International Volleyball

Volleyball Today: OU upsets Texas; Abercrombie poised to win Athletes Unlimited

Volleyball Today: OU upsets Texas; Abercrombie poised to win Athletes Unlimited

USC’s Tyrah Ariail hits the quick against Washington/Jim Wolf photo

“You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma, O.K.!”

Oklahoma, the SEC volleyball team, not the subject of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, is indeed doing fine.

The Sooners, who have been close so many times this season, came away with a 25-21, 25-27, 19-25, 25-17, 15-9 victory at No. 9 Texas on Sunday behind a monster effort by Alexis Shelton. Reeling Texas, meanwhile, lost for the third time in a row, each at home and each in five sets.

That was the only upset on a busy Sunday in which 14 ranked teams played. The only matches featuring two of them saw VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll No. 6 Stanford win in four at No. 23 Florida State and AVCA No. 16 Georgia Tech beat No. 25 North Carolina.

Both the VBM and AVCA polls come out later Monday with, as usual, a lot for the voters to consider.

This is, of course, the season of the reverse sweep, so there was one when Arkansas rallied from 0-2 at home against Auburn. 

Lines of the day: In Quinnipiac’s big five-set win over MAAC-leading Fairfield, Italian opposite Elena Giacomini had 31 kills, two assists, two aces, 15 digs and three blocks, one solo. 

Brown’s Mariia Sidorova had 26 kills but her team lost its Ivy League match in five to Princeton. The Russian junior outside hit .373 and had two aces and 11 digs. 

There was also the aforementioned Alexis Shelton, who had 27 kills, hit .365, and had two assists, 15 digs and five blocks, two solo, against Texas.

Delaware State lost its MEAC match in five at Norfolk State, but Gerren Tomlin had 25 kills, hit .354 and had two assists, four aces, 11 digs and two blocks.

Aniya Madkin had 25 kills for Arkansas in that SEC win over Auburn to go with four digs and two blocks.

There are four matches Monday, including one of the hottest teams in the nation, UT Arlington, home for Abilene Christian. UTA, which has won 12 in a row, is 21-2, 11-0 in the WAC, and holds a two-game lead over Utah Tech and Grand Canyon.

Also Monday, Morgan State plays South Carolina in the MEAC and in the SWAC, Prairie View plays Alcorn and Texas Southern plays Southern.

Brittany Abercrombie in Athletes Unlimted driver’s seat

It’s Brittany Abercrombie’s to lose. The lefty opposite has 4,405 points as the five-week competition comes to a close in Mesa, Arizona, well ahead of second-place Dominican Republican veteran Bethania De La Cruz-Mejia (3,899). Morgan Hentz moved into third place (3,180) and Madi Kingdon Rishel is…

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