On a ground-breaking Sunday for NCAA ladies’s volleyball when Wisconsin’s tall timber gave viewers an eyeful on a “Large 4” TV community, one of many favorites for the nationwide championship was felled.
The No. 2-ranked Badgers took no prisoners of their Large Ten border-war blowout over Minnesota on Fox TV that appears more likely to shatter the file for viewership of a regular-season volleyball match and would possibly even problem the all-time mark.
On the flip facet, No. 3 Stanford struck a significant speedbump, scoring simply 51 factors in a loss to Pac-12 upstart Arizona State. One other enormous West Coast upset noticed No. 6 Washington State detect its dwelling court docket in opposition to convention again marker Oregon State.
Stanford’s first Pac-12 defeat, and such a lopsided one in addition, may have main implications within the VolleyballMag.com Tremendous 16 Media Ballot that comes out Monday morning, and comes on the heels of the Cardinal’s being named No. 2 (behind Nebraska and over Wisconsin) within the second rankings launched Sunday by the NCAA’s choice committee.
The Solar Devils — tied with No. 8 Oregon at two video games behind Stanford within the loss column — stamped themselves as Pac-12, legit, whereas the Geese discovered easy crusing on the street as a nationwide TV viewers on ESPN appeared in.
In the meantime, the 4 predominant contenders within the Atlantic Coast Convention — Louisville, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Floria State — gained extra separation within the standings.
Arkansas continued Florida’s woes within the Southeastern Convention, profitable in Gainesville for the primary time in program historical past. Tennessee stayed a recreation again of the Razorbacks, and Auburn remained related within the SEC race with a month remaining within the common season.
Additionally on the flagship ESPN channel, Oklahoma surprised Iowa State within the Large 12.
And two groups with “zeroes” that gained’t go away quietly continued their futility. Saint Peter’s got here oh-so-close earlier than dropping the fifth set 15-10 to 9-17 Manhattan within the MAACC, tumbling to 0-26. Hampton is 0-16 after being swept for the second consecutive day within the CAA by 5-18 Elon, whereas hitting .037.
The stat line of the day went to Wisconsin senior Sarah Franklin, who amassed 21 kills, averaging seven per set, on maybe the game’s TV greatest stage ever and in entrance of a sold-out crowd of seven,229 at Wisconsin Area Home in Madison. Franklin had one error in 44 swings (.455 effectivity), served two aces and had 4 block assists.
Talking of the large stage, the quantity to eclipse in TV viewership for the Minnesota-Wisconsin tussle is the 612,000 that lately tuned in to Nebraska and Wisconsin on cable Large Ten Community, essentially the most watched common season college-volleyball match in historical past.
Expectations of exceeding the all-time file of 1.188 million set when Wisconsin and Nebraska battled within the 2021 NCAA last needs to be tempered by the absence of eight prime 30 TV markets. The protection map on Fox for the match that had NFL soccer as its lead-in didn’t embody New York (the nation’s No. 1 market), Atlanta (7), Boston (10), Seattle (12), Miami (18), Cleveland (19), Pittsburgh (26) and Nashville (29).
Simply the New York, Atlanta and Boston markets excluded roughly 11.9 million TV households. Moreover, the Fox station in Los Angeles (the No. 2 market with 5.8 million TV houses) opted to air the volleyball match on a secondary digital channel, affecting the potential spillover from the NFL recreation. Given these important caveats, a viewership approaching 1 million, even on a broadcast platform, needs to be thought-about a major accomplishment. The in a single day Nielsen scores for Sunday’s programming sometimes come out on Tuesday morning.
Additionally on Sunday, the NCAA choice committee disclosed the second version of its prime 10 between the primary and second units of the Oregon-Washington match on ESPN. The highest 10 (with earlier rating in parentheses): 1. Nebraska (2); 2. Stanford (4); 3. Wisconsin (1); 4. Louisville (5); 5. Washington State (6); 6. Oregon (7); 7. Texas (9); 8. Pittsburgh; 9. Arkansas; 10. Tennessee. The primary 4 theoretically are in line to host NCAA regionals by the Elite Eight. The groups in 8–9-10 are new to the committee’s rankings.
