Kyle Walton is the head coach at Division III Transylvania in Lexington, Ky., but his Division I roots run deep. Not only is his wife, Lindsey, an assistant coach at Kentucky, but Walton has worked in Division I as an assistant at Kentucky, Louisville, Saint Louis and Southern Illinois.
Walton loves to follow Division I volleyball around the nation and enjoys being our sport’s bracketologist. Earlier this season he offered his list of 64 and now, with selection Sunday looming in less than a week, offers this update:
He submitted this before the new NCAA RPI came out Monday, but he will have another list on Sunday morning before we get the real thing Sunday night:
Seeded Teams
1. Nebraska
2. Wisconsin
3. Minnesota
4. Texas
5. Stanford
6. San Diego
7. Kansas
8. Florida
9. North Carolina
10. Washington
11. UCLA
12. BYU
13. Michigan State
14. Missouri
15. Kansas State
16. Kentucky
Worth noting
Missouri is 23-5, will most likely win a share of the SEC title and beat both Florida and Kentucky (twice) in the SEC. The Tigers also have tournament-team wins over Pitt and Boise State. They will end up 8-2 in their last 10 matches if all goes according to plan this week so that is why I have them as the 14 seed.
Kansas State is 19-9 and most likely will finish with 20 wins this week against Texas Tech at home. The Wildcats have 6.5 victories over tournament teams. (half points are bubble teams) Baylor, TCU, Iowa State, Creighton, Arizona, Hawaii, Georgia Tech (.5). They are looking to be 6-4 in their last 10 but I am willing to overlook that because of the teams that they have beaten so far this season. They also have not lost to a non-tournament team.
Kentucky is 22-6, will most likely also win a share of the SEC title if all goes to plan at Tennessee this week. Kentucky only has four tournament-team wins, Purdue, Creighton, Florida, and Texas A&M. The Wildcats also have not lost to a non-tournament team. I chose them to be the 16 seed for two reasons. Their four tournament-team wins are over teams inside the top 25 of the RPI and, If you are breaking the tournament down by sites, you will notice that the committee needs some sites in the South/close to the East.
Michigan is 21-9 and has two tough matches left that could leave the Wolverines 21-11 and 3-7 in their last 10 matches. They have 5.5 wins over tournament teams, Penn State, Ohio State, Coastal Carolina, Kansas State, Georgia Tech (.5), UNI (1.5), Miami, Ohio (.5). Michigan also has a loss to a non-tournament team in Indiana, although they are on the bubble. I left them out of the seeding because of their last 10 matches and if the bubble teams don’t come through then they would only have four wins against tournament teams and only two against top-25 teams in the RPI.
Oregon is 19-8 and has a tough week at Stanford and at rival Oregon State. Let’s just say the Ducks split and go 20-9. They have six wins over tournament teams, USC, Washington, Washington State (twice), Utah, Arizona. If the weekend plays out how we think, they will be 6-4 in their last 10. The reason that I am not giving Oregon the seeding spot is because they have only two wins against RPI top-25 teams and the committee doesn’t need another team on the West coast to be a host at this point.
Creighton is 24-6 and plays in the Big East tournament this weekend against Seton Hall and then the winner of the Marquette-Xavier match. Should be a sweep of the weekend to put them at 26-6. The Bluejays would have 5.5 tournament team victories, Iowa State, TCU, Marquette (twice and possibly three times) and UNI (.5). I did not select them to host because they have zero victories against top-25 RPI teams and of the tournament-team wins, three will be from beating Marquette.
Western Kentucky is 30-2 and has completed the regular season and tournament. The Lady Toppers have two tournament-team wins, against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. I did not choose them to be a host because of the level of their schedule and the two tournament teams wins are not against top-25 RPI teams.
She took the job after being at Penn State as an assistant the past couple of years. We talked about what she expects, being back in the Pac-12 where she won a national title as a player at Washington, and never having been a head coach before.
With the NCAA selection show looming on Sunday, 11/26, the latest 11/21 RPI rankings have never been more important. This week Wisconsin re-takes the No. 1 spot from Texas, now No. 2, followed by Nebraska, Minnesota, and Florida in the top five.
Kansas, Missouri, BYU, Stanford, and North Carolina round out the top 10.
The AVCA Division I Coaches Poll is a different story, with Nebraska leading the way at No. 1 with all 64 first-place votes, followed by Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Kansas, all unchanged from last week.
At No. 5, Texas advances two spots from last week, taking advantage of Sunday’s Florida loss to No. 22 Missouri (who jumps three spots to No. 25). Florida drops to No. 9. North Carolina (unchanged from last week), Washington (up one spot), UCLA (up one), and BYU (unchanged) comprise the remainder of top 10.
San Diego advanced two spots in the AVCA coaches poll to No. 11. Utah made an incremental improvement of one spot to No. 17.
AVCA No. 12 Stanford, No. 13 Hawai’i, No. 15 Penn State, No. 18 Michigan, No. 19 Oregon, No. 20 Western Kentucky, No. 21 Creighton, and No. 23 Kentucky were all unchanged.
