Volleyball Today: SMU ends Pitt’s perfect start; Jackrabbits hop on; big wins for TCU, Utah

South Dakota State is the last unbeaten team in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.

That’s because SMU, ranked No. 14 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, knocked off previously undefeated Pittsburgh on Saturday. 

The top-ranked Panthers, who had lost just one set this season and who had swept visiting SMU on Wednesday, dropped to 15-1, 5-1 in the ACC, after SMU (13-4, 5-1) won 19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 25-23, 15-9 in Dallas.

The Big 12 provided more intrigue Saturday as AVCA No. 17 TCU won in five at No. 23 BYU and 15-2 Utah, sure to move into the rankings this week, swept visiting No. 18 Baylor.

Every other ranked team won.

South Dakota State is 16-0, 5-0 in The Summit League, after defeating North Dakota in four. Bucknell and Southeastern Louisiana each won their 15th match in a row.

There were, of course, reverse sweeps, none more remarkable than Canisius, down 19-10 to visiting Sacred Heart and still 21-16 in the third, coming back to win 23-25, 18-25, 29-27, 25-23, 15-8 in the MAAC. Cal did it to visiting Syracuse in the ACC, North Alabama did it at Austin Peay in the ASUN, Cleveland State did it to visiting Green Bay in the Horizon League, and Washington State did it in the WCC at Saint Mary’s.

Lines of the day: Speaking of Washington State, Katy Ryan had 30 kills, hit .531, and had three digs and two blocks. Fresno State’s Addison Haluska had 29 kills, two aces, eight digs and two blocks in a five-set Mountain West win over San Diego State. Emerald Jacobs had 28 kills for Houston Christian in its five-set Southland victory over Lamar to go with two assists, an ace, 11 digs and two solo blocks. Camryn Luginbuhl of Sacred Heart, in that aforementioned Canisius match, had 26 kills, three assists, an ace, a block and 15 digs. 

Sunday’s schedule features more ESPN coverage, including No. 7 Texas at No. 12 Kentucky on ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern and Athletes Unlimited on ESPNU at 7 p.m. The second AU match is on ESPN+.

NCAA volleyball Sunday

The SEC match of the day features No. 7 Texas at No. 12 Kentucky. No. 19 Florida is home for South Carolina, No. 25 Auburn goes to Mississippi State, Ole Miss is at Georgia, Texas A&M is at LSU, Tennessee is at Missouri and Alabama is at Arkansas.

In the ACC, No. 4 Louisville goes to Miami, No. 20 Georgia Tech is home for Virginia, No. 21 Florida State is home for Notre Dame, Duke is at NC State and North Carolina is at Wake Forest. 

The two Big 12 matches have Colorado at UCF and Kansas State at West Virginia.

In the Big Ten, third-ranked Penn State goes to Indiana, No. 10 Wisconsin is home for Northwestern, No. 11 Oregon is home for No. 24 Washington, No. 16 USC is home for UCLA and Michigan is at Ohio State. 

Winless watch: 0-18 Hampton, swept at UNCW in the CAA on Saturday, is back at Wilmington on Sunday.

NCAA volleyball Saturday

ACC: SMU, which got everyone’s attention when the Mustangs swept then-No. 2 Nebraska in the their third match of the season, beat Pitt before the second-largest home crowd (2,317) in program history. 

SMU, which hit just .186, hit .643 in the fifth set. That included four kills on six attempts by Naya Shime, who led the Mustangs with 20 kills, two assists, an ace, five blocks and six digs. Maya Tabron had 11 kills but nine errors, to go with an assist, four blocks and 10 digs. Nnedi Okammor had eight kills and 12 blocks and Celia Cullen had a kill in her only try, 40 assists, two blocks and seven digs.

Pitt, which hit .218, got 17 kills from Torrey Stafford, who had an assist, an ace, three blocks and nine digs. Olivia Babcock had 16 kills but 14 errors, two aces, five blocks and six digs. Valeria Vazquez Gomez had seven kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks and nine digs. Bre Kelly also had seven kills and hit .462 to go with nine blocks, one solo … 

No. 6 Stanford (13-2, 5-1) swept visiting Boston College (8-10, 1-5) as the Cardinal hit .367 in the 25-13, 25-13, 25-19 victory. BC hit .078. Ipar Kurt led Stanford with 12 kills and hit .688 after having one error in 16 attacks to go with three aces … Cal (10-8, 2-4) beat visiting Syracuse (12-6, 0-6), which had to figure it was on the way to breaking its five-match slide, 21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 16-14 in a reverse sweep. Cal, which won despite hitting .073, was led by Maggie Li, who had 17 kills for Cal, adding an assist, two aces, 12 digs and three blocks. Gianna Bartalo had 30 digs, 11 in the first set, and seven assists.

