6 NCAA volleyball tourney round-of-16 bids on the line; 20 first-round matches on tap

Most of Thursday’s 12 NCAA Tournament-opening matches were sweeps. There were no major upsets, but perhaps a bit of a suprise when Kansas easily knocked out Miami. Those 12 winners square off Friday with bids in the round of 16 on the line. Twenty first-round matches are on tap, including defending-champion Wisconsin home for Quinnipiac. […]

The post 6 NCAA volleyball tourney round-of-16 bids on the line; 20 first-round matches on tap appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.

Most of Thursday’s 12 NCAA Tournament-opening matches were sweeps.

There were no major upsets, but perhaps a bit of a suprise when Kansas easily knocked out Miami.

Those 12 winners square off Friday with bids in the round of 16 on the line.

Twenty first-round matches are on tap, including defending-champion Wisconsin home for Quinnipiac.

Friday’s second-round matches

(all times Eastern)
At Marquette
Georgia Tech (21-7) vs. Marquette (28-3)
At Kentucky
Western Kentucky (29-3) vs. Kentucky (21-7)
At Nebraska
Kansas (19-10) vs. Nebraska (25-5)
At Baylor
Rice (27-3) vs. Baylor (24-6)
At Texas
Georgia (23-7) vs. Texas (23-1)
At San Diego
Washington State (23-9) vs. San Diego (28-1)

Friday’s first-round matches

At Louisville
Purdue (20-10) vs. Tennessee (17-13), 4 p.m.
Louisville (26-2) vs. Samford (19-12), 7 p.m.
At Pittsburgh
BYU (21-6) vs. James Madison (24-4), 4 p.m.
Pittsburgh (27-3) vs. Colgate (24-5), 7 p.m.
At Creighton
Houston (28-3) vs. South Dakota (29-3), 4:30 p.m.
Creighton (27-4) vs. Auburn (21-8), 7:30 p.m.
At Florida
Iowa State vs. FGCU, 4:30 p.m.
Florida vs. Florida A&M, 7 p.m.
At Ohio State
USC (21-10) vs. High Point (23-9), 5 p.m.
Ohio State (19-9) vs. Tennessee State (19-15), 7:30 p.m.
At Penn State
UCF (27-1) vs. Yale (23-2), 5 p.m.
Penn State (24-7) vs. UMBC (17-8), 7:30 p.m.
At Wisconsin
Washington (20-10) vs. TCU (16-10), 5:30 p.m.
Wisconsin (25-3) vs. Quinnipiac (14-14), 8 p.m.
At Minnesota
Florida State (19-10) vs. UNI (26-7), 5:30 p.m.
Minnesota (20-8) vs. Southeastern LA (25-7), 8 p.m.
At Oregon
Arkansas (20-8) vs. Utah State (22-10), 7 p.m.
Oregon (23-5) vs. Loyola Marymount (18-9), 10 p.m.
At Stanford
Hawaii (22-6) vs. LSU (15-13), 7:30 p.m.
Stanford (24-4) vs. Pepperdine (19-10), 10 p.m.

All the matches can be seen on ESPN+. We highly recommend the new ESPN The Fifth Set, a whiparound studio show that made its debut Thursday, also on ESPN+. With so many matches on tap and overlapping — the NCAA obviously chose not to start earlier and spread things out — it’s an easier way to keep up with what’s going on in the moment. 

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

Thursday’s recaps

Georgia Tech of the ACC swept Horizon League-champion Wright State (28-4) 25-13, 25-14, 25-17 by hitting .352. Erin Moss had 12 kills with one error in 15 attacks to hit .733 and had two blocks. Wright State had won 23 in a row …

Marquette of the Big East bounced MAC at-large Ball State (24-9) 25-20, 25-17, 25-17. The Golden Eagles hit .369 and got 12 kills from Carsen Murray, who had 12 kills with one error in 23 swings to hit .478. She had two blocks, one solo … 

