Most of the matches Friday in NCAA volleyball had predictable outcomes, almost big news in a season that has been most unpredictable after the first month.
One that didn’t go to form was No. 11 Purdue not only beating No. 8 Minnesota, but sweeping the visiting Gophers. For that matter, there were seven matches in the Big Ten and six were sweeps.
Valparaiso took its first loss after starting 12-0. That leaves five teams in Division I still unbeaten, Towson, Auburn, Penn State, Texas and UCF.
The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Saturday’s schedule.
Top-ranked and unbeaten Texas, coming off its five-set scare at Kansas, plays host to Oklahoma and will honor its 2012 NCAA championship team. No. 14 Baylor is off, but also in the Big 12 Texas Tech is at West Virginia, Iowa State goes to TCU and Kansas is at Kansas State.
There are three matches in the Big Ten, highlighted by No. 7 Ohio State at No. 3 Nebraska. Michigan is at No, 9 Penn State and Northwestern is at Illinois.
The Pac-12 has Washington State at USC and Arizona at Utah.
The SEC”s Kentucky, ranked No. 15, is home for LSU, No. 12 Florida is at South Carolina, unbeaten Auburn is at Alabama, Tennessee is at Texas A&M and Ole Miss goes to Arkansas.
In the Big East, No. 19 Marquette is home for Butler. No. 22 Creighton is off, but Connecticut is at St. John’s and Providence is at Seton Hall.
There’s another showdown in the West Coast Conference when No. 17 Pepperdine goes to No. 16 BYU. Fourth-ranked San Diego is home for Loyola Marymount, Saint Mary’s is at Gonzaga and Pacific is at Portland.
The lone Conference USA match has No. 24 Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee.
The ACC is idle.
Want to watch a match? We have the viewing links on the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings page.
BIG TEN: Purdue (10-1) won its league opener by coming away with a 25-18, 25-23, 32-30 victory over visiting Minnesota (5-4). There were 21 ties and nine lead changes in the third set when both teams had chances to win, five times for Purdue. Eva Hudson, the freshman phenom, got 10 of her match-high 21 kills in the third. Hudson hit .364 and had seven digs and two blocks. Minnesota’s Taylor Landfair had 17 kills, an assist, two blocks and six digs. We featured Purdue on Friday …
No. 7 Ohio State (5-4) swept at Iowa (6-6). Emily Londot led with 13 kills as she hit .407 and had an assist, five digs and a block … Penn State (12-0) swept…
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