Washington’s Katy Wessels attacks against UC Davis/Stephen Burns photo

Second-ranked Stanford laid down the hammer Sunday on visiting No. 6 Texas and swept the  Longhorns right out of Maples Pavilion.

No. 4 Louisville had to go five to defeat No. 9 Creighton, which lost the first two sets before turning it around.

The other five ranked teams in action Sunday — No. 11 Kansas, No. 16 Tennessee, No. 18 Baylor, No. 20 Miami and No. 21 Florida State — all won.

And Hampton, poor Hampton, was so, so close to breaking a 46-match losing streak.

There are just three Division I matches on the Monday schedule, Tennessee at Wofford, Michigan State at Eastern Michigan and UIC going across town to Chicago State.

We will have a separate story on the second day of the AVP League.

Stanford, Louisville win big battles

Stanford (7-0) was playing at home for the first time with no time to get comfy in Palo Alto. After the 25-16, 25-21, 25-22 victory, the Cardinal were set to fly Monday morning to Nebraska, where they play the No. 5 Huskers on Wednesday. 

So far this season Stanford has beaten (rankings at the time of the matches) No. 18 Minnesota, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 24 Marquette and now two-time defending NCAA-champion Texas, which bounced the Cardinal from the 2023 NCAA Tournament in the regional final. 

Stanford hit .340 and had five aces and 13 serving errors, while Texas (3-3) hit .125 and had three aces and eight errors.

Elia Rubin led Stanford with 12 kills, hitting .310, and had a block and six digs. For the season, Rubin is averaging 4.23 kills per set and hitting .304.

Jordyn Harvey had 10 kills with two errors in 20 attacks, two blocks and a dig, and Sami Francis, who had five blocks, and Ipar Kurt had seven kills each. Francis had one error in 14 attacks and is hitting .456 for the season. The other middle, Lizzy Andrew, had five kills in eight errorless attacks. Setter Kami Miner had three kills — including the match-ender — in four errorless tries, 35 assists two aces, two blocks and 10 digs.

Madi Skinner led Texas with 12 kills, but hit .129 and had no aces and three errors to go with two blocks and seven digs. In that 2023 regional final, she had 24 kills, hit .383, and had two aces. Ayden Ames had six kills with one error in 10 attacks and five blocks. Their teammates combined for 12 kills and 10 errors … 

Louisville (7-1) battled to a 25-18, 25-20, 10-25, 15-25, 15-8 victory over visiting Creighton (7-2). Charitie Luper had 17 kills — four in the fifth set — an ace, two blocks and 10 digs. Anna DeBeer had 11 kills but continued to struggle offensively, this time with eight errors, although her last kill ended the match. She had two aces and eight digs. For the season, DeBeer is hitting .126. Sofia Maldonado Diaz had nine kills and seven digs and PK Kong had five kills with one error in 10 attacks to go with six blocks, two solo. Cara Cresse, who had three kills but three errors, also had six blocks, two solo. Elena Scott had 23 digs and seven assists.

Louisville hit .133 with four aces and 11 errors. Creighton hit .146 with five aces and seven errors.

Creighton, which also lost the first two sets before forcing a fifth in a loss last week at Nebraska, got 14 kills from Elise Goetzinger, who had two errors in 28 attacks and hit .428 to go with an assist, a dig and six blocks, three solo. Norah Siss had 12 kills but hit .132 and had three assists, a block and six digs. Ava Martin had 11 kills and 11 errors. Kendra Wait had six kills on eight errorless tries, 37 assists, two aces, 13 digs and three blocks, one solo, and libero Maddy Bilinovic had 27 digs and three assists.

Wright State celebrates beating Ohio State/Joseph Craven photo

Around the nation

Kansas swept Lipscomb as Ayah Elnady had eight aces, breaking the program record of seven set in 1995. Elnady also had 11 kills, hit .381, and had an assist, a solo block and four digs. Toyosi Onabanjo had 11 kills with one error in 16 attacks and four blocks, one solo … 

Nina Cajic had 17 kills as Tennessee swept Coastal Carolina. Cajic, who hit .371, had an assist, four digs and an ace … 

Baylor hit .451 and swept Samford. Allie Sczech led with 10 kills and hit .529 after having one error in 17 attacks to go with an assist and three digs … 

Miami, which lost its last two matches after upsetting Texas, bounced back with a sweep of Buffalo. Grace Lopez had 14 kills, hit .400, and had a block and six digs and Flormarie Colon had 13 kills, two aces, two blocks and nine digs … 

Florida State (7-1) held off visiting UCF (5-1) 25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17. Audrey Koenig had 15 kills, hit .464, and had five of her team’s 13 aces, a block and 15 digs. Taylor Head had 11 kills, an assist, four blocks and 10 digs.

