Volleyball Today: Pitt edges Louisville; big big-numbers night in NCAA; AU recaps
When Pittsburgh plays Louisville, you can almost bet on it going five.
And so it did Friday as the No. 1 Panthers came away with a 25-21, 26-28, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12 victory, the third time in a row that Pitt has beaten Louisville in five. The only solace for the visiting No. 4 Cardinals? At least this time it wasn’t a reverse sweep.
There was one minor upset when No. 23 Baylor beat No. 16 TCU in the Big 12.
Lines of the night: There were a lot of big-time numbers. Really big time.
Mychael Vernon had a program-record 37 kills for Missouri in its four-set win at Arkansas. She hit .385 and had 17 digs and two blocks.
Kennedy Martin and Florida beat Tennessee in four in the SEC as Martin tied the program record and broke the mark in the school’s rally-scoring era with 31 kills. She hit .542 and had eight digs and two blocks, one solo.
Baylor’s Elise McGhee had 30 kills in the Bears’ win over TCU, hitting .328 with six aces, seven digs and three blocks.
In N.C. A&T’s five-set CAA win over visiting Charleston, Tyne Ross had 27 kills, an assist and five digs.
In an Ohio Valley sweep by Southeast Missouri over visiting Eastern Illinois, Lucy Arndt had 21 kills in three sets, 11 digs and a block. Also in the OVC, Little Rock won in four at Tennessee Tech, but Tech’s Madolyn Isringhausen had 26 kills, two aces, 15 digs and two blocks. LSU’s Jurnee Robinson had 26 kills in a four-set SEC win at Auburn, hitting .346 with an assist, an ace, seven digs and three blocks.
And Campbell won again at Hampton, dropping the Pirates to 0-24. Duke’s Kerry Keefe also had 26 kills in a five-set ACC loss to Miami. She had two assists, 10 digs and three blocks.
Reverse sweeps? There was one when Morehead State did it at SIUE in the Ohio Valley Conference.
We also have Friday’s Athletes Unlimited report in this edition of Volleyball Today:
NCAA volleyball Saturday
The five Big Ten matches include No. 8 Wisconsin (14-4, 8-1) at No. 10 Purdue (16-4, 7-2) and No. 3 Penn State (19-1, 10-0) at AVCA No. 16 USC (14-5, 6-3). The Wisconsin-Purdue match is on NBC. Nebraska (19-1, 9-0), tied with Penn State atop the B1G, is home for Michigan (16-4, 6-3). Michigan State (8-12, 1-8) is at UCLA (9-9, 3-6) two days after its reverse-sweep at USC and Maryland is at Washington (15-4, 5-4).
Utah (16-3, 6-2), ranked No. 21, goes to No. 9 Kansas (17-1, 8-0) in one of two Big 12 matches. Texas Tech (10-10, 2-6) goes to West Virginia (8-11, 2-6).
The ACC and SEC are off for football Saturday.
Fifth-ranked and Big East-leading Creighton is at Seton Hall, while Marquette steps out of conference to play at the Ivy League’s Princeton.
No. 20 Dayton and Lexie Almodovar are back at Fordham after sweeping there Friday in the Atlantic 10. Almodovar had 15 kills, three aces, 15 digs and four blocks.
South Dakota State, the last unbeaten team, tries to make it 20-0 when it plays host to Denver in The Summit League. Omaha, a game back in the loss column, is at North Dakota State.
Something had to give when Western Kentucky won in four at UTEP on Friday in a match between the Conference USA leaders. The Toppers, now with a one-game lead, are back there again Saturday.
Hofstra, atop the CAA, goes for its 10th win in a row when the Pride plays host to Delaware for back-to-back matches.
In the Patriot League, where Colgate holds a one-game lead in the loss column over Bucknell and a full game over American, the Red Raiders go to American and Bucknell is at Lafayette.
UT Arlington, 19-2 and 10-0 in the WAC, goes to second-place Utah Valley, which is three games back.
NCAA volleyball Friday
ACC: Pitt (18-1, 8-1), Louisville (16-3, 8-1) and No. 25 North Carolina, which rallied for a five-set win over visiting No. 19 Florida State (15-5, 5-4) are all tied for first.
