Big upset win for Fresno St.; Nebraska vs. Wisconsin, round 2

The first big upset of the postseason ensured that the Mountain West  Conference will get two teams into the NCAA Tournament after fifth-seeded Fresno State knocked out No. 1 Utah State. 

Utah State, a runaway MWC regular-season winner, was No. 16 in the most recent NCAA RPI and even with the loss is still No. 22 in the update KPI.

That was one of four Thanksgiving Day results in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball, which now turns its focus to the rematch: VolleyballMag.com Super 16 No. 1 and unbeaten Nebraska at No. 3 Wisconsin.

Nebraska is 27-0, 18-0 in the Big Ten, which includes beating visiting Wisconsin on October 21 — 25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-13 — in what was then a battle of unbeatens. 

The Badgers (24-3, 15-3) have lost twice since, in four at Penn State and in five at Purdue, but played both without 6-foot-9 Anna Smrek. 

Nebraska is 10th in hitting percentage (.286) and leads the nation in opponent hitting percentage (.131).

Wisconsin is second nationally in hitting percentage (.308) and fifth in opponent hitting percentage (.148).

Nebraska, which leads the series 20-13-1 after breaking a 10-match losing streak to Wisconsin in that match a month ago, have staged some epic battles over the years. The penultimate was Wisconsin’s five-set win in the 2021 NCAA title match.

Nebraska’s 18-0 B1G start a program best since joining the conference in 2011. Since 1996 — when Nebraska began a 20-match league schedule in the Big 12 — the Huskers have gone undefeated in conference play four times, but never in the Big Ten. The last time was 2004 in the Big 12. Nebraska went 34-0 in 2000, coach John Cook’s first season, when it won the NCAA title.

Also in the Big Ten on Friday, No. 14 Penn State is at Ohio State, AVCA No. 16 Purdue is at Michigan, Rutgers is at Maryland, Iowa is at Northwestern and Illinois is at Minnesota. 

There are two ACC matches when No. 4 Pittsburgh goes to Syracuse and Duke goes to North Carolina.

The Pac-12 shows No. 2 Stanford…