NCAA volleyball: Wisconsin routs Illini; WKU, WMU win conference titles
Wisconsin’s Anna Smrek attacks against Illinois/Zach Schuster photo
Every ranked team in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball action Saturday swept, except for AVCA No. 22 Houston, which beat UCF in four in the Big 12.
That included second-ranked Wisconsin, which pummeled Illinois in the Big Ten.
Some regular-season conference titles were locked up — including by Western Kentucky and Western Michigan — and a couple of others got close.
Lines of the day: Denver’s Cassie Davis had 29 kills in a loss to Kansas City and McNeese State’s McKenzie Moore had 28 in a win at Northwestern State, but they got those in a five-set matches. Purdue Fort Wayne’s Panna Ratka, incredibly, had 24 kills in a sweep at Youngstown State and also had five aces.
The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look Sunday’s schedule.
In the Big Ten, top-ranked and unbeaten Nebraska goes to Rutgers, while the team on which it pulled the reverse sweep on Friday, AVCA No. 16 Penn State, goes to AVCA No. 19 Purdue. Minnesota goes to Northwestern and Maryland is at Michigan.
There are seven matches in the ACC, but none involving two ranked teams. Third-ranked Louisville, coming off that lost to No. 11 Georgia Tech, is at Clemson, while GT is home for Notre Dame. Seventh-ranked Pittsburgh, coming off its loss at Florida State, goes to Miami, while FSU is home for Virginia. Wake Forest is at North Carolina, Virginia Tech is at Duke and Syracuse is at NC State.
SEC-leading No. 12 Kentucky is at AVCA No. 20 Florida, while No. 8 Arkansas is home for Mississippi State. AVCA No. 24 Auburn is at Texas A&M, Georgia goes to Missouri, Ole Miss is at South Carolina and Alabama is at LSU.
None of the ranked Pac-12 teams play each other. No. 4 Stanford is home for Washington, No. 6 Oregon is home for Colorado, No. 9 Washington State is at Cal and No. 13 Arizona State is at USC. Arizona is at UCLA and Utah is at Oregon State.
The Big 12 is off Sunday.
There’s a big match in the Big East when Marquette plays host to AVCA No. 17 Creighton. Marquette leads Creighton and idle St. John’s by a game.
Hampton, 0-17 after losing in four to Campbell on Saturday in the CAA, is back at against the Fighting Camels.
Saint Peter’s, 0-26 after getting swept at Niagara in the MAAC — where there were two 25-kill performances — on Saturday, gets another chance to break through when the Peacocks go to Canisius.
Want to watch? We have the conference-by-conference schedule with viewing links for any match that is being shown in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
On a night when Wisconsin had 17 blocks, Temi Thomas-Ailara and Carter Booth smother Brooke Mosher of Illinois/Zach Schuster photo
BIG TEN: Wisconsin (21-1, 13-1) crushed visiting Illinois (13-11, 8-6) as the Badgers hit .398 and had a 17-2 blocks advantage in the 25-13, 25-13, 25-12 victory. The 17 blocks is a Wisconsin three-set record. Devyn Robinson led with 13 kills in 19 errorless attacks and she had six of those blocks. Sarah Franklin (four blocks), Anna Smrek (seven blocks) and Carter Booth (10 blocks, one solo) had seven kills each. Illinois, which hit .000 with 24 kills and 24 errors, got nine kills from Raina Terry, who had two aces and seven digs … Ohio State (9-14, 6-8) beat visiting Indiana (17-10, 7-7) as Emily Londot had 25 kills in the 25-23, 27-29, 25-23, 25-23 victory. Londot had an assist, an ace, 21 digs and a block … Michigan State (16-9, 8-5) swept visiting Iowa (8-18, 0-14), hitting .400. Tayla Holdem had 16 kills with three errors in 31 attacks, eight digs and a block. Amani McArthur had eight kills with one error in nine attacks, a dig and four blocks, three solo.
