Pro Women
November 20, 2024
The one-and-done season is underway:
Lehigh pulled off the first upset of the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball postseason.
The visiting sixth-seeded Hawks, in the conference tournament for the first time since 2019, knocked out third-seeded American in five sets in the opening round of the Patriot League Championship. In the other match, fourth-seeded Army West Point swept No. 5 Loyola Maryland.
South Dakota State clinched The Summit League and Southeast Missouri State came one step closer in the Ohio Valley Conference.
There are just 19 matches on the Wednesday schedule, but that includes seven ranked teams, highlighted by AVCA No. 16 Minnesota at Wisconsin, No. 6 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll.
We have the info on the DIII women’s tourney.
The coaching carousel did some spinning in Louisiana and we have our weekly report on USA women playing professionally internationally with many names NCAA fans know well, including Dana Rettke, Avery Skinner and Stephanie Samedy, who had 49 kills in her two matches in Japan.
It’s all in this edition of Volleyball Today, which is able to make a rare reference to both Fingall sisters in the same report:
NCAA volleyball Tuesday
There are two Big Ten matches as No. 2 Nebraska, which has won 23 in a row, goes to Iowa, which can be seen on B1G+, and Wisconsin is home for Minnesota. That one is on the Big Ten Network at 9 p.m. Eastern. Nebraska leads the B1G at 16-0, a game ahead of idle Penn State and two games ahead of Wisconsin.
AVCA No. 17 Baylor is home Texas Tech in the Big 12, which also shows No. 22 TCU entertaining Houston and Kansas State at UCF.
Kentucky, which holds a one-game SEC lead over Florida and idle Texas, is home for Mississippi State at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN+, while Florida goes to Auburn. That one starts at 7 p.m. Eastern and is on the SEC Network.
The lone ACC match has Boston College at Syracuse.
Southeast Missouri State, which beat SIUE on Tuesday, can clinch the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title outright if it beats the visiting Cougars again. The 6 p.m. Eastern first serve is on ESPN+. Second-place Lindenwood, a game back, needs to win at Little Rock again Wednesday and root for SIUE to force a tie. Also i the OVC, Morehead State is at Southern Indiana, Tennessee Tech is at UT Martin and Tennessee State is at Eastern Illinois.
There’s a regular-season finale showdown in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Northern Iowa, which has won 17 in a row and holds a one-game lead over Drake, plays at Drake at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. UNI swept their previous meeting. Also in the Valley, Bradley is at Illinois State, Indiana State is at Evansville and Southern Illinois is at Missouri State.
Seton Hall is at Georgetown in the Big East and in the West Coast Conference, Santa Clara is at San Francisco.
NCAA volleyball Wednesday
Lehigh (16-12) made it back-to-back five-set wins over American (20-9) with a 25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-10 victory to advance to the Patriot League semifinals. The Hawks play at top-seeded Colgate on Friday. Emily Stewart, who eight blocks, and Megan Schulte had 12 kills each for Lehigh. Ufuoma Omene had 11 kills and six blocks. Madison McCartney had six kills with no errors in 13 attacks and five blocks to go with sevdn digs. And Alysia Finall, whose sister Morgahn played at Tennessee and is in our international report below, had nine kills — but nine errors — an assist, two blocks and 12 digs. AU’s Elise Sterling had 13 kills with no errors in 21 attacks to hit .619 and had an assist, two blocks and a digs. Lilou Stegemen, who had seven blocks, two solo, and Adelina Berisha had 12 kills each … In the other PL match, Army West Point (15-11) swept visiting Loyola Maryland (10-16) as seven players had five or more kill in the 25-20, 25-12, 25-18 victory. Juliette Myrick had eight kills with one error in 10 attacks, 30 assists, three of her team’s 12 aces, nine digs and two blocks. The Black Knights play second-seeded Bucknell at Colgate on Friday …
In The Summit League, South Dakota State clinched the regular-season title with a sweep at South Dakota, which set a program attendance record with 2,810 in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. SDSU, which won the regular season for the first time since 2007, was led by Sylive Zgonc, who had 14 kills, hitting .458, to go with an assist, an ace and 14 digs. It also was the first time the Jackrabbits won at South Dakota since 2002. Omaha finished a game back after winning in four at Kansas City. McKenna Ruch had 18 kills with one error in 28 swings to hit .607 and had a dig and two blocks. North Dakota State beat visiting North Dakota in four and Denver swept at Oral Roberts …
Fresno State (16-12, 12-5) vaulted into second place in the Mountain West, a game back in the loss column of idle Colorado State (16-10, 12-4) with a five-set victory at San Jose State. Idle Utah State is alone in third at 11-5, while San Jose State (14-6, 12-6) fell to fourth. Addison Haluska led Fresno with 20 kills, hitting .395, and had six of her team’s 13 aces, seven digs and three blocks. Blaire Fleming led SJSU with 21 kills, hitting .349, with nine digs and three blocks, two solo. There are more league matches Thursday and Saturday, but San Jose State is finished until the conference tournament because Boise State is forfeiting their match on Thursday …
In the Ohio Valley, Southeast Missouri beat visiting SIUE 25-16, 15-25, 25-17, 27-25 as Lucy Arndt had 18 kills, 16 digs and two blocks, one solo. Nina Schuberth had 26 digs, five assists and an ace. SIUE’s Nicole Medlin had 14 kills, hit .480, and had two digs and three blocks, one solo. Lindenwood remained a game back by winning in five at Little Rock. Rebecca Janke had 16 kills, hit .342, and had two digs and four blocks. Little Rock’s Jeila Fullerton had 19 kills, two assists, 17 digs and two blocks. Andrea Roman had 30 digs and eight assists. Also in the OVC, Tennessee State swept at Eastern Illinois, Morehead State swept at Southern Indiana and Tennessee Tech did the same at UT Martin …
There were two Missouri Valley matches as Belmont swept Murray State and UIC won in five at Valparaiso. Belmont’s Lucy Kay had 17 kills, hitting .667. UIC’s Gabi Peter had 17 kills, hit .306, and had four digs and six blocks, one solo.
