Volleyball Today: Six NCAA bids on the line Saturday; Nebraska plays Wisconsin

This is going to be a fun volleyball Saturday.

Not only does No. 6 Wisconsin go to No. 2 Nebraska in the Big Ten, automatic NCAA Tournament bids will be claimed by winners in six conferences.

The only upset Friday was by No. 23 Florida State, which defeated visiting AVCA No. 15 Georgia Tech in the ACC. Ninth-ranked SMU had to go five to get past NC State in the ACC and No. 25 Missouri had to go five to beat Ole Miss in the SEC.

Lines of the day:

UT Arlington’s Brianna Ford had 29 kills in her team’s five-set WAC semifinal victory over California Baptist, hitting .293 with three assists, two aces, 14 digs and four blocks, one solo.

Samford lost to The Citadel in five in the SoCon tourney in a match with some staggering numbers. The Citadel had 145 digs and Samford  a school-record 161 and the individual leaders are listed below. But Samford’s Kaleigh Merritt had career-best 27 kills in 89 swings, an assist, an ace, a solo block and a career-high 35 digs.

26 was the other number.

Florida Atlantic’s Valeria Rosado had 26 kills in her team’s American Athletic upset of East Carolina. She hit .312 and had an assist, 16 digs and two blocks. 

Adriana Rhoda’s Middle Tennessee lost in four to Kennesaw State in Conference USA, but she had 26 kills, hit .309, and had two aces, two digs and three blocks.

Buffalo’s season ended with a four-set MAC tourney loss to Western Michigan, but Katrin Trevichavska had 26 kills, two assists, an ace, a block and 13 digs.

Mercer swept UNC Greensboro in the SoCon and Skyler Ekes had 21 kills in those three sets, hitting .528.

We’ll break it down, conference by conference, in this all-NCAA edition of Volleyball Today, which also includes another coaching casualty.

ACC

Florida State rallied to beat Georgia Tech 25-13, 15-25, 21-25, 26-24, 15-10. The Seminoles, who had lost to GT eight times in a row, got 18 kills from Audrey Koenig, who hit .313 and had two assists, an ace, 13 digs and three blocks. Khori Louis had 15 kills with one error in 26 attacks and four blocks, two solo, and Taylor Head had 13 kills, 23 digs and a block. Georgia Tech, which did not help its hopes for a top-16 NCAA tourney seed, had five players with 10 or more kills. Sofia Velez had 23 digs and 11 assists …Top-ranked Pittsburgh swept at Wake Forest as Torrey Stafford had 16 kills, hit .483, and had three assists, an ace, 10 digs and three blocks …  No. 3 Louisville won at Virginia in four as Anna DeBeer and Charitie Luper had 13 kills each and UVA hit .078 … No. 7 Stanford swept at Duke as Ipar Kurt had 19 kills with one error in 33 attacks to hit .545 … No. 9 SMU won in five at NC State as the Mustangs hit .193 … North Carolina beat visiting Cal in four as UNC’s Mabrey Shaffmaster had 19 kills, hit .500, and had two aces, 10 digs and a block and Cal’s Maggie Li had 20 kills, hitting .395, to go with seven digs … Miami swept visiting Clemson.

The ACC is off Saturday.

Big 12 

In the only match Friday, TCU swept visiting Texas Tech Saturday, Arizona State is at Colorado, Baylor is home for Houston, BYU is home for West Virginia and Iowa State goes to Arizona. UCF plays a non-conference match at the SEC’s Florida.

Big Ten

There are seven matches Saturday, including Wisconsin at Nebraska. The 8 p.m. Eastern first serve is on the Big Ten Network. When they met in Madison on November 1, Nebraska swept 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 as the Huskers hit .202 and Wisconsin a season-low .094.

No. 10 Purdue is home for No. 21 USC, No. 14 Oregon goes to Michigan, AVCA No. 16 Minnesota is home for Iowa, Maryland is at Michigan State, UCLA is at Illinois and Rutgers is at Northwestern. 

