Volleyball Today: Hudson’s new team; coaches hired; final AVCA poll; LOVB 6; pro report

The day after the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship provided us with plenty of news and notes for this final edition of Volleyball Today.

Purdue star outside hitter Eva Hudson has picked her new team, Michigan State and Cincinnati hired new coaches, the AVCA has a final poll, and LOVB announced the last of its six standouts headed to the new league.

We’ve also got our last international pro women’s report of the year.

And Tuesday is chock full, because Emily Ehman and I will do our last 900 Square Feet video of the year and we plan to post our VolleyballMag All-American teams and announce the coach, player and freshman of the year.

Hudson goes south to Kentucky

Eva Huson, the Purdue outside hitter who led the Big Ten in kills this season, will finish her career at Kentucky. The 6-foot-1 Hudson had 567 kills this season (4.81/set), tied for fifth in the NCAA, and hit .287. She had 70 blocks, five solo, and averaged 2.44 digs/set.

Two other key Purdue players are in the portal, fellow outside Chloe Chicoine (363 kills, 2.95 digs) and Lourdes Myers (146 kills, 121 blocks, 13 solo). 

As we said before, we’re not going to try to keep up with them all, but here’s another: Illinois junior setter Brooke Mosher is headed to Pittsburgh. She averaged 8.91 assists, 1.94 digs and had 44 blocks, one solo, and 43 aces, which tied for seventh in the B1G.

Coaching carousel spins at Michigan St., Cincy

Michigan State hired Kristen Kelsay who has been an assistant at Minnesota the past two seasons. She’s a former Michigan State assistant who has also coached at Northwestern.

She takes over a program that finished 13-18 this season, 6-14 in the Big Ten.

Cincinnati hired Bowling Green’s Danijela Tomic. Tomic has been at Bowling Green for 13 seasons and before that was head coach at Florida International. Bowling Green won MAC titles in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022. 

The Bearcats finished 14-15 last season, 5-13 in the Big 12.

Penn State atop final AVCA top 25 

The final-four teams took the first four spots, with NCAA-champion Penn State No. 1, followed by Louisville, Pittsburgh and Nebraska. 

Florida State and BYU, which were in the final regular-season poll, dropped out, and Texas A&M jumped in at No. 16 and Marquette did the same at No. 25.

Click here for the complete AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll.

https://www.avca.org/polls-awards/polls/?_season=2024&_divisions=division-i-women

LOVB rounds out its class of six

League One Volleyball is calling them the LOVB 6.

The last one to be announced was Penn State’s Jess Mruzik, the star of the NCAA Champioship. She will play in Houston. 

The others:

Sophie Fischer of Georgia will play at LOVB Salt Lake, Sarah Franklin of Wisconsin is staying home with LOVB Madison, Onye Ofoegbu of Oregon will join LOVB Atlanta, Lexi Rodriguez of Nebraska is staying close to home by going to LOVB Omaha, and Madi Skinner of Texas will become the ninth former Longhorn on the LOVB Austin roster.

USA women’s international pro report

Khalia Lanier and Imoco Conegliano won the Club World Championship by sweeping the Chinese team Tianjin. 

Nia Reed had 45 kills, three blocks and three aces and was eighth best scorer in the tournament, but her Praia Clube team lost to Milano in the bronze-medal match. Payton Caffrey had 42 kills, three blocks and three aces across the five matches.

In Italy, Avery Skinner had 10 kills and a block but Chieri was  swept by Novara. Ashley Evans set Bergamo to its eighth win of the season in a sweep of Perugia. Evans had three aces and two kills.

In the German Cup, Dresden earned a spot in the final aby beating Potsdam in five. Marta Levinska had 19 kills and a block for Dresden and Emma Clothier added five kills, three aces and a block. Danielle Harbin led Potsdam with 21 kills, a block and an ace. Eleanor Holhaus had 12 kills and two blocks and Sabrina Starks had a match-high six blocks, three kills and an ace.

In the German League, Schwerin pulled off a reverse sweep against defending champions Stuttgart, winning 16-14 in the fifth. Jaelyn Keene had nine kills, four blocks and two aces for Schwerin. Madelyn Robinson had two kills as a substitute for Stuttgart.

Setter Jenna Ewert had three kills and two blocks and was named MVP as Potsdam beat Suhl in four sets. Harbin was top scorer with 13 kills and three blocks. Holthaus added 12 kills, a block and an ace. Starks had five kills and two blocks.

Aachen upset Wiesbaden in five sets as Cara McKenzie had 10 kills, three blocks and two aces. Serena Bruin added eight kills, three blocks and an ace. Rachel Anderson-Gomez had five kills and two aces for Wiesbaden.

In France, Mulhouse escaped Quimper’s upset bid in five sets. Annayka Legros was top scorer with 17 kills (.483), two blocks and one ace. Katelyn Evans had 13 kills. Jasmine Gross finished with seven kills, three aces and two blocks.

Nantes got back into the win column by sweeping Chamalieres. Haylie Bennett was top scorer with 10 kills, three blocks and an ace. Jess Robinson had four kills, a block and an ace. Setter Ella May Powell had two kills, a block and an ace.

Alondra Vazquez was named MVP as Nancy beat Cannes in five sets. She had 17 kills and two blocks. Breana Runnels had 10 kills and an ace. Bella Bergmark added seven kills and three blocks. Lauren Matthews had 13 kills and one block for Cannes. Anna Katherine Griggs added kills, a block and an ace.

Morgahn Fingall was named MVP as Volero Le Cannet swept Marcq en Barouel. Fingall was the top scorer with 17 kills, three blocks and an ace.

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