Brief Note to Readers:
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Week Twelve Match Highlights:
In the most important, if not the best, match in the Big Ten last week, host Purdue vanquished Nebraska, 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-16). As expected, temporarily suspended star setter Lauren Cook was reinstated to Nebraska's line-up, but she couldn't help the Huskers' hitting woes. Nebraska hit .146, .306, and .093 in the three sets, while the Boilermakers hit .318, .600, and .355.
In the Pac-12, Oregon came from behind to defeat visiting UCLA, 3-2 (20-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-18, 15-9), in a 150-minute marathon. UCLA hit an anemic .173 for the match. Elsewhere in the conference, host Washington gained revenge in beating Stanford, 3-2 (18-25, 27-25, 25-19, 22-25, 10-15).
In the ACC, Duke displayed its talent on a rare occasion in defeating visiting Florida State, 3-2 (25-20, 14-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-7). In the Big East, Cincinnati triumphed over host Villanova, 3-2 (22-25, 25-14, 25-23, 24-26, 15-4). Unlucky but tenacious Villanova also fell to Louisville in five sets. A noble loser.
In the SEC, Florida got by gritty host Arkansas, 3-2 (18-25, 30-32, 25-21, 26-24, 15-9). Another conference team that doesn't believe in intimidation or the press is Mississippi, for Ole Miss stretched visiting powerhouses Tennessee and Kentucky to five sets each before losing by scores of 15-13 and 17-15 in the fifth sets, respectively. Another noble loser. The Rebels may only be 5-13 in league play, but they are 4-3 in their last seven matches.
In the Big 12, the best match of the week had Kansas State beating Oklahoma, 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-21, 15-12).
In the MAC, powerhouse Northern Illinois had trouble with host Bowling Green, finally disposing of the feisty underdog, 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-15, 15-11). Elsewhere in the MAC, host Miami (OH) upset Western Michigan, 3-2 (25-27, 25-21, 20-25, 25-23, 15-11).
In another upset, this time in the Southern Conference, visiting Appalachian State surprised Samford, 3-2 (12-25, 25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12).
There were two other notable upsets last week. In the Mountain West, Wyoming downed host TCU, 3-2 (25-23, 25-9, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12). In the WCC, inconsistent Saint Mary's put it together one more time and shut out visiting conference powerhouse Pepperdine, 3-0.
Colorado State had two tough matches on the road in the MWC, falling first to TCU, 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 20-25, 15-11), before defeating stubborn New Mexico, 3-2 (19-25, 25-14, 25-19, 22-25, 15-11).
Meanwhile in the Sun Belt, Western Kentucky got by host Middle Tennessee, 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-12). Finally, in the best Ivy League match of the week, host Dartmouth beat back an upset-minded Harvard squad, 3-2 (26-24, 18-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-10).
Week Twelve Selected Individual Highlights:
Cal-Berkeley overpowered Washington State and Washington on the road, losing only one set combined, thanks to Tarah Murrey (33 kills, 20 digs, 5 blocks, 1 ace), Shannon Hawari (20 kills, 9 blocks), Correy Johnson (18 kills, 5 aces, 7 blocks, 6 digs), Kat Brown (11 kills, 2 aces, 12 blocks), Elly Barrett (88 assists, 19 digs, 7 blocks), and Robin Rostratter (38 digs, 2 aces, 6 assists).
Clinching its twelfth Big West title, Long Beach State also lost only one set combined at Pacific and Cal-Davis, thanks to Caitlin Ledoux (32 kills, 27 digs, 4 blocks, 1 ace), Haleigh Hampton (18 kills, 14 blocks, 2 aces, 4 digs), Delainey Aigner-Swesey (15 kills, 5 digs, 3 blocks), Alma Serna (10 kills, 11 blocks), Erin Juley (74 assists, 6 blocks, 11 digs, 2 aces, 1 kill), and Lauren Minkel (35 digs and 1 ace).
Putting themselves on the NCAA bubble (though unlikely to land in the post-season tourney), Saint Mary's continued to sizzle with shutout home wins over BYU and powerful Pepperdine, thanks to Jordan Shaw (24 kills, 11 digs, 3 block, 11 digs), Samantha Tinsley (20 kills, 1 ace, 10 blocks, 12 digs), Lauren Corp (16 kills, 7 aces, 13 digs, 1 block), Missy White (77 assists, 4 aces, 5 kills, 10 digs, 1 block), and Sarah Reams (25 digs, 9 assists, 1 ace).
Moving to the Midwest, Texas hammered Texas Tech in Lubbock and Kansas State back in Austin, losing one set total, due in large part to Haley Eckerman (38 kills, 5 aces, 4 blocks, 9 digs), Rachael Adams (18 kills and 5 blocks), Bailey Webster (21 kills and 4 blocks), Sha'Dare McNeal (17 kills, 23 digs, 5 blocks, 1 ace), Hannah Allison (54 assists, 8 kills, 10 digs, 2 blocks), and Sydney Yogi (33 digs, 9 assists, 1 ace, 1 kill). The Longhorns are peaking at the right time.
