NCAA volleyball: Big Friday ahead; Texas, BYU win; NM St., Weber, NM, Fresno, SJSU, Ball St., get victories

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Unbeaten Texas was finally back in action Thursday after a week off and the No. 1 Longhorns swept visiting West Virginia to open Big 12 play. The only other ranked teams in action were No. 10 BYU and No. 25 San Diego, which swept their West Coast Conference matches.

Also Thursday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball, while the schedule was light, a handful of teams came up with big victories, including Ball State in the MAC; Fresno State, New Mexico, and San Jose State in the Mountain West; NM State in the WAC; and Portland State had its best hitting percentage in five years when it swept Idaho in the Big Sky.

Also Thursday, the Northeast Conference had a big men’s volleyball announcement. The league will sponsor the sport in 2023, joining the Big West as second Division I multi-sport league to do so.

Before getting to Thursday’s highlights, first a look at Friday’s busy schedule, starting with the two unbeatens in the ACC, as No. 2 Pitt is home for Duke and No. 3 Louisville goes to Clemson. Georgia Tech, ranked No. 18, plays host to Notre Dame.

Texas is back at with West Virginia, while also in the Big 12, while No. xx Baylor is home for Texas Tech. It’s early, but a match with probable NCAA at-large implications takes place at Kansas when Iowa State visits.

In the Big Ten, where there is no such thing as a breather, the big match of the night features No. 7 Minnesota at No. 5 Wisconsin. Fourth-ranked Purdue is home for Illinois and Michigan goes to No, 12 Nebraska.

The Pac-12 slate is highlighted by No. 15 at No. 13 Washington. Oregon, No. 11, is at No. 24 Colorado, and No. 17 Stanford is home for Arizona State.

In the SEC, upstart Mississippi State, featured here Thursday, plays host to LSU.

Also, No. 16 Creighton of the Big East plays at St. John’s, and No. 24 Western Kentucky has a Conference USA match at FIU.

Want to watch a match? We have the links. Go to our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming listings to find any match that is being shown.

We’ll have more details from the Thursday matches along with Friday’s in our Saturday-morning roundup.

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