NCAA volleyball: UCLA, WSU, Oregon win in Pac-12; Texas, Baylor win; 29 kills for Houston’s Jackson

UCLA, Washington State, and Oregon all won in the Pac-12. 

Ohio State improved to 10-0 in the Big Ten, while Iowa won in five at Northwestern, including 39-37 in the second set.

Texas — playing at a high school — and Baylor were back in Big 12 action and both swept their matches. 

Abbie Jackson of Houston had 29 kills in a loss to Texas Tech, while Lexie Almodovar, a 5-foot-8 freshman, had 28 kills for Dayton in a win over Duquesne. And Mariena Hayden had 27 kills and a match-high 24 digs for UNLV as the Rebels stayed unbeaten .

The recaps follow, including Friday’s men’s results.

COVID continues to mess up the NCAA Division I women’s schedule. The latest was the announement that Penn State’s matches at Maryland on Saturday and Sunday postponed. Three others were already called off, leaving only Ohio State at Rutgers and Iowa at Northwestern.

Utah is back at Washington trying to avenge that Pac-12 sweep from Thursday. 

The SEC has Missouri at South Carolina, Ole Miss at LSU, and Mississippi State at Alabama.

In the ACC, Florida State plays host to Louisiana of the Sun Belt. Notre Dame at Louisville was postponed.

The Big 12 slate includes Oklahoma at Texas, Iowa State at the Big East’s Marquette, and TCU playing host to the Sun Belt’s Texas State.

Other matches on Saturday’s schedule include SMU at Wichita State in the American Athletic, and a full schedule in the Mountain West.

The NCAA Division I-II men’s schedule has the rematch of BYU back at Grand Canyon. GCU swept Thursday with a 45-43 win in the second set. And UCLA is at Concordia.

In the MIVA, Ohio State is at Ball State. The EIVA shows George Mason back at Penn State and Sacred Heart at Charleston. In Conference Carolinas, Belmont Abbey is at King and North Greenville is at Lees-McRae.

Want to watch a match? We’ve got the links in the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.

PAC-12 — UCLA (8-3) beat visiting Arizona (4-7) 24-26, 25-18, 25-22, 27-25 with a balanced attack led by élan McCall’s 17 kills. She hit .395 and had an assist, two solo blocks, and 11 digs. Mac May had 16 kills, an assist, three of her team’s nine aces, eight digs, and five blocks, two solo. Allison Jacobs had 13 kills, two blocks, and four digs. Zoe Fleck had 25 digs and an assist, and Kate Lane had four aces and seven digs. Sofia Maldonado Diaz led Arizona with 17 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks, and seven digs … 

Washington State (7-2) hit .506 as it swept visiting Cal (1-10). WSU had 47 kills with just six errors in 81 attacks. Pia Timmer led with 16 kills as she hit .577 with one error in 26 attacks. Kalyah Williams had 12 kills with one error in 16 swings, and Alexcis Lusby had nine kills in 13 errorless attacks. Lydia Grote had 11 kills for Cal, which hit .094 … 

Oregon (7-2) won its sixth in a row, a sweep over visiting Colorado (4-5), which lost its fifth in a row. Four players had 10 or more kills for Oregon, which hit .333, led by Abby Hansen, who had 13 kills with two errors in 17 attacks, four digs, and three blocks, two solo. Karson Bacon had 11 kills with no errors in 18 swings and five blocks, and Brooke Nuneville had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 18 digs. Taylor Williams had 10 kills with two errors in 20 swings, a block, and 12 digs. Rachale Fara led CU with eight kills and she had no errors in 12 attacks to go with two blocks and two digs.

SEC — Florida (12-2) swept at Tennessee (6-6) as T’Ara Ceasar had 12 kills and Thayer Hall 11 in the 25-23, 29-27, 25-16 victory. Ceasar had two aces, a block, and 10 digs, while Hall had two aces, two solo blocks, and five digs. Marlie Monsserez had seven kills with no errors in nine attempts, 36 assists, an ace, and 12 digs.

