What a Sunday: ASU upsets Oregon; UK tops Vols; Miami stuns GT; Arkansas alone atop SEC

This is a recurring Monday theme, where we say best of luck to our VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll voters.

You/we are gonna need it.

What to do, for example, with No. 16 Arizona State, which lost in five on Friday at Oregon State, which hadn’t won in the Pac-12 before that, but then Sunday not only won at No. 5 Oregon, it swept the Ducks.

Or No. 9 Tennessee, which not only lost to visiting AVCA No. 23 Kentucky, but got swept at home.

Or No. 12 Georgia Tech, which not only lost to Miami on its home court, but also got swept at home.

Otherwise, Sunday was upset free as No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Washington State, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Pittsburgh, No. 8 Louisville and No. 13 Arkansas — now leading the SEC — all won.

But the voters have to consider Louisville’s sweep this past week of Pittsburgh, how Texas went to Houston and dominated two matches, if losing to Nebraska hurt No. 13 Penn State and, because it’s a poll, not the computer rankings, should 20-0 The Citadel get consideration?

Also in this roundup is Cal, which has two Pac-12 wins for the first time since 2019, and the line of the day belonged to Missouri’s Jane deMarrais, who had 30 kills.

Sunday’s recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Monday’s and Tuesday’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball schedule.

There are six matches Monday, featuring a Missouri Valley Conference battle between first-place Northern Iowa (14-6, 8-0) and second-place Drake (14-6, 7-1). Third-place Illinois State (8-12) is at last-place Bradley. 

There are three SWAC matches, Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Southern, Alabama State vs. Mississippi Valley State and Grambling vs. Alcorn. And in the WAC, second-place Grand Canyon, a game back in the loss column of idle Stephen F. Austin, is at California Baptist.

There are 17 matches Tuesday.

In the Summit League, first-place Omaha goes for its eighth victory in a row when it plays at Oral Roberts. 

In the MAC, East leader Buffalo plays host to second-place Akron, which is a game behind, West co-leader Ball State plays third-place Toledo, and West co-leader Western Michigan is home for Northern Illinois. 

Wright State, tied for first in the Horizon League, plays Youngstown State, and Northern Kentucky, in a three-way tie for third a game back, is home for Robert Morris. 

Among the other matches, Hawai’i is at UC Davis in the Big West, Air Force has a Mountain West match at New Mexico, and ASUN-leader Florida Gulf Coast is home for FIU. 

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.

PAC-12: Go figure Arizona State (18-2, 6-2) after its 27-25, 25-18, 25-19 victory at Oregon (16-3, 6-2). The Sun Devils, who hit .228, got 12 of their 39 kills from Marta Levinska, who had an ace, three blocks and seven digs. Roberta Rabelo had eight kills, an assist, four digs and three blocks, one solo and Maddie McLaughlin had three kills with no errors in six attempts, two digs and five blocks. Oregon, which hit .127 and had one ace and seven serving errors, got 11 kills from Mimi Colyer, who had that ace, two blocks and seven digs. Oregon was swept at home for the first in two years … 

Break up the Bears! Cal (13-6, 2-6) beat USC (11-7, 5-3) for the first time since 2014. The Bears won 25-14, 25-21, 15-25, 25-21 to get two conference wins for the first time since going 10-10 in 2019. Cal was 2-59 in Pac-12 play the past three years and entered this season on a 55-match conference losing streak. Against USC Maggie Li had 17 kills, an assist, an ace and seven digs. Mikayla Hayden had 10 kills, hit .500 and had an assist and two blocks, one solo. Tara DeSa had 22 digs, four assists and an ace and Annalea Mader had six kills in nine errorless tries, 35 assists, two aces, a block and nine digs. Her team hit .239. USC, which hit .228, got 22 kills from Skylar Fields. She had an assist, a block and seven digs. Tia Tuaniga had three kills, 38 assists, a block and nine digs, and Gala Trubint had 19 digs, five assists and an ace … 

Stanford (15-2, 8-0) beat visiting UCLA (10-8, 2-6) in four as Elia Rubin and Kendall Kipp had 16 kills each … 

