Volleyball Today: Badgers end UW’s unbeaten start; TCU upsets Baylor; AU wraps first week

Just two teams, both 14-0, remain unbeaten in NCAA Division I volleyball after Wisconsin swept visiting Washington on Sunday: No. 1 Pittsburgh, which swept Syracuse in the ACC, and idle South Dakota State (14-0) of The Summit League. 

AVCA No. 22 TCU upset Baylor, No. 15 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, and unranked Texas A&M knocked off No. 24 Auburn.

And in their first SEC meeting, No. 7 Texas won the first set 25-23 but then overpowered No. 18 Florida 25-18, 25-14.

Every other ranked team in action swept, except No. 17 SMU, which was taken to the limit at Boston College before getting out of Chestnut Hill with a five-set victory.

Lines of the day: Nia Washington of Ole Miss had 28 kills in a four-set SEC win over visiting LSU. She hit .404 and had two aces, seven digs and a block. Jayden James had 25 kills for Jackson State in its five-set SWAC win over Prairie View. She hit .327 and had 10 digs. Aniya Madkin of Arkansas had 25 kills and hit .385 in the Razorbacks’ four-set SEC win at Oklahoma to go with four digs and a block. And TCU’s Melanie Parra, a frequent visitor to the Line of the Day, had 25 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 11 digs in that win over Baylor.

The new VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll comes out later Monday morning and the AVCA top 25 will be announced in the afternoon. Also Monday, ESPN and Big Ten Network analyst Emily Ehman and VolleyballMag editor Lee Feinswog will have their weekly NCAA Zoom.

There are four matches Monday, three in the SWAC and one in the WAC. 

And Athletes Unlimited wraps up its first week of action.

Teams from Texas win

Texas (9-3, 4-0 SEC) hit .333 in its sweep at Florida (10-4, 1-2. Madi Skinner led with 12 kills, hitting .360, and had an ace, four blocks and four digs. Devin Kahahawai had eight kills with no errors in 12 attacks, an ace six blocks and two digs. Marianna Singletary had five kills, three digs and 10 blocks, two solo. Florida’s Kennedy Martin had 12 kills but eight errors to go with an ace and five digs … 

TCU improved to 11-3, 3-1 in the only Big 12 match of the day with its 25-23, 22-25, 25-16, 25-20 victory over visiting Baylor (10-4, 2-1) before 4,094 in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. 

Melanie Parra led with 25 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 11 digs. Jalyn Gibson added 14 kills, three assists, three blocks and 17 digs and Becca Kelley had 14 kills, an assist, two digs and four blocks, one solo. Baylor, which hit .165, got 15 kills from Elise McGhee, who had an ace, a block and 11 digs. Allie Sczech had 12 kills, two blocks and five digs …

TCU is coached by former Baylor assistant Jason Williams. SMU (12-3, 4-0 ACC) is coached by former Baylor assistant Sam Erger and her team got out of Boston College (7-9, 0-4) with a 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, 16-25, 15-10 victory. Naya Shime and Maya Tabron had 17 kills each for the Mustangs. Shine had two assists, three blocks and seven digs, while Tabron hit .359 and had two of her team’s 11 aces, a solo block and four digs in the first meeting between the programs. BC, which took a set off previously unblemished Pitt on Friday, got 14 kills from Audrey Ross, who had an assist, two blocks and two digs. Halle Schroder had 12 kills, an ace, two blocks and nine digs, and Julia Haggerty had 10 kills with one error in 16 swings to hit .563 and had nine blocks, three solo. The senior middle is averaging a nation-leading 2.07 blocks per set.

Around the nation

ACC: Pitt swept at Syracuse 25-11, 25-18, 25-14 as Torrey Stafford had 16 kills, hit .560, and had five digs. Syracuse hit .023. In the only conference match involving two ranked teams, No. 4 Louisville swept visiting No. 19 Georgia Tech, which hit .064, 25-20, 25-16, 27-25 behind 15 kills from Charitie Luper, who hit .524 and had nine digs and three blocks. No. 5 Stanford hit .468 and swept visiting Wake Forest. The Cardinal, which had 38 kills and two errors in 77 attacks, got nine kills from Jordyn Harvey, who had no errors in 13 attacks and a block. AVCA No. 16 Florida State swept at Virginia Tech as Audrey Koenig had 11 kills, hit .364 and had an assist, an ace, six digs and two blocks. Virginia continued its resurgence with a sweep at Miami two days after doing the same at FSU. The Cavaliers are 13-2 overall, and at 3-1 in the ACC off to its best conference start since 2015. Elayna Duprey led with 12 kills, an ace and three digs. Notre Dame swept visiting Clemson and Cal did the same to visiting NC State. 

