FSU, Georgia Tech create ACC logjam with upsets; Nebraska escapes at Penn St.
Penn State’s Jess Mruzik hits against the Nebraska block of Becka Allick, left, and Harper Murray/Caleb Craig photo
Florida State, a team that received votes in the VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll but didn’t receive any — zilch — in the AVCA top 25 — is now in a four-way tie for the ACC lead.
They’re all 11-2 after the Seminoles knocked off No. 7 Pittsburgh and No. 11 Georgia Tech upset No. 3 Louisville.
It was another Freaky Friday, one that saw top-ranked and unbeaten Nebraska stay that way, but only pulling off a reverse sweep at AVCA No. 16 Penn State.
Line of the day: Lucy Arndt of Southeast Missouri had 34 kills in her team’s five-set Ohio Valley Conference win over Western Illinois. She hit .380 and had an assist, three aces, a block and nine digs. Worth noting is Evansville’s Melanie Feliciano, who had 23 kills with just one error in 71 attacks in a loss to Drake.
The recaps and top performances follow but first a look at Saturday’s schedule, one that has the ACC, the Pac-12 and SEC taking the day off.
Second-ranked Wisconsin is home for Illinois in one of three Big Ten matches. Iowa is at Michigan State and Indiana is at Ohio State.
The five matches in the Big 12 do not include No. 5 Texas. No. 15 Kansas is home again for Kansas State after beating the Wildcats in five on Friday, No. 15 BYU is home again for Cincinnati after sweeping the Bearcats, AVCA No. 21 Baylor is at Texas Tech, AVCA No. 22 Houston is home again for UCF after sweeping the Knights, Iowa State is back at TCU after winning there in five.
No. 16 Dayton, which swept Rhode Island to improve to 26-2, 15-0 in the Atlantic 10, goes for its 22nd win in a row when it plays host to the Rams again.
Marquette and Creighton are off, but St. John’s tries to keep pace in the Big East when it plays at Connecticut.
Big West-leading UC Santa Barbara goes to Hawai’i, which is two games off the lead and a game behind Long Beach State after losing to Cal Poly. Long Beach is home for CSU Bakersfield.
AVCA No. 23 Western Kentucky improved to 23-4, 13-0 in Conference USA, after beating FIU and plays host to FIU again as it goes for its 19th win in a row.
Wright State, which holds a one-game lead over Milwaukee — after beating the Panthers on Friday — and Green Bay in the Horizon League, is home for Greeen Bay, while Milwaukee goes to fourth-place Northern Kentucky.
Yale, featured here Friday, can clinch the Ivy League title outright when plays at Harvard.
In the MAC West, Western Michigan (24-2, 14-0, RPI 40) leads Ball State by three games after beating the Cardinals and plays host to them again. WMU is riding a 14-match winning streak.
Utah State can clinch at least a tie for the Mountain West title with a win over visiting second-place New Mexico, which is three games back with five games left in the regular season.
Troy (11-2) holds a one-game lead over visiting Texas State (10-3) in the Sun Belt West after Texas State won in four Friday. East-leading Coastal Carolina (13-0), which has won 13 in a row, beat South Alabama and plays host to the Jaguars again.
And Hampton and Saint Peter’s try again. Hampton, 0-16, plays a CAA match at Campbell and the 0-26 Peacocks play an MAAC match at Niagara.
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.
ACC: Georgia Tech (20-3, 11-2) won its fifth in a row, 26-24, 25-22, 17-25, 25-19 over Louisville (20-3, 11-2) for its first win over the Cardinals since 2016. Georgia Tech had six players with six or more kills, 11 by Tamara Otene, who, despite having eight errors, added an assist, an ace, 10 digs and two blocks. Bianca Bertolini had seven aces to go with seven kills, two assists, 16. digs and five blocks, two solo. Louisville hit .186 and got 15 kills from Charitie Luper and 13 from PK Kong …
Florida State (17-8, 11-2) likely has everyone’s attention now after its 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 16-14 win over visiting Pittsburgh (20-4, 11-2). FSU, which hit .184, got 14 kills from Audrey Koenig, who had three of her team’s 13 aces and five of its 15 errors. She added three blocks and 10 digs. Khori Louis had 12 kills with two errors in 21 attacks and seven blocks. Kiari Robey had 11 blocks — one solo — six kills, an assist, two aces and three digs. Pitt, which hit .190, got 19 kills from Olivia Babcock, who had an assist, an ace, four digs and six blocks, one solo. Torrey Stafford had 17 kills and Valeria Vasquez Gomez had 14 to go with an ace, a block and 12 digs …
Miami (16-7, 9-4) stayed two games back with a four-set win over Virginia (9-14, 2-11) as Grace Lopez hd 19 kills, hit .417 and had two acse, 10 digs and five blocks, one solo … North Carolina hit .420 and swept Virginia Tech … Duke (16-8, 7-6) got a big four-set win over visiting Wake Forest (16-8, 7-6) as Gracie Johnson had 20 kills, hitting .471, to go with three assists, four aces, 14 digs and four blocks. Kerry Keefe had 19 kills and hit .410 and had two aces, 10 digs and two blocks … Boston College (16-12, 5-9) won in five at NC State (17-7, 7-6) as Audrey Ross had 17 kills, hit .375 and had an assist, two aces, three digs and four blocks … Clemson (15-10, 6-7) beat visiting Notre Dame (10-11, 4-9) in four.
