NCAA: Florida, Texas, ULL score upsets; WKU wins; WMU tops Michigan

There’s a match tonight in Lincoln, Nebraska, that is grabbing all the attention, but don’t forget the other happenings in NCAA women’s Division I volleyball.

Florida and Texas would appreciate that. 

So, too, would Louisiana-Lafayette.

Especially since No. 8 Florida swept at No. 2 Stanford on Tuesday night and No. 7 Texas won in four at No. 5 Minnesota. And Louisiana-Lafayette swept No. 18 Rice for its first win over a ranked team in 10 years and first over a top-20 team since the last century.

In other words, the early season unpredictability didn’t stop after the first weekend of the season.

There’s a light schedule Wednesday, including No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 21 Arkansas for back-to-back matches. 

Now its the West Coast Conference vs. the Big 12, but Loyola Marymount plays its old WCC rival when the Lions go to BYU. 

There are some interesting in-state matches, including Utah vs. Utah State, Clemson vs. South Carolina, Fresno State vs. CSUN, and, oh, yeah, No. 4 Nebraska home for Omaha.

The match, which begins at 7 p.m. Central, can be seen on the Big Ten Network, which has a half-hour show about the festivities starting at 6:30. Nebraska is 3-0 after sweeping Utah State, Lipscomb and SMU. Omaha of The Summit League is 0-2 after losing in four to Texas A&M and getting swept by Texas.

For more about Nebraska-Omaha and all the festivities surrounding the match that will be played in Memorial Stadium, the football venue expected to draw 90,000-plus, read our story here.

FLORIDA SWEEPS CARDINAL: The Gators (3-0) and freshman Kennedy Martin have made a season-opening statement. Kennedy, the AVCA national player of the week, kept right on going in the 25-19, 29-27, 25-23 victory with 16 kills while hitting .394 to go with two aces, four digs and four blocks, one solo. Sofia Victoria and Kira Hutson had nine kills each. Setter Alexis Stucky, whose team hit .324, had  four kills with one error in five tries, 334 assists and a match-high 12 digs. 

Stanford, still without second-leading attacker Caitie Baird, got 15 kills from Kendall Kipp, who hit .306 and had two blocks and three digs. Jordyn Harvey ahd nine kills with one error in 18 attacks, a block and a dig. Sami Francis had eight kills with one error in 15 attacks, a block and a dig, and Elia Rubin had seven kills and five digs. Kami Miner, whose team hit .333, had two kills in her only tries, an ace and 10 digs. Stanford had two aces and 14 errors. 

Stanford led 27-26 in the second set before back-to-back kills by Hutson and a kill by Martin — her eighth of the set — finished it. 

TEXAS THUMPS MINNESOTA: Texas, then No. 1, opened the season by losing in four at Long Beach State last Friday. The Longhorns the next day swept Loyola Marymount. Then Tuesday, Asjia O’Neal played for first time and Texas (2-1) won  25-14, 23-25, 25-17, 25-23 at Minnesota (2-1).

O’Neal, who spent the summer with USA national team, had seven kills with one error in 14 attacks, eight blocks and two digs. Madisen Skinner had 16 kills, three assists, three aces, two blocks and 11 digs. Jenna Wenaas, who transferred after last from Minnesota, had 13 kills in her return to go with three blocks and a dig. Molly Phillips had nine kills, four blocks and a dig. Bella Bergmark had six kills with one error in 12 swings to go with five blocks and two digs. Setter Ella Swindle had four kills in eight errorless attacks, 42 assists, four aces, four blocks and nine digs. Three Longhorns combined for 40 of the team’s 66 digs and each had an ace. Libero Emma Halter had 19 digs and five assists, Keonilei Akana had 11 digs and Carissa Barnes 10.

Minnesota, which hit .156, got 14 kills from McKenna Wucherer, who had an assist, two blocks and nine digs. Taylor Landfair had 11 kills, four assists, an ace and 10 digs, and setter Melani Shaffmaster had six kills, 31 assists, an ace, five blocks and 12 digs. Kylie Murr had 13 digs, two assists and an ace.

RAGIN’ CAJUNS TOP RICE: Louisana-Lafayette won at Rice 25-17, 25-22, 25-19. The Ragin’ Cajuns (3-1) got 12 kills from Shyia Richardson, who had nine digs. Celese Darling had nine kills. Rice (2-1) hit .060.

AROUND THE COUNTRY: No. 22 Western Kentucky destroyed Belmont 25-7, 25-11, 25-18 as the Toppers hit .409 and Paige Briggs had 11 kills with one error in 17 attacks, three assists, four aces, two solo blocks and three digs … 

Western Michigan improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2019 with a sweep of Michigan (1-2). Keona Salesman had 11 kills … Illinois swept Valparaiso, which hit .056. Raina Terry had 13 kills for Illinois to go with two assists, two aces, nine digs and five blocks, one solo … 

Both teams are 1-2 after Northern Colorado beat visiting Colorado State in five. Makenzie Harris led UNC with 14 kills, six digs and five blocks, one solo. Syd Cole, who had seven kills with one error in 10 tries and 40 assists, had six aces to go with 10 digs. Her kills and aces are both career highs … 

Old Dominion beat William & Mary to get to 3-0 as Olivia De Jesus had 17 kills, an assist, five digs and six blocks, one solo … Ali Ruffin had 20 kills and 17 digs as The Citadel beat College of Charleston in four … 

Temple beat Delaware State to get to 4-0 … Charleston Southern swept at South Carolina State as the home team hit minus .120 with 14 kills and 24 errors … In NJIT’s sweep at Central Connecticut Sara Siefert had 16 kills with two errors in 30 attacks to hit .467 to go with two aces, seven digs and a block … Texas A&M Commerce had 22 fewer kills but still won in five at Abilene Christian … Guila Cardona had 19 kills and 14 digs for Evansville in its four-set win over Southern Indiana … Pacific got 18 kills from Biamba Kabengele in its four-set win over UC Davis. She had an assist, seven digs and two blocks.

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