s Big South sweep at Charleston Southern. She hit .421 and had two blocks …
UC Santa Barbara stayed a game ahead of Hawai’i at 6-0 in the Big West with five-set win at UC Davis. Michelle Ohwobete had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, 14 digs and four blocks. Hawai’i swept UC Irvine as Amber Igiede had 11 kills … Also in the Big West, CSUN beat Long Beach State in five despite having fewer kills (58-42), a much lower hitting percentage (.252-.159), blocks (14-9) and digs (52-40) in the 16-25, 25-21, 25-23, 9-25, 15-11 outcome …
Towson holds a one-game lead in the CAA after sweeping Campbell … Also in the CAA, Stony Brook’s Leoni Kunz had 11 kills with one error in 21 attacks, 12 digs and four blocks, two solo, in a sweep of winless Hampton …
Milwaukee got a big four-set Horizon League win over visiting Wright State and is tied with Green Bay at 6-1 atop the standings, a game up on Oakland and Wright State. Milwaukee’s Madi Malone had 21 kills, hit .388 and had an assist, two aces, 11 digs and two blocks. Green Bay won in five but visiting Northern Kentucky got 24 kills from Abby Kanakry, who hit .388 and had three digs and three blocks …
Canisius hit .398 in its MAAC sweep of St. Peter’s, which dropped to 0-18. Isabella Mosquera had 14 kills with two errors in 21 attacks, an assist and five blocks … Also in the MAAC, Mackenzie Wiggins had 20 kills for Iona in a four-set win over Siena. She hit .400 and had three digs and three blocks …
The only MACtion saw Ball State win in four at Bowling Green as Aniya Kennedy had 21 kills, a dig and three blocks. Ball State is 6-0 and pulled into a tie with Western Michigan atop the West Division …
Belmont got a big five-set Missouri Valley victory at Southern Illinois as Brooke Gilleland had 19 kills, hit .471 and had a dig and two block. Sydney Willis had eight kills and nine blocks. SIU’s Nataly Garcia had 25 kills, four aces, eight digs and two blocks, one solo …
In Colorado State’s Mountain West sweep of San Jose State, Kennedy Stanford had 11 kills in 20 errorless attacks and eight blocks … Fairleigh Dickinson got 18 kills from Tatijan Fucka, who had one error in 34 swings in a four-set NEC win over LIU. She added five blocks … Also in the NEC, Saint Francis (PA) swept Le Moyne, which is now 0-15 … Colgate won its Patriot Leaague match in four over American and Gillian Hauschild had nine kills and nine blocks … Also in the Patriot, Army West Point beat visiting Navy in four and Mackenzie Lynch had 23 kills, hitting .326, and had four digs and three blocks, one solo …
Louisiana-Lafayette got a big five-set Sun Belt road victory at Texas State as Shyia Richardson had 21 kills, 11 digs and three lbocks. Samantha Wunsch had 25 kills for Texas State to go with eight digs and three blocks … Stephen F. Austin broke a tie for the lead as it swept Grand Canyon to improve to 17-3 and is alone atop the WAC standings at 6-0. Tanishua Joseph had 13 kills with one error in 26 attacks to hit .462 to go with two digs and five blocks … Also in the WAC, Brianna Ford had 25 kills for UT Arlington in a sweep of California Baptist. She had two errors in 41 attacks to hit .561 and had two aces, 11 digs and three blocks …
All four West Coast Conference matches ended sweeps as Pepperdine beat Portland, Saint Mary’s beat Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount beat San Francisco and San Diego beat Pacific. Pepperine hit .432, which included Grace Chillingsworth having 10 kills with one error in 22 swings and Emma Ammerman getting nine kills with one error in 12 attacks to go with four aces; LMU’s Amethyst Harper had 11 kills, hit .474 and had two aces, six digs and five blocks, one solo; and USD’s Amber Stivrins had 12 kills while hitting .417 and had an assist, two aces, two digs and a block.
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