NCAA volleyball report: AVCA Poll, the POWs, kills trivia
We’ve got the schedule, AVCA Poll and POW news, more POWs and some trivia in this NCAA report.
MONDAY-TUESDAY: There were three SWAC matches Monday as Alcorn beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff in four, Alabama A&M swept Mississippi Valley and Grambling swept Southern. In the Missouri Valley, UIC swept Valparaiso and in the Southland, Northwestern State swept UIW. The line of the night goes to UIC’s Mikala Henderson, who had 13 kills, hit .440, and had an assist, five digs and five blocks.
There are 25 matches on the Tuesday schedule, including four in the West Coast Conference, including No. 20 Pepperdine home for Gonzaga.
TRIVIA: Who leads the NCAA in kills? Answer below.
AVCA POLL: The top four teams — Texas, Louisville, Nebraska and San Diego — stayed 1-2-3-4 in the AVCA top 25.
After that?
A gentle reshuffling, but no one dropped out.
Purdue moved up six spots to No. 5, Ohio State went up a notch to No. 6, Minnesota went up a spot to No. 7, Wisconsin dropped two spots to No. 8, Stanford fell four spots to No. 9, and Pittsburgh stayed No. 10.
Oregon moved up from No. 21 to No. 16 and Kentucky went from No. 15 to 18th.
Click here to see the complete AVCA Division I Coaches Poll.
AVCA POW: A Towson player won for the first time. The honoree is junior Nina Cajic, a junior from Subotica, Serbia, who had 32 kills with two errors in two sweeps at Stony Brook. Towson, 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association, is one of four unbeaten teams remaining in Division I. The Tigers are receiving votes in the AVCA Poll.
POWER 5 POWs: Auburn outside Madison Scheer is both the SEC player and freshman of the week. Scheer averaged 4.88 kills, hit .443, and averaged 1.13 blocks in two wins for Auburn, which is 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the SEC after beating Alabama twice. Caroline Meuth, a Texas A&M graduate-student outside hitter, is the offensive player, Auburn freshman libero Sarah Morton is the defensive player, and Mississippi State’s Gabby Coulter is the setter of the week …
In the Big Ten, there were co-POWs, Michigan sophomore middle Jacque Boney and Purdue freshman outside Eva Hudson. Boney averaged 3.83 kills, hit .528, and had 1.67 blocks per set in two wins. Hudson — also the top freshman — averaged 5.71 kills, 2 digs and a block in two wins. Hudson has been either the top freshman or player of the week in four of the five weeks this season. The defensive POW is Ali Hornung of Purdue, the setter Grace Balensiefer of Purdue …
The Pac-12 offensive POW is Washington senior setter Ella May Powell, whose Huskies hit a combined .386 in sweeps of Washington State and UCLA. Colorado’s Meegan Hart is the defensive winner and Oregon’s Mimi Colyer is the top freshman for the fourth time in five weeks …
In the Big 12, the winners were TCU’s Audrey Nalls, West Virginia’s Skye Stokes and Baylor Allie Sczech. Nalls, the offensive player, averaged 4.75 kills in two matches. Stokes, the defensive player had a Big 12-best 31 digs against Texas Tech. And Sczeh had 12 kills andhit .435 against TCU. Baylor has earned four of the five Rookie of the Week titles this season and has had three different freshmen receive the honor …
The ACC POW is Pittsburgh’s Serena Gray and the top freshman is Hanna Borer of Virginia Tech. Gray had 10 kills and hit .750 against North Caroina and then had 14 kills and hit .422 against NC State. Borer is the first VT honoree this season.
ASSORTED POWs: In the MAAC, it was all Canisius for the first time as the Griffins swept all three awards. The POW was senior outside Ella Loussia, the libero senior Bree Long, and the freshman setter Ella Bourque … In the American Athletic, UCF graduate-student outside McKenna Melville, who averaged 5.5 kills per set for the unbeaten Knights, is the offensive honoree for the third week in a row. Houston’s Kate Georgiades is the defensive player after averaging 6 digs per set …
Melody Paige had 37 kills and hit .533 for Campbell as the Fighting Camels opened Big South play with two victories … Coppin State went three-for-three as Hope Casel was the MEAC POW, Andrea Tsvetanova was the setter and Ashley Roman was the defensive honoree … The Sun Belt defensive POW is Southern Miss sophomore libero Megan Harris, who averaged 6.78 digs per set … Evansville sophomore outside Giulia Cardona is the Missouri Valley POW after averaging 5.13 kills … Sarah Ciszek of Sacred Heart is the NEC POW for the fifth week in a row and 19th time in her career …
UTEP freshman Torrance Lovesee is the Conference USA offensive player of the week for racking up 30 kills in eight sets in two victories while hitting .423. Rice’s Nia McCardell is the defensive honoree for the fourt time in five weeks … The Big East offensive POW is Marquette sophomore setter Yadhira Anchante, who averaged 11.57 assists as her team hit .360 in two victories. The defensive player is St. John’s graduate-student right side Rachele Rastelli … Portland senior Jayde Harris, who had 23 kills and two solo blocks in a win over Pacific, is the West Coast Conference offensive POW, while the defensive honor went to San Diego sophomore middle Haylee Stoner, who stoned opponents at the net with 14 blocks, three solo in two matches.
NCAA KILLS LEADER: It’s South Dakota junior outside hitter Elizabeth Juhnke. She has 288 kills in 14 matches, 56 total sets.
Second is Southern Miss sophomore outside Mia Wesley with 281, and third is Charlotte junior Emani Foster at 280.
The aforementioned UCF’s Melville is third in the NCAA in kills per set (5.38) behind Georgia Tech’s Julia Bergmann (5.43) and Delaware’s Lani Mason (5.43). Wesley is No. 4 at 5.30, Foster No. 5 at 5.28 and Juhnke is sixth at 5.14.
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