NCAA volleyball: Huskers, Penn St., Houston, UK win; Virginia Tech breaks skid

Nebraska and Penn State won in the Big Ten on Wednesday, Houston of the American Athletic rolled on, and so did Baylor in the Big 12. Kentucky moved into a tie for first in the SEC and Virginia Tech broke a long losing skid. The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at […]

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Nebraska and Penn State won in the Big Ten on Wednesday, Houston of the American Athletic rolled on, and so did Baylor in the Big 12. Kentucky moved into a tie for first in the SEC and Virginia Tech broke a long losing skid.

The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Thursday’s NCAA Division I schedule.

It’s on in the Big South when Campbell (15-9, 11-1) plays at High Point (18-8, 11-1). High Point has won six in a row since losing at Campbell in five on October 8. The Fighting Camels took their only defeat this past week when they lost in five at Winthrop. 

The lone Big Ten match has No. 3 Wisconsin at Illinois.

Both teams tied for the WAC lead are in action when UTRGV goes to Seattle U and Utah Valley is home NM State. 

There’s MACtion when Kent State goes to Ball State.

The Mountain West has a full slate, including league-leading UNLV (20-3, 11-1) putting its 11-match win streak on the line against visiting Air Force. One team will be alone in third after Colorado State (17-6, 10-2) goes to San Jose State (16-6, 10-2).

There are four matches in the Big Sky, including first-place Portland State at Montana.

In the West Coast Conference, No. 2 San Diego is at Santa Clara, No. 18 BYU is at San Francisco, Loyola Marymount is at Pacific and Pepperdine is at Saint Mary’s.

Morehead State, three games back in third, goes to first-place UT Martin in the only Ohio Valley match. 

Three teams are tied for second in the Southland Conference, a game behind McNeese (15-3, 11-3), which plays at one of them, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-18, 10-4). Southeastern Louisiana (20-6, 10-4) is at Lamar and HCU (18-9, 10-4) is home for UIW (that’s Houston Christian, which used to be Houston Baptist, and University of Incarnate Word).

In the Summit League, first-place South Dakota plays last-place Western Illinois. Omaha, a game back in second place and tied with idle North Dakota State, is home for Kansas City. 

Southern plays Alcorn in the SWAC and Southern Miss is at Louisiana-Lafayettte in the Sun Belt.

Want to watch a match? We have the viewing links on the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings page.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS: Fourth-ranked Nebraska (20-2, 12-1 Big Ten) swept visiting Indiana (13-12, 6-7) despite hitting .208. and moved into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, a half game ahead of idle Wisconsin. Madi Kubik led with nine kills and seven digs in the 25-22, 25-18, 25-19 victory. Whitney Launstein had eight kills, hit .333 and had two aces, three blocks and three digs. Lindsay Krause had eight kills in 17 errorless swings and two blocks, one solo. IU got 12 kills from Mady Saris and 11 from Morgan Geddes … Also in the B1G, No. 15 Penn State (18-6, 7-6) beat visiting Maryland 25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21 as five Nittany Lions had eight or more kills. Allie Holland had 14 kills, hit .344 and had an ace, two digs and seven blocks, one solo. Katie Clark added 13 kills, hit .524, and had two blocks. Maryland (13-12, 4-9) got 15 kills from Sam Csire, who had an assist, three blocks and four digs. Anastasia Russ had seven kills with one error in 14 attacks and seven blocks, one solo … 

No. 23 Houston (22-2, 13-0) swept its American Athletic Conference match at Tulane (8-16, 3-10) as Abbie Jackson had 14 kills, hit .324, and had had two assists, eight digs and a block in the 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 victory. Houston has won 14 in a row and leads idle UCF by a game and a half … 

In the Big 12, No. 11 Baylor (20-4, 9-2) won in four at Texas Tech (14-9, 3-7) as Kara McGhee had 16 kills, hit .433, and had three blocks in the 25-17, 25-20, 16-25, 25-23 victory. Mallory Talbert, who had five blocks, Elise McGhee, Riley Simpson and Allie Sczech had nine kills each. Kenna Sauer had 19 kills and hit .351 for Texas Tech to go with an assist, three blocks and 12 digs. Brooke Kanas had 11 kills, four digs, an ace and seven blocks, one solo … Also in the Big 12, Kansas (16-7, 6-5) rolled to a 25-23, 25-16, 25-15 sweep of visiting Kansas State (12-11, 3-7). Anezka Szabo had 12 kills, hit .435 and had an assist, a dig and two blocks … No. 1 Texas at TCU was canceled because of illness in the TCU program … 

There were four SEC matches, including No. 20 Kentucky (15-6, 10-2) sweeping at third-place Georgia (17-6, 8-4) that pulled the Wildcats into a first-place tie with idle No. 12 Florida. Adanna Rollins had 14 kills, two aces, a block and 10 digs in the 27-25, 25-23, 25-21 victory. Kacie Evans had 20 kills and hit .425 for Georgia. She had three errors in 40 attacks and nine digs … Tennessee (11-11, 5-5) won in five at Ole Miss (10-11, 6-5) as Erykah Lovett had 18 kills, and assist, an ace, 11 digs and two blocks, and Morgahn Fingall had 17 kiills, an assist, two aces, 13 digs and two blocks. Vivian Miller had 21 kills for Ole Miss to go with an assist, eight digs and two blocks. Payton Brgoch had seven kills in 14 errorless attacks and nine blocks, one solo … Alabama (8-15, 2-9) won in four at Texas A&M (12-11, 4-8) despite 24 kills by the Aggies’ Logan Lednicky, who hit .360 and had two assists, 18 digs and three blocks. Alyiah Wells had 14 kills and hit .400 for Alabama … Arkansas (15-7, 6-6) swept visiting South Carolina (10-11, 4-7) as the Razorbacks hit .320 and got 15 kills from Taylor Head. She had one error in 28 attacks, 14 digs and three blocks … 

Virginia Tech (10-14, 3-10) may still be in last place in the ACC, but the Hokies not only beat visiting Wake Forest (13-11, 5-8), they hit .353 and swept 25-23, 25-15, 25-17. Cera Powell had 17 kills with two errors in 40 attacks to hit .375 and had two aces and eight digs as VT broke a nine-match losing streak … 

America East leader UMBC won in four at the MEAC’s Howard as Mia Bilusic had 26 kills and hit .429 after having two errors in 56 attacks to go with an ace, four digs and a block. Aysia Miller had 18 digs, six assists and an ace … The AE’s Bryant hit .314 and swept at Hartford. Alysa Wright had 10 kills in 15 errorless attacks, two aces, a dig and four blocks … In the Atlantic 10, Fordham hit .345 and swept Rhode Island as Whitley Moody had 15 kills and hit .481 to go with 10 digs and two blocks …  

In the only Big East match, Seton Hall beat visiting St. John’s in four. Bianca Bucciarelli had 15 kills, four aces, 10 digs and five blocks, three solo … The only SoCon match saw Wofford sweep at The Citadel.

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