Western Kentucky eliminated the other MAC team, Bowling Green (22-10) 25-20, 25-23, 25-20. Katie Isenbarger had 10 kills with one error in 19 attacks to hit .474 and had seven blocks, one solo …

SEC co-champion Kentucky routed Atlantic 10 winner Loyola Chicago (25-9) as the Wildcats hit .389 and Adanna Rollins had 15 kills in the 25-17, 25-14, 25-20 sweep. She hit .355 and had an ace, five digs and a block. Karlie McNabb had 13 kills and hit .300 for the Ramblers … 

Kansas of the Big 12 took it to Miami of the ACC (19-11), the No. 7 seed in the Louisville region. The Jayhawks got 12 kills from Caroline Bien in the 25-17, 25-18, 25-20 victory. Miami hit .113 …

Nebraska of the Big Ten blasted visiting Delaware State of the MEAC (24-7) 25-16, 25-9, 25-10. The Huskers, who hit .341, got 10 kills from Lindsay Krause, who had 10 kills in 20 errorless attacks to go with two digs and two blocks. Delaware State hit minus .108 …

Rice, the Conference USA champion, got all it could handle from the Pac-12’s Colorado (20-11) in the first two sets and then came away with a 26-24, 24-26, 25-16, 25-14 victory. Sahara Maruska had 22 kills, hit .309, and added two assists, an ace and six digs. Colorado’s Lexi Hadrych had 20 kills, hit .405 and had a dig and three blocks …

Baylor of the Big 12 hit .388 and overpowered WAC-champion Stephen F. Austin (26-5) 25-13, 25-18, 25-15. Elise McGhee had 13 kills, hit .455 and had two digs and a block. Allie Sczech had seven kills with one error in 15 attacks and seven blocks …

Unseeded Georgia of the SEC won an NCAA Tournament match for the first time since 1995 with a hard-fought 25-10, 25-23, 21-25, 25-20 victory over CAA-champ Towson (23-7). Kacie Evans continued to lead the Bulldogs, this time with 26 kills as she hit .380 and had two assists, an ace, eight digs and two blocks. Sophie Fisher had 12 kills, hit .455 and had eight blocks, one solo. Irbe Lazda led Towson with 12 kills and five blocks … 

Top-seeded Texas of the Big 12 destroyed Fairleigh Dickinson (17-16), the NEC champion making its first NCAA appearance. Texas hit .535 in the 25-6, 25-13, 25-13 victory with 42 kills and four errors in 71 attacks. Madisen Skinner led with 10 kills as she hit .533 and had three aces, a solo block and a dig. Asjia O’Neal had nine kills and five blocks, two solo … 

Washington State of the Pac-12 had to rally to win the first set and then came away with a 26-24, 25-19, 25-18 victory over UNLV (26-5) of the Mountain West. Pia Timmer led the Cougars with 14 kills, hit .367, and had an assist, three aces, nine digs and two blocks. Weronika Wodjyla had no kills but a career-high eight blocks, one solo. Washington State hit .330 … 

West Coast Conference-champion San Diego won is 25th in a row, knocking out Big Sky-winner Northern Colorado (22-9) 25-21, 25-14, 21-25, 25-11. The Toreros hit .336 and got a career-high 17 kills on 23 errorless swings from Leyla Blackwell. She also had an assist and eight blocks, one solo. Breana Edwards and Katie Lukes had 12 kills each and Grace Frohling had 10 kills and six digs. Kailey Jo Ince had 21 kills for UNC to go with two assists and seven digs. Makenzie Harris had 18 kills, two assist, eight digs and a block.

NCAA VOLLEYBALL FANS! There is no paywall at VolleyballMag.com. Keep free volleyball journalism free by becoming a VolleyballMag.com Sustaining Member:  https://volleyballmag.com/sustaining-membership/  
Or make a contribution through Venmo @VolleyballMag 

The post 6 NCAA volleyball tourney round-of-16 bids on the line; 20 first-round matches on tap appeared first on Volleyballmag.com.