Volleyball Today: Abercrombie atop AU; NCAA update; AVCA Poll; international report

The five-week Athletes Unlimited volleyball season has one week left and it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the individual winner will be either Brittany Abercrombie and Bethania De La Cruz-Mejia. 

Abercrombie (3,670 points) took a big step in winning the league honors even though lost to her second-place rival.

Also in this edition of Volleyball Today, we’ve got the NCAA schedule for Tuesday and results from Monday, the AVCA top 25, how American are doing internationally, and a link to our weekly NCAA Zoom.

Athletes Unlimited heads down the stretch

In the nightcap Monday in Mesa, Arizona, Team De La Cruz-Mejia won 71-65 overall and 21-25, 25-20, 25-20 in sets over Team Abercrombie. 

Willow Johnson moved into 10th place with 18 kills, hitting .429, and had six digs and a solo block. Dani Drews had 14 kills, hit .444, and had an assist, two aces, eight digs and two blocks as she moved into fourth place. De La Cruz had seven kills, an assist, two aces and eight digs.

Abercrombie led her team with 17 kills, hitting .400, and had an assist, two aces and eight digs.

Read the AU recap here.

Earlier, Team (Morgan) Hentz swept Team (Leketor) Member-Meneh 75-66, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20 in sets. 

Madi Kingdon Rishel led Hentz with 20 kills, hitting .364, and had two assists, seven digs and a solo block. It vaulted her into third place, but at 2,654 she’s slightly ahead of Drews but far behind De La Cruz. Temi Thomas-Ailara had 17 kills, hit .500, and had an assist, an ace and 12 digs. Hentz had 12 digs and two assists, but dropped a spot into fifth.

Member-Meneh, now in seventh place, led her team with 18 kills, hitting .471, and had an ace, seven digs and a solo block.

Read the first-match AU recap here.

The season concludes next Friday-Sunday-Monday at the Arizona Athletic Grounds.

NCAA volleyball Tuesday

There are 21 matches on the NCAA Division I schedule, just one involving a ranked team as No. 19 Dayton is home for Duquesne in the Atlantic 10. The Flyers, 21-1, are 11-0 in the A10 and have won 14 in a row. Also in the A10, Rhode Island is at Fordham, Davidson is at VCU and Loyola Chicago is at Saint Louis.

The Horizon League has five matches, including league-leading Wright State at Northern Kentucky. Milwaukee, alone in second a game back, is home for Green Bay. Robert Morris goes to Youngstown State, Cleveland State is at Oakland and Purdue Fort Wayne is at…