NCAA: BYU, USD win in WCC; UConn upsets Creighton; Badgers, Huskers roll; WKU’s Matthews goes off again

No. 8 BYU won its 11th match in row Saturday, defeating No. 24 Pepperdine in four in the West Coast Conference, and league mate San Diego, ranked No. 22, had to go five to win at Loyola Marymount.

Also, UConn beat a ranked opponent for the first time, knocking off visiting No. 19 Creighton in the Big East. In the Big Ten, Maryland won in four at Michigan State for its first victory in East Lansing.

Also, Conference USA’s Western Kentucky won again and now, through 19 matches, Lauren Matthews is hitting .493. For perspective, Wisconsin’s All-American middle Dana Rettke is hitting .488.

The recaps and highlights follow.

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BIG TEN — Third-ranked Wisconsin (15-1, 7-1) swept at Michigan (11-6, 4-4) as the Badgers hit .302 in a 25-23, 25-15, 26-24 victory. Julia Orzol led with 14 kills, an assist, three blocks, and six digs. Dana Rettke had 12 kills, hit .500, and had two digs and five blocks, one solo. Michigan’s Jess Mruzik had 10 kills, two blocks, and eight digs … 

No. 9 Nebraska (14-3, 8-0) maintained its one-game lead by sweeping visiting Illinois (12-7, 4-4) as Madi Kubik had 19 kills in a 25-21, 25-15, 25-19 victory. Kubik hit .457 and had an assist, an ace, and six digs. Lindsay Krause had seven kills, three blocks, and a dig. Illinois hit .100 … No. 7 Ohio State (16-2, 6-2) routed visiting Rutgers (8-11, 0-8) 25-13, 25-20, 25-6. Rylee Rader had 12 kills with no errors in 20 attacks and four blocks … Northwestern (8-11, 3-5) swept at Iowa (2-16, 0-8). Temi Thomas-Ailara led with 12 kills, an ace, five digs, and three blocks, one solo …

Maryland (15-5, 3-5) won for the first time at Michigan State (8-9, 1-7) as Sam Csire had 15 kills and hit .308 in the 18-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-18 victory. Csire had two aces, 10 digs, and four blocks, one solo. Rainelle Jones had seven kills and eight blocks, one solo. Michigan State’s Sarah Franklin had 20 kills, hit .327 and added two blocks and 13 digs.

WEST COAST — BYU (18-1, 8-0) hit .346 and won 21-25, 25-19, 25-10, 25-18 at Pepperdine (13-4, 5-3). Kenzie Koerber led with 14 kills as she hit .333 and had two blocks and 13 digs. Erin Livingston had 12 kills, hit .346, and had two blocks and a dig. Heather Gneiting had 11 kills, hit .333, and had five blocks and five digs. Taylen Ballard-Nixon had 10 kills, an ace, four blocks, and a dig. Kennedy Eschenberg had eight kills with no errors in 13 attacks, an assist, and six blocks. Whitney Bower had two kills, 42 assists, three blocks, and 15 digs. Pepperdine, which hit .135, got 12 kills from Grace Chillingworth and 11 from Rachel Ahrens, who had an assist, two aces, two blocks, and nine digs …

San Diego (14-3, 8-0) stayed tied for the lead but needed to rally for a 20-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-23, 15-11 victory at Loyola Marymount (14-4, 5-2). Grace Frohling led with 24 kills as she hit .345 and had an assist, two aces, five digs, and five blocks, one solo. Katie Lukes had 21 kills, hit .304, and had an ace, seven digs, and two blocks, one solo. Leyla Blackwell had five kills and nine blocks, three solo, and Elly Schroeder had three kills in as many tries and six blocks, two solo. LMU’s Megan Rice had 21 kills, four aces, and nine digs … 

Santa Clara swept at Gonzaga as Sophia Tulino had 15 kills, two assists, an ace, and a block … And winless San Francisco (0-16, 0-8) got close but lost in five at Portland. Portland’s Chelsey Harmon had 16 kills in 22 errorless attacks and five blocks, one solo.

BIG EAST — After UConn (14-6, 6-2) upset No. 19 Creighton (17-3, 5-2), Marquette (16-3, 7-1) beat Seton Hall (10-12, 2-6) and stands alone in first place. 

Caylee Parker had 24 kills, including the match-ender, in UConn’s 25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-12 win. Parker added three blocks and 15 digs. Jasmine Davis had 13 kills, an ace, three blocks, and 16 digs. McKayla Wuensch had two kills, 46 assists, 14 digs, and three blocks, one solo, and the Huskies won despite hitting .168. Karly Berkland had 23 digs, five assists, and two aces.