BIG 12: VBM No. 14 Kansas (18-4, 9-3) swept visiting Kansas State (13-10, 7-7). Caroline Bien led with 14 kills as she hit .357 and had an assist, two aces and nine digs … VBM No. 15 BYU (20-5, 9-4) swept visiting Cincinnati (11-12, 4-9) as the Cougars hit .439. Erin Livingston had 19 kills with two errors in 27 attacks to hit .630 and had two aces and three digs … AVCA No. 21 Baylor (14-0. 8-5) swept at last-place Texas Tech (8-16, 1-11) as Allie Sczech had 13 kills with two errors in 24 swings, three digs and two blocks … AVCA No. 22 Houston (14-7, 7-5) beat visiting UCF (17-7, 8-5) in four as Abbie Jackson had 17 kills, an ace, 10 digs and a block. Rachel Tullos had eight blocks, two aces and five kills with one error in 10 attempts … Iowa State (16-7, 7-5) swept at TCU (13-12, 6-8).
WKU wins the Conference USA regular-season title
Around the nation
AVCA No. 23 Western Kentucky (24-4, 14-0) wrapped up its fifth Conference USA regular-season title in a row by sweeping FIU for its 19th win in a row. The Toppers got 11 kills from Kaylee Cox, who had two blocks and five digs, and 10 from Paige Briggs, who had five aces, a block and 11 digs …
VBM No. 16 Dayton (27-2, 16-0 Atlantic 10) won its 22nd in a row by sweep at Rhode Island as Lexie Almodovar had 12 kills, hit .357, and had two aces and nine digs. Taylor Russell had 11 kills with one error in 24 attacks, two aces, a block and four digs …
UC Santa Barbara (23-3, 13-1) swept at Hawai’i (17-8, 10-4) to all but knock the Rainbow Wahine out of the regular-season race with four matches left. Briana McKnight had 14 kills for UCSB, three aces, two blocks and 10 digs. Long Beach State (18-6, 12-2) kept pace by sweeping CSU Bakersfield. Long Beach hit .395. Kameron Bacon had six kills in 11 errorless attacks and five blocks, one solo …
In the Big Sky, Sacramento State won its seventh in a row and kept its two-game lead as it swept Idaho, while Weber State won in four over Idaho State as they stayed 1-2. Weber State’s Dani Richins had 20 kills, an assist, an ace, 23 digs and two blocks, one solo … High Point beat Presbyterian in four to maintain its two-game lead in the Big South. Eve Wilson had 21 kills with two errors in 31 swings to hit .613 and had an ace, a dig and six blocks …
Western Michigan wins the 2023 MAC regular-season title/Ashley Huss, WMU Photographer
West-leading Western Michigan won the MAC regular-season overall title with a a 25-20, 28-26, 27-25 victory over visiting Ball State (14-12, 11-4). It was WMU’s 10th MAC title but first since 2008 as the Broncos won their 15th match in a row. Maggie King led WMU with 19 kills, hitting .317. MAC East leader Buffalo (22-5, 12-3) swept Miami to stay two games ahead of Ohio, which swept Eastern Michigan …
FGCU swept Queens to get to 14-0 and Lipscomb had to win in five at Jacksonville as they stayed 1-2 in the ASUN. FGCU has won 15 in a row. Five Lippy players had 10 or more kills, 13 by Addi Pelham with one error in 22 attacks …
St. John’s swept at UConn to pull to a half game behind idle Marquette and ahead of Creighton in the Big East … Towson and Delaware both swept to stay 1-2 in the CAA. Towson got 14 kills from Nina Cajic, who hit .462, as it beat Elon. Cajic had an assist, seven digs and four blocks. Delaware hit .405 as it beat N.C. A&T. Lani Mason had 14 kills with two errors in 20 swings, three aces, eight digs and a solo block …
Wright State won its fifth in a row and kept its one-game lead in the Horizon League over Milwaukee by beating third-place Green Bay in four. Megan Alders had 18 kills. Milwaukee won in four at Northern Kentucky as Ari Miller had 13 kills, hit .407 and had two aces, four digs and four blocks, two solo. Also in the HL, Purdue Fort Wayne swept at Youngstown State and Panna Ratkai lit it up with 24 kills in just those three sets, hitting .388 to go with five aces, three digs and two blocks …
Northern Iowa swept Evansville to keep its two-game Missouri Valley lead over Drake, which swept Indiana State.UNI’s Kira Fallert had 14 kills, hit .345 and had two assists, 13 digs and five blocks, three solo. Drake’s Taylor Oberpriller had 14 kills and hit .407 with three blocks and Haley Bush had 13 kills, hit .440 and had had three aces, five digs and two blocks. Also in the Valley, Belmont beat Missouri State in five and Brooke Gilleland had 23 kills, six digs and three blocks, one solo …