Washington State (17-2, 7-1) swept visiting Colorado (10-9, 2-6) as Pia Timmer had 17 kills, an ace and four digs … Washington (13-6, 4-4) beat visiting Utah (8-10, 3-5) in five in a match that took nearly three hours. Audra Wilmes had 24 kills in the 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 16-14 outcome, hitting .404 to go with an assist, an ace, three blocks and seven digs. Utah’s Emrie Satauala had 18 kills, hit .375, and had an assist, three digs and seven blocks, one solo … Oregon State (7-11, 2-6) beat visiting Arizona (6-13, 1-7) in five to break a tie for last place. Four Beavers had 10 or more kills, 19 by Mychael Vernon, who had 21 digs and two blocks, one solo. Arizona’s Sofia Maldonado Diaz had 2 1kills, two assists, 16 digs and three blocks.

ACC: Louisville, Pittsburgh and Florida State are tied at the top and Georgia Tech is a game back. 

Miami (12-6, 5-3) won 25-23, 25-20, 26-24 at Georgia Tech (15-3, 6-2) at O’Keefe Gymnasium, which was sold out for the 22nd time in a row. Georgia Tech hadn’t lost to Miami in Atlanta since 2017. Miami’s Grace Lopez had 22 kills and hit .306 to go with an assist, an ace and seven digs. Flomarie Heredia Colon had 12 kills, hit .310, and had an assist, eight digs and three blocks. Miami hit .250, while the Yellowjackets hit .163. Bianca Bertolino led GT with 13 kills, nine digs and two solo blocks … 

Louisville (16-2, 7-1) swept visiting Virginia (8-10, 1-7) as 10 players had kills, nine by Cara Cresse, who had two errors in 13 attacks, an assist, two aces, a dig and five blocks, two solo … 

Pittsburgh (16-3, 7-1) swept at Notre Dame (10-6, 4-4) as Torrey Stafford had 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks. Chiamaka Nwokolo had five kills in 12 errorless swings and seven blocks, one solo … 

Florida State (13-7, 6-2) swept at Clemson (12-8, 3-5) as the Seminoles hit .460 with 49 kills and nine errors in 87 attacks. Khori Louis had 12 kills with one error in 16 swings and two blocks and Audrey Koenig had 10 kills with two errors in 16 attacks … NC State (15-4, 5-3) swept visiting Virginia Tech (11-8, 1-7) as Ava Brizard had 13 kills … North Carolina (9-8, 3-5) swept at Boston College (14-8, 3-5) … Duke (12-7, 3-5) hit .462 and swept at Syracuse (2-16, 0-8). The Blue Devils had 40 kills and four errors in 78 swings as eight players had kills.

SEC: Kentucky (8-7, 6-1) is over .500 for the first time this season after the Wildcats went to Knoxville and knocked off Tennessee (16-2, 7-1) 25-20, 26-24, 27-25. Tennessee had won 11 in a row. UK, which hit .356 got 13 kills from Brooklyn DeLeye and 12 each from Azhani Tealer and Elise Goetzinger, who had no errors in 19 attacks to go with four blocks, two solo. Morgahn Fingall had 16 kills and hit .343 for Tennessee … 

Arkansas (17-2, 7-0) is alone at the top of the standings after beating visiting Alabama (10-8, 0-7) for its 15th win in a row, the program’s longest winning streak since 2003. Arkansas hit .339 and got 18 kills from Taylor Head, who hit .361 and had an ace, eight digs and four blocks. Sania Petties and Maggie Cartwright had 10 kills each and Jillian Gillen had nine kills, two assists, 15 digs and a block. Alabama hit .085 …

Georgia (11-7, 2-4) beat visiting LSU (7-10, 2-5) in four as Kacie Evans and Sophie Fisher had 17 kills each. Fisher hit .429 an dh ad two aces, four digs and nine blocks, two solo. LSU’s Jurnee Robinson had 21 kills, 10 digs and three blocks, two solo … Janet deMarrais went off for a career-high 30 kills as Missouri (12-7, 4-4) beat visiting Ole Miss  (8-11, 2-6) in five. deMarrais added an ace, 13 digs and two blocks … Texas A&M (14-4, 6-2) swept visiting South Carolina (7-9, 1-6) behind 17 kills from Caroline Meuth, who hit .364 and had 16 digs and eight blocks. Morgan Perkins had nine blocks to go with with four kills.

