No. 4 Nebraska tops No. 5 Stanford, No. 3 Florida escapes FSU, No. 20 KU wins
Fourth-ranked Nebraska dominated at No. 5 Stanford, while No. 3 Florida escaped Florida State in five as the NCAA pre-conference season continued to provide top-level matchups and exciting results.
And there’s more to come Wednesday, including in-state rivalries that add up to a viewing bonanza for women’s college volleyball fans.
There’s another showcase match on ESPN, as No. 2 Louisville of the ACC plays No. 21 Kentucky of the SEC in the downtown KFC Yum! Center, site of the 2024 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship.
Top-ranked Wisconsin of the Big Ten plays previously ranked Marquette of the Big East in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum on FS1.
No. 11 Washington State of the Pac-12 goes to No. 18 Baylor of the Big 12. That one is on ESPN+. The Big 12’s No, 12 BYU plays the Pac-12’s Utah and No. 22 Houston plays the SEC’s Texas A&M.
Two other ACC teams are in action when NC State puts its 9-1 record up against George Washington and Duke plays North Carolina Central.
Two other Big Ten teams play when Rutgers, which is 7-1 and off to the team’s best start since 2012, plays Marist of the MAAC and Northwestern plays UIC of the Missouri Valley.
In a Philadelphia matchup, 7-2 Villanova of the Big East plays 7-3 Lehigh of the Patriot League.
Want to watch? We have the conference-by-conference schedule with viewing links for any match that is being shown in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
Nebraska of the Big Ten improved to 8-0 as the Huskers overpowered Stanford of the Pac-12 (6-2) on its home court 25-23, 25-16, 19-25, 25-21.
Nebraska, which hit .333, got 15 kills from Merritt Beason, who had an assist, an ace, two blocks and five digs. Harper Murray had 12 kills with two errors in 24 attacks to hit .417 and had three assists, three aces, four blocks and six digs. Andi Jackson had eight kills and hit .462 to go with three blocks and Bekka Allick had seven kills with one error in 12 attacks and eight blocks and a dig. Bergen Reilly had three kills in four errorless tries, 37 assists, three blocks and seven digs. Lexi Rodriguez had 12 digs and five assists.
Nebraska had four aces and 17 serving errors, while Stanford, which hit .218, had four aces and 15 errors.
Caitie Baird led Stanford with 15 kills while hitting .400. She had an ace, two blocks and six digs. Kendall Kipp had 12 kills, a block and three digs. Elia Rubin, who had four blocks and three digs, had seven kills but hit negative .148 and had no aces and six errors. Kami Miner had five kills in eight errorless tries, 38 assists, an ace, two blocks and three digs. Elena Oglivie had 13 digs and four assists.
Incredibly, it was the first road victory over a top-five team for Nebraska since winning at Penn State in 2017.
For more, read the story by VolleyballMag.com contributor Lincoln Arneal in Huskers Illustrated.
Sofia Victoria had back-to-back kills to end it as Florida of the SEC (8-0) won at Florida State of the ACC (5-4) in their annual rivalry match 18-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 16-14. Kennedy Martin continued her spectacular freshman season with 25 kills while hitting .383 to go with an assist, three aces, two blocks and nine digs. AC Fitzpatrick had a career-high 22 kills, hit .404 after having three errors in 47 attacks, the same amount as Martin, and added three blocks and three digs. Victoria had 10 kills. Alexis Stuckey had three kills, an ace, two blocks and nine digs to go with her 50 assists. The Gators hit .276. FSU hit .303 but Florida had 68 kills compared to 57 for the Seminoles.
FSU got 14 kills each from Audrey Koenig and Khori Louis and 10 each from Kiari Robey and Audrey Rothman. Louis hit .571.
No. 20 Kansas of the Big 12 rolled to a 25-15, 25-14, 25-15 sweep of visiting Oral Roberts of The Summit League. KU, which hit .342, got kill from 11 players, six by Rhian Swanson, who had one error in 12 attacks …
The ACC’s NC State is 9-1. The Wolfpack won its eighth in a row by sweeping Charlotte of the American Athletic, which negative .011. NC State’s Amanda Rice had 12 kills, hit .360 and had four blocks … The ACC’s Boston College swept Rhode Island as 12 players had kills … Colgate of the Patriot League swept the ACC’s Syracuse as Gillian Hauschild had 13 kills with two errors in 20 attacks to hit .550 and had four blocks …
Jessica Nunge of Illinois hits against Bradley
The Big Ten’s Illinois won in four at Bradley of the Missouri Valley, rallying after losing the first set 25-16. Raina Terry had 16 kills, two assists, four digs and six blocks, one solo. Bradley’s Doga Topicicek had 16 kills and 11 digs …
Milwaukee of the Horizon swept visiting DePaul of the Big East behind 12 kills from Ari Miller, who hit .400 and had an assist, a dig and six blocks, one solo …
Austin Peay’s Kelsy Mead jousts with WKU/Robert Smith, APSU Athletics
Georgia Southern of the Sun Belt is off to its best start at 8-1 after sweeping UNC Asheville of the Big South. The Eagles hit .452 including eight kills with no errors in 12 swings by Reagan Barth and eight kills with no errors in 14 attacks by Chamblee Russell … Chattanooga of the SoCon is 9-2 after winning in four at Conference USA’s Jacksonville State. Chattanooga’s Gylian Finch had 18 kills and 11 digs … Western Kentucky of Conference USA swept of the ASUN’s Austin Peay as Kaylee Cox had 12 kills with no errors in 23 attacks and Callie Bauer had 10 in 15 errorless swings … Weber State of the Big Sky swept Utah Valley of the WAC as Baylee Bodily had 12 kills and hit .450 and Mia Peterson had 11 kills with one error in 21 attacks … San Jose State of the Mountain West won in four at Saint Mary’s of the WCC behind 22 kills by Blaire Fleming, who had 22 kills, hitting .405 … UC Davis of the Big West won in four at Sacramento State of the Big Sky. Olivia Utterback had 10 kills, three aces, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo …
Coastal Carolina of the Sun Belt, playing its first match since the announcement that coach Jozef Forman had resigned, improved to 5-5 with a four-set win over visiting UNCW of the CAA. Jasmine Rivest had 17 kills, an assist, four aces, a block and 13 digs …
UTRGV of the WAC swept UIW of the Southland as Ilana De Assis had 11 kills with two errors in 20 attacks, an ace and three digs … UNLV of the Mountain West swept the WAC’s Southern Utah as 2022 MWC player of the year Isabel Martin had 14 kills with two errors in 25 attacks and eight digs and Jordyn Freeman had nine kills in 13 errorless swings, an assist, three blocks and six digs …
Oakland of the Horizon won in five at Toledo of the MAC as Pattie Cesarini had 17 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks and 16 digs. Emily Wichmann had 26 digs, six assists and an ace. Toledo’s Taylor Alt had 21 kills, a solo block and 12 digs … Delaware State of the MEAC won in five — 17-15 in the fifth — at LIU of the NEC as Alondra Maldonado had 23 kills, hit .364 and had six digs and three blocks … Tarleton State of the WAC beat the SWAC’s Prairie View in four. Allison Bryant had 17 kills … Iona of the MAAC swept Fairleigh Dickinson of the NEC … UT Arlington of the WAC swept winless Texas Southern of the SWAC as Briana Brown had 15 kills with two errors in 23 attacks … Anna Katherine Griggs of the ASUN’s North Alabama had 19 kills with one error in 27 attacks to hit .667 and had five blocks in a four-set win over the SWAC’s Alabama A&M … The Southland’s Northwestern State swept the SWAC’s Grambling.