BIG TEN: Standing 6-foot-4, Franklin was essentially the most stout of the Northern pines for Wisconsin (20-1, 11-1 Large Ten), receiving 40% of the staff’s units in a 25-13, 25-20, 25-19 victory over Minnesota (10-10, 6-6). Exerting important affect on the web because the Gophers hit .107 (together with minus-.023 within the first set) have been 6-9 Anna Smrek (six kills, 4 block assists), 6-7 Carter Sales space (4 kills, two solo blocks, 4 block assists) and 6-3 CC Crawford (six block assists). Behind that big block, libero Julia Orzol collected 15 digs, serving to the Badgers to a 61-44 benefit in that key stat.
Wisconsin Coach Kelly Sheffield famous how the match, regardless of its one-sided rating, ought to have performed properly with informal followers on TV.
“There’s somewhat little bit of one thing further if you’re making an attempt to develop the sport, and develop the game and get extra eyeballs on it,” Sheffield mentioned. “With the way in which that they performed upstairs right now, I don’t know how one can watch that match and see the hassle that each groups gave defensively – the work, and the athleticism, and the power and the setting itself and never say, ‘Man, I most likely have to tune in somewhat bit extra to this sport.’ “
Earlier on Sunday afternoon in a Large Ten match seen on over-the-air Fox in components of the nation, Michigan (4-17, 2-10) pulled off a gentle four-set upset in opposition to visiting Ohio State (8-13, 5-7), delighting 5,901 on the Crisler Heart in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines acquired 19 kills, two aces and 9 digs from Kendall Murray. … Northwestern (11-11, 5-7) despatched Indiana (16-9, 6-6) to an 0-2 weekend within the Prairie State, prevailing in 5 units (15-10 within the tiebreaker) behind sophomore Averie Henderson’s 21 kills and 14 digs.
PAC-12: The Pac-12 race acquired extra difficult when Stanford (18-3, 11-1) ran right into a buzzsaw at Arizona State (21-3, 9-3), which restricted the high-powered Cardinal to .194 hitting throughout a sweep whereas ripping at a .311 clip. Latvian nationwide Marta Levinska did essentially the most harm for the Solar Devils, who had fallen out of the VBM Tremendous 16, with 17 kills on .371 hitting and 12 digs. … Washington State (18-5, 8-4) suffered a weekend to overlook on its dwelling court docket in opposition to its Pacific Northwest rivals to the South, dropping in 4 to Oregon on Friday and in 5 to Oregon State (9-13. 4-8) on Sunday. Peyton Suess’ 18th kill put an exclamation level on a 15-13 deciding set for the Beavers. … In one other nationwide TV match, Oregon (19-4, 9-3) hit .442 in sweeping host Washington (13-10, 4-8) earlier than a crowd of 4,588 in Seattle. Morgan Lewis had a gaudy .652 hitting share (15 kills on an errorless 23 swings) for the Geese. … Additionally, Skylar Fields cracked 24 kills as USC (14-8, 8-4) topped host Utah (9-13, 4-8) in a 4. … UCLA swept at Colorado and visiting California gained in three in opposition to Arizona.
ACC: The quartet with one or two losses within the ACC held serve. Reverse Aiko Jones (10 kills on 18 errorless makes an attempt) paced a balanced assault for No. 5 Louisville (20-2, 11-1) in a sweep of visiting Miami (15-7, 8-4). … No. 7 Pitt (20-3, 11-1) rolled over visiting Wake Forest (17-6, 7-5) in three. Olivia Babcock notched 14 kills on .462 hitting. … Fourteen gamers noticed court docket time for No. 11 Georgia Tech (19-3, 10-2) throughout a sweep at struggling Syracuse (2-20, 0-12). … Florida State (16-8, 10-2) held Notre Dame (10-10, 4-8) to .111 hitting 10-10, 4-8) in a street sweep. … Additionally, visiting North Carolina State took a contentious four-setter in opposition to North Carolina. … Clemson gained in three at Boston School and host Virginia pulled out a five-set victory (15-11 within the tiebreaker) in opposition to Virginia Tech.