Creighton hit .153. Norah Sis led the Bluejays with 23 kills, two assists, and 21 digs. Keely Davis and Jaela Zimmerman had 13 kills each. Davis had four aces, 10 digs, and three blocks, one solo. Zimmerman had 12 digs and two blocks. Kendra Wait had five kills, 47 assists, two blocks, and 13 digs. Creighton’s 17-3 record equals the program’s best after 20 matches … 

Marquette hit .370 as it beat Seton Hall 25-21, 22-25, 25-12, 25-19. Hannah Vanden Berg led with 16 kills in 29 errorless attacks and had two blocks and six digs. Savannah Rennie had 13 kills, hit .550, and had three blocks and four digs. Hope Werch had 13 kills, hit .333, and had an assist and 10 digs. Taylor Wolf had 12 kills, hit .346, and had 24 assists, an ace, two blocks, and 13 digs. Carly Skrabak had 20 digs and five assists. Seton Hall’s Emilee Turner and Tsvetelina Ilieva had nine kills each … 

DePaul and Xavier are tied for fourth at 5-3. DePaul beat visiting St. John’s in five as Hanna Karl led with 16 kills, two assists, two aces, and 13 digs. Rachelle Rastelli of St. John’s had 27 kills and hit .460 with only four errors in 50 swings. She also had four aces, seven digs, and four blocks … Butler hit .392 and swept Georgetown. Brittany Robinson led with 10 kills and hit .429 … Villanova won in four at Xavier, which won the first set 32-30. Riley Homer led Nova with 17 kills, an assist, two aces, and 22 digs.

BIG SKY — Weber State (13-5, 8-0) swept at Northern Arizona to maintain its one-game lead at the top of the standings. Northern Colorado and Portland State are tied for second at 7-1. 

Weber State got 19 kills from Dani Nay, who had no errors in 32 attacks and added an ace and 13 digs. Emma Mangum had 12 kills in 29 errorless swings, two digs and three blocks … Kailey Jo Ince led with 13 kills as Northern Colorado swept Eastern Washington … Portland State won in four at Montana State as Makayla Lewis and Gabby Hollins had 18 kills each, and Parker Webb had 16 … Southern Utah swept Idaho State as Raegen Ashby had eight kills and hit .375 to go with six blocks, two solo … Montana State swept visiting Sacramento State.

BIG WEST — Hawai’i is alone at the top after sweeping visiting CSU Bakersfield, and UC Davis dealt UC Santa Barbara its first conference loss.

Hawai’i (11-5, 8-0) got 10 kills each from Brooke Van Sickle and Amber Agiede in its 25-18, 25-20, 25-18 victory over CSU Bakersfield (10-6, 3-5). Van Sickle had 13 digs and four blocks, one solo. Agiede had no errors in 15 attacks, an assist, four blocks, and six digs. Skyler Williams had nine kills and four blocks. CSUB hit .109 …

Olivia Utterback had 11 kills, hit .450, and added two aces, 10 digs, and 10 blocks as UC Davis (6-13, 2-6) beat UCSB (11-9, 7-10) 27-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-23. Josephine Ough had 10 kills, hit .348, and had 12 blocks, one solo, the second-most blocks in UC Davis history. UCSB had five players with 10 or more kills, including 15 by Tallulah Froley and 13 by Michelle Ohwobete … 

UC Irvine beat visiting Long Beach State in five as Joy Umeh had 26 kills. She hit .333 and had five digs and three blocks. Onye Ofoegbu had 15 kills, hit .333, and had an ace and nine blocks … CSUN swept at UC Riverside behind 14 kills by Taylor Orshoff, who hit .462 … UC San Diego beat visiting Cal State Fullerton in four. 

CONFERENCE USA — Western Kentucky (18-1, 6-0) swept visiting Middle Tennessee (7-7, 5-3) again and recorded its 11th consecutive sweep. Lauren Matthews had 18 kills with one error in 22 attacks to hit .773 and added a dig and 10 blocks, one solo. She’s  hitting .493 for the season.