Tennessee, had three set points in the second and had two hitting errors in the last three points. The Vols hit .157 as Lily Felts had 12 kills, an ace, and nine digs. Danielle Mahaffey and Morghan Fingall had 10 kills each … 

Missouri (11-4) swept at South Carolina (9-6) as Kylie Deberg had 16 kills and hit .387 in the 25-17, 25-23, 25-15 victory. Deberg had two aces, six digs, and five blocks, two solo … And Alabama (5-10) beat visting Mississippi State (4-9) in four as Abby Marjama had 20 kills, three aces, and 10 digs. Madelyn St. Germain had 28 digs, three assists, and three aces. Gabby Waden had 18 kills and hit .385 for State.

BIG TEN — Ohio State keeps on rolling. The visiting Buckeyes (10-0) hit .377 and blanked Rutgers (2-9) 25-21, 25-19, 25-19. The last time Ohio State won 10 conference matches was in 2016 when it went 10-10 in the B1G. The last time the Buckeyes were 10-0 was in 2013 when that team was 13-0 after it started with 12 non-conference wins and opened Big Ten play with a victory. 

Emily Londot led with 16 kills as she hit .448 and had three blocks and six digs. Vanja Bukilic and Rylee Rader had 10 kills each and Gabby Gonzalez nine and 11 digs. Beka Kojadinovic and Anastasiia Maksimova had nine kills each for Rutgers …

In the only other B1G match of the day, with Penn State at Maryland and Nebraska at Wisconsin postponed, Iowa (3-8) had five players with 10 or more kills as it won in five at Northwestern (2-3) 26-24, 39-37, 23-25, 17-25, 15-11. Courtney Buzzerio had 14 kills for Iowa as she hit .346 and had 21 assists, two aces, six blocks, and eight digs. Hannah Clayton had 14 kills, hit .407, and had nine blocks, two solo. Temi Thomas-Ailara had 26 kills for Northwestern and hit .370 to go with 14 digs and three blocks, one solo. Nia Robinson added 14 kills. Alex Rousseau had six kills, 55 assists, an ace, two blocks, and five digs.

BIG 12 — It doesn’t count as a conference match, but Texas (15-0) opened its spring season wtih a 25-17, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of Oklahoma (3-10, 3-9) that was played at Austin High School, not on the UT campus. Texas, which hit .362, got 16 kills from Logan Eggleston, who had three errors in 41 attacks to hit .419 and added two assists, three aces a block, and eight digs. Guewe Diouf led OH with 12 kills … 

Baylor (14-3) blanked visiting North Texas (4-6) of Conference USA. Yossiana Pressley led with 15 kills, an ace, a block, and six digs. Hannah Sedwick had two kills, 25 assists, three blocks, and three digs. UNT hit minus .019 … 

Iowa State (6-9) swept the Atlantic 10’s Saint Louis (5-6) at Marquette. Kenzie Mantz led with 11 kills in the 25-16, 25-16, 25-21 victory … Xavier (4-4) of the Big East beat Kansas (5-10) 29-27, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22 as four players had 12 or more kills, led by Kelly Franxman’s 17. She also had four assists, two aces, 15 digs, and a block. Jenny Mosser had 16 kills for Kansas to go with two assists, 10 digs, and three blocks. Caroline Crawford had eight kills, an ace, four digs, and six blocks, three solo … Abbie Jackson went off again, this time with 29 kills, but  Texas Tech (6-12) bounced back with a 25-21, 25-18, 16-25, 26-28, 15-10 at Houston (8-2) of the American Athletic behind Samantha Sanders, who had 17 kills, an assist, 11 digs, and four blocks, two solo. Reagan Cooper had 15 kills, an assist, a dig, and five blocks, three solo. Houston’s Jackson had her 29 kills, an ace, three blocks, and 11 digs. 