No. 14 Michigan State and No. 16 Florida State each fell one spot.
Utah fell one spot to No. 17, while A-10 champions Dayton fell two spots to No. 24.
Washington State re-entered the poll at No. 25, while Ohio State dropped out.
Calvin College wins its third NCAA Division III volleyball championship/Photo Credit: NCAA volleyball
A busy Saturday around the college women’s game. We’ll kick it off with the coronation of a new NCAA Division III champion, and also give you a baker’s dozen view of conference tournament action plus what the Top 25 teams were up to, including Kansas securing no worse than a share of its first Big 12 title. Jayhawks coach Ray Bechard and Texas coach Jerritt Elliott both earned milestone coaching victories on Saturday.
But first, a quick look at Sunday’s big five matches:
Sunday’s Big 10 action is headlined by No. 2 Minnesota hosting No. 18 Michigan, plus Indiana at Rutgers.
The Pacific 12 has three matches, No. 8 Washington at Utah, No. 12 Stanford at Arizona, Washington State at Colorado.
Big 12 takes the day off.
The SEC is busy, as No. 5 Florida plays at No. 25 Missouri, No. 23 Kentucky hosts Texas A&M, plus Ole Miss at Georgia, South Carolina at Auburn, LSU at Tennessee, and Arkansas at Mississippi State
Sunday ACC action has No. 17 Florida State at Wake Forest, Pittsburgh at Boston College, Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech at Syracuse, Louisville at Clemson, Miami at Duke, and Virginia at NC State.
In the Big East, Creighton hosts Villanova.
Back to Saturday play, we start up in Oshkosh, Wis., where Calvin College won its third national title with a 3-0 sweep of Washington-St. Louis. Calvin also won national crowns in 2010 and 2013.
Calvin, which received 13 kills from Anna Kamp, 13 digs from Keilahna Castillo and three aces from Kristen Vyletel, moved to 33-1 with the win.
Laura Danhoff was named the most outstanding player for the tournament, while Sarah DeVries and Jenna Lodewyk were named to the all-tournament team.
“I thought from the very beginning, the coaching staff has tried to have our players believe in themselves as women and as volleyball players and we have worked incredibly hard at that all year,” said Calvin coach Amber Warners.
“When people ask me how you measure success, I say that when your seniors give absolutely everything and walk away and they can’t give anymore. I don’t just mean that on the court. People see us five percent of the time in our season. What these women have given is unbelievable. I am proud of the women they are. I was really proud of their fight. We asked them to just green-light-go and lay it out there and I thought they did that.”
Amanda Palucki’s 11 kills led Washington-St. Louis. Zoe Baxter had 19 digs.
Let’s go tournament hopping where several NCAA bids were on the line Saturday.
In America East action, New Hampshire gets a spot in the 64-team NCAA field after a 3-0 win over Albany. New Hampshire is the first team in conference history to win four titles in a row. Senior setter Keelin Severtson was named the championship’s most outstanding player. She had 68 assists in the two matches.
Lipscomb won the Atlantic Sun Conference title with a 3-1 win over Florida Gulf Coast and earned an NCAA berth. Top-seeded Lipscomb was paced by ASUN player of the year Carlyle Nusbaum’s 17 kills and 13 digs. Taylor Racich had 16 kills. Kayla Ostrom had 28 assists and 13 digs. Brittany Thomas had 15 digs.
UTRGV sweeps Utah Valley to win the WAC Championship/Photo Credit Greg Owens, WAC
No. 5 seed Texas Rio Grande Valley also is headed to the NCAA tournament after defeating No. 2 seed Utah Valley in three to win the WAC tournament. It’s the Vaqueros first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. Ragni Steen Knudsen led Rio Grande Valley with 15 kills and hit .387, while tournament MVP Alisha Watson had 12 kills.
In the Big Sky, North Dakota punched its NCAA ticket after a 3-0 sweep of Northern Arizona in that league’s final. It’s North Dakota’s first-ever NCAA trip.
“I am so proud to see them accomplish a goal they put fourth at midnight 102 days ago,” said North Dakota coach Mark Pryor. “We talked at our first practice about if you want to be last, you have to be willing to be first. First in the practice gym, first to push yourself harder internally, first to recognize and resolve conflict, and first to recognize your areas for growth. This team did that every step of the way.”
Faith Dooley was named the tournament MVP after notching 10 kills and four blocks in the final.
In the Atlantic 10, Dayton needed five to get by fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth in one semifinal match. The Flyers moved to 29-1 behind Jessica Sloan’s 15 kills and 10 digs.
Dayton, the top seed in the tournament, faces No. 3 seed St. Louis Sunday afternoon. The Billikens went five sets in their upset of No. 2 seed Rhode Island. St. Louis moved to 18-13 with the win in a match that featured 34 ties and 17 lead changes. A-10 player of the year Danielle Rygelski had 25 kills and 11 digs. St. Louis is in pursuit of its first conference title since 2008.
