Stanford tops WSU in big Pac-12 battle; Oregon, Louisville, Pitt, GT, Arkansas, Rice win
Washington State’s Pia Timmer goes over the Stanford block/Dean Hare, WSU Photo Services
Third-ranked Stanford won an intense battle at No. 4 Washington State to take over sole possession of first place in the Pac-12, which now has four teams a game back tied for second.
Georgia Tech escaped at Virginia in an exciting day in the ACC, the SEC’s Arkansas rolled on, and Rice continued its strong American Athletic Conference start.
The recaps and top performances follow.
There are eight matches on Monday’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball schedule, six in the SWAC (click here for the SWAC schedule) plus Indiana at Evansville in the Missouri Valley and Seattle U at Utah Valley in the WAC.
There are seven matches Tuesday, including North Carolina at Wake Forest in the ACC and Utah State at Boise State — tied for the league lead at 5-1 — in the Mountain West.
Wednesday’s 15 matches show Purdue at Indiana and Minnesota at Michigan in the Big Ten, Virginia Tech at Wake Forest in the ACC and three Big 12 matches with TCU at Oklahoma, West Virginia at UCF and Iowa State at Kansas State.
Look for the new VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll that posts here at 11 a.m. Eastern.
SU’s Magda Jehlarova blocks as Stanford’s Kami Miner tries to bring the ball back Dean Hare, WSU Photo Services
PAC-12: Don’t let the fourth-set score fool you. Stanford’s 31-29, 29-27, 23-25, 25-18 victory at Washington State was every bit worthy of a late-rounds NCAA Tournament match as the Cardinal improved to 13-2 and stayed alone atop the standings at 6-0. Washington State dropped to a game back at 15-2, 5-1, tied with Arizona State, Oregon and USC in second place.
Stanford, which had huge advantages in aces (10-1) and blocks (68-50), won its 24th Pac-12 match in a row and is 9-0 on the road this season. And the Cardinal were playing without 6-5 senior middle Sami Francis, still out with an injury. In her place, 6-foot-1 senior Malia Tufuga had no kills but seven blocks, two solo, as she played in her fourth match season after playing three sets in 2022.
Elia Rubin led Stanford with 21 kills — seven in the first set — an assist, an ace, three blocks and 10 digs. Kendally Kipp had 20 kills, an ace, two blocks and seven digs. Caitie Baird had 18 kills but only one error in 35 attacks to hit .486 and had an assist, an ace, seven digs and three blocks, one solo. McKenna Vicini had nine kills with no errors in 17 swings and six blocks, one solo. Elena Oglivie had 27 digs, five assists and three aces and setter Kami Miner had two kills, 59 assists, two aces, three blocks and eight digs. Her team hit .287.
Iman Isanovic and Katy Ryan had 14 kills each for Washington State, which had won 14 in a row. Isanovic had an assist and 14 digs, while Ryan hit .391 and had two blocks and a dig. Pia Timmer had 11 kills, an assist, three blocks and eight digs, and Magda Jehlarova had 10 kills, three digs and six blocks, one solo. Setter Argentina Ung had four kills, 42 assists, a block and 17 digs. Her team hit .211 …
VBM No. 5 Oregon (15-2, 5-1) won in four at Utah (8-8, 3-3) as Mimi Colyer had 15 kills, an assist, an ace, four digs and five blocks, one solo … Arizona State (17-1, 5-1) swept visiting UCLA (9-7, 1-5) as Marta Levinska had 14 kills, two aces, five digs and four blocks, one solo … USC (11-5, 5-1) won in five at Arizona (6-11, 1-5) as Skylar Fields had 23 kills, hit .413 and had two assists, an ace, nine digs and a block … Colorado 10-7, 2-4) beat visiting Oregon State (5-11, 0-6) in five as Lexi Hardych had 18 kills and hit .412 to go with two aces, 16 digs and a solo block … Washington (11-6, 2-4) beat visiting Cal (12-5, 1-5) in four. Madi Endsley had 18 kills and hit .400 to go with an assist, an ace and six digs.