BIG TEN: No. 9 Wisconsin (9-4, 3-1) put an end to No. 25 Washington’s undefeated record as the Huskies dropped to 13-1, 3-1 in the first conference meeting betwen the programs. Wisconsin hit .486 with 40 kills and four errors in 74 swings. Sarah Franklin led the Badgers with 12 kills and hit .478 after having one error in 23 attacks to go with an assist, an ace and eight digs. Anna Smrek had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks and four blocks. Washington hit .114. Second-ranked Nebraska (14-1, 4-0) crushed visiting Iowa 25-17, 25-11, 25-13, hitting .404. Merritt Beason led with 10 kills and hit .400 to go with an ace and two blocks, one solo, and Leyla Blackwelll had nine kills with no errors in 13 swings with two blocks, one solo. No. 10 Purdue swept visiting Michigan State as Eva Hudson had 11 kills, nine digs and three blocks. Dave Shondell got victory No. 470 to become the winningest head coach in Purdue history. He passed Carol Dewey, who had 469 victories from 1975-94. Illinois beat visiting Northwestern in four for its first conference win as Ashlyn Philpot had 14 kills, hitting .524, to go with five blocks. And Indiana held off visiting Ohio State in four despite 23 kills from the Buckeyes’ Emily Londot, who hit .347 and had 15 digs and four blocks. IU’s Candela Alonso-Corcelles had 18 kills, an ace, eight digs and two blocks.

SEC: No. 13 Kentucky swept visiting Missouri as Brooklyn DeLeye had 12 kills, hit .435 and added an ace, three digs and two blocks. Texas A&M won 25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 25-19 at Auburn behind 23 kills from Logan Lednicky, who hit .318 and had an ace, 18 digs and three blocks. Ifenna Cos-Okpalla had seven blocks, two solo, to go with six kills and a dig. Arkansas won in four at Oklahoma as Aniya Madkin had 25 kills, hit .385, and had four digs and a block. OU’s Kamile Gibston had 22 kills, hit .333, and had two digs and a block. Alabama beat visiting Georgia in five as Sophie Agee had 19 kills, an ace, seven digs and two blocks and Chaise Campbell had 14 kills, hit .524 and had nine blocks, one solo. Georgia’s Sophie Fisher had 21 kills, two assists, two aces, seven digs and nine blocks, one solo. Tennessee swept at Mississippi State and Ole Miss — behind those 28 kills from Nia Washington — beat visiting LSU in four. 

ALSO: Marist’s MAAC nightmare is over. The Red Foxes (1-14, 1-4) defeated Manhattan (1-14, 0-5) in four sets as Sara Dasic had 19 kills, three aces and eight digs and Katherine Thompson had 13 digs, three assists and three aces. Also in the MAAC, Rider beat Niagara in five in the MAAC as Paige Giehtbrock had 16 kills, an assist, two aces, 17 digs and two blocks. Canisius beat Saint Peters in five despite the Peacocks’ Maliyah LaBrie getting 22 kills, 10 digs and five blocks …

Pepperdine improved to 7-7, 4-0 in the West Coast Conference with a four-set victory at Washington State (8-5, 3-1) as Grace Chillingworth had 14 kills, an assist, two aces, 13 digs and a block … East Carolina improved to 10-4, 3-1 in the American Athletic, with a five-set win over North Texas as Angeles Alerdete had 22 kills, five assists, two aces, 10 digs and two blocks, one solo. Rice (9-4, 4-0) stayed atop the AAC, tied with South Florida, with a five-set win at Wichita State (8-8, 3-1) as Samarah Hill had 18 kills, an assist, an ace, 15 digs and two blocks, one solo.  USF beat Memphis in four as Maria Clara Andrade had 20 kills, hit .333 and had eight digs and two blocks, one solo …

Central Arkansas improved to 4-0 in the ASUN with a four-set win over Eastern Kentucky as Laci Bohannan had 21 kills, an assist, an ace, 13 digs and three blocks … Tsvetelina Ilieva had 21 kills for Binghamton in a four-set America East win over Bryant. She had six digs and five blocks. In UMBC’s five-set over UAlbany, Hannah Dobbs had 22 kills … In Delaware State’s MEAC sweep of Norfolk State, Gerren Tomlin had 18 kills, hitting .441, with two aces, 12 digs and a block … 

Army West Point beat Colgate, which dropped to 5-1 in the conference, in the only Patriot League match of the day as Mackenzie Lynch had 23 kills, hit .352 and added 16 digs and two blocks, one solo. Teammate Chloe Murakimi had 19 kills, two aces and 16 digs. Idle Bucknell leads the PL at 6-0 … In Bethune-Cookman’s five-set SWAC win over Alabama State, Ktyal Price had 13 kills, hit .526, and had 12 blocks, two solo.

AU wins for De La Cruz-Mejía, Nuneviller

Team De La Cruz-Mejía defeated Team Valentin-Anderson 78-65 and Team Nuneviller beat Team Hentz 66-60 Sunday in Mesa, Arizona, in the second round of the first week of Athletes Unlimited. Team De La Cruz-Mejia won the sets 25-18, 28-26, 25-21.

Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía finished with 19 kills, hit .563, and added five digs with a solo block and gained 439 leaderboard points. Madi Kingdon Rishel led Team Valentin-Anderson with 16 kills and got 129 leaderboard points.

In the nightcap, Brooke Nuneviller and Kelsie Payne had 12 kills each. Payne got 306 leaderboard points after hitting .367. Nuneviller had a match-high 14 digs. Nuneviller won the first two sets, 25-16, 25-19 before Hentz won the third 25-16. Jenna Rosenthal led Team Hentz with nine kills in 13 errorless attacks to hit .692 and she had two solo blocks. 

The third of the first three playing dates is Monday night with Team De La Cruz-Mejía vs. Team Hentz at 7 p.m. Eastern, followed by Team Valentin-Anderson vs. Team Nuneviller at 9:30. Both matches can be seen on ESPNU.

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