In the Horizon League, Green Bay was a 3-0 winner over Northern Kentucky, while Cleveland State, the top seed in the tournament, went the distance with Oakland.
Megan Powers had 14 kills for Green Bay in its win. Grace Kauth led Cleveland State with 19 kills and hit .341. Cleveland State is in the Horizon final for the eighth time under coach Chuck Voss. Melissa Deatsch had 15 kills to lead Oakland. Cleveland State and Green Bay __play Sunday for the title.
Dei’Ja Martin of Florida A&M reaches for a quick set in MEAC tournament play/Photo Credit MEAC Conference
In MEAC play, Florida A&M was a 3-0 winner over Maryland Eastern Shore in one semifinal behind Nicole Abreu’s 10 kills and nine digs. Florida A&M faces Howard for the conference tournament title Sunday. Howard was a 3-1 winner over Bethune-Cookman. Khalia Davidson had 16 kills and a season-high 23 digs for Howard.
In the Big South, High Point went to five in its win over Liberty to advance to the title match. Molly Livingston had 17 kills for High Point, while Katie Tylman added 16.
High Point faces top-seed Radford, a 3-1 winner over No. 4 Campbell. Maddie Palmer’s career-high 26 kills led the winners.
In MAAC action, Quinnipiac is headed to its first MAAC title match in history after a 3-1 win over Marist. Sophomore setter Kat Miller had 13 kills and 10 digs. Quinnipiac will encounter top-seed Fairfield Sunday for the title. Fairfield, the No. 1 seed, was a 3-1 winner over Siena College. Senior middle blocker Megan O’Sullivan had 19 kills and six blocks to pace Fairfield.
Western Kentucky’s Rachel Anderson challenges the UTSA block/Photo Credit Conference USA
The Conference USA semifinals saw No. 6 seed Rice down No. 2 seed Southern Miss in five sets. Rice is the lowest seed to ever advance to the final. Chelsey Harris had 18 kills to lead the Owls.
Rice tackles No. 1 seed Western Kentucky Sunday in the finale. Western Kentucky was a 3-1 winner over Texas San Antonio in the other semifinal. Western Kentucky, led by Alyssa Cavanaugh’s 19 kills, is in the C-USA final for a third year in a row.
The Colonial Athletic Association finale is set for Sunday after No. 6 Delaware upset No. 2 seed College of Charleston in five sets in one semifinal, while top seed James Madison swept No. 5 Towson.
Delaware, which got into the tournament despite starting 0-6 in conference, used 15 kills and 11 digs from Autumn Jenkins, 56 assists and 12 digs from Erin Layne and 13 kills and 14 digs from Maria Bellinger to advance.
CAA player of the year Janey Goodman had 10 kills for James Madison and in the process set the program single-season mark for kills (513).
In SWAC action, Texas Southern swept Southern and Alabama State did the same to Alabama A&M to set up a Sunday title match. Texas Southern is in the final for the first time since 1994. Alabama State is in the final for the fourth year in a row.
And finally in the MAC, No. 2 seed Northern Illinois earned a spot in Sunday’s title match with a 3-0 win over No. 3 seed Ohio. Mary Grace Kelly’s 11 kills led the Huskies.
Northern Illinois (24-5) faces top seed Miami University in the MAC final. Miami was a 3-1 winner over No. 4 seed Bowling Green in the other semifinal. Paige Hill led Miami with 15 kills and hit .583 with only one hitting error.
Tournament action will be on tap Thanksgiving Day in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Turkey day quarterfinal matches in the Missouri Valley Conference features No. 4 Southern Illinois vs. No. 5 Illinois State and No. 3 Northern Iowa against No. 6 Loyola. The winners move to Friday’s semifinals against No. 1 Missouri State and No. 2 Wichita State.
And finally some Top 25 recaps. Kansas clinched at least a share of its first-ever Big 12 Conference regular-season title with a five-set win against Iowa State. Kansas moved to 25-2 overall and 14-1 in Big 12 action. Kansas won despite playing without All-American right side Kelsie Payne.
“It could have been a disaster or it could have been the best day ever and they decided to make it the best day ever,” said Kansas coach Ray Bechard. “Our seniors weren’t going to let us lose. It’s a perfect storm. Somehow we found a way to beat a very good team.”
Tayler Soucie had nine blocks and eight kills, while Cassie Wait had 15 digs. Bechard won his 350th match at Kansas.
No. 7 Texas defeated Kansas State 3-1 giving coach Jerritt Elliott his 400th win at Texas. The Longhorns moved to 20-4 overall and 12-2 in Big 12 play. Paulina Prieto Cerame had 17 kills and hit .355. Freshman Micaya White had 15 kills and two aces. Ebony Nwanebu had 10 kills and hit .625.
In other Big 12 action, Baylor edged Oklahoma 3-2, while TCU also needed five to beat Texas Tech.