WKU, which has won 30 C-USA matches in a row, hit .458 and built its East Division lead to three over MTSU. Paige Briggs had five kills, an assist, an ace, and 11 blocks, one solo. Logan Kael had four aces and 10 digs. MTSU’s Samira Lawson Body had 14 kills …

Rice (11-5, 6-0) built its West Division lead to two games in the loss column by beating Louisiana Tech (6-16, 0-6) in four. Rice hit .360, and Nicole Lennon had 20 kills with no errors in 35 attacks to go with an ace, nine digs, and three blocks, one solo … 

UTEP got 25 kills from Serena Patterson and won in five at Southern Miss, which got 29 kills from Mia Wesley. Patterson hit .449 and had an assist, an ace, nine digs, and a block. Wesley had an assist, an ace, 13 digs, and two blocks, one solo … Ciara DeBell had 18 kills, three assists, two aces, 22 digs, and a block as Marshall beat visiting Old Dominion in five … FIU swept Florida Atlantic … North Texas got 23 kills from Rhett Robinson in a four-set win at UAB, which got 24 kills from Fernanda Maia.

MID-AMERICAN — Bowling Green is running away with the MAC East. The Falcons (12-6, 8-0) hold a four-game lead after sweeping Central Michigan. Kat Mandly led with 17 kills as she hit .467 and had a dig and five blocks, one solo … In the West, Ball State (17-3, 7-1) holds a one-game lead in the loss column over Western Michigan (14-6, 7-2) and Toledo (15-5, 6-2). Toledo beat WMU in four as Taylor Alt had 21 kills, an ace, 14 digs, and a block … Ball State swept NIU … Ohio swept Buffalo … Kent State won at Akron in five as Jacqlyn Caspers had 19 kills with one error in 33 attacks and five blocks, and Danie Tyson had 17 kills, hit .300, and had an assist, an ace, six digs, and three blocks, one solo. Alex Haffner had two kills, 53 assists, an ace, eight digs, and two blocks. Akron’s Emily Weigand had four kills, 57 assists, an ace, and 10 digs.

MISSOURI VALLEY — Loyola’s lead is two games after the Ramblers (14-6, 7-1) won in five at Bradley (9-10, 5-3), which is in a four-way tie for second with Evansville (15-4, 5-3), Missouri State (14-6, 5-3) and Illinois State (9-11, 5-3). 

Loyola’s Emily Banitt and Taylor Venuto had 15 kills apiece against Bradley. Venuto hit .433 and had an assist, an ace, two digs, and four blocks, one solo. Addie Barnes and Karlie McNabb had 12 kills each. Barnes had an assist, an ace, 17 digs, and three blocks, one solo, and McNabb had six digs and three blocks. Bradley’s Hannah Thompson had 19 kills, an ace, 20 digs, and two blocks … 

Evansville won in five at Drake behind Alondra Vazquez (21 kills, three aces, 11 digs, and four blocks) and Giulia Cardona (21 kills) … Missouri State won in four at Southern Illinois behind 22 kills by Amelia Flynn … Illinois State beat visiting Valparaiso in five. Tamara Otene led with 21 kills, an assist, 12 digs, and seven blocks, three solo. Cassie Jordan had seven kills in 12 errorless swings and nine blocks … Northern Iowa beat visiting Indiana State in five as Carly Spies had 15 kills, hit .387, and had seven digs and four blocks.

SUMMIT LEAGUE — Things are crowded at the top. Denver (16-2, 7-1) and Omaha (10-8, 7-1) are tied for first, South Dakota (10-8, 7-2)  is a game back in the loss column in third, and Kansas City (15-5, 6-2) and Oral Roberts (12-5, 6-2) are tied for fourth. 

In a rematch of last spring’s conference title match, that also went five, Denver beat visiting South Dakota in five. Ari Winters led with 13 kills, an ace, a dig and four blocks. Brianna Green and Lydia Bartalo had 11 kills each … Omaha hit .324 as it swept visiting South Dakota State. Sadie Limback led with 13 kills, hit .393 and had eight digs and four blocks. Rylee Marshall had eight blocks and two kills … Kansas City swept St. Thomas … Trinity Freeman had 19 kills as Oral Roberts swept at Western Illinois. Freeman hit .381 and had 10 digs and five blocks. Sakira LaCour had nine kills with one error and eight blocks … North Dakota State swept North Dakota.

WAC — There’s a three-way tie at the top of the Southwest Division among Stephen F. Austin (13-4, 4-1), UT Rio Grande Valley (12-6, 4-1) and Sam Houston (11-6, 4-1), and things tightened in the West Division after Grand Canyon (12-4, 4-3) upset NM State (14-5, 5-2), which is now tied for the lead with Utah Valley (10-8, 5-2). 