MID-AMERICAN — Bowling Green (11-0) rallied to win at Kent State (8-3) in five to mark its best start since 2011 when it went 12-0, but that wasn’t all in conference play. Petra Indrova led with 20 kills as she hit .327 and had an assist, two blocks, and 15 digs. Katie Kidwell had 17 kills and hit .395 to go with three blocks, and six digs, and Katrin Trebichavska had 15 kills and Jacqueline Askin 14. Julia Walz had 27 digs, six assist, and three aces, and Hanna Laube had 64 assists.

“We are incredibly proud of our team for showing again so much grit and mental toughness. Winning is hard, and winning on the road against an admirable opponent such as KSU in five sets back-to-back is even more challenging,” Bowling Green coach Danijela Tomic said. “Matches like these reveal the real character and quality of the team. We had outstanding offensive performances with four players with double-digit kills, but what improved the most from the last night was our defense. We matched a relentless defense that KSU played both nights and had four players with double-digit digs. We will get a well-deserved rest this weekend and get back in the gym on Monday to continue getting better.”

Kent State’s Melissa Kolurbasi had 20 kills, hit .314, and had a block and a dig. Five Flashes have 11 or more digs … 

Savannah Thompson had 14 kills, 24 digs, and three blocks, one solo, as Central Michigan (7-5) beat visiting Akron (3-9) in four … Franki Strefling had 24 kills as Eastern Michigan (4-5) beat visiting Buffalo (1-11) in five a day after losing to the Bulls. Strefling hit .305, had three assists, an ace, two blocks, and 23 digs. Milla Malik had 19 kills and 15 digs for Buffalo … Miami (5-5) swept at Northern Illinois (5-7) behind 14 kills from Sophie Riemersama, who hit .367 and had an assist, a solo block, and nine digs … Two matches were postponed, Ball State at Western Michigan, and Toledo at Ohio.

ASUN — Kennesaw State (7-0) stayed atop the ASUN with a sweep of visiting North Alabama (1-5, 1-4) as Dani Ballou had 13 kills and hit .440 … Stetston (2-3, 1-3) swept visiting North Florida (5-7, 4-2) , although had to win the second set 29-27. Elena Djokovic led with 16 kills as she hit .306 and had two blocks and nine digs … FGCU (6-1, 4-1) swept visiting Jacksonville (2-5, 0-3). Erin Shomaker led with 10 kills, hitting .350, and she had an ace, 13 digs, and three blocks, one solo … And Lipscomb (7-2, 4-1) swept visiting Bellarmine (1-8, 0-5) as Megan Kuper had 14 kills, hit .343, and had an assist, an ace, a block, and 11 digs.

MOUNTAIN WEST — Mariena Hayden had 27 kills and hit .377 as UNLV (5-0) had to go five, but the Rebels remain atop the league after beating previously unbeaten Boise State (6-1). Hayden added two assists, an ace, two blocks, and a match-high 24 digs. Four other Rebels had 10 or more kills, including Shelby Callonch, who had 10 kills, two blocks, and 20 digs. Lauren Ohlinger had 12 kills, four assists, a block, and 10 digs for Boise State … 

Colorado State swept at Wyoming leaving both teams 4-3. Breanna Runnels has 18 kills for the Rams to go with an assist, two aces, four digs, and a block … Air Force (2-5) beat visiting New Mexico (4-3) in four as Brookelyn Messenger had 14 kills. Kaitlyn Biassou had 13 for New Mexico … Fresno State (4-1) topped visiting Utah State (0-5) in four as Desiree Sukhov had 16 kills, an assist, two aces, a block, and 14 digs. Amaria Kelley had 14 kills and six blocks … Nevada (2-5) won in four at San Diego State (3-4) as Reka Monteleone had 15 kills, hit .433, and had an assist, an ace, 20 digs, and four blocks, two solo. Heipua Tautua’a had 15 kills, four assists, and nine digs for SDSU.