Friday, Ohio State came away with a surprising sweep of visiting Washington … Indiana did the same to visiting UCLA as Candela Alonso-Corcelles had 20 kills, hit .459, and had two aces and five digs … Illinois swept visiting Rutgers as Raina Terry had 15 kills with one error in 25 swings to hit .560 to go with two aces, five digs and three blocks. Rutgers hit minus .033 as it dropped to 5-23, 0-17, with only three more chances to avoid going winless.

SEC

No. 13 Texas was having none of it when it went to Oklahoma, which upset the Longhorns in Austin on November 3. Friday, Texas won 25-14, 25-15, 25-19 as Madi Skinner had 21 kills with one error in 29 attacks to hit .690 and she had an ace, a block and two digs … Missouri had to rally for a 25-19, 21-25, 16-25, 25-16, 15-11 victory at Ole Miss … Tennessee swept visiting Arkansas, South Carolina did the same at Alabama and Texas A&M beat visiting Georgia in four.  

The only match Saturday is when No. 20 Florida is home for UCF of the Big 12.

Big East

Fourth-ranked Creighton, which already clinched the regular-season title, won in four at DePaul for its 19th victory in a row. The Bluejays (26-2, 17-0) got 20 kills from Ava Martin, who h it .400 and had an ace and six digs. DePaul hit .095 … While Creighton stands at No. 5 in the RPI Marquette is at No. 19 after the Golden Eagles swept at Xavier behind 15 kills from Hattie Bray, who had one error in 20 attacks to hit .700. She had an assist, an ace, a dig and five blocks, one solo … Georgetown swept Butler, Villanova swept visiting Providence and UConn swept at St. John’s.

America East

Fourth-seeded UAlbany plays second-seeded New Hampshire in Saturday’s 4 p.m. Eastern championship match.

 Albany knocked off No. 1-seeded Binghamton in four before UNH ousted third-seeded UMBC in four. UAlbany’s Shynelle Woroniuk had 18 kills, hit .300, and had three aces, a block and 13 digs. Binghamton’s Ilieva Tsvetelina finished her magnificent season — she was ninth in total kills in the NCAA entering Friday — with 20 kills, hitting .327, with an assist, two blocks and 15 digs. UNH got 15 kills from Meredith Hohnbaum, who hit .522 and had a dig and four blocks.

American Athletic

Saturday’s semifinals pit sixth-seeded Florida Atlantic vs. No. 2 Rice and top-seeded South Florida against fourth-seeded Wichita State. FAU went a long five (25-22, 25-27, 21-25, 25-12, 16-14) to upset third-seeded East Carolina, Rice beat North Texas in four, USF had to go four to beat UAB and Wichita State swept Tulsa. 

ASUN

Top-seeded FGCU, which has won 13 in a row, plays No. 2 Lipscomb in Saturday’s 7 p.m. Eastern final. FGCU beat Eastern Kentucky in four after Lippy swept Central Arkansas. 

Atlantic 10

Top-seeded Dayton, ranked No. 15 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll and riding a 21-match winning streak, plays No. 4 Davidson and second-seeded VCU plays No. 3 Loyola Chicago. Davidson defeated George Washington in four and Loyola swept Saint Louis. 

Big Sky

In the only match Friday, Montana State swept visiting Montana. The regular season concludes Saturday with only seeding for the tournament at stake. Northern Colorado won the regular-season title.

Big South

Saturday’s semifinals pit top-seeded High Point vs. No. 4 Radford and No. 2 Winthrop vs. sixth-seeded Presbyterian. Radford swept UNC Asheville and Presbyterian upset No. 3 USC Upstate in five.

Big West

Three teams are tied for the lead at 13-4, Cal Poly, Hawai’i and UC Davis, heading into Saturday’s end of the regular season. And something’s gotta give as Cal Poly goes to UC Davis. Hawai’i is at UC Irvine. 

Friday, Hawai’i swept at Cal State Fullerton, CSUN swept at UC San Diego and Long Beach did the same to visiting Cal State Bakersfield.

CAA

Top-seeded Charleston plays second-seeded Delaware for the title at 4 p.m. Eastern Saturday after Charleston beat fourth-seeded Hofstra in four and Delaware did the same to third-seeded Towson, coming back to win 12-25, 25-23, 25-23, 29-27.

