Volleyball Today: UT Arlington clinches WAC regular-season title; AVCA Poll
UT Arlington clinched its first regular-season title since 2002 when the Mavs won their WAC match at Tarleton State in four Monday. Brianna Ford continued her tremendous season with 19 kills, hitting .447, to go with two aces, 12 digs and six blocks, one solo, as UTA won its 16th match in a row.
It was one of just five matches on the Monday schedule, one that doesn’t really heat up again until Thursday.
The coaching carousel saw Charlotte’s Karen Weatherington out of a job after 10 years — minus two matches — after the 49ers struggled to a 5-22 record.
And the San Diego Smash — Geena Urango, Toni Rodriguez, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans — won the inaugural AVP League title. Read Larry Hamel’s recap here.
NCAA volleyball Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
There are five matches on the Tuesday schedule, including a key battle in the Big West when UC San Diego goes to Long Beach State. Cal Poly, Hawai’i, UC Davis and UC San Diego are all atop the conference at 10-4 and Long Beach State is 9-5.
Miami is at Ball State in the MAC, Air Force goes to New Mexico in the Mountain West, UNC Asheville is at USC Upstate in the Big South and Chattanooga is at Furman in the SoCon.
Since our next report will be Thursday, here’s a look at key matches on Wednesday’s 13-match schedule.
In the Big 12, No. 18 TCU goes to No. 12 Kansas, No. 17 Baylor is at Kansas State and Colorado goes to Iowa State.
The only Big Ten match has Washington at UCLA.
The lone ACC match has Wake Forest at NC State.
There are two SEC matches when Texas A&M goes to Oklahoma and South Carolina goes to LSU.
MONDAY: There were five matches Monday, highlighted by UTA’s 25-11, 16-25, 25-14, 25-18 victory at Tarleton State that left the Mavs 24-2, 14-0 in the WAC. UTA hit .425, which in addition to Ford including Sjakkie Donkers getting 11 kills while hitting .400 to go with two aces and four digs, and Paige Reagor with nine kills while hitting .538 to go with a dig and eight blocks. Sophie Ocampo had eight kills in nine errorless attacks and Mollie Blank had three kills, 53 assists, three aces and six digs.
Also in the WAC, California Baptist beat visiting Grand Canyon in four as Kali Wolf had 19 kills with one error in 41 attacks to go with two assists, nine digs and four blocks, one solo.
In the SWAC, Arkansas-Pine Bluff swept Alcorn, Alabama A&M swept Mississippi Valley and Southern won in five at Grambling. SU’s Jasmine Okorafor had 10 kills with one error in 14 swings and two blocks, one solo. Grambling’s Essence Allen had 22 kills, an ace, 19 digs and a block.
AVCA top 25
The AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll, like the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, kept Pittsburgh and Nebraska 1-2. But after that were plenty of changes, albeit most of them minor.
Louisville moved up a spot to No. 3, trading places with Penn State, while Creighton stayed No. 5.
Missouri moved in at No. 25, taking the place of North Carolina, which dropped out.
Click here for the complete poll.
Charlotte fires Weatherington
Charlotte, 5-22 overall and 2-12 with two matches remaining in the American Athletic, fired coach Karen Weatherington. She was the longest-tenured coach in program history and had a record of 118-160.
Charlotte’s last winning record was in the spring of 2021.
It’s the second recent Division I opening after Austin Peay made a move two weeks ago.
The post Volleyball Today: UT Arlington clinches WAC regular-season title; AVCA Poll appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.