Numerous ranked teams were in action in the Big Ten Conference Saturday. No. 3 Wisconsin took care of No. 13 Michigan State in three sets. The Badgers scored back-to-back wins this weekend over ranked teams. Wisconsin tied a program record with 11 wins against ranked opponents in front of a sellout crowd of 6,012 at the Field House. The Badgers remain only a game out of first place in the Big Ten (16-2).
“I thought we did a really good job of being resilient,” said Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield. “Those guys have some servers that were pacing some bombs over there. We battled and fought to try to get the ball up in the air. To hold a team to hitting .103 was another really good defensive night for us. That’s starting to turn into a big strength for our players. To come in here 2-0 for these two teams that will probably be seeded going in to the NCAA tournament. I’d say this was probably a pretty good weekend for us.”
Freshman Molly Haggerty had 14 kills. Junior Lauryn Gillis had nine kills, while senior Haleigh Nelson and redshirt senior Romana Kriskova each had eight kills. The Badgers held the Big Ten’s best-serving team to only four services aces.
AVCA No. 1 ranked Nebraska scored a 3-0 win over Iowa in front of an Iowa-record 4,131 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It was Nebraska’s 13th win in a row and won for the 24th time in a row on the road.
Andie Malloy led Nebraska with 14 kills and hit .462 and also had a season-best five blocks. Mikaela Foecke had 10 kills and hit .600. Kadie Rolfzen had nine kills, while Briana Holman finished with six kills.
The previous Iowa attendance record was 3,102 set back in 2009. “Today we just blew through the attendance record here at Carver,” said Iowa coach Bond Shymansky. “I’m really thankful for all the Hawkeye fans who came out and supported us tonight, and I’m grateful for all the people that made that happen. We want to take advantage of a great home stand here and they are helping us do that.”
Ali Frantti spikes the ball against Purdue/Photo Credit Craig Houtz, Penn State Athletics
In other Big Ten action, No. 15 Penn State was a 3-0 win over Purdue. Illinois took down No. 24 Ohio State 3-1 in Champaign, while Northwestern was a 3-0 winner over Maryland.
In the Illinois win, the Fighting Illini out-blocked Ohio State 15-8 with sophomore Ali Bastianelli leading the way with 12 blocks. Classmate Jordyn Poulter had eight blocks to go along with 37 assists. Michelle Strizak had 17 kills, 10 digs and five blocks.
Only two matches were on the docket in the Pac-12 where No. 19 Oregon was a 3-1 winner over USC. The Ducks hit .406 as a team. Ronika Stone had 14 kills, while Taylor Agost had 13 kills. Jolie Rasmussen had 12 kills and Lindsey Vander Weide had 11. Oregon moved to 19-8 overall and 12-6 in Pac-12 play.
Arizona State was a 3-0 winner over Cal. Lexi MacLean led the Sun Devils with 15 kills.
Lane Carico earned her second consecutive NORCECA gold on Sunday, Oct. 5, at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. This time she played with Heather Hughes, and the duo stormed through the tournament without dropping a set.
In the final, Carico and Hughes met fellow Americans Sarah Day and Kaitlin Nielson, defeating them 21-12, 21-17.
The bronze medal match was also a battle between compatriots. Mexico’s Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas took on Itzel Santoyo and Stephanie Burnside, taking the match 21-15, 21-17.
Americans met in the men’s final match as well with Theo Brunner and Nick Lucena taking down Tri Bourne and John Hyden 21-19, 17-21, 15-13. Brunner and Lucena had not dropped a set in the tournament until that second set in the final match.
Winning the men’s bronze was Puerto Rico’s Hector Soto and Roberto Rodriguez over Canada’s Michael Plantiga and Cameron Wheelan 21-19, 17-21, 15-12.
The NORCECA tour continues starting today in St. Lucia. The finals will be played on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Dave Shoji earns career win No. 1200 while clinching the Big West title/Photo courtesy Hawaii Athletics
It was an eventful late-regular-season Thursday around the women’s college game with Hawaii clinching the Big West Conference title and gaining an automatic NCAA tournament berth in what was legendary Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji’s 1,200th career win, while back on the mainland one of the sport’s most well-respected coaches, Louisville’s Anne Kordes, announced she is stepping down at season’s end to spend more time with her family. Tournament __play in the WAC, Big Sky and Atlantic Sun also commenced Thursday.
All the details later, but first, a quick look at the 56 matches for Friday evening, including the nine conference tournaments.
In the Big 10, No. 13 Michigan State goes to No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin is home against No. 18 Michigan, Maryland goes to Illinois and Ohio State faces Northwestern.
Pacific 12 __play is headlined by No. 9 UCLA hosting No. 19 Oregon, plus No. 8 Washington heading to Colorado, No. 12 Stanford is at Arizona State, Cal plays at Arizona, Oregon State at USC.
It’s a busy evening in the ACC, as Virginia goes to No. 6 North Carolina, Florida State is at Duke in a battle for second place in the ACC, Notre Dame at Clemson, Virginia Tech at Boston College, Louisville at Georgia Tech, Miami at Wake Forest, and Pittsburgh at Syracuse.
