NCAA Women
October 16, 2024
SMU, coming off its upset of No. 1 Pittsburgh, continues its gauntlet of an ACC schedule by playing host to Stanford on Wednesday.
SMU is one of a handful of ranked NCAA Division I teams in action on a day with just 17 matches.
This edition of Volleyball Today includes Tuesday’s results, news that Hawai’i is leaving the Big West for the Mountain West and our weekly update of USA players in pro leagues abroad.
NCAA volleyball report
WEDNESDAY: SMU (13-4, 5-1), which moved up to No. 9 in this week’s VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, is coming off back-to-back matches with Pitt and now entertains No. 5 Stanford (13-2, 5-1). It’s their first ACC meeting as new members of the conference. In the other ACC match, AVCA No. 17 Georgia Tech (11-4, 3-3) is home for Clemson (8-9, 0-6), which is tied with Syracuse for last place. Idle Louisville (14-2, 6-0) is the only team left unbeaten in ACC play.
The SEC’s two matches have No. 16 Kentucky (9-7, 2-3) at Tennessee (9-6, 2-3) and AVCA No. 25 Auburn (14-2, 4-1) at Alabama (9-7, 1-4).
There are two Big Ten matches when Indiana (9-7, 2-4) goes to Illinois (11-5, 3-3) and Iowa (9-9, 3-3) is at Northwestern (3-11, 1-5).
The Big 12 has five matches. No. 13 Arizona State (16-2, 5-1) is home for Houston (8-7, 3-2), No. 18 TCU (12-4, 4-2) is at Texas Tech (9-8, 1-4), No. 24 BYU (10-6, 3-3) is at Iowa State (8-7, 2-2), Colorado (9-8, 2-3) is at Arizona (12-4, 1-4) and UCF (8-6, 1-4) goes to West Virginia (6-11, 0-6).
The top two teams in the American Athletic Conference square off when Rice (11-4, 6-0) plays at South Florida (10-7, 6-0).
Winless watch: 0-19 Hampton of the CAA gives it another try when the Pirates play host to Norfolk State of the MEAC.
TUESDAY: There were five matches, including Nevada’s five-set Mountain West victory over visiting Utah State. Gabby McLaughlin, a 5-foot-8 freshman outside, led the Wolf Pack with 21 kills, an assist, nine digs and two blocks, one solo, and three of her team’s 12 aces. Kinsley Singleton had six of those aces …
FGCU swept visiting Stetson in the ASUN behind 18 kills from Skylar English, who had no errors in 36 attacks to hit .500 and added an assist, three of her team’s nine aces, eight digs and two blocks. It marked victory No. 250 for coach Matt Botsford …
Charleston Southern swept visiting Presbyterian for its first Big South victory of the year. Another Skylar, Skylar Yates, led with 12 kills, an assist, three aces, six digs and two blocks, one solo … LIU of the NEC swept at Saint Peter’s of the MAAC as Bella Correia had 10 kills with one error in 21 attacks, four digs and two blocks … and Eastern Illinois held off visiting SIUE in four in their Ohio Valley Conference match as Destiny Walker had 20 kills, an assist, an ace, two blocks and 12 digs. Laura Paniagua had 22 digs, an assist and an ace and Ireland Hieb had seven blocks, one solo, to go with 10 kills while hitting .353.
NCAA volleyball stat leaders
Here is a random look at the numbers.
Arissa Smith of Mississippi State leads the nation in hitting percentage (.497), ahead of Tennessee’s Keondreya Granberry (.487) and San Diego State’s Shea Rubright (.487).
TCU’s Melanie Parra leads in kills per set (5.22), followed by Evansville’s Guila Cardona (5.17) and Caylen Alexander of Hawai’i (4.98). Cardona, however, leads in total kills with 362, followed by Binghamton’s Tsvetelina Ilieva (352) and Alexander (324).
Boston College’s Juia Haggerty has a huge lead in blocks per set (2.06), followed by Purdue’s Raven Colvin (1.71) and Marianna Singletary of Texas (1.62). Haggerty also leads in total blocks (130, 27 solo). Western Kentucky’s Izzy Van De Wiele is next with 100, 14 solo, and Colvin is third at 106, 17 solo.
Drake’s Jada Willis leads in digs per set (6.60), followed by Valparaiso” Emma Hickey (5.93) and Georgia Southern’s Ashlyn Lovett (5.76). Hickey has the most digs (439), Wills is next (429) and Oakland’s Emily Wichmann is third (383).
Maryland’s Samantha Schnitta leads with 53 aces, followed by Mercer’s Brooke Phillips (49) and Missouri’s Jordan Iliff and FDU’s Hannah Schmidt (46 each).
