International Volleyball

More NCAA volleyball surprises: Pepperdine tops Minnesota, Hogs beat GT, huge Friday on tap

More NCAA volleyball surprises: Pepperdine tops Minnesota, Hogs beat GT, huge Friday on tap

Minnesota was knocked off by No. 22 Pepperdine as the No. 6 Gophers have been upset in back-to-back matches. 

Pepperdine’s WCC rival, No. 15 BYU, won at Utah.

Arkansas improved to 8-1 as the No. 24 Razorbacks beat visiting No. 5 Georgia Tech.

Colorado State beat Colorado.

Top-ranked Texas lost a set. 

UCF stayed unbeaten as McKenna Melville had 27 kills, an ace, 10 digs and four blocks, two solo, in a five-set win over Omaha. 

In other words, just another day in NCAA women’s volleyball.

Get ready for more of the same as a Friday schedule a mile long has more key pre-conference matches.

The showcase match of the day is in Madison, Wisconsin, where the No. 4 Badgers are playing host to No. 16 Florida not on campus but in the downtown Kohl Center. It’s expected that attendance will surpass 17,000, which would break the regular-season NCAA volleyball record of 15,797 set September 7 when Nebraska played Creighton in Omaha’s CHI Center.

Other Big Ten matches include No. 11 Penn State playing host to Howard, Maryland playing Mercer and East Carolina at Virginia, Indiana playing Texas A&M and Tennessee Tech at WKU, and Iowa facing South Dakota State and North Florida. Michigan is home for Mississippi State, Michigan State is home for Oakland, and in a battle for the Chicago Cup, Northwestern is at DePaul.

Texas is back at it when the Longhorns play host to High Point. No. 14 Baylor plays host to Sam Houston and McNeese and No. 23 Kansas, the other ranked Big 12 team, plays host to UCF.

In the ACC, No. 12 Pittsburgh is home for Tennessee, while NC State gets a crack at Arkansas. North Carolina plays Old Dominion and VCU and Miami is home for South Carolina.

Also in the SEC, Texas A&M faces No. 21 Western Kentucky.

The Pac-12 has a busy schedule, including a big one in San Diego when UCLA plays at No. 8 USD. Also, No. 18 Washington playing North Texas and Montana State. In Minneapolis Washington State faces Pepperdine, Colorado gets another chance against Colorado State, this time at home, and Utah tries to bounce back against Utah State.

You can find the viewing links on the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings page.

WAVES SWAMP MINNESOTA: Freshman Emily Helmuth, an outside hitter who had a total of 80 kills in Pepperdine’s first nine matches, had a career-high 21 Thursday in the Waves’ 26-28, 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 victory at Minnesota. It marked the third time this season Pepperdine (8-2) beat a team in the AVCA…

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