The SEC has four matches on tap, No. 23 Kentucky at LSU, No. 25 Missouri hosts Auburn, Alabama at South Carolina, and Arkansas at Georgia.
Big 12 is off for the evening.
In the Mountain West, Boise goes to Wyoming, with its first of two opportunities to clinch the conference title and the automatic berth.
On to the nine conference tournaments kicking off today:
In the Atlantic 10 Championships, A-10 No. 4 Duquesne plays No. 5 VCU, with No. 1 Dayton to face the winner Saturday. No. 3 Saint Louis plays No. 6 Davidson with No. 2 Rhode Island waiting in the semifinal.
The Horizon League championships are hosted by Cleveland state, where the quarterfinals are Horizon No. 3 Northern Kentucky vs No. 6 Valparaiso and No. 4 Oakland vs No. 5 Milwaukee.
The four MEAC Championships quarterfinals are: MEAC South No. 2 Bethune-Cookman vs. North No. 3, North No. 1 Howard vs. South No. 4 NC Central, South No. 1 Florida A&M vs. North No. 4 Norfolk State, and North No. 2 Maryland E. Shore vs. South No. 3 N.C. A&T.
Four teams advance to the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament: Campbell plays Charleston Southern, and High Point against UNC Asheville.
Fairfield hosts the MAAC championships, with MAAC No. 3 Quinnipiac vs No. 6 Niagara and No. 4 Rider against No. 5 Siena in the quarterfinals.
Friday’s Conference USA championships quarterfinals feature C-USA No. 1 Western Kentucky vs. No. 8 UTEP, No. 4 UTSA vs. No. 5 Florida Atlantic, No. 3 Marshall vs. No. 6 Rice, and No. 2 Southern Miss vs. No. 7 North Texas.
The America East semifinals are America East No.2 Albany against No. 3 UMBC, followed by No. 1 New Hampshire against No. 4 Binghamton.
The evening’s Colonial Athletic Association championships at UNCW feature CAA No. 4 Hofstra vs No. 5 Towson, followed by No. 3 Northeastern vs No. 6 Delaware.
The SWAC tournament kicks off at Jackson State tonight, with SWAC No. 1 Alabama State vs. No. 8 Grambling state, No. 4 Alabama A&M vs. No. 5 Prairie View A&M, No. 3 Southern vs. No. 6 Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and No. 2 Texas Southern vs, No. 7 Jackson State.
Hawai’i clinches the 2016 Big West title and automatic NCAA bid/Photo courtesy Hawaii Athletics
Back to Dave Shoji’s milestone: at home in Honolulu, AVCA No. 14 Hawaii secured its 25th conference title overall and ninth Big West crown. In the process, Shoji became the second NCAA Division I women’s volleyball coach to hit the 1,200-win mark (1,200-203-1 in 42 years). All of this happened in Hawaii’s 25-11, 26-24, 25-15 victory over Cal Poly. The only other coach to jump the 1,200-win barrier? Penn State’s Russ Rose (1,208-195).
“Well, tonight it means that we’re going to the NCAAs,” Shoji told Ian Schuering of Hawaii News Now. “That’s the biggest story, I think.
“We’re going to the NCAAs. Going somewhere to compete. And to qualify now, it just takes a lot of pressure off of us and that was the big thing about tonight.”
Nikki Taylor led Hawaii with a match-high 15 kills (17th double-digit kill match of the season), while Natasha Burns and Annie Mitchem each had five blocks. Norene Iosia recorded her third-straight double-double at home. Hawaii moved to 21-5 overall and 14-1 in Big West play. Cal Poly dropped to 17-9 and 10-5.
Hawaii is headed to the NCAA tournament for the 24th year in a row thanks to winning the league for the fourth time in five years since rejoining it. The Rainbow Wahine did have its streak of holding opponents below 20 points in a set snapped at 16 when Poly put up 24 in the second set.
Anne Kordes steps down at Louisville/Photo courtesy Louisville Athletics
Louisville will be in search of a new head coach at season’s end after Kordes announced her resignation, effective at the end of the season.
Heading into weekend play, Kordes was 272-135 overall and 130-60 during her run at Louisville. Under her direction, Louisville won Big East titles in 2011 and 2012, an AAC title in 2013 and the ACC title last year. She’s been named a conference coach of the year eight times, including last year’s ACC coach of the year accolade.
“It’s with extremely strong emotions that I am announcing my decision to end my career as a Division I volleyball coach,” said Kordes. “The last 20 years in this business have been a dream come true. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work for so many wonderful people during my time in coaching, but especially Tom Jurich (athletic director) at Louisville. He treats his athletic department like family and I could not be more thankful to him. There are aspects of every job that can be challenging and at this point in my life I am finding it hard to be the mom I want to be to my daughter because of the grind and travel of the recruiting season. There is no way around it if you want to be successful as recruiting is your lifeline. My struggle isn’t the work, it’s the work out of town. I consider myself to be lucky because of what I have been able to experience as a coach, especially at the University of Louisville. I also consider myself lucky because of what I get to experience as a mom.”