A quick run through team stats shows Pittsburgh leading in hitting percentage (.343), Penn State in kills per set (14.88), Idaho State in blocks per set (3.14) and Saint Francis in aces per set (2.66).
The most kills in a match this season were 42 by Nina Cajic, who did in a four-set win for Tennessee against Western Michigan. Alexander of Hawai’i had 38 in a five-set win over Texas State. The most kills in a sweep were 25, by Binghamton’s Ilieva against New Hampshire and South Dakota State’s Sylvie Zgonc against Florida A&M.
The single-match blocks leader is Cal’s Ellie Hamm, who had 17, three solo, in a five-set win over Syracuse. Marci Bell of Idaho State had 14, two solo, in a four-set win over CSUN, and the most in a sweep was by Minnesota’s Phoebe Woleye, who had 14, one solo, in a win over Maryland.
Hawai’i headed to Mountain West
Hawai’i will leave the Big West in 2026 to become a full member of the Mountain West. Hawaii has been an MWC football-only member since 2012.
As Spectrum News reported, “It is to be determined what happens to four UH sports the Mountain West does not sponsor: men’s volleyball, women’s water polo, beach volleyball and men’s swimming and diving. If UH cannot remain in the Big West as an affiliate member in those sports at a cost of $25,000 per sport per year, it will look to place them in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, (Hawai’i athletic director Craig) Angelos said.”
USA players international update
Avery Skinner had a whopping 24 kills, hitting .391, and was named MVP as she powered Chieri to a sweep of Cuneo in Italy. USA national mate Ashley Evans had a kill and set Bergamo to a four set win over Busto Arsizio. Also in Italy, Lindsey Ruddins had seven kills and two blocks as Scandicci swept city-rival Firenze …
In Japan, Stephanie Samedy and Hisamitsu Springs began their season with two wins over Kurobe. Samedy had 13 kills and two blocks in a sweep and then had 28 kills and two aces in a five-set win. Kash Williams and PFU Blue Cats opened the Japanese league season with a series split against Himeji. Williams had eight kills and two blocks in the first match when PFU won in five sets and then had six kills and a block in a three-set loss. Brionne Butler and Mac May marked their Japanese league debut with two wins for Astemo Rivale Ibaraki over Gunma Green Wings. Brionne Butler had 13 kills (.722) and three blocks in her debut. May added 11 kills. In the second match, May had 19 kills and an ace in a four-set win. Butler added four kills and two blocks …
In Türkiye, Kendall Kipp had two kills and a block as VakifBank survived Kuzeyboru in five sets. Annie Mitchem had five kills and two aces as Aras Kargo was swept by Galatasaray and Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani led Sigorta Shop with 14 kills and a block in a three-set loss to Bahcelievler. Micaya White had seven kills and a block. Julia Sangiacomo added five kills and two blocks as a substitute for Sigorta Shop …
In Brazil, Jenna Gray and Minas won another trophy by claiming the Brazilian Super Cup with a sweep over rival Praia Clube …
In Germany, Serena Bruin had a match-high four blocks and added five kills as Aachen swept Munster. Teammate Cara McKenzie added four kills and a match-high four aces. Setter Jenna Ewert was named MVP as Potsdam swept Erfurt. Ewert had four kills, three aces and a block. Danielle Harbin had eight kills, three aces, and one block. Eleanor Holthaus had eight kills, one block, and an ace. Sabrina Starks rounded out the American scorers with four kills, three blocks, and two aces. Kira Thomsen had 12 kills for Erfurt. Jaelyn Keene had five kills and an ace as Schwerin swept Suhl. And Emma Clothier had four kills and two blocks as Dresdner won a back-and-forth four-set encounter with Wiesbaden. Rachel Anderson-Gomez finished with nine kills and two blocks for Wiesbaden …
In France, Breana Runnels had eight kills and a block and Bella Bergmark had five kills and four blocks as Nancy swept Cannes. Lauren Matthews led Cannes with 12 kills, two aces and one block. Morgahn Fingall’s Volero Le Cannet team lost in five to Paris SC, but she had 28 kills, hit .328, and had three blocks and an ace. Michigan State alum and Canadian national team member Jaz White was named MVP for Paris after having 11 kills (.579), three blocks and two aces. Lexi Hadrych picked up another MVP award as TFOC beat Chamalieres in four sets. Hadrych had 11 kills (.529), a block and an ace. Karson Bacon added four kills and two blocks. Akuabata Okenwa led Chamalieres with 15 kills (.538) and an ace. Haylie Bennett was named MVP as Nantes swept Quimper. Bennett had 14 kills (.481), three blocks and an ace.