Penn State’s Mac Podraza, left, and Allie Holland block Nebraska’s Merritt Beason/Caleb Craig photo
BIG TEN: Nebraska (22-0, 13-0) was as close as it could get to seeing its first defeat before rallying for a 15-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-13 victory at Penn State (15-7, 9-4), had 6,645 — its largest crowd in 20 years — in Rec Hall.
Merritt Beason had a career-high 27 kills, most by a Husker in five years — six in the fifth set. She hit .426 with four errors in 54 attacks and had five digs and three blocks. Harper Murray had 5 kills, hit .379 and had two assists, an ace, a block and 14 digs. Becka Allick had 11 kills, hit .381 and had five blocks. Bergen Reilly had two kills, 52 assists, 13 digs and a block.
According to Nebraska: The last time the Huskers came back from an 0-2 deficit to win in five sets was on March 12, 2021 against Ohio State at the Devaney Center. The last time the Huskers accomplished that feat in a true road match was Sept. 6, 2018 at Creighton. The Huskers won their seventh match in a row against Penn State.
Penn State’s Jess Mruzik had 21 kills, two assists, four blocks and eight digs. Camryn Hannah had 10 kills, an assist, a dig and three blocks, one solo. Zoe Weatherington had nine kills and eight blocks, one solo. Taylor Trammel had nine kills with one error in 14 attacks and 10 blocks, one solo. Allie Holland had seven kills with one error in 14 attacks and five blocks and Mac Podraza had two kills in five errorless tries, 50 assists, a block and five digs.
Minnesota (11-10, 7-6) won in four at Ohio State (8-14, 5-8) as McKenna Wucherer had 16 kills, two assists, 10 digs and a block … Michigan State (15-9, 7-6) swept visiting Maryland (15-10, 5-8). Amani McArthur had eight kills with one error in 17 attacks and six blocks … Indiana (17-9, 7-6) won in four at Rutgers (10-13, 2-11) as Morgan Geddes had 18 kills and six blocks, four solo … Michigan (5-17, 3-10) swept visiting Iowa (8-17, 0-13).
PAC-12: It was a surprise-free day in the conference. No. 4 Stanford (19-3, 12-1) beat visiting No. 9 Washington State (18-6, 8-5) as four players had 12 or more kills in the 21-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 vcitory. Elia Rubin led with 18 and added an assist, an ace, four blocks and six digs. Iman Isanovic had 18 kills for WSU … No. 6 Oregon (20-4, 10-3) swept visiting Utah (9-14, 4-9) as Mimi Colyer had 12 kills and Morgan Lewis 11 … No. 13 21-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 (22-3, 10-3) swept at UCLA (13-10, 5-8) as Marta Levinska had 14 kills, hit .312 and had an ace, four digs and two blocks … Washington (14-10, 5-8) won in four at Cal (15-9, 4-9) as Kierstyn Barton had 17 kills, two aces, nine digs and two blocks … USC (15-8, 9-4) swept visiting Arizona (6-18, 1-12) as Skylar Fields had 24 kills with two errors in 43 attacks to hit .512 to go with nine digs and two blocks.