BIG 12: Utah (15-2, 5-1), coming off its upset of TCU, swept visiting Baylor (10-6, 2-3) to win back-to-back matches over ranked teams for the first time since 2019. Utah, with its 10th sweep of the season, hit .391 in the 25-21, 25-14, 25-21 victory. Kamryn Gibadlo led with 11 kills, three aces, a block and two digs, and Emrie Satuala had 10 kills with one error in 15 attacks to hit .600 and had three aces, four blocks and two digs … No. 8 Kansas (14-1, 4-0) hit .416 and swept at Cincinnati (11-5, 2-3) as Reese Ptacek had 13 kills with no errors in 16 attacks to hit .813. The freshman, who had a total of 19 kills before the match, also had five blocks … No. 12 Arizona State (16-2, 5-1) swept at Texas Tech (9-8, 1-4) as Geli Cyr had 16 kills, two assists, an ace, 10 digs and a solo block … TCU (12-4, 4-2) got 25 kills from Melanie Parra in its 18-25, 25-23, 27-25, 17-25, 18-16 victory at BYU (10-6, 3-3). Parra had an assist, two aces, five digs and five blocks, one solo. Jalyn Gibson had 12 kills, two assists, two aces, eight digs and also five blocks, one solo. Sarah Sylvester had five kills with no errors in eight swings and eight blocks and setter Lily Nicholson had four kills in seven errorless tries, 49 assists, two blocks and 11 digs. BYU’s Claire Little had 23 kills, two assists, three aces, a solo block and seven digs.

BIG TEN: Second-ranked Nebraska (16-1, 6-0) swept visiting Rutgers (5-12, 0-6) as Harper Murray had 13 kills, two aces, 11 digs and a block. Leyla Blackwell had nine kills in 15 errorless attempts to go with six blocks … No. 9 Purdue (13-4, 4-2) won in four at Iowa (9-9, 3-3) as Eva Hudson had 18 kills, two assists, three aces, eight digs and two blocks. Iowa’s Malu Garcia had 20 kills, hit .366, and had seven digs and six blocks … No. 14 Minnesota (11-5, 4-2) hit .430 and swept visiting Maryland (10-7, 1-5) as the Gophers held a 19-2 blocks advantage. Lydia Grote had 12 kills, hit .360, and had an ace and seven blocks. Julia Hanson had 12 kills with one error in 25 attacks to hit .440 and had an assists, three digs and five blocks, one solo. Phoebe Awoleye. had four kills in seven errorless attempts and 14 blocks, one solo. Setter Melani Shaffmaster had three kills in four errorless tries, 34 assists, eight digs and three blocks … Illinois (11-5, 3-3) won 15-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 15-8 at Michigan State (7-10, 0-6) as Raina Terry had 25 kills but 17 errors, to go with an assist, two of her team’s 12 aces, 11 digs and four blocks, one solo. 

Around the nation

The Jackrabbits hopped on as South Dakota State (16-0, 5-0 Summit) won 25-17, 25-20, 19-25, 25-11 over North Dakota (8-9, 1-5) before the second-largest home crowd in program history, 1,816. Sydni Schetnan led with 13 kills and hit .591 after having no errors in 22 attacks. She had a dig and seven blocks, one solo. Sylvie Zgonc had 12 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks and eight digs … Also in the Summit, Oral Roberts beat Kansas City in four as Trinity Freeman had 21 kills … Denver held off visiting St. Thomas in five but Lauren Galvin of St. Thomas had 22 kills, hit .413 and had 12 digs and two blocks … Omaha’s Kali Jurgensmeier had 13 kills with one error in 22 swings as the Mavericks swept North Dakota State. She had five blocks, one solo … 

Fifth-ranked Creighton (15-2, 6-0) hit .409 and swept its Big East match at St. John’s (13-7, 2-4) as Elise Goetziner had 11 kills with no errors in 18 swings and four blocks, one solo … in the other Big East match, Xavier (6-10, 4-2) got 16 kills apiece from Anna Taylor and Caroline Speelman in a four-set win at Georgetown (8-10, 1-5) … 

No. 22 Dayton (17-1, 7-0 Atlantic 10) has won 10 in a row after its 25-23, 25-15, 25-12 sweep of visiting Loyola Chicago (9-9, 4-3). The Flyers hit .423 and were led, as almost always, by Lexie Almodovar. She had 18 kills, hit .469, and added two blocks and four digs … 

In the West Coast Conference, Washington State (10-5, 5-1) hit .356 and won 23-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-13 at Saint Mary’s (5-9, 1-4). Katy Ryan went off for 30 kills in the reverse sweep, hitting .531 after having four errors in 49 attacks. She had three digs and two blocks … Also in the WCC, Loyola Marymount (13-4, 5-1) held off visiting Pepperdine (7-8, 4-1) in five despite 24 kills by Grace Chillingworth, who had two assists, an ace, 14 digs and two blocks. Paige Flickinger had 21 kills for LMU … 

