Volleyball Today: BC takes a set off Pitt; big UVA victory; 10 reverse sweeps; AVCA hall class

We were due for a Freaky Friday in NCAA volleyball.

October 4 delivered:

— Top-ranked Pittsburgh finally lost a set after winning its first 36 of 2024, but improved to 13-0 with a four-set win at Boston College behind a program-record 12 aces by Olivia Babock;

— There were upsets, including Virginia sweeping AVCA No. 16 Florida State for its first win over a ranked team since 2010;

— There were an incredible 10 reverse sweeps, including No. 20 USC — down 11-5 in the fifth — against visiting Michigan, Hawai’i at UC San Diego, College of Charleston at Stony Brook, Little Rock at Morehead State, Cornell at Dartmouth, Southern Miss (down 23-17 in the third before winning 31-29) against Arkansas State, Northern Iowa at Valparaiso, North Florida against Stetson, Ohio over visiting Toledo, and Bowling Green, which beat Western Michigan for its second straight comeback after losing the first two sets;

— No. 5 Stanford lost the third set to visiting NC State and then closed it out in the fourth 25-8;

— No. 3 Penn State went to Oregon and crushed the Ducks and ended their 11-match winning streak;

— No. 25 Washington remained one of the three unbeatens with a sweep of Iowa;

— Navy broke through with a four-set win Patriot League win over Lehigh after opening with 13 losses. 

Lines of the day: Speaking of Ohio, Kam Hunt had 26 kills, two aces and 19 digs. And speaking of Southern Miss, Aysu Dalogullari had 25 kills, an assist, two aces, a block and 12 digs. LIU’s Camelia Melendez had 25 kills, four aces and five digs in a five-set win over Saint Francis. Tennessee Tech is 15-1 as Madolyn Isringhausen had 25 kills, hitting .309, with two assists, an ace and 15 digs in a five-set win over Western Illinois.

We also have the AVCA’s announcement of its 2024 hall of fame class and it’s pretty stout: Barry Goldberg, Kathy Gregory, Hugh McCutcheon, and Joe Sagula. 

That story and the NCAA key results and top performances follow in this edition of Volleyball Today.

But first a look at Saturday’s key matches in NCAA Division I volleyball:

NCAA volleyball Saturday

The ACC and SEC are off.

There are four Big 12 matches, none bigger than the Texas showdown of Baylor, No. 15 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, at AVCA No. 22 TCU. UCF goes to Cincinnati, Iowa State is at Kansas State and Texas Tech is at Colorado.

There are three Big 10 matches, including No. 12 Minnesota going across town to USC….