Regular season ends: FSU ties for ACC title; S. Carolina upsets Vols; Creighton, UH win tourneys
Hawai’i celebrates winning the Big West/Jim Wolf photo
Three months to the day after it started, the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball regular season ended with a flourish Saturday.
Back on August 25, the tone was set.
That was the opening day that Long Beach State, which won’t make the NCAA Tournament, stunned Texas. Colorado State, which won’t make the tournament, beat Kentucky. A then-full-rostered Florida beat Penn State. Nebraska swept Utah State. At-large lock Utah State, who knew? BYU beat Pittsburgh. UTEP beat Washington.
Yeah, it was going to be that kind of season.
And it was, right through Saturday, when unranked South Carolina hit .488 and not only beat Tennessee, the No. 9 team in the VolleyballMag.com Super 16, it swept the visiting Vols. Tennessee will be a top-16 host. South Carolina had lost its previous three matches and seven of nine.
Kentucky? The No. 8 Wildcats are arguably the hottest team in the country and their sweep of AVCA No. 23 Florida gave them their 16th win in a row and the SEC title.
Florida State, an injured team that limped into ACC play 6-6, swept Notre Dame and tied Pittsburgh for the conference title after winning its eighth in a row.
Creighton, which has won 15 in a row, crushed St. John’s to win the Big East Championship and Hawai’i swept Long Beach State to win the Big West Championship.
Nebraska finally lost Friday at Wisconsin, but bounced back to win in four at Minnesota and Wisconsin swept Iowa.
And now everyone waits until 6 p.m. Eastern when the NCAA Tournament bracket and its 64-team field is announced live on ESPN.
We’ll have the bracket recap and soon after we’ll have our post-selection show Zoom featuring ESPN and Big Ten analyst Emily Ehman and VolleyballMag.com editor Lee Feinswog. We’ll be interviewing an incredible collection of players and coaches from top teams and will visit with the chair of the NCAA Division I committee, Holly Strauss-O’Brien.
Also Sunday night, the NIVC field will be announced. We may not have that story until Monday, but 11 teams are already confirmed. Click here for more info: http://www.womensnivc.com/
Creighton wins the 2023 Big East Championship
CREIGHTON WINS BIG EAST: Creighton (27-4), No. 13 in the VBM Poll, swept St. John’s (23-10) for its ninth Big East tourney title in a row.
The 25-13, 25-9, 25-23 victory in Milwaukee was Creighton’s 15th in a row as six Bluejays had kills, 12 by Kiana Schmitt. She had two errors in 19 attacks to hit .526 and had four blocks and a dig. Ava Martin had nine kills with no errors in 18 attacks, an assist, three blocks and eight digs, and Norah Sis had eight kills, an assist, an ace and two digs. Kendra Wait had three kills in seven errorless tries, 31 assists, four blocks and five digs. Her team hit .355.
St. John’s hit .021. It’s No. 48 in the updated RPI but 56 in the KPI, so it can only hope for the best with the NCAA.
Hawai’i wins the 2023 Big West Championship/Jim Wolf photo
HAWAI’I WINS BIG WEST: Hawai’i 23-8) won the inaugural Big West Championship by beating Long Beach State (21-10) on its home floor 26-24, 25-15, 25-10. Hawai’i is back in the NCAA Tournament for the 41st time.
Amber Igiede led the Rainbow Wahine with 16 kills and hit .522 after having four errors in 23 attacks to go with two aces and five blocks. Riley Wagoner had eight kills, an ace, two blocks and four digs, and Kennedi Evans had seven kills in nine errorless swings and three blocks. Kate Lang had 36 assists, an ace, a block and three digs. Her team hit .330.
Long Beach State, which hit .123, got eight kills from Elise Agi. Long Beach State will certainly get an NIVC offer.
BIG TEN: Nebraska (28-1, 19-1) won the regular season by two games over Wisconsin (26-3). VBM No. 14 Penn State (21-8, 15-5) and No. 12 Purdue (21-8, 15-5) tied for third and Minnesota (16-12, 12-8) was alone in fifth, a game ahead of Indiana and Illinois. Only those top five teams will get NCAA bids and with that Minnesota will be nonetheless holding its breath.