AROUND THE NATION — Florida State (5-3) of the ACC was host to previously unbeaten UCF (8-1) of the American, which it beat in five, and Troy (11-9) of the Sun Belt, which it swept.

FSU beat UCF in five as four players had 12 or more kills. Jasmyn Martin had 13, hit .417, and she had two digs and five blocks. Emma Clothier had 13 kills with one error in 20 swings, three aces, eight digs, and three blocks. Morgan Chacon had 12 kills, three aces, 12 digs, and two blocks, and Taryn Knuth had 12 kills with one error in 18 attacks, three digs, and eight blocks. UCF got 18 kills from McKenna Melville and 17 from Tali Marmen. Melville had three assists, 10 digs, and a block. Marmen had six digs and four blocks, two solo … In FSU’s sweep of Troy, nine Seminoles had kills, nine by Chacon, who had one error in 16 attacks … 

In an ACC match, Melissa Evans had 24 kills, an ace, three blocks, and 14 digs as NC State (5-34,4-4) beat visiting Duke (8-3, 6-2) in five. Jade Parchment added 12 kills, an assist, three aces, and 12 digs. Gracie Johnson had 14 kills for Duke, hit .444, and had thee blocks and four digs …

Temple (6-3) of the American Athletic beat visiting Delaware (1-2) of the Colonial in five as four players had 10 or more kills, led by Katerina Papazoglu’s 17. She hit .333 and had two assists, four blocks, and 14 digs. Falanika Danielson had 32 digs, six assists, and an ace. Delaware’s Michaela Putnicki had 19 kills, an ace, two blocks, and 15 digs. Katie Turner had 29 digs and five assists and Savannah Seemans had 24 digs and an ace … 

DePaul  (2-3) won the fifth set 20-18 and beat visiting Big East opponent Butler (3-4, 01-). Jill Pressly had 16 kills, two assist, 10 digs, and four blocks, and Emma Price had 13 kills, two assists, and two digs. Rachel Krasowski had 23 digs, five assists, and an ace. Butler’s Brittany Robinson and Marisa Giusti had 13 kills apiece … Also in the Big East, St. John’s (4-2, 1-1) won in four at UConn (1-2, 1-1) as Rachelle Rastelli had 25 kills and Efrosini Alexakou 20. Rastelli hit .435 and had four blocks, while Alexakou had 17 digs. Caylee Parker had 15 kills for UConn … 

Madison Smith had 17 kills, an assist, three blocks, and eight digs as High Point (6-0) swept Big South opponent Radford (3-5) for the second straight day … Hofstra (3-0) of the Colonial won in five at Seton Hall (1-1) of the Big East as Madeline Matheny had 14 kills, an assist, an ace, and 11 digs, and zyare Adbul-Rahim and Bianca Bucciarelli had 13 kills each. Seton Hall’s Perri Lucas had 19 kills, four assists, two blocks, and six digs …   Tulsa (2-2) hit .323 and swept its American Athletic match at Memphis (3-5, 0-4) as four players had nine or more kills. Callie Cook had 13 kills with one error in 24 attacks, an ace, two blocks, and three digs …

In a Colonial Athletic Association match, Miette Veldman had 25 kills and James Madison (2-1, 1-0) won the fifth set 19-17 to win at UNCW (0-3. 0-1). Veldman had seven errors in 66 attacks to hit .273 and had an assist, an ace, 10 digs, and three blocks, two solo. Kirsten Badowski had 17 kills for UNCW to go with three aces and 10 digs … Also in the ACC, in the opener for both teams, Kate Dedrick also had 25 kills as William & Mary beat visiting Elon in four. Dedrick hit .429 and had an assist, an ace, a block, and four digs. Julia Brown added 18 kills, an ace, two digs, and five blocks, one solo. Leah Daniel had 20 kills and hit .442 for Elon … 

