Volleyball Today: NCAA tourney viewing link; AVCA top 25; USA international report

In this edition of Volleyball Today, we’ve got the final AVCA regular-season top 25, some postseason conference honors, a look at the World Beach Pro Tour finals in Doha, and a report on USA women playing internationally. With so many Americans now staying home to play LOVB or Pro Volleyball Federation, you’ll see some different names of former NCAA standouts in the mix.

But first here’s the link you need to watch the start of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. All the matches will be shown on ESPN+, for which you need a subscription. For what it’s worth, ESPN+ comes with a Disney Plus subscription and that way you can watch the new Beatles documentary.

AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll

The final regular-season poll showed Pittsburgh still at No. 1, this time with 59 of the 61 first-place votes. Penn State, up two spots to No. 2, got a vote and so did Nebraska, down a spot to No. 3.

Louisvllle is fourth and Stanford is No. 5. 

There was shuffling, but no major movement. BYU moved back in at No. 24 and North. Carolina dropped out. 

Click here for the complete AVCA top 25.

Big leagues post-season honors

College volleyball is dominated by four conferences, the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC (oh, the Pac-12, we miss you). To wit: Our USA Olympic team that won silver in Paris consisted only of players who went to college in one of those four conferences. The only almost exception was Jordan Thompson, who went to Cincinnati, which at the time was in the American Athletic Conference but is now in the Big 12.

The ACC announced its postseason honors Monday and Pitt right side Olivia Babcock is the ACC Player of the Year, Louisville libero Elena Scott is the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Stanford’s Kami Miner is the ACC Setter of the Year and Louisville’s Nayelis Cabello is the ACC Freshman of the Year. Pitt’s Dan Fisher is the ACC Coach of the Year.

Click here for the story and all-ACC teams.

The SEC announced its honors Sunday and Brooklyn DeLeye of Kentucky is the SEC Volleyball Player of the Year, somehow beating out Florida’s Kennedy Martin. Maya Sands of Missouri is the Libero of the Year. Mychael Vernon of Missouri is the Newcomer of the Year and Jaela Auguste of Florida is the Freshman of the Year. Kentucky’s Craig Skinner is SEC Coach of the Year.

Click here for the story and all-SEC teams.

The Big 12 hasn’t announced its winners, but the Big Ten is going big with its release. 

On Wednesday, the All-Big Ten Volleyball Team selections, as well as individual award winners, will be announced live on the Big Ten Network at noon Eastern.

Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals

The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals begin Wednesday in Doha and the field includes new No. 1 Tina Graudina, the former USC star, and Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia.

But there are just two USA pairs, both on the women’s side: Olympians Kristin Nuss and Taryn Kloth, the former LSU standouts, and former USC NCAA champions Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft.

Also in the women’s field are Canadian Olympians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.

Read the Volleyball World women’s preview here and the men’s preview here.

USA women playing internationally

The line of the week went to Stephanie Samedy, who had 33 kills in a match in Japan. 

Former Alabama great Krystal Rivers continues to tear it up for Stuttgart as the German team beat CSO Voluntari in the CEV Champions League. Rivers had 19 kills, four blocks and three aces, and teammate Breland Morrissette, who played Georgia Tech, had five blocks and four kills. 

Also in the CEV Champions League, Kara Bajema (Washington) had nine kills, two blocks and an ace as Scandicci swept Polish side Bielsko-Biala … Marina Markova, the Russian who played at Syracuse and finished at Florida, led VakifBank to a sweep over Milano with 16 kills while hitting .519 to go with two blocks … Olympian Dana Rettke of Wisconsin had six kills, three blocks and an ace as Eczacibasi swept Paris SC … Malina Terrell (San Francisco) helped OK Tent to a sweep of Schwerin with 13 kills, one block and an ace, while Schwerin’s Jaelyn Keene (Illinois State) had seven kills and three aces.

In the CEV Cup, Annayka Legros (Coastal Carolina) had 15 kills for Mulhouse in a loss to Kuzeyboru, hitting .608 with a block and an ace. Jasmine Gross (Pepperdine, USC) had nine kills and an ace. Former PVF Atlanta player Anna Lazareva had 25 kills, a block and an ace for Kuzeyboru … NUC Viteos was swept by Radomka but Washington’s Tia Scambray led NUC with 20 kills and a block and Caroline Meuth (Texas A&M) had 12 kills and three blocks.

In the CEV Challenge Cup, former Washington State star Kyra Holt had 15 kills and two blocks as Benfica swept ASP Thetis … Olympian Avery Skinner (Kentucky, Baylor) had 11 kills, hitting .474 with two blocks as Chieri swept Finnish team LP Kangasala … Danielle Harbin (Arkansas) was named MVP as Potsdam swept Dudingen. She had 13 kills, hitting 600, with a block. Sabrina Starks (Pittsburgh) notched a match-high five blocks to go along with five kills.

In the Turkish League, Rettke had her best match as Eczacibasi beat Kuzeyboru in four sets, finishing with nine kills, five blocks, and three aces … Stanford’s Caitie Baird had nine kills and a block but Bahcelievler lost to defending champions Fenerbahce in four … Ali Frantti (Penn State) had 11 kills (.476) in her return to VakifBank’s starting lineup in a sweep of SigortaShop. Markova had 13 kills, three blocks and two aces and Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani (Texas) led SigortaShop with 15 kills, two blocks, and an ace.

In Italy, Khalia Lanier (USC) had 10 kills and hit .474 as Conegliano swept rival Novara. Taylor Mims (Washington State)  had four kills and an ace for Novara … Skinner led Chieri with 12 kills, two aces and a block but her team lost to Scandicci in four sets … Simone Lee (Penn State) had a big match but Vallefoglia fell to Pinerolo, 22-20 in the fifth. Lee had 24 kills and three blocks.

In Japan, Stephany Samedy (Minnesota) and Hisamitsu Springs beat Astemo Rivale in four as Samedy had 17 kills and five blocks. Rivale’s Mac May (UCLA) had nine kills, a block and an ace. Her team won the rematch, 20-18 in the fifth, and May had 14 kills, two blocks and two aces and teammate Brionne Butler (Texas) led Rivale with 20 kills, hitting .704, and seven blocks. Samedy’s team may have come up short, but she had 33 kills and a block. 

In Germany, Florida State’s Emma Clothier was the gold MVP as Dresdner beat Aachen in four after having nine kills, a block and an ace. Marta Levinska (Arizona State) led all scorers with 11 kills, hitting .588 with a block.

In France, Legros was named MVP as Mulhouse knocked off first-place Nantes in four sets as she had 13 kills, hitting .619, to go with a match-high six aces. Haylie Bennett (Oregon State) led Nantes with 24 kills (.438) and an ace … Alondra Vazquez, the Puerto Rican who starred at Evansville, was named MVP as Nancy swept Beziers. Vazquez had 12 kills and hit .500 … Former Western Kentucky great Lauren Matthews had 14 kills, two blocks and two aces as Cannes beat Marcq en Baroeul in four.

And in Switzerland, Scambray had a career match as NUC Viteos swept Glaronia. Scambray hit .700 and had 23 kills, four aces and two blocks … Jacqui Armer (Indiana) also had a career day as Lugano beat league-leading Schaffhausen in four. Armer had 16 kills (.565) and five blocks. Brooke Botkin (USC) led Schaffhausen with 13 kills and two blocks.

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