Key results and top performances:

Taylor Davenport had 27 kills for Temple in a five-set win over New Hampshire. She had an ace, 15 digs and two blocks. For the season, Davenport, who had 33 kills in a match the week before against Presbyterian, is averaging 4.81 kills/set …

Wake Forest (6-3) won in four at South Carolina (7-2) as Paige Crawford had 15 kills, an ace, 14 digs and three blocks, and Sahara Maruska had 14 kills, hit .344, and had two aces, 12 digs and a block. South Carolina’s Riley Whitesides had 17 kills, an assist, three aces, seven digs and two blocks …

Wright State (7-2) came away with a four-set win at Ohio State (5-3) a day after upsetting Miami. The Flyers had four players with 10 or more kills, 14 by Mya Ayro. Reilly Zegunis had 11 kills with one error in 26 attacks, two digs and four blocks. Ohio State hit .156 and got 15 kills from Emily Londot, who had three assists, two aces, three blocks and 10 digs … 

Northern Iowa swept Rice as Cassidy Hartman had eight kills, hit .429, and had four digs and two blocks … Iowa State swept Montana State as Nayeli Gonzalez had 16 kills, hit .400, and had two aces and two digs … In Yale’s five-set win over Colgate, Laurece Abraham had 14 kills, hit .344, and had two digs and six blocks, one solo … Utah is 7-1 after it swept Northeastern as Kamryn Gibadlo had 10 kills with no errors in 21 attacks, two aces and four digs … Cal beat UC Irvine in four as Kate Mansfield had 16 kills and hit .419 to go with three blocks and Maggie Li and Peyton DeJardin had 13 kills each. UCI’s Ella Gardiner had 19 kills, hit .417, and had two digs and five blocks, one solo …

North Carolina’s Chelsey Thorpe hits through the K-State block of Aliyah Carter and Makinsey Jones/Will Huster Photography

UConn is 9-0 — the best start in program history — after beating Dartmouth in four. Emma Werkmeister had 17 kills and hit .455 and Hanna Tyiska had 16 and hit .419 … Michigan is also 9-0 after hitting .409 in a four-set win over Oakland. Allison Jacobs had 20 kills with three errors in 41 attacks, four digs and four blocks. She’s averaging 4.24 kills/set … In Army West Point’s four-set win over Sacred Heart, Kingsley Wallace had 15 kills, hit .481, and had an assist and two blocks. Juliette Myrick had 12 kills, hit .476, and had 10 digs and six blocks, one solo … Hailley Green had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks in West Virginia’s sweep of Liberty to go with three digs and four blocks … North Carolina improved to 6-1 with a four-set win over Kansas State as Mabrey Shaffmaster had 20 kills, hit .333, and had an ace, 11 digs and a block. Emani Foster had nine blocks, six kills, two assists and three digs … Villanova beat Fairfield in four as Campbell McKinnon had 12 kills, hit .417, and had two aces, four digs and seven blocks, one solo … Milwaukee had four players with 10 or more kills in a four-set win over Iowa … Wyoming won in four at Colorado with six players getting six or more kills. Kayla Mazzocca had nine kills with one error in 17 attacks and six blocks, two solo … 

Ole Miss is 7-2 after hitting .330 in a sweep of Little Rock. Shayla Meyer had 15 kills, hit .481, and had an assist, two aces and eight digs … Texas A&M is 7-0 after hitting .340 and sweeping Louisiana. Logan Lednicky had 15 kills, hit .542, and had an assist, an ace, five digs and seven blocks, one solo … Maryland hit .476 in a sweep of winless UMBC. Samantha Schnitta had 13 kills with one error in 19 attacks to hit .632 and had two assists, five of her team’s 11 aces, three digs and three blocks … Sami Jacobs had 18 kills and 14 digs in Tulane’s sweep of Louisiana-Monroe … Washington improved to 7-0 with a four-set win over visiting UC Davis. Julia Hunt had 16 kills, hit .448 and had a dig and three blocks … Pacific had four players with 10 or more kills, 15 by Alexa Edwards, and improved to 7-2 with a four-set win over GCU … Pepperdine swept visiting UC Santa Barbara after winning a wild second set, 25-21, 37-35, 25-23. Grace Chillingworth had 21 kills and hit .348 for the Waves to go with four digs and four blocks, one solo … San Jose State is 6-0 after getting out of Santa Clara with a five-set victory. Nayeli Ti’a had 14 kills but 12 errors and had two assists, 12 digs and four blocks … 

And finally, Hampton, which has lost 47 in a row, was so close. 

But previously winless Iona (1-8) broke through with its first victory, a sweep of then 0-9 Hampton. Mackenzie Wiggins had 13 kills, an assist, an ace, five digs and a block. Then later Sunday, Hampton went up 2-0 but UMES (Maryland Eastern Shore) dropped the Pirates to 0-10 by pulling off a reverse sweep — and no, that second-set score is not a typo — 24-26, 8-25, 25-14, 25-19, 15-8. Ranyla Griggs had 20 kills, two assists, an ace, three digs and a block for UMES. Madison Clark led Hampton with 12 kills, an assist, six aces, three digs and four blocks, one solo.

Hampton, which lost all of its 21 matches in 2023, lost its last 16 in 2022. 

Katie Wessels goes high for Washington against UC Davis/Stephen Burns photo

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