Jurich will begin a national search immediately for Kordes’ successor. “It has been an honor and privilege to have had Anne guiding our volleyball program for the last six years,” he said. “I wish her and her daughter, Mary, the best as they embark upon the next chapter in their lives. I am exceedingly grateful to Anne for her dedication to the University of Louisville, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for her. We will miss her enthusiasm and vigor around our department, but as a former student-athlete and coach at UofL, she will remain a Cardinal forever.”
The Cardinals have four matches remaining and are flying to Georgia Tech and Clemson this weekend.
“I grew up a Louisville Cardinal, I graduated as a Louisville Cardinal and I will always be proud that I am a Louisville Cardinal,” Kordes said. “I love this university and will continue to love and support the coaches, athletes and leadership. A very heartfelt thank you to Tom Jurich, Christine Herring (Louisville senior women administrator/assistant athletic director), my staff, players, alumni and the fans.”
Sidney Wicks sets for CSU Bakersfield/Photo courtesy Western Athletic Conference
Tournament hopping Numerous conference tournaments kicked off Thursday. We start in the WAC at New Mexico State in Las Cruces.
No. 3 seed CSU Bakersfield edged No. 6 seed Seattle 3-2 behind 17 kills and 19 digs from WAC player of the year Carol Grasso (15th double-double of the season). Setter Fabiana Andrade had 22 assists and 11 digs, while libero Jocelyn Rodriguez had a match-high 25 digs.
Katarina Marinkovic had 15 kills and 10 digs for Seattle.
CSU Bakersfield heads to the semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. local against No. 2 seed Utah Valley.
Thursday evening’s second quarterfinal match also went the distance with UT Rio Grande Valley (No. 5 seed) upsetting No. 4 seed Missouri-Kansas City in five sets.
RGV set a tied a program Division I record by notching its 19th win and assured itself the highest winning percentage in program Division I history.
Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros with 23 kills, while Alisha Watson had 16 kills and hit .556. Ragni Steen Knudsen had 13 kills and a career-high five service aces.
Emma Hagedorn had 21 kills and hit .405 for Kansas City.
RGV heads to the semifinals to face top-seeded and host New Mexico State Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Big Sky Conference top-seed and host North Dakota swept No 8 seed Idaho in conference tournament play. Faith Dooley had 11 kills, five blocks and hit .474, while Big Sky MVP Sydney Griffin added 27 assists and five kills for the Fighting Hawks.
Other Big Sky quarterfinals included fifth-seeded Idaho State rallying from two sets down to defeat No. 4 Northern Colorado and earn a spot in the semifinals.
Chloe Hirst led Idaho State with 20 kills and 21 digs, while Abby Jensen had 19 kills. Marissa Todd had 12 kills and 11 digs, while Hayley Farrer had 49 assists and 17 digs for the winners.
Defending champion and No. 3 seed Northern Arizona swept No. 6 Portland State in another quarterfinal contest that lasted 83 minutes. Jensen Barton had 27 assists and 10 digs for the Lumberjacks. Lauren Jacobsen posted her 21st double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. Abby Akin had 10 kills.
No. 2 seed Sacramento State edged No. 7 Eastern Washington in five thanks to 16 kills and 15 digs from Mikaela Nocetti, 14 kills and 21 digs from Shannon Boyle and 13 kills and 14 digs from Madeline Cannon. Setter Kennedy Kurtz had 45 assists and 10 digs.
Friday’s Big Sky semifinals feature Sacramento State (20-11) against Northern Arizona (23-7) at 4:30 p.m. local followed by North Dakota (24-9) against Idaho State (16-14) at 7 p.m.
Over at Lipscomb in Nashville, Tenn., Florida Gulf Coast, the No. 3 seed, was a 3-1 winner over No. 6 seed Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun quarterfinals. It’s the sixth trip in a row for Florida Gulf Coast to the conference semifinals.
Amanda Carroll paced Gulf Coast with 27 kills. Karissa Rhoades had 24 digs and three aces. Mallory Mattingly’s 13 kills topped the Jacksonville stat sheet.
Gulf Coast faces No. 2 seed Kennesaw State at 7:30 p.m. local time tonight on ESPN3.
The other semifinal saw fifth-seeded South Carolina Upstate, making its ASUN tournament debut, record a 3-1 win over No. 4 seed North Florida.
Callie Yeargin’s 15 kills led Update, which also benefited from Kaleigh Kelley’s 32 digs. Gabby O’Connell led North Florida.
Upstate squares off against No. 1 seed and host Lipscomb at 5 p.m. local Friday on ESPN3.
Elsewhere, the only Pac-12 contest saw AVCA No. 16 Utah fend off Washington State in five 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-8. Utah hit the 20-win barrier and moved to 11-6 in conference play. Washington State was denied its 20th win and sits at 9-8 in Pac-12 play.
