Ninth-ranked Oregon laid the hammer down on Hawai’i on Sunday, Northwestern upset No. 13 San Diego and No. 18 Creighton, coming off its big win over Purdue, lost in five to Duke.
And No. 16 Purdue is reeling. The Boilermakers, who opened with a four-set win over Duke, got swept by Creighton on Saturday and then lost in five to Loyola Chicago.
A handful of teams coming off tough losses bounced back Sunday, and Louisville improved to 3-0 as the No. 4 Cardinals lost the first set at home to Wright State before winning in four.
There are just two matches on the Monday NCAA women’s volleyball schedule, including UCLA of the Pac-12 taking advantage of its trip to Louisiana by heading to Northwestern State of the Southland Conference. UCLA split with LSU this past weekend, with each winning five-setters. The Lady Demons are 0-3. As Northwestern State, located in the town of Natchitoches, said in its news release, “For the first time in program history, Northwestern State will host a former NCAA national championship program on its home court inside Prather Coliseum.”
Also Monday, Florida Atlantic is at Miami (FL).
Oregon went 3-0 on its trip to Honolulu and finished with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-15 win over host Hawai’i.
Oregon, which had a 10-5 blocks advantage and hit .252 while the Rainbow Wahine struggled to a a .113 percentage, got 17 kills from Mimi Colyer. She had an ace, three digs and two blocks, one solo. Gabby Gonzales, the Ohio State transfer, had eight kills, two assists, two aces, three blocks and eight digs. Baylor transfer Kara McGhee had seven blocks, two solo, to go with four kills. Caylen Alexander had 10 kills for Hawai’i. Offensive leader Amber Igiede was helo to seven kills.
Also in the Pac-12, No. 21 Washington State hit .476 and swept Troy. Iman Isanovic had 15 kills with two errors in 24 attacks to hit .542 and had two aces, three digs and a block.
No. 22 USC, bounced back from two losses to start its Houstson trip by sweeping Southern Miss. Skylar Fields had 17 kills and hit .424 to go with an assist, an ace, nine digs and two blocks. The daughter of Southern Miss coach Jenny Hazelwood, Allie, got in for USC and had two assists. Arizona State swept Ole Miss and Colorado hit .417 as it did the same to North Texas.
Northwestern’s Maddy Chinn is all over the ball and USD’s Alex Hoglund/Griffin Quinn Northwestern Athletics
Northwestern, which opened with losses to Hawai’i and Oregon, beat San Diego 25-17, 22-25, 25-13, 25-20. Julia Sangiacomo, the transfer from Santa Clara, led with 21 kills, an ace, a block and six digs. San Diego, which played in last December’s national semifinals, is 0-3.
Loyola beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 2004 with its 20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 22-25, 16-14 win at Purdue. Emmily Banitt tied her career high with 19 kills and hit .533 after having three errors in 30 attacks. She had three assists, two aces, three blocks and 12 digs. Karlie McNabb had 17 kills, an ace and 13 digs. Purdue had seven kills and six errors in 23 attacks in the fifth set. The Boilermakers got 20 kills from Chloe Chicoine, who had an assist, two aces, four digs and three blocks, one solo. Evan Hudson had 16 kills but hit .096.
There were four other Big Ten matches.
Fifth-ranked Nebraska improved to 3-0 with a sweep of SMU as the Huskers now prepare for the big Wednesday in Lincoln when they play Omaha inside the school’s football stadium. We’ll have a more about that match and all that goes with it before the festivities begin.
Nebraska, which opened with wins sweeps of visiting Utah State and Lipsomb, got 14 kills from Harper Murray against SMU. Her teammates combined for 24 kills as the Huskers hit .144.
No. 14 Ohio State is 3-0 after it swept East Tennessee State as the Buckeyes hit .467. Emily Londot had 12 kills with one error in 21 attacks and had two digs and three blocks, one solo.
Iowa lost in five at Nevada as Sia Liilii had 21 kills. Iowa’s Caitlan Buettner had 16 kills and 20 digs. Both teams are 1-2. And Michigan State hit .410 and swept at Central Arkansas. Grace Kelly had 12 kills and hit .400 and Evie Doezema had seven kills in 11 errorless swings.
The Big East’s Creighton opened with sweeps of Loyola and Purdue at Purdue. But Sunday, Duke upset a ranked team for the first time since beating Oregon last September.
Rachel Richardson, who in the first two matches of the weekend, losses to Purdue and Loyola, had a combined 11 kills with 11 errors in 35 attacks. Against Creighton, she had 16 kills with six errors in 41 swings to go with an assist, a block and a dig. Gracie Johnson had 15 kills, two assists, two aces, three blocks and 15 digs and Kerry Keefe had 13 kills, an ace, a block and 14 digs. Madison Bryant had 24 digs and four assists and setter Emma Worthington had three kills in nine errorless tries, 52 assists, two blocks and 16 digs.
