Volleyball Today: San Diego, Arkansas notch NCAA upsets; Wisconsin hires Carlini

In another all-NCAA volleyball edition of Volleyball Today, San Diego got a much-needed victory Thursday with an upset of No. 17 BYU and Tulsa knocked off No. 22 Arkansas.

All the other AVCA-ranked teams swept except Baylor, which beat LSU, 30-28 in the fourth.

We’re back to quite a few teams playing twice in a day as the third weekend of pre-conference play continues Friday, so the slate is loaded.

The SEC is going to use the multi-sport video review system supplied by Hawk-Eye Innovations and Olympian Lauren Carlini got a real job.

Friday’s NCAA volleyball schedule

Most of the ranked Big Ten teams are in action, including No. 5 Nebraska (6-1) playing host to the Big 12’s No. 14 Arizona State (7-0) of the Big 12. Third-ranked Penn State (5-0) plays the ACC’s Duke, No. 7 Purdue (6-0) plays Houston of the Big 12, No. 12 Oregon plays No. 17 BYU of the Big 12, No. 19 Minnesota (3-3) takes on unbeaten Auburn (6-0) of the SEC and UCLA (5-1) plays No. 25 TCU (4-2) of the Big 12.

One won’t be unbeaten after Friday when No. 24 Dayton (5-0) of the Atlantic 10 plays Illinois (6-0) at Western Kentucky. Michigan, off to a 7-0 start, plays Akron. Washington (5-0) faces Washington State (3-2) in a not-Pac-12 match.

In the ACC, No. 1 Pittsburgh (4-0) is at Pepperdine. No. 15 Georgia Tech plays Alabama State, No. 20 Miami (5-0) plays at Ohio State, No. 21 Florida State faces Florida Atlantic, 7-0 Syracuse plays NJIT, Cal (5-2) plays 5-0 Wyoming, Virginia (6-1) plays both West Virginia and Liberty. Boston College plays both Jacksonville and Georgia. All three teams are 3-3. SMU (3-3) gets a crack at No. 10 Kentucky (5-2) of the SEC.

Also in the Big 12, unbeaten Arizona (6-0) plays both Abilene Chrisitan and Texas Southern.

The SEC schedule includes Arkansas getting right back at it against Stephen F. Austin, LSU taking on 5-0 Samford and unbeaten Texas A&M (4-0) facing Temple.

Matches worth noting include No. 9 Creighton vs. Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky vs. Marquette, 7-0 UT Arlington vs. Saint Louis, 6-0 Central Michigan vs. Eastern Kentucky and Southeast Missouri, 6-0 South Dakota vs. Eastern Illinois, 6-0 Tennessee Tech vs. Nicholls and West Georgia and 6-0 UConn vs. Delaware State.

San Diego, Tulsa notch upsets

San Diego (2-4) battled to a 24-26, 25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 16-14 victory over visiting BYU (4-2) for its first victory over a ranked team since winning at BYU in November 2022 in what was then a WCC match.

Nemo Beach (all-name team) led the Toreros with 22 kills and had three aces, 13 digs and three blocks, one solo. Isabel Clark had 13 kills and Kennedy Osunsanmi had 12 kills and three blocks. Madi Allen had 27 digs, two aces and eight assists. Kyle Munday had 45 assists, 19 digs and four blocks. Her team hit .140 and had eight aces and seven serving errors. 

Claire Little led BYU with 22 kills, a block and 14 digs. Alex Bower had 58 assists, 15 digs and a block. Her team hit .184 and had three aces and 13 errors.

Both teams are 7-1 after Tulsa beat visiting Arkansas 25-21, 25-18, 17-25, 22-25, 15-8. It was only the second time Tulsa has beaten a ranked opponent. The other was over then-No. 10 LSU in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Tulsa, which had lost five in a row to Arkansas, hit just. .154 with eight fewer kills, but had a 12-9 blocks advantage and five aces to three by Arkansas.

Rachel Brown had 13 kills, three blocks and three digs for Tulsa. Lauren Eitler had 10 kills, an ace, a block and 21 digs. Tytiana Johnson had eight kills and seven blocks, two solo. Marta Pecalli had 24 digs, four assists and an ace.

Arkansas, which hit .127, got another strong performance from Romani Thurman, who had 24 kills, hit .316, and added two blocks and eight digs.

Around the nation

No. 13 Florida hit .456 and swept Alabama State. Isabel Martin had six kills in 11 errorless attacks, seven digs and two blocks. ASU hit .014 … No. 14 Arizona State swept Wichita State as Bailey Miller had 13 kills with one error in 17 attacks and a block … No. 15 Georgia Tech swept South Alabama. Tamara Otene had 10 kills, an assist, three aces, six digs and a block … 

No. 18 Baylor beat visiting LSU 25-16, 23-25, 25-21, 30-28. The fourth set had 19 ties and eight lead changes. Elise McGhee led the Bears with 20 kills, two aces, six digs and a block. Kendal Murphy had 15 kills, hit .406, and had nine digs. Jurnee Robinson stayed hot for LSU, this time with 21 kills, seven digs and two blocks … No. 19 Minnesota swept LIU … No. 23 USC swept Utah State … No. 25 TCU swept both Texas A&M-Commerce and Prairie View. Melanie Parra had 23 kills and hit .444 against Commerce and had 17 more against PVU … UCLA also swept the same teams …