Juniata leads NCAA Division III tourney field
All eyes on Juniata, which has won 91 matches in a row.
The 64-team field was announced Tuesday and the two-time defending champions play Penn State Altoona in the first round. Juniata, 29-0, finished 14-0 in the Landmark Conference and then swept its way through the tournament semifinals and final. For that matter, Juniata has swept its last 22 matches and has lost just three sets all season.
When the Eagles swept Scranton last Saturday 25-14, 25-15, 25-20, it marked the program’s 43rd overall consecutive conference championship and 17th straight Landmark Conference championship.
Click here for more on the DIII tournament, including a link to watch the selection show.
ULM needs a coach … again
Louisiana-Monroe coach Daniel Cabrera is “stepping down” after one season. The Warhawks finished 4-24, 01-16 in the Southland Conference. The next ULM coach will be its sixth in 13 years.
The program, which has never been to the NCAA Tournament, last had a winning season in 1989.
USA women playing internationally
In the group stage of the CEV Champions League, Dana Rettke was named MVP as Eczacibasi swept Schwerin. Former Wisconsin star Rettke had six kills, hit .857, and had three blocks and an ace. Alexa Gray, the Canadian who played at BYU, had 11 kills and hit 455). Jaelyn Keene had three kills and a block for Schwerin.
Also in the CEV Champions League, Washington product Kara Bajema had nine kills, a block and an ace as Scandicci swept Stuttgart. Alabama’s Krystal Rivers led Stuttgart with 14 kills, two blocks and an ace. In the German League, Rivers Germany had 23 kills in a five-set over Aachen and teammate Madelyn Robinson, who played at BYU, had eight kills and an ace. Serena Bruin, who played at Oregon State, had seven kills, hit .538, and had three blocks and an ace for Aachen.
Haylie Bennett, who also played at Oregon State, had 17 kills, five blocks and three aces for Nantes in a five-set Champions League loss to Lodz. Laura Jansen of the Netherlands who played at Washington State, had 15 kills and a block. Mariana Brambilla, the Brazilian who played at Georgia Tech had 10 kills and a block.
Former LSU standout Taylor Bannister had 12 kills, two blocks and an ace for Vasas which lost to Turkish champion Fenerbahce in four sets.
In the CEV Cup round of 32, former Tennessee star Morgahn Fingall had 23 kills and a block for Volero Le Cannet in a win over Beograd.
Bella Bergmark, who won an NCAA title with Texas last year, had four kills and four blocks for Nancy in a win over Dresdner. Marta Levinska, the Latvian who played at Arizona State, had nine kills for Dresdner to go with two aces and a block.
In the CEV Challenge Cup round of 32, Riley Wagoner of Hawai’i had seven aces and six kills as Targoviste swept Olymp Praha.
Emma Ellis, who played at Purdue, and CAV Esquimo scored a huge upset over Greek titans Panathinaikos in four sets and then again in a golden set (15-6) to advance to the next round as Ellis had 19 kills.
Setter Josie Vondran, who played at LSU, led Dudingen to a comeback win over Swiss rival Schaffhausen with seven kills, two blocks and two aces. Jordan Lockwood-Russell, who played at Denver had 25 kills for Schaffhausen.
Washington State’s Kyra Holt led Benfica past AEK Athens with 17 kills, hitting .500, and had a block and an ace.
In Italy, Avery Skinner had 17 kills and a block for Chieri in a four-set win over Bergamo. Khalia Lanier had four kills, a block and an ace as Conegliano swept Pinerolo. And Simone Lee had 14 kills but Vallefoglia fell to Scandicci in four.
In Türkiye, Annie Mitchem had 11 kills, a block and one ace in Aras Kargo’s five set defeat to Aydin. Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani had eight kills and two aces but \SigortaShop was swept by Eczacibasi in three sets.
In France, Lauren Matthews was top scorer as RC Cannes beat Beziers in four sets. Matthews had 17 kills, two blocks and two aces. Marissa Stockman led Beziers with 14 kills (.737), a block and one ace. Lexi Hadrych was named MVP as TFOC beat Quimper in four sets. Hadrych had 17 kills and two blocks. Karson Bacon added seven kills (.467), a block, and an ace.
In Japan, Astemo Rivale earned two wins over league-leading Denso. Rivale won the first match in four sets as both Mac May and Brionne Butler were top scorers. May had 12 kills, three aces and two blocks and Butler had 12 kills, three blocks and two aces. Rivale earned a dramatic five-set win in the second match and May was named MVP as after having 18 kills and two blocks. Butler had 12 kills and four blocks.
Stephanie Samedy powered Hisamitsu Springs to two sweeps of Okayama. She had 27 kills (.491) and three blocks in the first match and then 22 kills (.526) in the second.
In Brazil, Jenna Gray had two blocks and two aces as she set Minas to a four-set win over Barueri. Payton Caffrey was Praia Clube’s top scorer yet again, this time with 20 kills (.472) and two blocks in a four-set win against Pinheiros. Nia Reed made her season debut as a substitute and had five kills. Claudia Dillion had five kills for Pinheiros. And Callie Schwarzenbach had five kills and two blocks as Osasco swept Bauru.