Nebraska won 25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 25-23 at Minnesota as Merritt Beason had 21 kills, hit .302 and had an ace, five blocks and nine digs. Ally Batenhorst had 13 kills and two blocks, and Harper Murray had 13 kills, four assists, three aces, three blocks and 17 digs. Bergen Reilly had three kills in 10 errorless tries, 45 assists 14 digs and four blocks, one solo. Her team hit .235. Minnesota, which hit .284, got 16 kills from Mckenna Wucherer, who had an assist, eight digs and two blocks, one solo. Taylor Landfair had 14 kills, a block and 10 digs. Kylie Murry had 21 digs and four assists, and Melani Shaffmaster had three kills in six errorless attempts, 37 assists, two aces, four blocks and 17 digs …
Wisconsin overwhelmed Iowa (8-24, 0-20) as it hit .337 in the 25-21, 25-10, 25-26 victory. Sarah Franklin led with 14 kills, three blocks and three digs, and Temi Thomas-Ailara had 11 kills with no errors in 17 attacks to go with two digs and two blocks, one solo. Thomas Ailara, who struggled against Nebraska and then had eight kills with no errors to finish that match, had 19 kills with no errors in her last 33 swings. Iowa hit .119 and got nine kills from Caitlan Buettner, who had two blocks and 10 digs …
Purdue swept 26-24, 25-12, 25-18 at Michigan State (17-14, 9-11) as Eva Hudson had 21 kills with one error in 40 attacks to hit .500. She had an ace, a block and 10 digs. Chloe Chicoine had 10 kills with one error in 33 attacks, two assists, two aces and 10 digs. Taylor Anderson had 36 assists, five blocks and seven digs. Her team hit .324. Michigan State, which had a big turnaround after going 13-18, 4-16 in 2022, hit .108 …
Indiana (21-12, 11-9) finished with a 25-19, 25-21, 18-25, 25-23 win at Michigan (7-22, 5-15) as four players had nine or more kills, 11 by Morgan Geddes, who had an ace, two digs and five blocks, one solo. Savannah Kjolhede had 10 kills, hit .350 and had seven blocks. Michigan’s Jacque Boney had 14 kills, hit .385 and had three digs and five blocks … Emily Londot finished her season with a bang, getting a career-high 36 kills — 10 in the first set — as Ohio State (11-18, 8-12) beat visiting Rutgers (23-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21. Londot had only four errors in 75 swings, hit .427, and had an assist, an ace, eight digs and four blocks, one solo. It left her atop the Big Ten with 546 kills … Northwestern (15-15, 9-11) swept visiting Illinois (16-14, 11-9). Northwestern, with its most B1G victories since 2010, got 16 kills from Julia Sangiacomo in the 25-15, 25-15, 25-16 whitewash. She hit .326 and had an ace, two blocks and six digs. Raina Terry had 13 kills for Illinois to finish with 539, second only to Londot in the Big Ten and 24 ahead of Purdue’s Hudson.
SEC: Kentucky (19-7, 17-1) claimed the title outright with its 25-18, 25-21, 25-20 sweep of visiting Florida (18-9, 10-8). The Wildcats finished two games ahead of Tennessee (24-4, 15-3) and Arkansas (25-5, 15-3), while Florida tied with Auburn (20-9, 10-8) and Georgia (19-11, 10-8) for fourth.
Reagan Rutherford led Kentucky with 15 kills, hitting .444, and had four blocks. Florida’s Kennedy Martin had 14 kills, three digs and three blocks, one solo … South Carolina hit .488 after having 50 kills with nine errors in 84 swings. Alayne Johnson led with 17 and hit .464 to go with an asssit, a dig and a block. Kiune Fletcher had 10 kills with one error in 15 attacks and Lauren McCutcheon had 10 kills with one error in 17 swings, an ace, 10 digs and a block. Oby Anadi had seven kills in nine errorless attacks and four blocks one solo. Tennessee’s Morgahn Fingall had 16 kills and hit .467 to go with four digs and two blocks … Georgia swept Missouri (17-12, 9-9) by hitting .386. Kacie Evans and Sophie Fisher had 11 kills each. Fisher had three aces, a dig and a season-high 10 blocks, one solo … Mississippi State (13-15, 6-12) beat visiting LSU (11-17, 6-12) as Karli Schmidt had 20 kills, hitting .444, and added an ace, five digs and two blocks. LSU’s Jurnee Robinson had 17 kills, hit .343, and had an assist, seven digs and three blocks … and Alabama (11-18, 1-17) pulled through on its last try, dealing a tough four-set blow to Texas A&M (16-12, 8-10). Sami Jacobs had 18 kills for Bama, hitting .452, to go with an ace, 15 digs and a block. Bianna Muoneke had 18 kills, 12 digs and a block for A&M.