Rutgers got swept by Binghamton as the Bearcats hit .300 and improved to 6-3. Tsvetelina Ilieva led with 16 kills and hit .484 after having one error in 31 attacks. She had an ace, five digs and three blocks. Rutgers is 3-5 … Michigan is 7-0 after hitting .340 in a sweep of Sacramento State. Allison Jacobs had 12 kills, and Serena Nyambo had nine kills with no errors in 11 attacks … Earlier, Sacramento State swept Saint Francis as Brigette Smith had 17 kills, hit .375, and had an ace, five digs and two blocks … Notre Dame beat Northwestern in four as Phyona Schrader had 21 kills, hit .529, and had three aces, 13 digs and three blocks … 

In Weber State’s sweep of Saint Louis, Ashley Gneiting had 12 kills with one error in 21 attacks, an assist, two aces, five digs and four blocks … Kari Geissberger had 11 kills with one error in 21 swings in Oklahoma’s sweep of Stephen F. Austin … Syracuse improved to 7-0 with a sweep of Siena as Skylar George had 19 kills and hit .342 … South Florida swept North Florida behind 15 kills from Maria Clara Andrade, who hit .387 and had six digs and four blocks, one solo … Jalyn Stout had 15 kills and hit .414 to go with an ace and 12 digs in Coastal Carolina’s sweep of Gardner-Webb … Georgia Southern swept NC A&T, which got 20 kills from Tyne Ross, who had 10 digs … James Madison swept UC San Diego as Miette Veldman had 19 kills, two aces, 10 digs and a block … Old Dominion beat George Mason in five as Elisa Maggie had 17 kills with one error in 30 swings, an ace, 10 digs and two blocks … Cincinnati beat Xavier in four as Carly Glendinning had 21 kills, hitting .348, to go with an assist, an ace, seven digs and a block. Faith Frame had 27 digs, an ace, and six assists … Troy hit .389 as it swept The Citadel. Amiah Butler had 16 kills and hit .429 to go with two aces and five digs … 

Clemson swept App State as Mia McGrath had 13 kills with one error in 27 swings to go with an assist, two aces, eight digs and a solo block. App State’s Elise Marchal had 13 kills in 24 errorless attacks, 12 digs and two blocks … UT Arlington is 7-0 after sweeping Missouri State. Brianna Ford had 13 kills, hit .360 and had 16 digs and a block … Texas Tech is 6-1 after it got 17 kills from Mia Wesley and 16 from Brynn Williams in a five-set win over UTRGV. UTRGV’s Claudia Lupescu had 25 kills, hit .322, and had three aces, 13 digs and two blocks, one solo … Meg Brown had 20 kills and hit .471 for Kansas State in a four-set win over Lipscomb. She also had four blocks, two solo … UC Riverside beat California Baptist in four as Sophia Ewalefo had 16 kills, hit .500, and had an assist, an ace and seven digs … Loyola Marymount beat Ohio in five despite Ohio’s Kam Hunt getting 27 kills. She hit .404 and had an assist, an ace, seven digs and a solo block … Northern Arizona beat New Mexico in five as Taylor Jacobsen had 18 kills, an assist, an ace and 20 digs. Millier O’Ketter had 26 digs, an ace and three assists … Texas State beat Oregon State in four as MJ McCurdy had 15 kills, hit .370 and had three digs and two blocks. Setter Ryann Torres had three kills in eight errorless tries, 36 assists, an ace, 12 digs and two blocks … 

And someone had to get the first victory as Merrimack (1-7) beat visiting UConn (0-6) in five. Hanna Webber had 13 kills for the Warriors.

SEC going with Hawk-Eye

From the league:

The Southeastern Conference is utilizing a multi-sport video review system supplied by Hawk-Eye Innovations, part of Sony’s Sports businesses, beginning with the 2024 SEC soccer and volleyball seasons.

 Hawk-Eye Innovations’ Synchronized Multi-Angle Replay Technology (SMART) system works as the basis for video capture, replay, clipping and distribution capabilities. Already adopted by major sports properties all over the globe, it is the technology that allows SEC officials to independently review the action.

In all volleyball contests at SEC home venues, 12 dedicated high-speed cameras have been added to existing broadcast cameras including six “pylon cameras” on the playing surface to capture in/out reviews.

 In the SEC volleyball video review system, a designated Review Referee at the scorer’s table reviews the plays in question and has sole authority on all review outcomes. In non-conference matches, the R2 reviews the plays in question and has sole authority on all review outcomes. 

Carlini joins Wisconsin staff

Coach Kelly Sheffield is bringing on one of the best players in Wisconsin history, setter Lauren Carlini, as an “Offensive Analyst and Strategy Consultant.”

Carlini played in the Paris Olympics when the USA won the silver medal and is going to play for Madison in the new LOVB league.

Wisconsin (3-3) plays Marquette on Tuesday.

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