Weber St., Fresno St. claim NCAA bids; upsets in Big East, Big West

NCAA bids were claimed by surprising Weber State in the Big Sky and Fresno State — which pulled off a reverse sweep — in the Mountain West, there were upsets in the Big West and Big East semifinals, and UCLA beat AVCA No. 24 USC in four.

The big one, of course, was the sweep by VolleyballMag.com Super 16 No. 3 Wisconsin of previously unbeaten and No. 1 Nebraska, and you can read our recap of that match here.

Pittsburgh won to clinch at least a share of the ACC title, and there were results in the ACC and SEC.

The recaps follow, but first a look at Saturday’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball schedule that includes conference finals in the Big East — VBM No. 13 Creighton vs. St. John’s — and Big West — Long Beach State vs. Hawai’i.

The Big Ten finishes the regular season with Nebraska at Minnesota, while Wisconsin is home for Iowa. AVCA No. 16 Purdue goes to Michigan State, Indiana is at Michigan and Rutgers is at Ohio State.

The SEC slate is highlighted by No. 8 Kentucky home for AVCA No. 20 Florida, while No. 9 Tennessee is at South Carolina. Texas A&M is at Alabama, Missouri is at Georgia and LSU is at Mississippi State.

Top-ranked Texas plays host to Texas Tech in the Big 12, which also has No. 16 Kansas home for UCF, AVCA No. 16 BYU at TCU, AVCA No. 22 Houston home for Kansas State, Cincinnati at Iowa State and West Virginia at Oklahoma.

In the Pac-12, AVCA No. 18 Arizona State is at Arizona.

The ACC wraps up with Florida State trying to stay tied with Pittsburgh for first when it plays Notre Dame, Miami goes to Boston College and Virginia goes to Virginia Tech.

For the complete schedule with viewing links to every match, go to the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.

Weber State wins 2023 Big Sky titleBIG SKY: Fourth-seeded Weber State (21-9), down 8-3 in the fifth set, rallied for a 22-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13 victory over third-seeded Montana State (21-8). 

Dani Richins went off for 27 kills, hit .313 and had two aces, three blocks and 18 digs. Liana Woodley had 11 kills, hit .348 and had five blocks and a dig, and Saane Katoa had 11 kills with no errors in 17 attacks, an assist and two blocks. Katie Standifird had a kill, 53 assists, three blocks and 17 digs.

Kira Thomsen also came up big for Montana State, finishing with 28 kills, an assist, four aces, three blocks and 17 digs. Madilyn Siebler had 10 kills and seven digs and Jourdain Kamps had nine kills, three blocks and 17 digs.

MOUNTAIN WEST: Fifth-seeded Fresno State (19-13) is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002 after beating second-seeded Colorado State (19-12) in five. Ella Rud had 20 kills and hit .425 after having only three kills in 40 attacks and added 10 digs and two blocks, one solo, in the 20-25, 23-25, 26-24, 28-26, 15-12 victory that gave Fresno its first MWC title since joining the league in 2012. Addison Haluska had 13 kills, two aces and five digs. Brooke Cowie had two kills, 43 assists, three aces, two blocks and 12 digs.

Colorado State’s Malaya Jones led the Rams with an MWC tourney-record 34 kills. She hit .439 after having nine errors in 57 attacks and had an ace, a block and 18 digs. Kennedy Stanford had 12 kills, an ace, seven digs and three blocks, one solo, and Annie Sullivan had 11 kills, a block and a dig.

BIG EAST: Third-seeded St. John’s (23-9) upset second-seeded Marquette (20-10) in five and top-seeded Creighton (26-4) ousted No. 5 DePaul (17-4) and they will play in Saturday’s final. Creighton won both regular-season matches over St. John’s.

St. John’s won 11-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-22, 15-13 and left Marquette out but likely to get an NCAA tourney at-large bid. Lucrezia Lodi led St. John’s with 20 kills, hitting .302, and added three aces and three digs. Giorgia Walther had 15 kills, a dig and three blocks, one solo. Erin Jones had nine kills, 20 assists, two aces and 12 digs. Marquette’s Aubrey Hamilton had 19 kills, hit .313, and had an assist, an ace, three blocks and six digs. Jenna Reitsma had 12 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks. and 13 digs.