In an Atlantic 10 match, Lexie Almodovar had 28 kills and hit .548 as  Dayton (3-1, 1-1) beat visiting Duquesne (0-2) in four. Almodovar had four assists and nine digs. Jamie Peterson had 16 kills, four aces, a block, and eight digs. Duquesne’s Morgan Kelly had 16 kills and hit .341 … Also in the A10, VCU (8-1, 3-0) won in four at Davidson (1-5, 0-4). Qairo Bentley led with 15 kills … 

Wichita State (8-0, 3-0) won its American Athletic match in four over visiting SMU (43, 0-3). Megan Taflinger led the Shocker with 12 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 11 digs. Brooke Smith had seven kills and nine blocks. SMU’s Hannah Jacobs had 12 kills … 

Madi Sgattoni and Avery Stowell had 16 kills and 12 digs apiece as Navy won in five at Loyola Maryland in the Patriot League and season opener for both teams. Loyola’s Abby Hamilton had 15 kills and 11 digs … Colgate (2-1) swept visiting Lehigh (0-1) in the Patriot League as Alli Lowe had 13 kills, hit .320, and had two aces and nine digs … And also in the Patriot, Holy Cross won in four at Lafayette in the opener for both. Johnna Shamley led with 16 kills, hitting .424, and she had three assists, an ace, and 16 digs … 

Jada Carter had 11 kills, hit .333, and had two assists, four digs, and a block as Southern University (3-3) won its SWAC match in four at Texas Southern (0-4). DeLaine Fulton had eight kills with one error in 13 attacks and five dolo blocks … NC A&T swept its MEAC match at South Carolina State … 

And in the only Big Sky match of the day, Rylin Adams had 23 kills and Weber State (9-0) kept on winning, this time in five against visiting Sacramento State (5-4). Adams added an assist, an ace, three blocks, and 14 digs. Dani Nay had 17 kills, four aces, a block, and 17 digs. Catilin Volkmann led Sacramento State with 16 kills as she hit .325 and had two blocks. Macey Hayden had 14 kills, an ace, and 18 digs, and Caty Cordano had 31 digs, six assists, and an ace.

MEN — Cal Fisher had 17 kills and hit .385 and Brett Wildman had 16 kills as Penn State (9-2, 6-1) beat visiting EIVA opponent George Mason (7-2, 4-1) in four. Both Fisher and Wildman had two aces. Cole Bogner had four kills, 40 assists, seven digs, and two blocks. Sam Greenslade had 15 kills for Mason and Hayden Wagner had 11 … Also in the EIVA, NJIT (7-3, 7-1) swept visiting Saint Francis (1-14, 0-8) as Julian Meissner had 11 kills with one erro in 23 attacks … And Charleston (3-4) swept visiting Sacred Heart (0-5). Jake Vorburger had 10 kills with one error in 20 attacks …

In the MPSF, Pepperdine (6-2) swept at USC (1-4). Spencer Wickens had 10 kills with one error in 13 swings, an assiste, four aces, three digs, and a block. Noah Dyer had nine kills with one error in 17 attacks as the Waves hit .344. Billy Fauntlery had 14 kills and hit .391 for USC … 

McKendree (8-0, 7-0) stayed atop the MIVA as it won in four at Lewis (8-2, 3-2) as Ethan Carroll had 15 kills and Zach Schnittker and Patrick Ross had 12 each. Carroll hit .379 and had four assists, an ace, two blocks, and four digs. Ryan Coenen had 18 kills for Lewis to go with an assist, five blocks, and five digs … Also in the MIVA, Quincy (4-16, 1-6) got 21 kills from Michael Ladner and beat visiting Lindenwood (3-7, 0-7) in four. Omari Wheeler added 15 kills. Lindenwood’s Jeremy Kirch had 14 kills and five blocks and Phil Swartz and AJ Lewis had 13 kills each.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Help keep free journalism free by becoming a VolleyballMag.com Sustaining Member: https://volleyballmag.com/sustaining-membership/

The post NCAA volleyball: UCLA, WSU, Oregon win in Pac-12; Texas, Baylor win; 29 kills for Houston’s Jackson appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.