NCAA volleyball: Mizzou knocks off SMU; 34 kills for Dayton’s Almodovar

Oregon’s Cristin Cline sets Onye Ofoegbu against TCU/Stephen Burns photo

If you were looking for a Cinderella story in the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball tournament on Friday, you picked the wrong day.

The only significant upset saw a team from the Power Four SEC, Missouri, knock off a squad from the Power Four ACC, SMU, in a second-round match between seeded opponents.

In pick ‘em 4 vs. 5 tussles, highly regarded lower seeds Dayton (Atlantic 10) and Marquette (Big East) from non-power conferences prevailed. 

Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament saw a blend of matches in the first and second rounds, and in the opening-rounders, the teams that figured to win did, the majority of them with ease.

One reverse sweep transpired: Oklahoma turned the tables on UTEP on a day when the SEC went 6-1.

Line of the night goes to 5-foot-8 Dayton dynamo Lexie Almodovar, who recorded 34 kills on 77 attacks with 13 errors (which included key winners in crunch time), two aces, eight digs and two blocks in the Flyers’ five-set triumph over Baylor. Almodovar eclipsed the 2,000-kill mark for her career.

In Division III, Juniata, coming off a reverse-sweep victory over Hope in the national semifinals, plays Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday. Juniata, which has won 96 matches in a row and is 34-0 this season, has won the last two DIII NCAA crowns. Wisconsin-Whitewater is 31-3.

We run down all the action in an all-NCAA edition of Volleyball Today, which includes the ongoing NIVC.

 NCAA volleyball Saturday

The remaining second-round matches to be played on Saturday all will be streamed on the ESPN+ subscription platform. The winners advance to the round of 16: Oklahoma vs. Pittsburgh, Miami vs. Nebraska, North Carolina vs. Penn State, Northern Iowa vs. Louisville, Florida vs. Kansas, Texas A&M vs. Arizona State and Loyola Marymount vs. Stanford.

NCAA second-round matches Friday

Host Purdue (27-7) figured out the puzzle of “on two” setter Bree Borum and rolled to 25-20, 25-21, 25-12 victory over Loyola-Chicago (22-12), delighting a capacity house of 2,415 at its Holloway Gymnasium. The 10th-ranked Boilermakers shut down Borum’s early attacks, limiting her to four kills against five errors on 15 attempts, a minus .067 percentage.

The upset-minded Ramblers — who stunned Brigham Young in the first round but then failed to extend their winning streak to 14 — had the starch taken out of them in the second set. The Atlantic 10 tournament champs jumped out to a 5-0 advantage, but Purdue roared back with an eight-point surge, fueled by junior Eva Hudson’s three kills and sophomore Taylor Anderson’s two aces, to take a 9-6 lead.

After Loyola scrambled back to go up 14-13, three consecutive kills by Hudson stalled that rally. A kill from Chloe Chicoine sandwiched between attack errors by Borum and Marta Cvitkovic (both on double blocks by Raven Colvin and Kenna Wollard) built a 21-16 cushion and Purdue had weathered the storm. Loyola hit .000 in the third set (nine kills against as many errors on 33 attempts).

Anderson set an attack that clicked at .409 efficiency, topped by Hudson’s career-high .563 mark (20-for-32 with two errors). The Boilermakers enjoyed a 13-to-3 advantage in blocks, with Lourdes Myers getting six (two solo) and Colvin six (one solo). Raven also hit .500 (7-for-12 against one miscue).

“This was a great team effort,” Boilermakers Coach Dave Shondell said. “From serving to passing – our passing numbers were as they’ve been all season, they continue to climb – that’s a mentality our team has developed here late in the season. They’re passing the ball great, which as I like to refer to, makes the world go round.

“We’re excited about moving into the regional round again. We’re healthy, we’re fired up and we’re ready to move on.”

Purdue advanced to the regional semifinals in Louisville.

In the Pittsburgh region, 11th-ranked Kentucky (22-7), 14-ranked Oregon (24-7) and Missouri (22-8) earned spots in the round of 16 with second-round triumphs. Missouri will square off against Kentucky in an all-SEC showdown after pulling the most significant upset on Day 2 of the tournament.

Seeded seventh in the region, the Tigers corralled second-seeded SMU (25-8), ranked eighth in VolleyMag Super 16 Media Poll, in Dallas 25-22, 25-14, 31-33, 25-22. An 11-to-1 disparity in aces paved the way for the seventh-seeded Tigers as Jordan Iliff and libero Maya Sands (14 digs and five assists) dialed up four apiece. Iliff (16 kills and 10 digs) scored the last two kills of the match. Also coming up big for Missouri was Mychal Vernon (23 kills, an ace and three blocks), while the Mustangs got 22 kills on .487 hitting from Nya Shime.