Creighton totally dominated as it beat DePaul 25-17, 25-20, 25-17. The Bluejays, who hit .333, got 12 kills from Norah Sis, who hit .345 and had an assist, an ace, three blocks and seven digs. Ava Martin had 10 kills, an ace and a dig. DePaul hit .085.

BIG WEST:  Fourth-seeded Long Beach State (21-9) and second-seeded Hawai’i (23-8) will play for the title in Long Beach’s Pyramid after Long Beach knocked off top-seeded UC Santa Barbara and Hawai’i swept Cal Poly. 

Long Beach battled to a 26-24, 23-25, 25-17, 16-25, 15-12 victory over UCSB (27-4), which remains in strong contention for an NCAA tourney at-large bid. Elise Agi led the Beach with 20 kills, an assist, four blocks and seven digs. Natalie Glenn had 19 kills, hit .452, and had three aces, five digs and five blocks, three solo. Katie Kennedy had 15 kills and three blocks. UCSB got 15 kills from Michelle Ohwobete, who hit .375 and had two aces, a dig and two blocks, one solo. Briana McKnight had 11 kills, an assist, two aces, six digs and five blocks, four solo. Tasia Farmer had 10 kills and five blocks.

Hawai’i swept Cal Poly (21-12) 25-17, 25-18, 26-24 as four players had 10 or more kills, 15 by Caylen Alexander, who had two aces, a block and nine digs. Amber Igiede had 12 kills with no errors in 26 swings, an assist, two aces, three digs and two blocks, one solo.

Playing at home in the Pyramid might matter: Long Beach swept visiting Hawai’i on September 29, but Hawai’i won the rematch in four a week ago in Honolulu.

BIG TEN: Five matches, five sweeps and Maryland’s five-set win over Rutgers 

In addition to the aforementioned Wisconsin win over Nebraska, Purdue swept Michigan, Minnesota did the same to Illinois, Penn State won at Ohio State and Northwestern swept Iowa.

SEC: In the only match of the day, VBM No. 10 Arkansas (25-5, 15-3) won 21-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-21, 17-15 at Auburn (20-9, 10-8), which remains in strong shape for an NCAA at-large bid. Taylor Head had 23 kills and 17 digs for Arkansas, which got 16 kills from Jillian Gillen, who had an assist, an ace, a block and 19 digs. Sania Petties had 14 kills, hit .444, and had five blocks, and Maggie Cartwright had 12 kills, 13 digs and five blocks. Courtney Jackson had 28 digs and six assists. Auburn’s Madison Scheer had 17 kills, a dig and a solo block, and Akasha Anderson had 13 to go with an assist, two blocks and 20 digs.

PAC-12: Second-ranked Stanford hit .469 and swept visiting Cal as Kendall Kipp had 16 kills with two errors in 27 attacks to hit .519. She had an assist, three aces, seven digs and four blocks. Caitie Baird had six kills with no errors in 14 attacks and Elia Rubin had 14 kills with two errors in 24 swings. 

UCLA, making one last effort to bolster its NCAA chances,  won in five at AVCA No. 24 USC behind 21 kills from Iman Ndaiye, who hit .312 and had an ace, eight digs and five blocks. Desiree Becker had nine blocks, one solo, to go with nine kills.

No. 11 Washington State swept at Washington, and Utah held off visiting Colorado in five as Lauren Jardine had 20 kills.

ACC: Pittsburgh (25-4, 16-2) pulled a half game ahead of idle Florida State with its sweep of last-place Syracuse (2-26, 0-18). Pitt, which hit .436, wins the title outright if FSU loses Saturday, but clinched at least a share of the title. 

North Carolina (13-14, 7-11) dealt Duke (19-10, 10-8) a tough blow in its hope for NCAA bid with a 22-25, 27-25, 21-25, 28-26, 15-12 victory. Mabrey Shaffmaster ended her season with 25 kills for UNC to go with two assists, nine digs and two blocks, one solo.

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