Pitt’s Olivia Babcock had 22 kills, hit .325, and had seven digs and four blocks, one solo. Torrey Stafford had 15 kills, an assist, an ace, 13 digs and five blocks, and Bre Kelley had 12 kills with no errors in 24 attacks to hit .500 and had a dig and 10 blocks, two solo. Anna DeBeer led Louisville with 22 kills, 14 digs and four blocks, one solo. Charitie Luper had 19 kills, 17 digs and two blocks. Pitt pulled off reverse sweeps in its last two meetings with Louisville, in the regular season and then in the NCAA Tournament regional final …
North Carolina won 19-25, 25-22, 22-25, 34-32,15-9 over FSU in a fourth set that was tied 20 times with 11 lead changes. Safi Hampton had 18 kills, hitting .317, and had nine digs and UNC teammate Chelsea Thorpe had 18 kills, a dig and two blocks. Mabrey Shaffmaster had 17 kills, an assist, three aces, 17 digs and two blocks. FSU’s Audrey Koenig had 22 kills, two aces, 10 digs and three blocks …
No. 6 Stanford (16-3, 8-2) hit .355 and swept at Cal (10-12, 2-8). Elia Rubin had 13 kills with one error in 26 attacks to hit .462 and had an assist, two aces, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo … No. 11 SMU (15-5, 7-2) swept visiting Notre Dame (9-9, 2-7) … No. 17 Georgia Tech (14-4, 6-3) swept visiting NC State (10-7, 5-4) as Bianca Bertolino had 13 kills, three assists, an ace, 11 digs and two blocks and Tamara Otene had 13 kills, an ace and 12 digs … Wake Forest (12-8, 4-5) won in four at Clemson (8-12, 0-9) as Paige Crawford had 17 kills, three aces and nine digs … Miami (14-6, 5-4) on in five at Duke (8-12, 4-5) … Boston College (9-12, 2-7) swept visiting Virginia Tech (7-12, 1-8) as the nation’s blocks leader, Julia Hagerty, got six more, three solo.
BIG TEN: There were no surprises as No. 2 Nebraska (19-1, 9-0) swept visiting Illinois (13-6, 5-4) as Andi Jackson had 11 kills with one error in 15 attacks and six blocks; Oregon (15-3, 7-2) did the same to visiting Maryland (10-10, 1-8) behind 20 kills from Mimi Colyer, who hit .500; Washington (15-4, 5-4) beat visiting Rutgers (5-15, 0-9) in four as Madi Endsley had 19 kills, hit .353, and had two digs and a solo block; and Michigan (16-5, 6-3) swept at Iowa (9-12 3-6).
BIG 12: Baylor (13-6, 5-3) came away with a 25-23, 22-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-8 victory over visiting TCU (14-5, 6-3) as Elise McGhee had her career-high 30 kills. TCU’s Melanie Parra had 24 kills, hitting .350, with an assist, two aces, 12 digs and a block … No. 21 BYU (13-6, 6-3) won in four at Colorado (10-11, 3-6) as Brielle Kemavor had 14 kills, hit .524 and had 12 blocks … Houston (9-10, 4-5) won in four at UCF (8-9, 1-7) as Angela Grieve had 21 kills, hit .333, and had 13 digs and two blocks, one solo.
SEC: No. 24 Florida (14-5, 5-3) beat visiting Tennessee (10-8, 3-5) in four as Kennedi Martin went off for her 31 kills. Isabel Martin added 14 kills, hit .480, and had three assists, two aces, six digs and two blocks … LSU (12-7, 4-4) got a big four-set win at Auburn (14-5, 4-4) behind Jurnee Robinson’s 26 kills. Angelina Lee had 11 kills with one error in 19 attacks and six blocks … Missouri (14-5, 5-2) won in four at Arkansas (14-5, 4-3) behind Mychael Vernon’s 37 kills. Maya Sands had 30 digs, four assists and an ace.