Adora Anae led Utah with a match-high 23 kills and hit .348 to go with nine digs. Tawnee Luafalemana and Carly Trueman combined for 29 kills.
Kyra Holt led the way for Washington State with 16 kills and sits in second place all-time in Cougars history with 1,705 kills, trailing only All-American standout Sarah Silvernail’s 1,848 total. McKenna Woodford added 13 kills.
Two key Bay Area matches were on tap in the race for the West Coast Conference title and an automatic NCAA bid where AVCA No. 10 BYU was a 3-1 winner on the road at San Francisco and AVCA No. 11 San Diego dispatched Santa Clara in three.
Both victors moved to 14-2 in conference.
At San Francisco, senior middle blocker Amy Boswell had 13 kills, hit .522 and had five solo blocks, the second-most in BYU rally-scoring-era history. Lyndie Haddock had 28 assists, while Mary Lake had 22 digs. BYU also had eight aces against only four service errors.
“Our serving was on point tonight,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “It was a good team effort offensively and defensively.”
BYU moved to 25-3 overall with the win.
San Diego (23-4) was paced by Lisa Kramer’s 14 kills on 23 swings (.421 hitting). Kelly Edwards had 10 kills on 19 swings (.421). Anna Newsome had 24 assists, while Kristen Gengenbacher had 18 assists. Hunter Jennings had 11 digs and San Diego hit .303 as a team.
Looking ahead, BYU stays in the Bay Area and plays Santa Clara Saturday and then heads to Los Angeles Tuesday to face Loyola Marymount in a game televised on ESPNU. San Diego also remains in the Bay Area and heads to San Francisco Saturday before going down to Malibu Tuesday to visit Pepperdine.
Briana Holman and Nebraska avenge their earlier loss to Penn State/Photo Credit: Nebraska Athletics
A pretty light night of action Wednesday around the country, but one that saw a near upset in Morgantown, W. Va., where AVCA No. 4 Kansas escaped the WVU Coliseum with a 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 20-25, 15-8 win over West Virginia.
Not so in Lincoln, where AVCA No. 1 Nebraska took care of business at home with a sweep of No. 15 Penn State, 25-17, 25-14, 25-22.
How dominant has coach John Cook’s squad been lately? It was Nebraska’s 13th win in a row and it was its seventh sweep of a ranked opponent this year.
More on that later, but first a look at what’s on tap for NCAA volleyball today. There are 23 matches on today’s schedule. The B1G, ACC, Big 12, and SEC are idle, but the Pac-12 has one match, as Washington State travels to No. 16 Utah.
Atop the WCC, the action is in Northern California, as BYU travels to San Francisco, and San Diego plays at Santa Clara.
Big West No. 1 Hawai’i will face Big West No. 3 Cal Poly.
The Big Sky leaders are all in action, as North Dakota is home against Idaho, Northern Colorado plays host to Idaho State, Sacramento faces Eastern Washington, and Northern Arizona takes on visiting Portland State.
Both the WAC and A-Sun championships begin Thursday. New Mexico State hosts the Western Athletic Conference tournament, where No. 3 Bakersfield faces No. 6 Seattle and No. 4 University of Missouri-Kansas City follows against No. 5 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Lipscomb hosts the Atlantic Sun championships. The opening round pits No. 4 North Florida against USC Upstate and No. 3 Florida Gulf Coast against No. 6 Jacksonville.
Madison Rigdon serves against West Virginia/Photo Credit Kansas Athletics
With Wednesday’s win, Kansas moved to 24-2 and 13-1 in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks played the majority of the contest without All-American junior Kelsie Payne, who was injured in the second set. Junior Madison Rigdon led Kansas with 15 kills, nine digs and six blocks. Freshman Jada Burse had 11 kills and four blocks, while freshman Zoe Hill and redshirt freshman Ashley Smith provided a spark in Payne’s absence. Junior All-American setter Ainise Havili had 38 assists and 17 digs.
“It was a grind. You never know when things are not going to go your way,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. “We had some key performances. Zoe came in and gave us a huge boost of the bench. Ashley came in and was competitive—blocked well. But in the end, once again, Tayler Soucie got us off to a really good start in the fifth set.”
Soucie passed Amanda Reves for second on KU’s career blocks list with 518.
West Virginia dropped to 12-16 and 3-11 in Big 12 play.
“I told the team there is nothing to hang your head about,” said Bechard. “West Virginia has taken a lot of teams to four or five sets in this building. We absolutely had to earn it tonight because West Virginia played one of their better matches of the season, I thought.”
Kansas is a win away from clinching at least a share of its first-ever Big 12 title.
Ebony Nwanebu scored 15 kills against TCU/Photo credit: Texas Athletics
The Jayhawks are a game ahead of AVCA No. 7 Texas, which shook off a weekend loss to Iowa State with a sweep of Texas Tech Wednesday at home in Gregory Gym.
The win put the Longhorns at 20-4 overall and 12-2 in conference.
Texas hit the 20-win milestone for a 13th year in a row.
Offensively, Texas hit .414, marking the ninth time this year the team hit above .300 (10-0 when it does so).