Conference USA 

Top-seeded Western Kentucky has won 22 in a row, but the Toppers got all they could handle before beating eighth-seeded FIU 23-25, 25-14, 25-18, 32-30. Izzy Van De Wiele led with 19 kills, hitting .469 with an assist and eight blocks, two solo. They’ll play fourth-seeded Kennesaw State in one semifinal and third-seeded NM State plays No. 2 UTEP in the other. Kennesaw State beat Middle Tennessee in four as Manu Johnson had 21 kills, hit .318, to go with 11 digs and four blocks. As noted, MTSU’s Adriana Rhoda had 26 kills. UTEP hit .4339 in a sweep of Liberty and NM State beat Sam Houston in four as Mari Sharp had 23 kills, hit .340, and had an assist, an ace and nine digs.

Horizon League

Saturday’s semifinals have top-seeded Wright State playing No. 4 Green Bay and second-seeded Milwaukee plays third-seeded Cleveland State. Green Bay beat Purdue Fort Wayne in four and Cleveland State swept IU Indianapolis.

Ivy League

Yale plays Princeton for the title at 6 p.m. Saturday. Top-seeded Yale beat Cornell in four and second-seeded Princeton swept Brown. Yale and Princeton split their regular-season match, with both teams winning in four on the road. Yale’s Betsy Goodenow had 19 kills against Cornell with no errors in 32 attacks to hit .594 and added three assists, seven digs and five blocks, one solo. Princeton’s Kamryn Chaney had 16 kills, hit .303 and had an ace, two assists, six digs and five blocks, one solo.

MAAC

Saturday’s semifinals pit top-seeded Fairfield against No. 4 Canisius and second-seeded Quinnipiac against third-seeded Rider. Canisius beat Iona in four as Kara Zaucha had 22 kills and hit .365 to go with 10 digs and two blocks, one solo, and Sofia Hedqvist had 18 kills, five digs and three blocks. Rider ousted Merrimack in four as Kiannisha Santiago had a career-high 24 kills, hit .467 and had seven digs and five blocks.

MAC 

Saturday’s semifinals have top-seeded Bowling Green playing No. 4 Western Michigan and No. 2 Central Michigan vs. No. 3 Ball State. WMU advanced with a four-set win over Buffalo and Ball State swept Toledo.

MEAC

No. 1-seeded Howard plays fifth-seeded Maryland Eastern Shore in one Saturday semifinal and second-seeded Coppin State plays No. 3 Delaware State in the other. 

Howard hit .406 and swept South Carolina State, UMES swept Norfolk State, Coppins beat Morgan State in five as Madison Grace and Daniela Ferreira had 18 kills each, and Delaware beat N.C. Central in four.

Missouri Valley

The Valley Championship gets underway Saturday with two opening-round matches, fifth-seeded Bradley vs. No. 8 Missouri State and sixth-seeded Valparaiso vs. No. 7 Murray State.

Mountain West

What we said Friday:The six teams are set for the tournament, but with one match left in the regular season a lot could shake out. Colorado State leads at 13-4, Fresno State and Utah State are 12-5, San Jose State is 12-6, San Diego State is 10-7 and Boise State is 9-8. 

In the tournament, the third seed plays No. 6 and the fourth seed plays No. 5 with the top two teams waiting in the semifinals. Utah State and Boise State are two of the teams that have forfeited to San Jose State in the regular season.

Saturday, Fresno State plays at Boise State, Utah State plays at Colorado State, Air Force plays at San Diego State, and Nevada is at Wyoming and New Mexico is at UNLV.

NEC

Saturday’s tourney final has top-seeded Chicago State vs. second-seeded FDU after both teams won in four Friday. Chicago State beat LIU as Patrycia Lagida had 25 kills, hit .339 and had an assist, anace and seven digs. FDU ousted Saint Francis as Eleonara Tosi had 15 kills, hit .387, and had an assist, two aces, four digs and eight blocks, two solo.