Northern Iowa lost only one set in three matches last week, thanks to Krista DeGeest (33 kills and 9 blocks), Michelle Burow (31 kills, 4 aces, 6 blocks, 5 digs), Shelby Kintzel (30 kills, 3 blocks, 8 digs), Bre Payton (22 kills, 114 assists, 35 digs, 4 blocks, 1 ace), Jenny Willms (6 aces, 11 assists, 39 digs), Megan Lehman (25 kills, 8 blocks, 9 digs), and Amy Braun (20 kills, 26 digs, 6 assists, 4 blocks, 1 ace).
Illinois returned to top form, shutting out Penn State and losing only one set to Ohio State at home because Michelle Bartsch (23 kills, 4 blocks, 2 aces, 21 digs), Liz McMahon (22 kills and 5 blocks), Colleen Ward (21 kills, 17 digs, 4 blocks, 2 aces), Anne Luhrsen (76 assists, 6 kills, 4 aces, 21 digs, 2 blocks), Jennifer Beltran (21 digs, 3 aces, 2 kills 8 assists), Erin Johnson (16 kills and 4 blocks), and Anna Dorn (8 kills and 11 blocks) weren't intimidated by reputation and talent across the net.
Louisville clinched a regular-season Big East title, winning on the road at Villanova and Georgetown, thanks to Lola Arslanbekova (36 kills, 3 aces, 33 digs, 1 block), Kaitlynn James (17 kills, 20 digs, 3 blocks), Emily Juhl (17 kills, 3 aces, 8 blocks, 9 digs), Taylor Brauneis (77 assists, 17 digs, 5 kills, 2 aces, 4 blocks), Caitlin Welch (39 digs, 8 assists, 3 aces), and Tanya Lukyanenko (9 kills and 12 blocks).
Florida continued working their way through the SEC menu, thumping LSU and Arkansas on the road, due greatly to the efforts of Chloe Mann (37 kills10 blocks, 7 digs), Kristy Jaeckel (24 kills, 5 aces, 5 blocks, 30 digs), Kelly Murphy (23 kills, 54 assists, 14 digs, 5 blocks), Tangerine Wiggs (14 kills, 9 blocks, 5 digs), Chanel Brown (60 assists, 14 digs, 1 kill, 1 ace), and Taylor Unroe (34 digs and 2 aces).
Miami (FL) humbled Duke and Wake Forest on the road, losing only one set combined, thanks primarily to potential ACC MVP Lane Carico (30 kills, 26 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace), Ali Becker (25 kills, 8 blocks, 7 digs), Alex Johnson (17 kills, 5 blocks, 3 aces, 25 digs, 9 assists), Emani Sims (17 kills and 7 blocks), Katie Gallagher (86 assists, 21 digs, 6 kills, 1 block), and Ryan Shaffer (30 digs and 1 ace).
Dartmouth solidified a second-place Ivy League finish last week by upsetting Yale and steamrolling Brown at home, as Madeline Baird (26 kills, 26 digs, 3 blocks, 2 aces), Annie Villanueva (23 kills, 4 blocks, 8 digs), Lucia Pohlman (20 kills, 13 digs, 2 blocks, 6 assists, 2 aces), Elisa Scudder (10 kills, 7 aces, 10 blocks), Amber Bryant (28 digs and 1 kill), and Alex Schoenberger (20 kills and 4 blocks) excelled in both matches and Kendall Houston (55 assists, 13 digs, 2 aces, 1 kill, 1 block) excelled against Yale.
Week Thirteen Selected Match Previews:
The Big Ten once again is the center of the collegiate volleyball universe this week, with four featured matches, including Minnesota at Nebraska, Purdue at Penn State, Illinois at Michigan State, and Illinois at Michigan. The ACC has Florida State and Miami (FL) visiting Clemson. The SEC will have always tough LSU visit Tennessee and Kentucky, while the Big 12 will feature Kansas State at Iowa State and Texas A&M at Oklahoma.
The Pac-12 has pesky and talented Oregon visiting powerhouses Cal and Stanford in the north, while peskier and not-as-talented Arizona will travel to powerhouses USC and UCLA. In the WCC, Pepperdine visits San Diego in what could be the national match of the week (with all apologies to Purdue and Penn State).
Not to be ignored are important conference tournaments, which often determine a league's sole NCAA representative in the Big Dance. Tournaments scheduled this week include the Big East, the MAC. the Atlantic 10, the Horizon, the Southern, the Mountain West, and the Great Western. Do post-season conference tournaments diminish the value of regular season conference games? Perhaps, perhaps not.
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