“Really happy for this team to secure this quality win today,” Duke coach Jolene Nagel said. “Creighton is a highly respected program with a history of a lot of success. They always play hard and they always play smart.
“Our team controlled our first touch well today on the serve and pass. Our block and defense got better as the match went on. We knew this trip to Purdue was going to provide some tough opponents on the first weekend. Today we came into this match 0-2 against two solid opponents and we had our backs against the wall. It is really exciting to see how our team responded today and I feel strongly we can build on this. Our entire team was in the moment and many individuals demonstrated courage throughout.”
Norah Sis led Creighton with 27 kills, two assists, an ace, a block and 15 digs. Ava Martin had 20 kills, a block and eight digs.
“I thought Duke played an outstanding match and stepped up in big moments with big plays,” Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “I think the disappointment is that we had some big opportunities in game two and game three and didn’t seize those. It’s a good learning opportunity. We’ve been really good at 20-plus and today it didn’t go in our favor. I love the potential of the group and love the group, so we’ve got to move on and work to get better.”
Louisville’s Charitie Luper stretches out against Wright State/Adam Creech, Louisville Athletics
Louisville of the ACC is 3-0, but got all it could handle from the Horizon League’s Wright State. Anna DeBeer had 19 kills, hit .333 and had 11 digs and a block in the 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 26-24 victory. UCLA transfer Charitie Luper had 12 kills, two blocks and 11 digs. Wright State’s Megan Alders had 20 kills.
Fifth-ranked Pittsburgh swept UTRGV, hitting .359 with a 10-3 blocks advantage … Also in the ACC on Sunday, Florida State hit .443 swept UConn, Wake Forest beat Grand Canyon in four, Clemson swept Wofford and Boston College swept Sacred Heart.
No. 19 Houston is 3-9 after sweeping McNeese. Nena Mbonu had 11 kills with one error in 19 attacks and three blocks.
Around the nation
Rya McKinnon has had quite a start to the season. The Howard sophomore outside , the 2022 MEAC player of the year, has 71 kills after three matches after getting 30 in a five-set win over George Mason. She hit .313 and had 13 digs and six blocks, one solo …
No. 25 Arkansas swept Tulsa as the Hogs hit .385. Jillian Gillen had 15 kills with one error in 26 attacks and had an assist and seven digs … Also in the SEC, Mississippi State got to 3-0 by pulling off a reverse sweep against Louisiana-Lafayette, winning 21-25, 21-25, 25-14, 25-20, 15-13 … Missouri is 3-0 after beating Colgate in five. Dilara Gedikoglu had 20 kills and Jordan Iliff 18 …
Long Beach State upset No. 1 Texas to open the season, then Texas beat Loyola Marymount. Sunday, LMU swept Long Beach State as six players had five or more kills, eight by Jacquelyn Moore …
UCF is 3-0 after sweeping UAlbany. Heidi Bonde had 14 kills and hit .522 … Kansas State is 3-0 after the Wildcats hit .400 and swept Cal State Fullerton. Sydney Bolding had eight kills with one error in 10 swings and eight blocks …
Jadyn Bauss had 20 kills and hit .410 as Cincinnati swept Indiana State. She added an assist, an ace, three blocks and seven digs … Ohio beat High Point in four but High Point’s Dylan Maberry had 22 kills, an assist, an ace, 11 digs and two blocks, one solo … Western Michigan is 3-0 after beating Villanova in four. Maggie King had 19 kills with two errors in 34 attacks to hit .500 and had three digs and two blocks, one solo …
St. John’s beat FGCU in five and Erin Jones had 22 kills, three assists, an ace and 11 digs … Taylor Davenport had 19 kills in Temple’s sweep of Leigh as the Owls improved to 3-0 … San Francisco beat UC Irvine in four and Maria Petkova had 19 kills, hit .340 and had an assist, two aces, 19 digs and four blocks, two solo … Delaware beat Robert Morris in four and Lani Mason had 20 kills, two aces, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo … Boise State swept Idaho State and Paige Bartsch had 24 kills, three assists, an ace, seven digs and a block …
Georgetown is 3-0 for the first time since 2019 after beating American in five. AU’s Zeynep Uzen had 25 kills, an assist, two aces, two blocks and six digs. She’s averaging 4.08 kills/set … Chicago State got 25 kills from Yanlis Feliz and 22 from Patrycja Lagida in its four-set win over NIU. Feliz had one error in 42 attacks, an assist, 10 digs and a block.