Junior opposite Ebony Nwanebu’s 15 kills paced Texas. Senior outside Paulina Prieto Cerame had 14 kills and hit .407 while Micaya White had 10 kills and nine digs.
“It was a really disappointing loss,” Texas junior libero Cat McCoy said, referring to the Iowa State setback. “I really liked the way we came to practice (after the loss) with a good mentality—just positive energy—and I think it showed tonight at the game. We were having fun and that’s why I think we played so well.”
Looking ahead, Kansas hosts Iowa State Saturday and then wraps up conference __play next week at Baylor. Iowa State and Baylor both are 8-5 in Big 12 play.
Texas hosts Kansas State and West Virginia at home to close things out prior to the NCAA tournament.
In other Big 12 action, TCU edged Baylor in five sets, while Kansas State was a 3-1 winner over Oklahoma.
Nebraska sweeps Penn State at home/Photo credit: Nebraska Athletics
In Big Ten Conference action, unanimous AVCA No. 1 Nebraska inched closer to the Big Ten Conference title with a 3-0 sweep of Penn State in Lincoln. The Huskers are now 25-1 and 16-1 in league play. Penn State was eliminated from contention with the loss and stands at 19-9 overall and 11-6 in Big Ten action.
Nebraska held Penn State to season-lows in kills and attack percentage, in fact the 28 kills the Nittany Lions registered was nine fewer than their previous season low.
Senior Andie Malloy led the Huskers with a match-high 11 kills on .400 hitting, while sophomore Mikaela Foecke had 10 kills and seven digs. Amber Rolfzen and Briana Holman combined for 14 kills on 23 swings and both hit .500 or above. Kadie Rolfzen added six kills. Kelly Hunter had 36 assists and 15 digs.
In other Big Ten action Wednesday, Iowa downed Rutgers 3-1 at home in Iowa City, while Purdue stayed in state and was taken to five sets in Bloomington by Indiana.
Nebraska wraps up its regular season with matches at Iowa and Minnesota (this coming Wednesday) and a home contest against Michigan. Minnesota sits at 21-4 and 13-3 in the conference. Nebraska won the first meeting in five in Lincoln.
Over in the Pac-12 Conference, UCLA swept Oregon State 3-0 to seize control of the top spot in the league by a half-game over idle Washington. UCLA moved to 22-5 and 13-4 in the loop, while Washington stands at 22-4 and 12-4.
Senior Taylor Formico led the Bruins defense with 27 digs (one shy of the school record in a three-set match), while junior Reily Buechler had a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs (the latter tying a career high).
UCLA posted a season-high nine aces, including two by Formico and senior Jordan Anderson, who added nine kills. Junior Ryann Chandler and freshman Kylie Miller each had similar stat outputs of 17 assists, seven digs and one assist, while freshman Torrey Van Winden had nine kills and seven digs. UCLA won the contest, despite hitting .177.
Looking in the near-term, the Bruins host Oregon Friday, which along with Stanford loom in the upper tier of the Pac-12 with 11-5 records. Washington heads to Boulder to face Colorado.
The match to keep an eye on is this coming Wednesday when UCLA visits Washington for its penultimate Pac-12 regular-season contest.
Boise State came back from a 1-2 set deficit to defeat Colorado State 25-23, 27-29, 10-25, 25-13, 15-10 to take control of the Mountain West. The Broncos, 23-6, 14-2 are now in sole possession of first place, and need only win one of their two remaining matches against Wyoming or Air Force to earn their first ever berth into the NCAA tournament.
Bronco head coach Shawn Garus is proud of his team: “We got blown out in the third set, and our team didn’t panic at all,” said Garus. “I took out our setter and told her to relax and that she was going back in and that we were winning this match. They believed it completely. I told the girls that were on the sideline once it got to 23, 24 to keep it positive when we go to the other side. Nobody panicked and we came back and blew them out in the fourth set to take the momentum back. It’s a sign of a mature team that they can get their butts kicked at home and come right back without skipping a beat and __play even better.”
New champion looms for Division III
Reigning NCAA title holder California Lutheran lost in the round of 16 to regional host University of Northwestern (St. Paul) on Saturday as quarterfinal action begins on Thursday afternoon, and by Saturday night a champion will be crowned.
The road to Oshkosh saw several grueling matches, including five-set victories for UW Whitewater over Elmhurst and Southwestern over regional host UT-Dallas. Calvin College and Tufts both had relatively easy times advancing through their respective brackets, and make for a potential championship-final match-up.
Earlier first-round play saw 18 teams advance with 3-0 victories and included early exits for previously undefeated Johnson and Wales, 31-win Susquehanna, and West Coast power Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The home-court advantage paid off for the University of Mary Washington Eagles as they breezed through their first three matches, dropping only one set. The Capital Athletic Conference champions will face Washington University (St. Louis) in Thursday’s nightcap. The Eagles had regular-season losses to Emory and Southwestern, both of whom advanced to the round of eight.
