Week Eleven Selected Match Highlights:
There were few epic matches last week, but Penn State was involved in two of the best. At Minnesota, the Nittany Lions struggled to achieve victory over a recharged Golden Gopher squad: 27-25, 25-17, 23-25, 23-25, and 15-12. At Wisconsin, the talented but underachieving Badgers played their best match of the season and upset PSU: 26-24, 25-19, 32-34, 14-25, and 15-12.
In the Pac-12, Cal had trouble with the pesky Utes of Utah in Salt Lake City in a great five-set victory: 22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, and 15-13.
In the Big 12, Texas A&M got by Kansas State in Manhattan (13-25, 15-25, 25-21, 25-15, 15-12) and Texas triumphed over a fired up Jayhawk squad in Lawrence (25-20, 18-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-8).
In the SEC, LSU beat Georgia on the road, 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 18-16).
In the MAC, Western Michigan showed true grit in two five-set victories at home, first dismantling Ball State (21-25, 25-27, 25-16, 25-16, 17-15) before wearing out Toledo (25-19, 26-28, 24-26, 25-23, 15-8).
Week Eleven Selected Individual Highlights:
Terrific individual highlights across the nation start with Tennessee, where Louisville and Mississippi State faced the efficiency of Kelsey Robinson (32 kills, 15 digs, 2 blocks), Tiffany Baker (22 kills, 15 digs, 5 blocks), Leslie Cikra (21 kills, 4 digs, 2 blocks), DeeDee Harrison (18 kills, 6 blocks), Mary Pollmiller (7 kills, 87 assists, 18 digs, 1 service ace), and Ellen Mullins (2 aces, 28 digs).
At nearby Western Kentucky, South Alabama and Troy succumbed in quick order to the skills of Jordyn Skinner (22 kills, 5 aces, 26 digs, 3 blocks), Lindsay Williams (16 kills, 5 blocks), Tiffany Elmore (15 kills, 6 blocks), Paige Wessel (14 kills, 3 aces, 7 digs), and Melanie Stutsman (14 kills, 69 assists, 12 digs, 5 blocks).
In Conference USA, Tulsa went to the Big Easy and outplayed Tulane in two separate matches, 3-0, thanks to the efforts of Tyler Henderson (36 kills), Diana Silva (24 kills, 23 digs, 1 ace), Kellie Culbertson (13 kills, 4 aces, 23 digs, 6 blocks), Jordan Clampitt (4 kills, 47 assists, 10 digs), and Jessica Adams (3 aces, 31 digs).
Western Michigan won 5-set marathons against Ball State and Toledo due to the skills of Ashley Turnage (25 kills, 12 blocks), Ali Gossen (24 kills, 24 digs, 1 ace, 6 blocks), Gillian Asque (23 kills, 8 blocks), Jessica Brown (21 kills, 10 digs, 8 blocks), Terin Norris (16 kills, 95 assists, 28 digs, 5 blocks), and Lena Oliver (48 digs).
San Diego lost only one set on the road against Gonzaga and Portland combined because Chloe Ferrari (30 kills, 6 blocks), Katie Hoekman (23 kills, 5 blocks), Sandra Lozic (21 kills, 1 ace, 2 blocks, 9 digs), Carrie Baird (14 kills, 4 aces, 17 digs, 4 blocks), Jianna Bonomi (1 kill, 56 assists, 22 digs), and Kandiss Anderson (1 ace, 6 assists, 40 digs) stepped up.
Speaking of stepping up, Nebraska walk-on setter Brigette Root, inserted into the starting line-up due to superstar setter Lauren Cook's off-court troubles and subsequent suspension, led the Cornhuskers to 3-0 and 3-1 victories over Michigan and Michigan State, respectively. Admittedly, she had a little help from Gina Mancuso (29 kills, 14 digs, 5 blocks), Hannah Werth (17 kills, 27 digs, 7 blocks), Morgan Broekhuis (17 kills, 8 digs, 7 blocks), Brooke Delano (13 kills, 11 blocks), and Lara Dykstra (25 digs). Ms. Root, herself, finished both matches with combined stats of 6 kills, 69 assists, 2 aces, 19 digs, and 3 blocks. Who said Nebraska wasn't deep?
Wisconsin achieved the Big Ten upset of the year over Penn State thanks mostly to Ellen Chapman (18 kills, 14 digs), Bailey Reshel (14 kills, 2 blocks), Alexis Mitchell (10 kills, 7 blocks), Janelle Gabrielsen (7 kills, 5 blocks, 27 assists, 13 digs), Courtney Thomas (6 kills, 3 blocks, 24 assists, 17 digs), and Annemarie Hickey (25 digs).
The Trojans of USC continued advancing towards the big year-end showdown match with UCLA by disposing of Washington and Washington State at home. Credit goes to Alex Jupiter (24 kills, 2 aces, 21 digs, 2 blocks), Lauren Williams (20 kills, 6 blocks), Katie Fuller (14 kills, 1 ace, 4 blocks), Sara Shaw (9 kills, 3 aces, 13 digs, 2 blocks), Kendall Bateman (2 kills, 2 blocks, 74 assists, 11 digs), and Natalie Hagglund (2 aces, 33 digs).
Week Twelve Selected Match Previews:
It makes sense that the best volleyball conference in 2011, the Big Ten, has the best matches coming up this week. Ohio State and Penn State both play at Illinois, and Nebraska plays at Purdue, perhaps still without their suspended star setter, Lauren Cook.
In the Pac-12, Stanford and Cal both travel to Washington to see if the inconsistent Huskies squad have any life left in them this year. In the Mountain West, Colorado State travels to TCU for a difficult road match.
In the SEC, Florida tries to regain some traction by taking on a talented LSU squad on the road.
No comments:
Post a Comment