International Volleyball

NC State, Northwestern get huge wins; WSU tops Oregon; Citadel now 16-0

NC State, Northwestern get huge wins; WSU tops Oregon; Citadel now 16-0

Washington State’s Katy Ryan attacks at Oregon/Mark Hoffman Photography

The VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll voters had a lot to consider when the volleyballs stopped bouncing this past weekend.

On Sunday alone, unranked NC State knocked off last week’s No. 5 Louisville; No. 7 Washington State won in five at No. 7 Oregon; Northwestern, which had lost four of its last five matches, got 33 kills from Julia Sangiacomo and pulled off a reverse sweep AT Purdue; surging USC won its ninth in a row; The Citadel won again to improve to 16-0; and Arizona State bounced back from its only loss behind 30 kills by Marta Levinska.

And all that came after a Saturday in which Penn State won in four at Minnesota and Nebraska, which won in five at Purdue on Friday, won in four at Indiana.

Sunday’s recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at what’s on tap in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.

There are four matches on the Monday schedule, including Alcorn vs. Texas Southern and Southern vs. Prairie View in the SWAC. Southern Illinois goes to Missouri State in the Missouri Valley, and in the WAC Utah Tech plays host to Southern Utah.

Things are a little busier Tuesday, with 18 matches that Dayton at Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 and Western Kentucky at Liberty in Conference USA. In the Mountain West, Colorado State is at Wyoming.

Coming later this morning, the second VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll and this afternoon the AVCA top 25 is unveiled.

ACC: NC State (13-2, 3-1) beat a top-five opponent for the first time with its 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-15 victory over visiting Louisville (12-2, 3-1). The Wolfpack, which hit .338 got 16 kills from Amanda Rice, who had three errors in 30 attacks to hit .433. She had four blocks and two digs. Ava Brizard had 14 kills with one error in 32 attacks to hit .406 and had an assist, an ce, a block and five digs. Madison Williams had 11 kills, two blocks and three digs. NC State had three aces and 12 errors. Louisville, which had won 12 ACC matches in a row and 37 of 39, hit .164 and had 11 serving errors against four aces. Anna DeBeer led with 14 kills, an ace, two blcoks and 12 digs. PK Kong had 11 kills, a dig and four blocks, one solo. Elena Scott had 29 digs, an assist and an ace … 

That leaves Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Florida State tied atop the standings at 4-0, while Louisville, NC State and Miami are all 3-1.

Pittsburgh hit .458 and had a 15-1 blocking advantage as the…

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