Sofia Victoria of Florida hits against the Tennessee block of Erykah Lovett, left and Raeven Chase/Gabriella Whisler photo
SEC: No. 12 Kentucky (12-7, 10-1) maintained its lead with a four-set win at South Carolina (8-13, 2-10) and No. 10 Tennessee (19-3, 10-2) kept pace with a five-set win at AVCA No. 20 Florida (14-6, 6-5). Kentucky’s Brooklyn DeLeye had 15 kills, an assist, an ace, six digs and a solo block and Azhani Tealer had 13 kills, hit .588, and had five block, one solo. Jenaisya Moore had 23 kills for Tennessee as she hit .388 and had three blocks and 16 digs. Morgahn Fingall had 17 kills, two assists, an ace, fvie blocks and eight digs. Carolina Kerr had a kill, 53 assists, a block and nine digs. Florida’s Kennedy Martin had a career-high 28 kills, two aces, three blocks and 10 digs. Kennedy Muff had two kills in three errorless tries, 60 assists, an ace and 10 digs … Texas A&M (15-7. 7-5) swept visiting Alabama (10-13, 0-13) as Morgan Perkins had six kills with one error in nine swings and five blocks … Missouri (14-9, 6-6) hit .458 and swept visiting Mississippi State (11-11, 4-8). Jordan Iliff had 15 kills, hit .691, and had an assist, two aces, 13 digs and two blocks.
BIG 12: Texas (18-3, 13-0) hit .330 and won its 13th in a row as the Longhorns swept at West Virginia (9-17, 2-11) for the straight day. Asjia O’Neal had seven kills in 14 errorless attacks, two aces, two digs and four blocks … Kansas (17-4, 8-3) got past visiting Kansas State (13-9, 7-6) in five as London Davis had 28 kills in the 25-16, 25-23, 20-25, 19-25, 15-12 victory. London had three errors in 45 attacks to hit .556 and had two digs and five blocks. Aliyah Carter had 24 kills for K-State to go with two assists, an ace, 14 digs and a block … BYU (19-5, 8-4) swept Cincinnati (11-11, 4-8) behind 19 kills by Erin Livingston, who hit .484 and had an ace and four digs … Houston (1307, 6-5) swept visiting UCF (17-6, 8-4) as the Cougars hit .370. Abbie Jackson had 16 kills, hit .393 and had an assist, four aces, four digs and a block … Iowa State (15-7, 6-5) won in five at TCU (13-11, 6-7) as Nayelli Gonzalez had 21 kills, hit .378 and had an assist, an ace, 14 digs and two blocks …
Around the nation
Dayton won its 21st in a row, a sweep of Rhode Island, and maintained its two-game Atlantic 10 lead over Loyola Chicago, which swept at Fordham. Dayton hit .333 as eight Flyers had kills, eight by Lexie Almodovar, who had an ace, two blocks and seven digs. Karissa Kaminski had 16 digs, three assists and one of her team’s 12 aces against just three errors. Loyola’s Karlie McNabb had 14 kills, hit .379, and had an assist, five aces and nine digs …
In the Big East, league-leading Marquette was off but the two second-place teams won as AVCA No. 17 Creighton swept visiting DePaul and St. John’s swept at Providence. Norah Sis had 16 kills, hit .351, and had two aces and 14 digs for Creighton. St. John’s got 15 kills from Lucrezia Lodi, who had two errors in 23 attacks, eight digs and three blocks, and 14 kills from Erin Jones, who hit .423 and had 10 assists, and ace, three digs and two blocks, one solo. Also in the Big East, Villanova won in five at Butler, which got 23 kills from Mariah Grunze, who also had an assist, 17 digs and a block …
Western Kentucky’s lead in Conference USA remained at three games over Middle Tennessee as the Toppers beat visiting FIU in four. Kaylee Cox had 15 kills with two errors in 32 swings to hit .406 and had an assist, two aces, five digs and two blocks, one solo. MTSU hit .452 and swept at Jacksonville State as Adri Rhoda had 20 kills while hitting .441. Also in CUSA, NM State beat visiting Sam Houston in five as Ryleigh Whitekettle had 20 kills, hit .429 and had five digs and a block …
Yale wins a share of the Ivy League regular-season title
All four Ivy matches ended in sweeps, including Yale’s at Dartmouth. That left the Bulldogs, who hit .350, 16-3, 11-0, and guaranteed a share of the regular-season title. Betsy Goodenow led with 15 kills and hit .542 after having two errors in 24 attacks to go with an assist, an ace, three blocks and three digs …
