The Big Ten began conference play with a bang Wednesday, as Minnesota, the No. 16 team in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, upset No. 7 Wisconsin in five sets, and fifth-ranked Penn State spanked No. 10 Purdue
In a nearly empty gym because the campus had already closed in anticipation of the impending hurricane, AVCA No. 18 Florida State rallied for a five-set win over — who else? — the Hurricanes of AVCA No. 25 Miami.
Baylor beat previously unbeaten Arizona in the Big 12.
Western Carolina won its SoCon opener in an absolutely wild five — losing the fourth set 43-41 — in a match at The Citadel that put up some remarkable numbers including seven players with 20 or more digs.
Nina Cajic had 31 kills in Tennessee’s sweep of Alabama to go with four aces, a block and 11 digs. Georgia lost in five to Arkansas, but Erykah Lovett — who used to play at Tennessee — had 33 kills — a rally-scoring era record for that program — 21 digs and four blocks.
The recaps and top performances follow.
NCAA volleyball Thursday
Just two teams ranked in either the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll or the AVCA top 25 play Thursday.
VBM No. 16 Florida makes its first SEC trip to Oklahoma.
AVCA No. 17 BYU, home for Colorado, and Utah, off to a 10-1 start, at Texas Tech are the two Big 12 matches.
There are two Big Ten matches, Iowa at Rutgers and Northwestern at Maryland.
The Mountain West has four matches including UNLV at New Mexico and Wyoming at Nevada.
Southland Conference play continues with four matches including two teams that got through the pre-conference season at 8-4 when Lamar goes to Southeastern Louisiana.
The Summit League opens with four matches including South Dakota at Denver, a rivalry that almost always provides exciting matches.
Worth noting on the four-match WAC slate is UT Arlington at Grand Canyon.
And the WCC has five matches, San Diego at Gonzaga, Pacific at Loyola Marymount, Washington State at Santa Clara, Saint Mary’s at Portland and Pepperdine at Oregon State.
North Florida was to play host to Jacksonville, but because of the impending hurricane that match has been postponed to Sunday. UNF is also home Saturday for Central Arkansas.
Minnesota gets big win over Wisconsin
Minnesota (8-3) dealt visiting Wisconsin (6-4) a 19-25, 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, 18-16 Big Ten-opening defeat….
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