AROUND THE NATION: Creighton hit .388 and improved to 18-2, 9-0 in the Big East with its 25-21, 25-13, 25-9 rout at Georgetown. Norah Sis had 16 kills, hit .481, and had two assists and five digs … Marquette had to win in five at Seton Hall. Hattie Bray had 15 kills, hit .414, and had three blocks, two solo … Also in the Big East, in Xavier’s five-set win over UConn, Emma Grace had 30 digs and two aces …
Western Kentucky (1-6, 11-0) broke the tie atop Conference USA with a four-set win at UTEP (20-3, 10-1). WKU’s Kaylee Cox had 16 kills, an assist, an ace, 13 digs and two blocks, one solo, and Izzy Van De Wiele had 15 kills, hit .429, and had two blocks and a dig …
Bowling Green is all alone atop the MAC after sweeping Kent State. Central Michigan is alone in second, a game back in the win column after beating Buffalo in four as Grace Thomas had 16 kills, hit .400, and had two aces, four digs and three blocks. Buffalo dropped into a third-place tie with Toledo, which beat Miami in four. Taylor Alt led the Rockets with 22 kills, hitting .321 to go with 13 digs and a block … In Western Michigan’s five-set win over Akron, Andelyn Simkins had 34 digs and Anna Calcagno had 21 kills, hit .386, and had six blocks … Mercer maintained its one-game lead in the SoCon with a sweep of The Citadel in which Skyler Bumpers (all-name team) had 16 kills with one error in 24 attacks to hit .625 and had four digs and four blocks, one solo. Second-place Wofford kept pace with a four-set win at Samford, which got 21 kills from Gracie Lynn Butler, who hit .326 and had an ace, 11 digs and three blocks …
Northern Colorado built its lead in the Big Sky to a full game with a sweep at Eastern Washington in which Gabi Placide had 18 kills, hit .406, and had an assist, four aces, five digs and two solo blocks … Wright State maintained its one-game lead in Horizon League with an up-and-down 25-17, 38-36, 25-19 sweep of visiting Green Bay. Milwaukee kept pace by sweeping Youngstown State … Missouri Valley-leading Northern Iowa (15-7, 10-0) crushed visiting Evansville 25-9, 25-7, 25-18 and held NCAA kills leader Giulia Cardona to six kills. She had 12 errors … Also in the Valley, Drake’s Macy Daufeldt had 19 kills in a sweep of visiting Indiana State, hitting .350 to go with 14 digs and a block … Kaitlin Whitlock had 22 kills for Arkansas State in a five-set Sun Belt win over Troy. She had an ace, 18 digs and two blocks …
South Florida had to go five to win at North Texas and hold its one-game lead in the American Athletic Conference. Maria Clara Andrade led with 25 kills, an assist, an ace, 12 digs and five blocks, three solo. Second-place Rice beat visiting Tulane in five as Lola Foord had 15 kills with one error in 28 attacks to hit .500 … Also in the AAC, Wichita State beat visiting Memphis in five as Morgan Stout had 18 kills, hit .325, and had three aces, two digs and 10 blocks, one solo … Amanda Ifeanyichukwu had 13 kills with one error in 17 swings to hit .706 in Howard’s MEAC sweep of South Carolina State … Also in the MEAC, UMES swept Morgan State and Anjola Omolewa had 18 kills with no errors in 24 attacks to hit .750 and added four digs and three blocks.
More AU wins for DLC-M, Abercrombie
Bethania De La Cruz and Brittany Abercrombie just keep winning in Athletes Unlimited and have completely run away from the field.
In this five-week league in Mesa, Arizona, where individual points are the ultimate goal, Abercrombie leads with 3,085 and De La Cruz has 3,007. The next closest is Leketor Member-Meneh at 2,260. Madi Kingdon Rishel has vaulted into fourth at 2,200.
Friday, Team De La Cruz defeated Team (Morgan) Hentz 85-81 to open the fourth week of play. Hentz won the first set 28-26, DLC the second 25-17, and Hentz the third 36-34. Rishel led Hentz with 20 kills, two assists, an ace, 10 digs and four solo blocks. Click here for the recap.
Abercrombie won the nightcap 67-66 despite losing the first two sets, 25-20, 25-22, salvaging things with a 25-16 victory in the third set. Abercrombie led her team with 12 kills, seven digs and a block.
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