Random ideas because the NCAA Division I ladies’s volleyball convention season kicks into full gear on a Tuesday when unbeaten — unbeaten! — Cal performs host to No. 4 Stanford within the first of their last two Pac-12 matchups earlier than each colleges go to the ACC subsequent yr.
There are 16 different matches on the Tuesday schedule, together with 4 within the Horizon League. Defending-champion Wright State (4-7) is at Robert Morris (3-8), Cleveland State (6-5) performs IUPUI (6-5), Northern Kentucky (5-6) performs Youngstown State (5-6) and Oakland (6-6) performs Purdue Fort Wayne (5-7).
No. 18 Baylor of the Large 12 performs the WAC’s Stephen F. Austin. The ACC’s Florida State performs North Florida of the ASUN, there’s a battle in D.C. when American performs Howard and the 2 Nashville groups face off when Belmont performs Lipscomb.
Wish to watch? We’ve the conference-by-conference schedule with viewing hyperlinks for any match that’s being proven in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
In the one match Monday, Giovana Larregui Lopez had 25 kills as Jap Illinois (11-1) beat visiting Southern Indiana (4-8) within the Ohio Valley Convention opener for each groups.
Larregui Lopez, a 5-foot-9 senior exterior from Puerto Rico, had three errors in 47 assaults to hit .468 and had two assists, two aces, 13 digs and 4 blocks, one solo. She is one in every of two present DI gamers from The Rock College in Puerto Rico. The opposite is Jacksonville senior libero Kariana Ayala-Drew.
Natalie Mitchem had 18 kills and 4 blocks and Christina Martinez Mundo had 23 digsd, seven assists and 4 of her workforce’s 10 aces. Leah Anderson of Southern Indiana had 16 kills and Abby Bednar had 15.
Six unbeatens
Prime-ranked Wisconsin and No. 2 Nebraska are each 9-0. Their respective pre-conference seasons have been nicely documented. Curiously, they’re the one undefeated groups within the AVCA prime 25.
The opposite 4 unbeatens are Arizona State (12-0), Cal (12-0), The Citadel (12-0) and Wyoming (11-0), and all however The Citadel have first-year head coaches.
Arizona State went 13-19 final season, 7-13 within the Pac-12. USC assistant JJ Van Niel took over and has the Solar Devils off to this system’s greatest begin since 2015, which additionally the final yr ASU went to the NCAA Match. ASU has hardly performed the hardest schedule, however it has statistically dominated opponents whereas dropping solely three units thus far. Latvian senior proper aspect Marta Levinska leads with 155 kills, 3.97/set, and 24 aces, and outdoors Geli Cyr has 131 kills, 3.54/set. Cyr, a 5-10 junior, is one in every of eight gamers on Division I rosters from from Flower Mound, Texas,
On one hand, you’ll be able to say that Cal (11-0) has performed a a lot much less difficult schedule that the majority prime groups. However contemplating that Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd was promoted to move coach lower than two weeks earlier than follow started in August and her solely assistant on the time was the legendary Savannah Rennie — in her first paying gig — it’s fairly outstanding.
Cal completed 7-23 final season, 7-3 within the pre-conference and 0-20 within the Pac-12. The Bears have misplaced 55 convention matches in a row. Will Cal break that streak this yr? It is going to be powerful, however one vibrant spot is the emergence of Chinese language freshman Maggie Li, a 6-foot-3 exterior from Beijing who was on the Chinese language ladies’s nationwide U20 workforce in 2022, which took second place on the Asian U20 Girls’s Championship. This season for Cal, she has 162 kills, averaging 4.15 kills/set, whereas hitting .288 with 18 aces, and is second on the workforce at 2.77 digs/set. She’s second solely to USC’s Skyler Fields (5.30) and Oregon’s Mimi Colyer (4.49) in kills per set within the Pac-12.
Teammate Sam Taumoepeau, a 6-foot senior exterior from San Diego who sat out the final half of the 2022 season injured, is true behind Li with 143 kills (3.76/set) and in addition has 18 aces.
