NCAA volleyball: Buckeyes knock off GT; wins for Arkansas, Rice, Marquette, Texas St., Auburn

The new AVCA Poll comes out later Monday and while Texas and Nebraska will stay 1-2, you can bet there will be some serious movement amongst the next 23.

Ohio State, ranked No. 8, did its part by not only winning but sweeping Sunday at previously unbeaten No. 5 Georgia Tech. Saturday, of course, No. 7 Pittsburgh lost to Towson and No. 3 Minnesota was one of Penn State’s weekend victims.

Arkansas dealt Colorado its first loss, leaving both teams 7-1, as the Razorbacks notched their sixth sweep in a row. Rice did the same to Texas Tech, leaving both teams 8-1.

There are literally no NCAA Division I women’s volleyball matches scheduled for Monday, but as we head into the final week of pre-conference play, this are no shortage of good competition and in-state rivalries ahead. 

That starts with Tuesday night in Lincoln when unbeaten Nebraska welcomes No. 11 Stanford. Also Tuesday, No. 15 Baylor plays North Texas, No. 21 Western Kentucky plays Tennessee and No. 23 Marquette plays Green Bay. 

BUCKEYES BEAT GT: Ohio State (3-3) won at Georgia Tech (6-1) 25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23 for its third victory over a top-10 team after opening with back-to-back losses against Texas and losing to San Diego. 

Ohio State, which beat then-No. 3 Louisville last week and this past Friday swept No. 10 BYU, hit .226. Gabby Gonzales led with 16 kills, three assists, an ace, 12 digs and two blocks. Emily Londot had 12 kills, 10 digs and two blocks. Jenaisya Moore had 10 kills, two digs and a block, and Rylee Rader had eight kills, an assist, three digs and four blocks. Mac Podraza had three kills, 39 assists, 11 digs and three blocks. 

Georgia Tech, which hit .152, got 21 kills from Julia Bergmann, but she hit .141. She added two digs. Bianca Bertolini had 11 kills, an assist, 14 digs and two blocks. Isabella D’Amica had a kill, 38 assists, an ace, 13 digs and two blocks.

AROUND THE NATION: Arkansas of the SEC rolled over visiting Colorado of the Pac-12 25-20, 25-16, 25-14. Taylor Head led with 13 kills as she hit .344 and had three aces, three blocks and 10 digs. Colorado hit .059 … 

Rice of Conference USA dealt the Big 12’s Texas Tech its first defeat 17-25, 25-21, 25-15, 18-25, 15-12. Rice hit .206 but held a 12-6 blocking advantage. Danyele Courtley led with 16 kills, three blocks and three digs. Nia McCardell had 36 digs and three assists. Kenna Sauer had 21 kills for Texas Tech to go with two assists, 11 digs and four blocks, one solo .. 

No. 23 Marquette of the Big East hit .418 and swept visiting Milwaukee of the Horizon. Aubrey Hamilton and Hattie Bray had eight kills each …  

Texas State of the Sun Belt hit .467 swept visiting Wake Forest of the ACC, leaving both teams 6-3 after all three sets ended 25-17. Janell Fitzgerald led with 14 kills as she hit .524 and had four assists, two blocks and 13 digs. Texas State had 49 kills with eight errors in 89 swings … 

Auburn of the SEC is 8-0 after sweeping North Florida. Akasha Anderson had 15 kills, hit .344, and had an ace, a solo block and five digs … Miami of the ACC swept the CAA’s UNC Wilmington. Peyman Yardmici had 11 kills and hit .529 … Oklahoma of the Big 12 beat Fresno State of the Mountain West in four to improve to 7-2. The Sooner hit .322 and got 19 kills from Taylor Preston, who had an assist, three aces, 11 digs and six blocks. OU held a 16-8 blocking advantage, which included nine — one solo — by Kelsey Carrington … UCF of the American Athletic improved to 5-0 with a four-set win over visiting UIC of the Missouri Valley. McKenna Melville had 26 kills, hit .382 and had two blocks and eight digs. Kari Zumach, a grad-student transfer from Indiana, had 12 kills with one error in 24 attacks, three digs and five blocks …

Stony Brook of the CAA beat the Big East’s Seton Hall in five on Sunday but then lost to the home team, Sacred Heart of the NEC, in four. Sacred Heart’s Camryn Luginbuhl had 23 kills, hit .356, and had an assist, three aces, 13 digs and five blocks, two solo … Seton Hall then lost to Princeton of the Ivy League, which got 17 kills from Valerie Nutakor, who hit .341. Seton Hall’s Anna Holland had 29 digs, three assists and an ace … 

Tulane of the American Athletic won in five at the WCC’s Santa Clara. Tulane had four players with 10 or more kills and Jillian Dits had 25 digs, four assists and two aces. Tulane had 10 kills with no errors in 14 attacks in the fifth set. Santa Clara’s Julia Sangiacomo had 27 kills and hit .386 to go with an assist, an ace, 12 digs and three blocks … Howard of the MEAC won in five at the MAAC’s Fairfield. Four Bison had 10 or more kills, including Maya Gerlach, who had 10 kills, hit .471, and had six blocks. Fairfield’s KJ Johnson had 23 kills, two assists, two aces, three blocks and 16 digs … UMBC of America East beat visiting Niagara of the MAAC in four. Mia Bilusic had 19 kills, hit .350, and had six aces, a block and 10 digs … Portland State of the Big Sky kept Cal Poly of the Big West winless as the Pilots hit .324 … Troy of the Sun Belt beat UAB of Conference USA in five. Troy’s Tori Hester had 19 kills, an assist, two blocks and 13 digs. UAB’s Erin Powers had 34 digs, four assists and an ace.

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