International Volleyball

Volleyball Today: USC tops Minnesota; big Saturday stats day; AU on tap Sunday

Volleyball Today: USC tops Minnesota; big Saturday stats day; AU on tap Sunday

K-State’s Aliyah Carter attacks against Iowa State/Reece Bachta Photography

Just three ranked teams played Saturday as AVCA No. 21 USC knocked off VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll No. 12 Minnesota in four sets and No. 23 Dayton swept at VCU.

Of course there were reverse sweeps. Kansas State did it to visiting Iowa State, Davidson did it to visiting George Mason, Eastern Michigan did it to visiting Miami and Murray State did it to visiting Evansville, 

Lines of the day: There were plenty worth noting.

Speaking of Evansville, the Purple Aces lost at Murray State but Giula Cardona had 31 of her team’s 49 kills — hitting .274 after having 11 errors in 73 swings — an ace, six digs and a block. The 5-foot-11 senior from Argentina, the 2023 Missouri Valley player of the year, had 30 kills twice already this season. She had 40 in a match last season. 

Jacksonville lost its Conference USA match at Liberty in five, but the Gamecocks’ Kayla Williams had 29 kills, hit .460, and added three assists, five of her team’s 11 aces and six digs. In Stony Brook’s five-set CAA win over visiting College of Charleston, Charleston’s Emily Banitt had 28 kills, hitting .303, with an assist, 17 digs and two blocks, and Stony Brook’s Kali Moore had 26 kills, an assist, eight digs and a block. In Denver’s five-set Summit victory at North Dakota, Cassie Davis had 27 kills, hitting .478, with an assist, two aces, eight digs and a block.  Montana won its Big Sky match at Weber State in five sets as Jourdain Kamps had a career-high 26 kills, hitting .382, to go with two digs and eight blocks, two solo.

Key results, top peformances and a look at Sunday all follow in this edition of Volleyball Today.

Morehead State’s Hollan Everett hits against Little Rock/Brad Laux photo

Volleyball Sunday

The showcase NCAA Division I match Sunday is on ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern when Texas, No. 7 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, makes its first SEC trip to AVCA No. 18 Florida. 

Also in the SEC, No. 13 Kentucky is home for Missouri, No. 24 Auburn is home for Texas A&M, Arkansas is at Oklahoma, Georgia is at Alabama, Tennessee is at Mississippi State and LSU is at Ole Miss.

All the ranked ACC teams are in action, including No. 4 Louisville home for No. 19 Georgia Tech at 1:30 p.m. on the ACC Network. Top-ranked Pittsburgh is at Syracuse, No. 5 Stanford is home for Wake Forest, AVCA No. 16 Florida State is at Virginia Tech, No. 17 SMU is at Boston College, Miami is at Virginia,…

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