BIG TEN: Top-ranked Wisconsin (17-0, 8-0) crushed visiting Maryland (13-7, 3-5) as Sarah Franklin had 18 kills, an assist, an ace, nine digs and a block in the 25-15, 25-12, 25-16 victory. Anna Smrek had 11 kills, hit .500 and had two digs and four blocks. Maryland hit .029 …

AVCA No. 15 Purdue (11-6, 5-3) won in four at Ohio State (7-10, 4-4) as five players had eight or more kills, 19 by Eva Hudson, who had nine digs and two blocks. Hudson had eight kills in the fourth set of the 25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 28-26 victory. Purdue trailed 24-23 in the fourth set before scoring the last five points, which included two kills by Hudson. Ohio State’s Emily Londot went off for 26 kills and had two assists, seven digs and a block … 

AVCA No. 24 Minnesota (8-8, 4-4) had to rally for a 25-14, 16-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-12 victory over visiting Northwestern (9-9, 3-5). Taylor Landfair had 15 kills, two assists, two aces, a block and 12 digs and Lydia Grote had 14 kills, an assist, five aces, three blocks and 12 digs. Kylie Murr had 19 digs, five assists and an ace. Melanie Shaffmaster had two kills, 40 assists, two aces, five blocks and 11 digs. Her team hit .149. Julia Sangiacomo had 24 kills for Northwestern to go with three aces, a block and 12 digs. Alexa Rousseau had five kills, 43 assists, three blocks and 22 digs … 

Illinois (8-10, 3-5) beat visiting Rutgers (9-9, 1-7) in four. Raina Terry had 24 kills, four aces, seven digs and four blocks.

Around the nation

In the only Big 12 match, visiting Texas (13-3, 8-0) took it to AVCA No. 21 Houston, sweeping the Cougars 25-10, 25-19, 25-23. Madisen Skinner had 20 of the Longhorns’ 46 kills. She hit .375 and had an assist, two blocks and six digs. Emma Halter had 18 digs, two assist and two aces and Ella Swindle had four kills, 31 assists, an ace, four blocks and six digs. Her team hit .296. Houston playing before another big crowd in its Fertitta Center, this time 7,051, three fewer than the record 7,054 on Saturday, hit .092. Kenna Sauer had 14 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and six digs … 

AVCA No. 17 Creighton swept Villanova as the Bluejays hit .340 in the only Big East match. Ellie Bichelmeyer had 11 kills with two errors in 18 swings to hit .500 … 

South Florida beat Charlotte in four in the American Athletic and Buse Hazan had 19 kills, an ace, an assist, 19 digs and a solo block … In Kennesaw State’s ASUN sweep of Central Arkansas, Manu Johnsen had 18 kills, hit .389, and had an ace and four digs … Binghamton swept at UAlbany in America East and Tsvetelina Ilieva had 16 kills, hit .306, and had an ace, six digs and three blocks. Anna Sprys had four kills in eight errorless attacks and nine blocks …  VCU won its Atlantic 10 match in five at Rhode Island as Kialah Jefferson had 21 kills, an assist, three aces, 10 digs and four blocks, one solo … 

In the CAA, Towson maintained its one-game lead over Delaware, Northeastern and Campbell with a sweep at UNC Wilmington, hitting .345 … Norfolk State beat Morgan State in four in the MEAC and Gabrielle Gilbert had 21 kills, hitting .326, to go with two assists, 11 digs and three blocks, one solo … 

In the only Patriot League match, first-place Colgate, which had won 13 in a row, lost in five at American. American’s Adelina Berisha had 22 kills, five digs and four blocks, one solo, and Zeynep Uzen had 21 kills, hit .385, and had an assist and 12 digs. Bridget Javitch had 22 digs, seven assists and an ace … In the lone SoCon match, Mercer swept Chattanooga and Skyler Bumpers had 15 kills with one error in 22 attacks, a dig and two blocks, one solo … 

And in the MAAC, first-place Fairfield (13-5, 9-1) swept at last-place Saint Peter’s, leaving the Peacocks 0-22, 0-11. Fairfield’s Allie Elliott had 15 kills, hit .355 and had 10 digs and a block.

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