In the West, Grand Canyon beat the visiting Aggies in five. McKenzie Wise had 18 kills, two assists, three aces, and nine digs. NM State’s Katie Birtcil had 24 kills, an ace, nine digs, and five blocks, three solo … Utah Valley swept Dixie State …

In the Southwest, SFA won in four — 29-27 in the fourth — at Lamar as Hailey Hunt had 11 kills with one error in 25 attacks … UTRGV knocked off visiting Sam Houston in five as Sarah Cruz had 20 kills, an assist, eight digs, and four blocks, one solo. Sam Houston’s Breanne Chausse had 19 kills, an assist, an ace, eight digs, and four blocks. Teammate Hannah Baker had 30 digs, four assists, and two aces … 

Tarleton State beat visiting Abilene Christian in four, but ACU’s Lindsey Toney had 25 kills, hit .378 and had 11 digs … California Baptist hit .321 as it swept at Seattle U.

AROUND THE NATION — There were two SEC matches: No. 23 Florida (12-6, 6-2) hit .438 and swept visiting Texas A&M (11-7, 4-4), and Auburn (11-6, 3-3) swept visiting Missouri (3-16, 0-6). T’Ara Ceasar had 12 kills for Florida, hit .440, and added an assist, three aces, four digs, and a block. Auburn’s Rebekah Rath had 17 kills, an assist, eight digs, and four blocks … 

Brown (14-3, 7-0) took over sole possession of first place in the Ivy League with a win at Princeton (12-3, 6-1) in a matchup of league leaders. Brown, which has won 10 in a row, tied the best conference start in school history with a 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22 victory. Sophia Miller led Brown with 18 kills, hit .317, and had an assist, an ace, and 16 digs. Kate Sheire had 15 kills, two digs, and a career-high nine blocks, four solo. Cierra Jenkins had three kills, 53 assists, two aces, a block, and seven digs, and Victoria Vo had 26 digs, three assists, and an ace. Princeton’s Avery Luoma had 17 kills, hit .350, and had four blocks and seven digs. Elena Montgomery had 16 kills, a block and eight digs. Kelly Lindsey had 56 assists, a block, and 12 digs, and Cameron Dames had 25 digs, two assists and an ace … 

Bellarmine won its ASUN match over Eastern Kentucky in four, and Bailey Roszman had 16 kills with one error in 27 attacks to hit .556 to go with a dig and four blocks … ASUN-leader FGCU, the only team unbeaten in conference play, improved to 16-4 overall, with a sweep Stetson as Erin Shomaker had 16 kills, hit .375, and had two assists, nine digs, and a block … 

In a battle of Georges, George Washington won its Atlantic 10 match in four over visiting George Mason behind 18 kills from Salem Yohannes, who hit .311 and had an ace, 16 digs, and three blocks … 

In the Big South, conference-leading High Point swept at Presbyterian for its eighth win in a row to improve to 16-5 and 8-0, and Campbell (12-8, 7-1) swept at Gardner-Webb and stayed a game back. Third-place Winthrop swept Hampton … 

Leah Daniel had 10 kills in 21 errorless attacks as Elon swept UNCW to keep its Colonial Athletic Association lead at two games in the win column over James Madison, which swept William & Mary … Jenna Story had 26 digs and 13 assists in Wright State’s Horizon League sweep of Oakland, and teammate Lainey Stephenson had two kills, 28 assists, and 23 digs … 

Fairfield (14-6, 9-0) keeps rolling in the Metro Atlantic. The Stags won their 10th in a row, a sweep of Manhattan as KJ Johnson had 14 kills, hit .355, and had an assist, three aces, seven digs, and two blocks … 

Colorado State (11-6, 7-1) and Utah State (14-6, 6-2) both swept to remain first and second in the Mountain West. CSU hit .326 in beating Air Force, and USU hit .326 and beat San Diego State … Mariana Hayden had 23 kills but UNLV lost its Mountain West match in five at Boise State … 

Austin Peay (15-7, 8-1) and Southeast Missouri (17-5, 8-2) swept to remain atop the Ohio Valley. Mikayla Powell had 14 kills and hit .375 in Austin Peay’s win at Tennessee State. SEMO won its seventh in a row, beating visiting SIUE …

In the Patriot League, first-place Colgate (11-7, 7-1) and second-place Lafayette (10-7, 7-2)  won in four. Colgate beat visiting Bucknell as Alli Lowe led with 14 kills, six digs and three blocks. Harper Snyder had nine blocks and six kills … Lafayette’s Leanna Deegan, who leads the nation in kills, had 23 more as Lafayette won at Army West Point. Deegan added two assists, eight digs, and two blocks, one solo. Army’s Allanah Cutler had 21 kills and hit .391 …

Montez Uigaese had 25 kills and hit .404 for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in its five-set Southland win over Houston Baptist … Also in the SLC, Emily Gauthreaux had 24 kills for Nicholls in its four-set win over Northwestern State. Gauthreaux added an ace, 10 digs, and a solo block.

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