International Volleyball

Volleyball Today: NCAA volleyball season begins in earnest; AVP Chicago Open

Volleyball Today: NCAA volleyball season begins in earnest; AVP Chicago Open

Taylor Sander with the kick save in Chicago/Rick Atwood photo

There were more than 200 NCAA women’s matches Friday as the season began in earnest with another full slate on tap Saturday. 

Matches of note, in no particular order, include: 

Kansas vs. Duke
Pittsburgh vs. Long Beach State
San Diego vs. SMU
Arizona State vs. Lipscomb
TCU vs. Nebraska
High Point vs. BYU
Ohio State vs. Dayton 
USC vs. Pepperdine
Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky
Missouri vs. Creighton
Florida vs. Northern Colorado

The AVP Chicago Open heads into the second day of the three-day tournament on the shores of Lake Michigan. We’ve got photos from Mark Rigney, Will Chu, Rick Atwood and Stephen Burns.

Friday’s NCAA volleyball

It’s impossible to keep up with such a massive slate, but here is a look at some key results and top performances.

There were not any major upsets, but certainly some results that got our attention, starting with the ACC.

Fourth-seeded Pittsburgh came out strong and won 25-12, 27-25, 25-23 at No. 10 Oregon of the Big Ten … UCLA of the Big Ten — add that will sound weird until probably mid-season or so — which had votes in the preseason AVCA poll, opened with a five-set victory at No. 14 Georgia Tech. Kiki Horne, a 6-2 freshman from Raleigh, North Carolina, had 12 kills in the 25-20, 11-25, 10-25, 25-19, 16-14 victory … Hawai’i of the Big West, which also got some AVCA votes, held off visiting SMU, another team that plenty of AVCA. UH, which could not have started off worse, was led by junior outside Caylen Alexander had 28 kills in the 7-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13 victory. She had an ace, a block and 11 digs … Stanford grinded to a 25-20, 27-25, 25-17 victory at the Horizon League’s Milwaukee … And Wake Forest was knocked off at home, swept by Hofstra of the CAA, the Pride’s first win over an ACC school since 2016 … Syracuse, which started 2023 0-6 swept NJIT and then beat Lafayette in four … 

Purdue assistant coach John Klanac and Chloe Chicoine show off his broken laptop, the toll of Chicoine diving for a loose ball. Purdue won the second-set point.

The Big Ten went 12-5 on Friday, which included No. 8 Purdue winning a tough four-setter over visiting Kansas State, a team that is not yet ranked but will be. Chloe Chicoine had 17 kills and Eva Hudson 16 for the Boilermakers, while Aliyah Carter had 21 kills for K-State to go with 13 digs and a block .. No. 7 Penn State won in four at No. 15 Tennessee as Camryn Hannah and Jess Mruzik had 19 kills…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Volleyballmag.com…