NCAA volleyball: Penn St. wins again; Stanford knocks off Minnesota; Towson stuns Pitt
MINNEAPOLIS — Penn State did it again.
The No. 20 Nittany Lions left Minnesota with their second five-set victory over a Pac-12 team in as many days, this time 25-21, 15-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-9 over No. 18 Oregon. Penn State and first-year coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley are 8-0 after three weekends of the NCAA volleyball season.
In the second match in the Maturi Pavillion, No. 11 Stanford bounced back from losing to Penn State by overpowering No. 3 Minnesota 25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 15-12.
But while the two victories by Penn State and Stanford’s upset win may be surprising, what Towson of the Colonial Athletic Association did Saturday at No. 7 Pittsburgh was stunning.
The Tigers improved to a nation-best 10-0 with two victories, a sweep of American in the morning and then a 25-12, 25-23, 16-25, 25-18 upset of Pittsburgh in the evening.
Late Saturday, No. 12 San Diego beat Utah in five and Hawai’i pulled off a reverse sweep to beat visiting USC.
We couldn’t get them all, but hit almost every match from Saturday. All the matches are still non-conference, so categorizing them is difficult, but we grouped some of the major conferences. Recaps and top performances follow.
There are 17 matches Sunday, highlighted by No. 8 Ohio State at No. 5 Georgia Tech.
Among the others are Milwaukee going across town to No. 23 Marquette and 7-0 Colorado playing 6-1 Arkansas. Also, there’s Wake Forest at Texas State, Auburn vs. North Florida, Miami (FL) vs. UNCW, Tech Tech vs. Rice, Oklahoma vs. Fresno State, and UCF vs. UIC.
You can find the viewing links on the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings page.
BIG TEN: Penn State got 16 kills from Long Beach State transfer Kashauna Williams, who tore it up at Minnesota. She had two digs and five blocks, two solo.
The Nittany Lions 13 kills from Zoe Weatherington, the Utah transfer who is playing on the right side. She hit .286 and had an assist, three digs and five blocks. Anjeline Starck had nine kills, an assist, an ace and six digs. Seleisa Elisaia had four kills, 41 assists, 11 digs and three blocks. Her team hit .226. Maddy Bilinovic had 22 digs and five assists and an ace.
Oregon dropped to 4-2. The Ducks, who hit .184, got 16 kills from Brooke Nuneviller. But she hit .091 and had an assist, 16 digs and a block. Mimi Colyer had 13 kills, an ace, five digs and three blocks and Gloria Mutiri had 12 kills with no errors in 27 attacks, a dig and three blocks. Colby Neal had nine kills, hit .353 and had seven blocks, one solo. Georgia Murphy had 19 digs and five assists. Aside from Mutiri and Neal, Oregon had 39 kills and 25 errors …
Stanford’s Kendall Kipp led against Minnesota with 17 kills, an ace, three blocks and six digs. Caitie Baird had 12 kills, two aces, two blocks and nine digs. Elia Rubin, the VolleyballMag.com national high school player of the year, added 12 kills, an assist, an ace, three blocks and 11 digs. Minnesota, which hit .102, got 15 kills from Taylor Landfair, who had a block and 10 digs.
No. 6 Wisconsin swept Campbell. Julia Orzol led with 10 kills .. No. 25 Illinois swept Villanova. Raina Terry had 12 kills, hit .391, and added an assist, an ace, two digs and three blocks. Villanova hit minus .030 … Iowa beat Drake in four … Eva Hudson had 21 kills and hit .475 to go with seven digs and a block as No. 9 Purdue swept Xavier … second-ranked Nebraska improved to 7-0 with a sweep of visiting Long Beach State. Whitney Lauenstein had 12 kills, hit .381, and added an assist, four blocks and a dig … Rutgers lost to Loyola Chicago in four. Loyola’s Anna Feldkamp had 19 kills, hit .467, and added two digs and four blocks, one solo … Michigan swept North Carolina.
PAC-12: In its early match, Utah beat Connecticut in four as four players had 10 or more kills and the Utes hit .347. Madelyn Robinson had 17 kills, hit .341 and had an ace and nine digs. KJ Burgess had 10 kills with one error in 15 swings and seven blocks, two solo. Robinson led with 13 kills against San Diego, which got 16 kills from Grace Frohling, who had two aces and five blocks, one solo … Washington State improved to 8-1 with a sweep of Fairleigh Dickinson. In USC’s loss to Hawai’i, Texas transfer Skylar Fields had 25 kills, hit .392, and and two aces, 10 digs and a block.