SEC: No. 15 Florida (14-5, 6-4) took one other punch to the photo voltaic plexus within the SEC, getting starched in three by No. 10 Arkansas (20-3, 10-1) as 3,023 watched at its O’Connell Heart. Up subsequent for the itemizing Gators, final week misplaced center Anna Dixon for the season after already dropping setter Alexis Stucky, are key dwelling dates with Tennessee and Kentucky. The Razorbacks took a breakthrough first victory in Gainesville and improved to 5-50 within the all-time collection. Jillian Gillen and Maggie Cartwright every notched 12 kills and Taylor Head chipped in with 10. … No. 12 Tennessee (18-3, 9-2) took care of enterprise on its dwelling court docket, dispatching Texas A&M (14-7, 6-6) in three behind Morgahn Fingall’s 15 kills. … Madison Scheer bombed 21 kills as visiting Auburn (17-5, 7-4), which boasts an RPI of 25, defeated skidding Alabama (10-12, 0-11) in 4. … Host Ole Miss topped Missouri in a four-setter. … Georgia gained in three over visiting Mississippi State, as did host LSU over South Carolina.
BIG 12: Oklahoma caught a case of “good amnesia,” in response to Coach Aaron Mansfield, in bouncing again from a sweep the day earlier than to deal Iowa State a dangerous Large 12 loss earlier than a nationwide ESPN viewers and a crowd of two,103 on the Hilton Coliseum in Ames.
“It felt like (Saturday’s match) early on, so I used to be actually pleased with our staff’s response,” Mansfield mentioned after the Sooners rallied from a 22-15 gap within the first set to prevail 26-24, then took the following two 25-23, 25-20. “The straightforward factor to do would have been to fold, however we had some good amnesia and have been in a position to put yesterday previous us.”
Oklahoma (9-12) gained for simply the second time in 11 Large 12 matches, whereas Iowa State (14-7, 5-5) has dropped 4 of its final 5 and sustained harm to its No. 58 RPI after being restricted to .135 hitting.
The Sooners took the nice with the unhealthy from outdoors hitter Alexis Shelton, kiddingly referred to as a “rally killer” by Mansfield. The 6-foot-2 sophomore pounded 21 kills within the three units on 49 makes an attempt however racked up 13 errors, chipping in a solo block and two block assists. Lydia Burts had 10 kills on 19 swings with three errors.
In the one different Large 12 match, Houston (12-7, 5-5) held host Cincinnati (11-10, 4-7) to minus hitting (26 kills in opposition to 27 errors) and outscored the Bearcats 75-44.
Across the nation
A showdown of groups on the prime of the Metro Atlantic standings noticed host Quinnipiac (16-7, 12-2) take a half-game lead over Fairfield (15-6, 11-2). Ginevra Giovagnoni paced the Bobcats with 20 kills and 17 digs within the four-setter. … SMU (18-6), which is twenty third within the RPI, held on to first within the American Athletic at 12-1 with its eighth consecutive victory, Center hitter Emma Clothier notched 10 kills on 15 swings with one error and added six block assists in a sweep of visiting South Florida. … Wichita State (16-6, 10-2 AAC) pulled out a five-setter (15-11 within the tiebreaker) at Memphis. … Binghamton (13-9) went to 6-1 within the American East, a recreation up on UMBC (11-7) when the previous swept visiting NJIT and the latter fell in 4 at New Hampshire. …
Nina Cajic logged 12 kills, 5 aces and 11 digs as Towson (19-5) upped its Coastal Athletic mark to 12-2 by defeating North Carolina A&T in 4. Delaware (18-4, 11-3 CAA) saved tempo with a four-set victory at North Carolina-Wilmington. … 13 gamers for Military West Level (13-9, 10-3) shared within the enjoyable of a home-court sweep of Holy Cross that saved the Black Knights tied for first within the Patriot League. … Throughout a day that had 12 Southwestern Athletic matches performed in two areas, Alabama State (13-12) improved to 12-0 within the league by beating Grambling in three and Alcorn State in 4 in Daytona Seaside, Florida. In Jackson, Mississippi, Alabama A&M (10-16) topped Texas Southern and Southern, each in 4, to maneuver to 9-3.
Monday, Tuesday
Monday’s restricted slate consists of six matches within the SWAC and WAC-leader Stephen F. Austin at UT Arlington.
Tuesday, there are seven matches, together with Horizon-leading Milwaukee at Inexperienced Bay, Large West-leading UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly and Wyoming at Colorado State within the Mountain West.