Utah State won its 10th in a row and grabbed a share of the Mountain West regular-season title with a sweep of New Mexico. Tatum Stall led the Aggies with 21 kills and hit .500 after having two errors in 38 attacks to go with a block and six digs. Also in the MWC, Air Force swept at Boise State but Boise State’s Paige Bartsch had 23 of her team’s 44 kills and added an assist, three digs and three blocks, one solo …
Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri remained tied atop the Ohio Valley after EIU swept at Little Rock and SEMO beat Western Illinois in four. EIU, which hit .356, got 10 kills each from Giovana Larregui Lopez and Natalie Mitchem, who had one error in 16 attacks. Also in the OVC, Tennessee Tech won in four at Southern Indiana and Ava Schubert and Madolyn Isringhausen had 21 kills each …
Colgate held its one-game lead in the Patriot League as the Red Raiders swept at Loyola Maryland and Army West Point won in five at American. Bucknell stayed tied with Army in the loss column by sweeping Lafayette. Army’s Savannah Bray had 20 kills, hit .354 and had an assist, 17 digs and two blocks, one solo …
American Athletic-leading SMU was off but second-place Wichita State fell two games back when the Shockers lost in five to visiting North Texas. UNT’s Jayde Harris had 16 kills with two errors in 36 swings, four digs and two blocks …
Yale won its 13th in a row, a four-set victory at Harvard a day after clinching the Ivy League regular-season title and top seed for the conference tournament. Audrey Leak had 15 kills and Betsy Goodenow 14 …
Fairfield now leads the MAAC by a game. The Stags (13-2) swept Siena while Quinnipiac (12-3) lost in four to Marist. Fairfield hit .376 as Mamie Krubally had 10 kills with one error in 13 attacks and a block. Marist’s Sasha van der Merwe had 25 kills, hit .321 and had five digs and five blocks, one solo. Also in the MAAC, Iona beat Manhattan in five but Manhattan’s Maike Bertens had 25 kills with two assists, ana ce, 13 digs and a block …
The Citadel held its two-game lead in the SoCon with a sweep of UNC Greensboro and Mercer won in four at ETSU. Mercer’s Kylee Quigley had 20 kills, two aces, six digs and three blocks …
Southeastern Louisiana swept visiting Lamar to improve to 24-4, 15-1 in the Southland Conference, which it leads by a game over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. TAMUCC swept at New Orleans. SLU, which has won 18 in a row, hit .395 as five players had seven or more kills. Jacqueline Arrington had nine kills with no errors in 13 attacks and five blocks. Also in the SLC, McNeese won in five at Northwestern State as McKenzie Moore had 28 kills, hit .436 after having four errors in 55 attacks, and added an assist, three aces and two blocks. Lamar won for the second time this season, in four over visiting Nicholls, and Lyric Jordan had 22 kills, hit .488 and had 10 digs and three blocks, one solo …
Omaha (11-3) is alone in first by a game in The Summit League after the Racers swept at St. Thomas and Denver (10-4) lost in five at Kansas City (9-4). Denver and KC are tied in the loss column with idle North Dakota State (9-4) and South Dakota (9-4). Odyssey Warren led Kansas City with 27 kills, while Cassie Davis had 29 for Denver while hitting .338 to go with three aces, six digs and a solo block. South Dakota swept North Dakota as Madison Harms had 14 kills with two errors in 21 attacks and six blocks, one solo …
There were a couple of surprises in the Sun Belt as South Alabama won at Coastal Carolina, which was unbeaten in conference play, and Texas State won in four at Troy, which got 24 kills from Tori Hester. James Madison beat Marshall in four and is a game back of Coastal in the East. Miette Veldman had 22 kills for JMU, hit .347, and had an assist, two aces, three digs and five blocks, one solo …
Stephen F. Austin, which kept its two-game lead, and Grand Canyon stayed 1-2 in the WAC as SFA beat Utah Valley in four and GCU swept at Abilene Christian …
Pepperdine, which leads by three games, continued to dominate the West Coast Conference as the Waves swept Portland. Grace Chillingsworth had 14 kills with two errors in 25 attacks, three assists and seven digs. Loyola Marymount hit .506 in its sweep of Gonzaga, getting 52 kills with seven errors in 89 attacks. Amethyst Harper had 13 kills with one error in 24 attacks, four digs and three blocks.
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