The Citadel has had solely two seasons through which this system gained 12 matches complete. Coach Dave Zelenock, 46-63 general and 22-42 within the SoCon in 5 seasons, has slowly put this system on an upward trajectory. The chief once more has been junior Ali Ruffin, who’s third within the NCAA with 206 kills. The 5-11 exterior from Greenville, North Carolina, was third within the SoCon in kills per set final season (3.83).
Wyoming and coach Kaylee Prigge, who was promoted after final season’s 10-20 end, is unbeaten after pre-conference play for the primary time. The Cowgirls have an impressive 1-2-3 offensive punch in sophomore Rylee Schulz (136 kills, 3.32/set), sophomore center Tierney Barlow (135 kills, 3.29/set) and senior exterior Corin Carruth (109 kills, 2.66/set). Barlow has 47 blocks, a whopping 15 solo. Carruth is one in every of three gamers on the roster from Wyoming.
There are eight groups within the prime 25 with one loss, No. 3 Florida, No. 5 Louisville, No. 6 Oregon, No. 10 BYU, No. 13 Georgia Tech, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 17 Kansas and No. 24 Auburn.
Stats and notes
The brand new AVCA prime 25 got here out Monday. There have been no main shakeups and nobody dropped out. See the whole ballot right here. And talking of the AVCA, its nationwide participant of the week is TCU’s Melanie Parra. She had 76 kills, averaging 6.91 kills per set, whereas hitting .394 over three matches.
The opposite gamers from Flower Mound, Texas:
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, a sophomore center at Texas A&M; Kaylee Cox, a junior exterior at Western Kentucky who transferred from Missouri; Madison Dyer, a sophomore center at FAU; Caroline Dykes, a junior setter who transferred from ETSU to South Florida; Abby Ekeler, a junior DS at Tennessee; Sarah Martinez, a junior DS at Arkansas State; and Camryn Upshaw, a senior center at Charlotte. The aforementioned Ifenna Co-Okpalla, the 6-2 sophomore center at Texas A&M, leads the NCAA in blocks per set at 1.82. Colgate senior center Sophie Thompson leads in general with 70, 10 solo …
Indiana junior setter Camryn Haworth has an NCAA-leading 33 aces in 43 units. Akron freshman Eliska Vytiskova is subsequent with 32 …
Tulsa senior exterior Kayley Cassaday has 228 kills, 11 greater than Dayton junior exterior Lexie Almodovar after getting 35 on Saturday, the identical day that Western Kentucky’s Paige Briggs additionally had 35 kills …
Morgan Romano, who transferred this season to Chattanooga after 4 years at Rider, is the chief amongst lively gamers with 1,763 kills. Jillian Gillen, the 5-7 exterior for Arkansas, is second at 1,731, adopted by Abbie Jackson of Houston (1,720) and USC’s Skylar Fields (1,720) …
Idaho State director of athletics Pauline Thiros, who did an incredible job as chair of the NCAA volleyball committee, lastly has this yr off. However her daughter, Zoe, is off to an amazing begin for Gonzaga. The 5-11 graduate pupil leads her workforce with 118 kills (3.28/set), has 13 aces, and is second in digs with 98, 2.72/set. The Zags are 3-8 headed into their first WCC match Thursday at San Francisco …
Talking of the DI chair, that function is being crammed this yr by Loyola Chicago deputy director of athletics/senior girl administrator Holly Strauss-O’Brien. Strauss-O’Brien performed at North Carolina, together with the workforce that completed 32-4 and went to the 2002 NCAA Match spherical of 16.
Zooming, volleyball and laughs
And when you missed our Monday NCAA Zoom, it’s best to carve out a half hour only for the laughs. The Large Ten Community’s Emily Ehman, who is asking the Georgia Tech-at-Clemson match Wednesay for ESPN, and VolleyballMag.com editor Lee Feinswog had been joined by Notre Dame coach Salima Rockwell and Southern Miss coach Jenny Hazelwood.
Watch the video right here:
Essentially the most enjoyable NCAA Zoom as ND begins ACC play; USM readies for Solar Belt
Notre Dame, which is 6-2, has gained 4 in a row, beating Illinois, Oklahoma and Toledo twice. The Irish play host to BC and Syracuse this weekend. Southern Miss is 5-6 and opens Solar Belt play with back-to-back matches at South Alabama.