A kill by Erin Lamb and a hitting error by Minnesota star Julia Hanson put the finishing touches on a 25-11, 23-25, 25-22, 26-24 victory by No. 3 seed Kentucky over the sixth-seeded Gophers (21-11) before 2,715 at storied Rupp Arena. Brooklyn DeLeye piled up 22 kills, three aces, 11 digs and two blocks for the Wildcats. Hanson paced Minnesota with 15 kills, 10 digs and four blocks.

Oregon ‘s Mia Tvrdy jousts with TCU’s Stephanie Young/Stephen Burns photo

Fourth-seeded Oregon regrouped after a first-set misstep to oust fifth-seeded TCU (22-8) 19-25, 25-21, 25-11, 25-15 in Eugene. The Ducks enjoyed significant advantages in kills (53 to 39) and aces (12 to 5). Mimi Collier’s 19 kills, two aces and eight digs paced Oregon and Michelle Ohwobete chipped in with 12 kills, three service winners and 14 digs. Melanie Para led the Horned Frogs with 18 kills on 61 swings.

The Lincoln bracket produced an upset, albeit relatively mild one, as regional No. 5 seed Dayton (31-2) climbed out of a 2-1 hole in sets to bounce fourth-seeded Baylor (23-8) of the Big 12 in five 25-22, 22-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12 in Waco. The Flyers and Bears were tied for 16th in the final regular-season VBM media poll. The tiebreaker was knotted at 10 before three kills by Liana Sarkissian (including the match-clincher) and two by Lexie Almodovar won it for Dayton. Sarkissian’s total of 17 kills was doubled by Lexie’s career-high 34 as mighty mite Almodovar, a redshirt senior, became the first player in program history to surpass 2,000 kills. Allie Sczech kept Baylor in the match with 22 kills on .463 hitting and six blocks. The Big 12 went 2-3 Friday.

Also, seventh-ranked Wisconsin (25-6) was extended to four sets before 7,229 at its Field House in Madison by Georgia Tech (21-10) in a 2 vs. 7 matchup. Big Ten player of the year Sara Franklin amassed 20 kills and 10 digs, 6-foot-9 Ann Smrek notched nine blocks (one solo), and freshman setter Charlie Fuerbringer dished 41 assists and made 21 digs for the Badgers during a 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, 25-21 triumph. The Yellow Jackets got 21 kills and 17 digs from Tamara Otene.

In the Penn State regional, Marquette (25-6) pulled off an upset of the mild variety, sixth-ranked Creighton (31-2) upped its lengthy winning streak and 12th-ranked Texas (20-6) rolled into the sweet 16 for the 19th consecutive season. The defending NCAA champion Longhorns await a date with the Blue Jays, who have won 24 in a row.

Marquette, the regional No. 5 seed, took down fourth-seeded Utah (25-6) in Salt Lake City, withstanding a comeback by the 15th-ranked Utes to prevail in a five-set nail-biter 25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 24-26, 15-12. Two timely kills by Aubrey Hamilton bookending a block by Hamilton and Hattie Bray provided the Golden Eagles’ winning margin in the tiebreaker. Hamilton totaled 20 kills, two aces, 14 digs and two blocks. Marquette hit .152, Utah .177 and the teams combined for 161 digs, 90 by the winners.

No. 2 seed Creighton drew a record crowd of 2,665 to D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha for its sweep of Ole Miss (18-12). The Rebels showed spunk in the first two sets before the wheels fell off and lost 28-26, 27-25, 25-7, dropping 15 of the first 16 points in the third. Big East player of the year Kendra Wait, a setter, had eight kills on nine errorless attacks, 35 assists, eight digs and two blocks.

Texas’ Gregory Gymnasium was packed to the rafters with 4,137 as the third-seeded Longhorns won in a contentious three over sixth-seeded USC (22-10) 26-24, 25-20, 25-22. Madisen Skinner racked up 23 kills, one ace, 12 digs and two blocks, while Jenna Wenaas notched 13 kills on .619 efficiency. The Trojans Ally Batenhorst had 17 kills but hit .118.