ACC: Three of the seven conference matches went five Sunday, including VBM No. 12 Georgia Tech’s escape from Virginia (8-8, 1-5). The Yellowjackets (14-2, 5-1) stayed a game off the lead with a 25-11, 21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13 victory. Tamara Otene led with 20 kills while hitting .349 to go with three aces and 21 digs. Paola Pimentel had 22 gis, nine assists and an ace …
VBM No. 7 Louisville (14-2, 5-1) swept at Duke (11-6, 2-4) as Anna DeBeer had 13 kills, an assist, an ace, 11 digs and a block … VBM No. 9 Pittsburgh (15-2, 6-0) swept visiting Clemson (11-7, 2-4). Olivia Babcock had 16 kills … Florida State (12-6, 6-0) kept pace with Pitt at the top as the Seminoles came away with a five-set win over visiting NC State (13-4, 3-3), which got 25 kills from Ava Brizard. She hit .415 and had an assist, seven digs and a block. FSU’s Audrey Koenig had 20 kills with one error in 33 swings to hit .576 and she an assist, 15 digs and two blocks …
Notre Dame (9-5, 3-3) pulled off a five-set reverse-sweep road victory over North Carolina (7-8, 1-5) as Sydney Palazzolo had 19 kills, an assist, four aces, 10 digs and three blocks … Wake Forest (13-4, 4-2) won in four at Syracuse (2-14, 0-6) behind 18 kills from Ava Carney, who had five digs and three blocks, one solo … Boston College (13-7, 2-4) swept visiting Virginia Tech (11-6, 1-5).
SEC: Things pretty much held form in the SEC on Sunday, although AVCA No. 25 Auburn (14-3, 4-2) had to go five to win at last-place South Carolina (6-8, 0-5). Madison Scheer had 19 kills and hit .371 for Auburn … VBM No. 6 Florida (12-3, 4-2) swept visiting Alabama (10-6, 0-5) as AC Fitzpatrick had 14 kils with one error in 33 attacks and had an ace, five digs and two blocks … VBM No. 10 Tennessee (15-1, 6-0) hit .444 and swept visiting LSU (7-8, 2-3) for its 10th win a row. The Vols had 49 kills and nine errors in 90 attacks. Morgahn Fingall had 17 kills with one error in 27 swings, six digs and two blocks …
VBM No. 13 Arkansas (15-2, 5-0), featured here Sunday, won its 13th in a row, with a four-set victory over Missouri (10-7, 2-4) despite hitting .183. Four Razorbacks had 10 or more kills, 15 by Jill Gillen, who had an ace and 15 digs … AVCA No. 22 Kentucky (7-7, 5-1) had four players with 10 or more kills and beat visiting Ole Miss (8-9, 2-4) in four as Brooklyn DeLeye had 19 kills. DeLeye had two errors in 36 attacks to hit .472 and had an ace, five digs and a block … Texas A&M (12-4, 4-2) swept at Mississippi State (8-8, 1-5) as the Aggies hit .357. Logan Lednicky had 13 kills and six blocks.
Around the nation
Emilia Weske had 25 kills and Rice is off to a 7-0 start in the American Athletic Conference after the 13-4 Owl won in four at Charlotte. Weske had six errors in 52 attacks to hit .365 andhad an assist, 11 digs and two blocks. Kaitlyn Knobbe had eight blocks, two solo … SMU kept pace and is a game back after winning in four at FAU. Jamison Wheeler had 21 kills, one of four Mustangs with 11 or more kills … In Temple’s five-set AAC win at UTSA Taylor Davenport had 23 kills and six blocks …
In the CAA, a day after getting swept by Towson, Campbell swept the Tigers and knocked them into a first-place tie with William & Mary. W&M swept Elon … In N.C. A&T’s five-set over Hofstra, Naiya Sawtelle had 21 kills, 14 digs and four blocks …
Isabel Decker had 18 kills and hit .406 in Davidson’s four-set A10 win at Rhode Island … Western Kentucky has a two-game lead atop Conference USA after sweeping visiting Jacksonville State. Kenadee Coyle had 10 kills in 16 errorless attacks and two blocks … Kara Zaucha of Canisius had 20 kills in a five-set MAAC win over Rider …
In Bethune-Cookman’s five-set SWAC win over Southern, Mia Delahoussaye had 23 kills and three blocks. Then, in B-C’s five-set loss to Prairie View, PVU’s Kylee Owens had 24 kills, 21 digs and a block. Owens, in turn, had 24 more kills in a five-set loss later to Alabama State, which got 22 kills each from Jada Rhodes and Jylen Whitten … Alabama A&M won its SWAC match in five over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Zykia Jones had 22 kills, two aces and 17 digs. Alabama A&M then beat Grambling in five and Grambling’s Zyonn Smith had 24 kills, two aces, a block and 17 digs …
Finally, one of the three winless teams that played Sunday broke through. Alcorn State, which earlier in the day got swept by Jackson State, improved to 1-10 with a sweep of Mississippi Valley State in the SWAC. Hannah Solomon led with 14 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 12 digs … But St. Peters dropped to 0-19 when it was swept by Niagara in their MAAC match, and Hampton fell to 0-10 when it was swept by Stony Brook in the CAA. Stony Brook’s Abby Stanwood had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks.
Tennessee’s Natalie Hayward tips over the LSU block/Faith Wood, Tennessee Athletics
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