The SEC, which led the NCAA field with seven teams in 2022, expects to get that many again this year. Georgia is hoping to be the eighth.
BIG 12: No 7 Texas (22-4, 17-1), which ran away with the title by three games, swept Texas Tech (11-19), hitting .356. Madisen Skinner led with 14 kills as she hit .542 after having one error in 24 attacks to go with an ace, six digs and two blocks … No, 16 Kansas (23-5, 14-4) finished alone in second after beating UCF (17-12, 8-10) 25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 28-26 behind 24 kills from Ayah Elnady and 20 by Reagan Cooper. Elnady hit .392 and had an ace, eight digs and three blocks. Coope hit .462 and had a dig and two blocks, one solo … AVCA No. 16 BYU (24-6, 13-5) was alone in third after sweeping at TCU (16-14, 8-10). The Cougars hit .366, led by Erin Livingston. She had 13 kills, an assist, an ace and five digs. Mia Lee had nine kills with one error in 16 attacks and three blocks. TCU’s Audrey Nalls had 17 kills, hitting .467 …
Iowa State (20-9, 11-7) and AVCA No. 22 Houston (18-9, 11-7) tied for fourth, a game ahead of AVCA No. 25 Baylor (16-12, 10-8) and Kansas State (16-11, 10-8).
Iowa State got past Cincinnati (12-16, 5-13) in five as Nayeli Gonzalez had 28 kills, hit .382, and had an ace and 12 digs. Maya Duckworth had 20 kills, an assist, 17 digs and a block … Houston beat Kansas State in four as Kenna Sauer had 25 kills. She hit .357 and had an ace, eight digs and a solo block … Oklahoma (11-17, 4-14) beat West Virginia (9-22, 2-16) in five as five Sooners had 10 or more kills, 17 by Taylor Preston, who had two aces and four blocks.
The Big 12 expects it will get at least six teams in with TCU hoping against hope it will be seven.
Florida State wins a share of the 2023 ACC title
ACC: Florida State (23-8, 16-2) swept Notre Dame (11-15, 5-13) for its eighth win in a row and first ACC title since 2012. FSU won despite hitting .153. Khori Louis led with 11 kills, hitting .348, and six blocks … Boston College (19-13, 8-10) may have dealt a serious blow to the at-large chances of Miami (17-11, 10-8) with its five-set win over the visiting Hurricanes. BC’s Katrina Jensen had 21 kills, hit .372 and had two blocs. Halle Schroder had 12 kills, an ace, two blocks and 12 digs. Anna Murphy had 25 digs, an assist and an ace. Miami’s Grace Lopez was one of four Hurricanes with 10 or more kills, finishing with 20 while hitting .325. She had two aces, three digs and five blocks. Janice Leao had 11 kills, hit .360 and had nine blocks … Virginia (11-17, 4-14) swept at Virginia Tech (13-16, 3-15) as Abby Tadder had 15 kills with two erros in 20 attacks to hit .650 go with two blocks and three digs.
The ACC hopes that either Pittsburgh or Louisville will be a top-four seed and can count on Georgia Tech and Florida State getting bids. After that, NC State and Miami will have a nervous Sunday.
PAC-12: In the only two matches, No. 6 Oregon (26-5, 16-4) swept at Oregon State (11-19, 6-14) and AVCA No. 18 Arizona State (26-6, 14-6) did the same at Arizona (8-23, 3-17).
Oregon, which finished alone in second, three games behind Stanford, hit .340 and got 21 kills from Mimi Colyer, who hit .425 and had an ace, five digs and two blocks. Georgia Murphy had 12 digs, three assists and an ace … Arizona State, which tied for third with Washington State, two games ahead of USC, got 12 kills from Marta Levinska and eight each from three others.
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