Ohio Valley 

The tourney starts Sunday with four matches.

Patriot League 

The title match is Sunday when top-seeded Colgate plays fourth-seeded Army West Point.

SWAC

Saturday’s semifinals pit No. 1 Florida A&M vs. No. 4 Bethune-Cookman and second-seeded Jackson State vs. No. 3 Prairie View. FAMU beat Grambling in four, B-C did the same to Texas Southern, Jackson State swept Southern and Prairie View swept Alabama State.

SoCon

Saturday’s semifinals have top-seeded Mercer facing No. 5 The Citadel and second-seeded Wofford playing No. 3 ETSU. Mercer got 21 kills from Skyler Ekes as it swept UNCG while The Citadel came away with a 25-16, 27-25, 17-25, 21-25, 22-20 victory over fourth-seeded Samford. Ali Ruffin had 18 kills in a whopping 84 attacks. There were digs galore. The Citadel had 145 with five players with 14 or more. Jaelynn Elgert had a school-record 46 with three assists and Ruffin had 30. Samford had 161 digs, five players with 18 or more. Kate Morgan had a career-high 43 and four assists. Kaleigh Merritt had 35 digs to go with a match-high 27 kills.

Wofford swept Chattanooga and ETSU survived a five-setter over Furman. Melanie Morris had 26 digs, eight assists and an ace.

Southland

Saturday’s semifinals have top-seeded Southeastern Louisiana, riding the nation’s longest winning streak at 25, vs. No. 5-seeded UIW, and No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. third-seeded Stephen F. Austin.

SLU swept East Texas A&M, UIW knocked off fourth-seeded UTRGV in four, TAMUCC swept No. 7 Lamar and SFA had to go five to get past sixth-seeded Houston Christian. 

Summit League

The tournament starts Sunday with Denver vs. North Dakota State and Kansas City plays South Dakota.

Sun Belt 

Saturday’s semifinals have App State playing Texas State and Georgia Southern facing Arkansas State. 

App State beat Georgia State in five, Texas State swept James Madison as Samantha Wunsch had 15 kills in 22 errorless attacks, Georgia Southern swept South Alabama and Arkansas State defeated Coastal Carolina in five as Kaitlin Whitlock had 25 kills, hit .308, and had an assist, an ace, a block and 15 digs. Coastal’s Jalyn Stout finished her season with another triple-double, with 21 kills while hitting .439, 24 assists, three blocks and 15 digs. Stout had an NCAA-record 20 triple-doubles this season and has 34 in her two-year career.

WAC

Top-seeded UT Arlington has won 19 in a row, but it was this close to heading into the offseason before coming away with 16-25, 25-18, 15-25, 27-25,15-10 victory over fifth-seeded California Baptist. Now the Mavs will play second-seeded Grand Canyon in Saturday’s 7 p.m. Eastern title match.

UT Arlington’s Brianna Ford had 29 kills, three assists, two aces, 14 digs and four blocks, one solo.

Grand Canyon beat third-seeded Utah Valley in four as Tatum Parrott had 22 kills, hit .306 and had an assist, two aces, three blocks and eight digs.

West Coast

Loyola Marymount holds a one-game lead over San Diego and Pepperdine. Saturday, LMU is home for Gonzaga, San Diego is at San Francisco and Pepperdine goes to Pacific. Saint Mary’s plays at Santa Clara. The regular season ends next Saturday.

Evansville needs a volleyball coach

Evansville coach Fernando Morales “has resigned from his post with the Purple Aces to pursue other career opportunities,” the school said in a news release. He was at the Indiana school for six seasons.

His exit comes on the heels of a 6-24 finish, 5-13 in the Missouri Valley. Evansville was 6-19, 5-8, when Giulia Cardona was lost for the season. She led the NCAA in kills at the time — for that matter, she still led in total kills heading into Friday — and was coming off two matches in which she had 34 and 31 kills, respectively. After that, the Purple Aces lost their last five matches to end the season.

Evansville has never been to the NCAA Tournament.

The post Volleyball Today: Six NCAA bids on the line Saturday; Nebraska plays Wisconsin appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.