ACC: Pittsburgh (7-2) was outblocked by Towson 16-3 and outhit .275 to .224. And Towson had eight aces to Pitt’s two. Victoria Barrett let Towson with 16 kills as she hit .520 and had three assists, an ace, three blocks and six digs. Irbe Lazda had 14 kills, an assist, a dig and six blocks, one solo. Pittsburgh got 13 kills from Iowa transfer Courtney Buzzerio, who hit .409 and had an assist and six digs …
Duke beat Michigan State in five as Rachel Richardson and Taylor Atkinson had 14 kills each … Wake Forest improved to 6-2 with a sweep of Sam Houston and a four-set win over Ole Miss … Virginia Tech lost in four to Saint Louis, which hit .367 … Virginia beat Charlotte in five as Grace Turner had 22 kills, two aces, three digs and two blocks … Kari Zumach and McKenna Melville had 19 kills each as UCF beat the ACC’s Miami in five.
SEC: Georgia beat Harvard in four to improve to 8-1. Sophie Fischer had 17 kills with one error in 28 swings and had an ace, a dig and two blocks … Tennessee hit .409 in a sweep of Norfolk State. Morgahn Fingall had 14 kills in 23 errorless attacks, five aces, two digs and four blocks, one solo. Erykah Lovett had 13 kills, nine digs and three blocks. Fingahl then had 17 kills kills in a sweep of The Citadel … Alabama beat Arkansas State in four … Auburn beat Troy in four to get to 7-0 despite hitting .176 … No. 14 Kentucky swept Indiana State … Mississippi State swept South Alabama … No. 16 Florida swept VCU as Gabbi Essix had four kills and six blocks.
BIG 12: Baylor swept Arizona State as Lauren Harrison had 13 kills, three digs and four blocks, three solo. Kara McGhee had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks, an assist, two digs and two blocks, one solo. The Bears hit .343 and ASU just .072 … Elena Baka and Shaylee Myers had 11 kills each for Kansas State in a sweep of St. Thomas … Texas Tech is 8-0 after sweeping Brown … Oklahoma hit .367 as it swept Tulane …
Eleanor Holthaus had 17 kills, hit .417, and had an ace, 10 digs and two blocks for Iowa State in its four-set win over Wright State … CSU Bakersfield swept West Virginia, leaving both teams 3-6.
BIG EAST: No. 17 Creighton escaped at Omaha with a 29-31, 25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 15-13 victory … Marquette beat visiting LSU in four. Aubrey Hamilton had 15 kills, an ace and eight digs … DePaul beat Eastern Michigan in four and Jill Pressly had 19 kills with one error in 33 attacks.
AROUND THE NATION: South Dakota improved to 8-1 with a five-set win over Northern Colorado as Elizabeth Juhnke had 23 kills and Madison Harms 22. Kailey Jo Ince had 24 kills for UNC …
Houston is 8-1 after sweeping Kennesaw State and going 3-0 on its trip to Mississippi State. The Cougars hit .373, boosted by Isabel Theut, who had 12 kills in 20 errorless swings and two blocks … Katie Birtcil had 20 kills, two assists, seven digs and two blocks for NM State in a four-set win over UC Santa Barbara …
Kaitlyn Flynn had 29 kills for Eastern Illinois in its four-set win over Eastern Kentucky. She added two aces, 15 digs and three blocks … Paula Gursching had 26 kills for Youngstown State in its five-set win over Bucknell. She had an ace, nine digs and four blocks … Southern Miss hit .443 in a sweep of Mississippi Valley and later swept Houston Baptist to improve to 7-2 under first-year coach Jenny Hazelwood (as seen on VolleyballMag.com) …
Kent State beat Charleston Southern in four and Mackenzie McGuire had 24 kills, an assist, seven digs and three blocks … The appropriately named Skyler Boom had 15 kills, hit .417 and had three blocks for Tennessee Tech in a five-set win over Bradley … Western Michigan beat GCU in five and Maggie King had 22 kills, hit .346 and had 16 digs and a block … Brooke Jackson had 25 digs and two aces for Miami (OH) in its five-set win over Chattanooga … Toledo lost in five to Austin Peay but Taylor Alt had 26 kills, 13 digs an four blocks, one solo …
LMU’s Jacquelyn Moore, Kari Geissberger and Phoebe Awoleye had 13 kills each in a win over San Jose State …. Connecticut beat SMU in five as five players had 10 or more kills. Natalie Perdue had 25 for SMU and Jamison Wheeler had 24.
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