In North Alabama’s reverse-sweep ASUN win at Austin Peay, Reese Ricketts had 22 kills, three assists and 15 digs … Central Arkansas won its ASUN match in five at Lipscomb as Mackenzie Vernon had 22 kills, hitting .359 and Laci Bohannan had 19 kills, hitting .319 … Northern Colorado won its Big Sky match at Sacramento State in five as Gabi Placide had 18 kills, an assist, three aces, 17 digs and seven blocks … High Point beat UNC Asheville in four in the Big South and Dylan Maberry had 22 kills and 15 digs and Brooke Briscoe had 22 digs, seven assists and three aces … In the Big West, Cal Poly and Long Beach State pulled into a first-place tie with idle UC Davis at 5-1 as Cal Poly swept at Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach won in four at CSU Bakersfield … Charleston and Hofstra are tied for the lead in the CAA after Charleston 15-5. 7-1) held off visiting Towson (14-4, 5-3) in five as Tylnley Smeltzer had 30 digs, five assists and an ace, and Hofstra (11-6, 7-1) swept visiting Northeastern (7-9, 5-3) as Chiara Cucco had 16 digs, two assists and four aces … Also in the CAA, N.C. A&T beat visiting Stony Brook in five as Tyne Ross had 24 kills, hit .340, and had an ace, five digs and two solo blocks … 

Western Kentucky won its Conference USA match in five at FIU to improve to 14-6 and a league-leading 7-0 despite 25 kills from FIU’s Courtney O’Brien, who hit .321 and had seven digs and a block. WKU’s Izzy Van De Wiele had 19 kills with two errors in 27attacks to hit .630 to go with six digs and seven blocks, one solo … Wright State is 15-3, 7-0 in the Horizon League after sweeping at Youngstown State as Sam Ott had 12 kills with no errors in 31 swings, four aces and eight digs … Also in the HL, Cleveland State pulled a reverse sweep against visiting Green Bay as Liberty Torres had 23 kills, a dig and three blocks, two solo … Yale (10-3, 5-2) had a two-game lead in the Ivy League loss column after beating Columbia in four as four Bulldogs had 10 or more kills … 

There was Metro Atlantic madness for Canisius (8-9, 4-2) as the Golden Griffins rallied for a 23-25, 18-25, 29-27, 25-23, 15-8 over visiting Sacred Heart. And not only did coach Tom Hanna get the victory after his team trailed 19-10 in the third set, his daughter, Jillian, had 28 digs and four assists. Lauren Hubert and Kara Zaucha had 15 kills each. Camryn Luginbuhl of Sacred Heart had 26 kills, three assists, an ace, a block and 15 digs … Marist lost again to fall to 1-15, 1-5, but Taylor Miller had 23 kills in a four-set defeat at Rider … In the only MACtion, Akron won in four at Miami and Buffalo did the same at Ball State. Akron’s Lauren Baker had 25 kills, hitting .389, to go with an ace, 14 digs and a block, and teammate Emanouela Christodoulou had 22 kills, hit .333, and added an assist and a block, while Buffalo’s Katrin Trebichavska had 23 kills, two assists, an ace, 17 digs and a block … 

Northern Iowa (11-7, 6-0 Missouri Valley) beat visiting Murray State in four as Kira Fallert had 20 kills, hit .372, and had two assists, eight digs and three blocks. Kacie Rewerts had 12 kills with one error in 26 attacks to hit .423 and had 10 blocks, two solo, and Olivia Tjernagel had 10 kills and nine blocks … 

In the Mountain West, visiting UNLV won because it chose to play San Jose State and came away with a 25-22, 21-25, 25-19, 26-24 victory. Alondra Alarcon had 11 kills with no errors in 23 attacks to hit .478 and had an assist, an ace, four digs and two blocks, one solo … M.E. Hargan had 24 kills and hit .455 in Morehead State’s five-set Ohio Valley win at UT Martin to go with an ace, 13 digs and a block … Bucknell (15-1, 7-0) swept its Patriot League match with visiting Loyola Maryland as the Bison continued the best start in program history with their  15th win in a row … Southeastern Louisiana swept visiting McNeese in the Southland to improve to 15-4, 7-0. The Lions have also won 15 in a row … In Coastal Carolina’s five-set Sun Belt win over Georgia State, Jalyn Stout had 13 kills, 32 assists, an ace, 13 digs and two blocks … In the WAC, UT Arlington won its seventh in a row, a sweep at Abilene Christian as Brianna Ford had 17 kills, two aces, 12 digs and six blocks.

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