American Athletic-leading SMU swept at East Carolina as Naya Shime had 13 kills with two errors in 26 attacks, four digs and four blocks … FGCU rebuilt its ASUN lead over idle Lipscomb with a four-set win over visiting Kennesaw State. Ella Chapman had 12 kills, hit .500, and had two blocks, one solo. Also in the ASUN, North Alabama hit .442 in a sweep of Bellarmine … Bryant won its America East match in five over Binghamton and Arianna Ugolini had 22 kills, four assists, two aces, nine digs and a block. London Hunt had eight kills with one error in 12 swings and eigh blocks. Also in the AE, New Hampshire got 26 kills from Hannah Serbousek in a four-set win at NJIT. She had three assists, two aces, 11 digs and two solo blocks … In a Big South sweep of Charleston Southern, league-leading High Point‘s Dylan Maberry had 21 kills, two aces, four digs and two blocks, one solo as High Point maintained its two-game over Winthrop …
In the Big West, league-leading UCSB (12-1) was off, but Long Beach State (11-2) stayed a game back with a sweep of visiting CSUN (3-10) as Katie Kennedy had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks and four blocks. Hawai’i (10-3) fell a game back when it lost in five to visiting Cal Poly (10-4), which stayed in the chase despite hitting .159. Tommi Stockham had 17 kills, an assist, three aces and six digs …
Wright State (12-3) is alone atop the Horizon League after beating Milwaukee (11-4) in four as four players had 13 or more kills, 17 by Megan Alders. She had three errors in 31 attacks to hit .452 and had two blocks. Green Bay (11-4) kept pace with a sweep at Northern Kentucky (10-5), which is tied with Oakland. Oakland won in five at Cleveland State …
MAC West-leading Western Michigan drew 1,024, its largest crowd since 2019, as the Broncos beat visiting Ball State to build its lead to three games over the visiting Cardinals. WMU got 19 kills from Mary Clare Brusek, who had two errors in 32 attacks to hit .531. Maggie King had 18 kills and Keona Salesman had 17. East-leading Buffalo improved to 21-5, 11-3 as it hit .451 and swept visiting Miami. Katrin Trebichavska had 14 kills with two errors in 23 attacks to hit .522 and had three digs and a block. Toledo won its MAC match in four at NIU and Taylor Alt had 22 kills, hit .450, and had an ace, seven digs and two blocks …
Northern Iowa (20-6, 14-0) maintained its two-game Missouri Valley lead over Drake as the Panthers beat visiting Indiana State in four. Kira Fallert had 24 kills, hitting .478, to go with an assist, 11 digs and a block. Emily Holterhaus had 20 kills, an ace and four blocks. Drake beat visiting Evansville in five as Haley Bush had 21 kills and Taylor Oberpriller 20, while Evansville got 23 kills from Melanie Feliciano and 21 from Guila Cardona. Feliciano had one error in 71 attacks to hit .310 and had an assist, two aces, 10 dig and a block. Drake’s Jada Wills had 31 digs and four assists …
Eastern Illinois, which swept at Little Rock, and Southeast Missouri, which beat Western Illinois in five, remain tied for the Ohio Valley Conference lead. EIU hit .378, which included 20 kills from Giovana Larregui Lopez, who had two errors in 30 attacks to hit .600. She had two aces, four digs and a block. Lucy Arndt had 34 kills for Southeast Missouri with seven errors in 71 attacks to hit .380 and added an assist, three aces, a block and nine digs. Marisa Guisti had 20 kills …
Colgate had to go five to win at Navy and is alone again in first in the Patriot League after Army West Point got swept at Loyola Maryland. American is tied with Army after sweeping Holy Cross. Colgate’s Milan Bayless had 14 kills, hit .355 and had two assists, six digs and five blocks …
League-leading Alabama State hit .412 in its SWAC sweep of Alabama A&M … Samford won its SoCon match in five at ETSU as Kaleigh Meritt had 27 kills, hitting .310, to go with an assist, four aces, 10 digs and six blocks. Teammate Kayley Keshock had four kills in seven errorless tries, 37 assists, three aces, two digs and five blocks, one solo. Also in the SoCon, Mercer won in five at Furman as Kaylee Quigley had 22 kills, an assist, three aces, 19 digs and a block … Coastal Carolina rolled on in the Sun Belt as the Chanticleers beat visiting South Alabama in four. Jasmine Rivest had 22 kills, three assists, 11 digs and a block.
Northern Iowa’s Grace Mikota looks up at Layanna Green as she plays the ball against Indiana State/Eli Hull photo
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