NCAA first-round matches Friday 

Surging Northern Iowa (26-7) and fourth-ranked Louisville (26-5) will square off in the second round on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Cardinals’ cozy on-campus L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

Regional top seed Louisville shrugged off some second-set doldrums to clobber Chicago State (19-10) 25-10, 25-18, 25-13 before 4,416 at the KYC Yum! Center. The  Cougars, in the NCAAs for the first time, were limited to .009 hitting (21 kills vs. 20 errors) and the Cardinals’ block put Northeast Conference player of the year Patrycja Lagida (7-for-34 against eight errors, minus-.029) in a phone booth. Sophia Maldonado Diaz and Charitie Luper cracked nine kills each for Louisville and Hannah Sherman collected seven blocks.

Earlier, eighth-seeded Northern Iowa pushed its winning streak to 21, shrugging off a third-set hiccup to bounce Illinois (18-13) 25-15, 25-16, 16-25, 25-21 in Louisville. The Panthers logged six aces (four by senior libero Erin Powers) against 10 service errors and their service pressure played havoc with the Illini’s passing. Sophomore Cassidy Hartman led the Missouri Valley champions with 21 kills, Olivia Tjernegal pounded 13 (hitting .476) and Powers dug 17 balls. The Illini lost for the sixth time in their last seven matches, with the lone victory coming against Rutgers (1-18 in the Big Ten), and their star, Raina Terry, needed 57 swings to get 18 kills.

No seeded team lost to an unseeded opponent in an opening-round match on Friday and the top seeds won for fun.

No. 1-ranked Pittsburgh (30-1) outscored Morehead State (18-15) 75-47 and second-ranked Nebraska (30-2) held Florida A&M (27-7) to three points (that’s not a typo!) in the first set and 29 in total. Third-ranked Penn State (30-2) nearly matched the Huskers when Delaware State (17-14) scored four in the opening stanza but allowed 38 in the last two while giving court time to 14 players.

The sledding was a bit tougher for No. 5-ranked Stanford (26-4), which allowed 55 points to Sacramento State (21-12), and eighth-ranked Arizona State (30-2), which surrendered 53 to New Hampshire (18-10). North Carolina State (16-13) from the Power Four ACC could manage only 52 against Florida (22-7) as Gators star Kennedy Martin ripped 18 kills and picked up five blocks (one solo). Miami (22-10) held South Dakota State (27-3) to .068 hitting in a sweep highlighted by Flormarie Heredia Colon’s 21 kills and 13 digs. Colgate (19-11) was competitive with 13th-ranked Kansas (25-4), falling 25-18, 25-23, 25-22.

In the nearest upset that didn’t happen, WCC champion Loyola Marymount (25-5), the No. 7 seed in the Louisville bracket, was pushed to the limit by Washington (19-12) before clawing to a 25-18, 25-20, 23-25, 18-25, 19-17 victory at Stanford. Three points was the widest margin in the tiebreaker (LMU up 10-7) before the count was deadlocked at 13 and see-sawed until the Lions tallied the last two on kills by Sophia Meyers and Paige Flickinger. Meyers had 21 kills, two aces, six digs and two blocks, while four Huskies posted double-figure kill totals.

Also going five was the match between Oklahoma (15-10), the eighth seed in the Pitt regional, and Texas-El Paso (27-6), won in a reverse sweep by the Sooners in Pittsburgh but with a wide margin in the tiebreaker: 19-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-9. Alex Shelton’s 21 kills, two aces, six digs and four blocks helped Oklahoma move on. The Miners kept the pressure on Oklahoma with 10 aces against 11 serving errors.

Finally, the No. 8 seed in the Penn State bracket, North Carolina (23-7), outhit Yale (19-6) .369 to .165 during an 18-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-20 victory in Happy Valley. High-percentage swingers for the Tar Heels were Emani Foster (13 kills on .545 effectiveness) and Safi Hampton (12 kills, .500). And Lincoln regional 6 seed Texas A&M (20-7) topped Colorado State (20-11) 25-20, 16-25, 29-27, 25-23 as the Aggies’ Logan Lednicky (23 kills) and the Rams’ Malaya Jones (26 kills) put up big numbers.

NIVC rolls on 

The pay-to-play tournament saw four five-set matches: DePaul over Omaha (15-13 in the tiebreaker), Wyoming over Utah Valley (15-12 fifth set), Pacific over Weber State  (15-11 in the fifth) and Arkansas State over SFA (15-12 tiebreaker). Also, Northern Colorado defeated App State in four, UConn won a four-setter against East Carolina and Georgia Southern swept Southeast Missouri State.

Saturday’s NIVC schedule sees Northern Colorado vs. Georgia Southern, St. John’s vs. North Carolina A&T and Pacific vs. Arizona.

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