The second weekend of the NCAA seaside volleyball season was far much less elucidating than a tumultuous opening go-round, however some readability nonetheless emerged.
After going 4-3 in Hawaii, however successful the championship-bracket duals that counted essentially the most, UCLA (8-4) solidified its standing by taking down ranked opponents Cal, Lengthy Seashore State, Washington and Cal Poly on its residence sand at Mapes Seashore in the course of the huge Battle for Los Angeles.
Remaining at No. 1 within the newest weekly AVCA coaches ballot launched Tuesday, the Bruins received 17 of the 20 matches. Their high duo of All-Individuals Maggie Boyd and Lexy Denaburg bought again on observe with 4 victories, incomes them the AVCA nationwide and Pac-12 pair of the week awards.
No. 3 USC (8-2), competing on campus at Merle Norman Stadium, blanked Lengthy Seashore State, Grand Canyon and Division-II Concordia-Irvine, however bought a tussle from Cal Poly throughout a 3-2 victory by which three of the 5 matches went to the tiebreaker.
Coach Dain Blanton tinkered with the three-time defending nationwide champion Girls of Troy’s lineup on the decrease courts, however All-Individuals Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple swept their 4 matches on the 1s by a dominating margin of 168-109.
The one host college to hit a speedbump in the course of the Battle for LA was sixth-ranked Loyola Marymount (5-4), taking part in on its new campus courts. The Lions dealt with Washington, Grand Canyon and Concordia, however had been clawed 4-1 by the Cal Bears, with all however high pair Valma Prihti and Michelle Shaffer (7-2 on the season, dropping solely to Kraft-Maple) taking place to defeat. Prihti and Schaffer had been tabbed by the West Coast Convention as its pair of the week.
What was made clear in the course of the large shindig in Southern California was that Coach Todd Rogers has his Cal Poly program pointed in a successful route once more after an uncharacteristic 15-25 report in 2023.
The Mustangs (6-2) knocked off top-15 groups in Cal (by a 3-2 rating) and Grand Canyon (successful on 4 out of 5 courts), suffered the aforementioned 3-2 defeat to USC and took a match in opposition to UCLA, all of which moved them from No. 18 to No. 11 on the AVCA checklist.
A return to SoCal sand seemingly lit a fireplace underneath UCLA switch Lindsey Sparks, a key contributor on vastly profitable Bruins groups (together with an NCAA champion in 2019 and nationwide runner-up in 2021) who had not competed because the ‘21 season. The 24-year-old Sparks went 3-1 on the weekend on Court docket 3, together with a sweep of UCLA’s Jaden Whitmarsh-Tessa Van Winkle and a three-set loss to USC’s Grace Seits-Maddi Kriz. Sparks and associate Quinn Perry had been honored because the Large West Convention’s pair of the week.
Cal Poly assistant coach Angela Rock informed VBM that Sparks was “a essential addition to the workforce,” who has introduced “maturity, management and improbable expertise” to this system.
“It’s nice for the opposite ladies to play alongside somebody who has received a championship,” added Rock, who performed for the USA indoor Olympic workforce within the 1988 Seoul Summer season Video games and is an all-time American ladies’s pro-beach nice. “Lindsey believes in our workforce and the arduous work everyone seems to be placing in to get to” Gulf Shores, Alabama, web site of the NCAA Seashore Championships in the course of the first week of Could.
The large loser among the many eight ranked groups within the Battle for L.A. was Grand Canyon (4-4), which took the collar in 4 duals and dropped to No.17. No. 7 California (6-2) went 2-2, its loss to Cal Poly mitigated by a “W” over LMU. No. 9 Lengthy Seashore State (4-2) additionally broke even in 4 duals. Washington (3-5), ranked 14th, went 1-3.
Across the nation
Validating its lofty nationwide rating with maybe essentially the most important single results of the second weekend was No. 2 Stanford (7-1), which eked out a 3-2 victory over No. 5 TCU (7-1) in moist and windy situations throughout its elements-challenged Battle of the Bay in Palo Alto, California.
The Cardinal’s 5s workforce of Maya Harvey and freshman Clara Stowell scored the clinching level with a 21-11, 21-18 conquer Morgan Williams and Keagan Polk. The Horned Frogs’ high pair of Hailey Hamlett and Anhil Khmil improved to 8-0, which included a three-set victory over Stanford’s Brooke Rockwell and Xolani Hodel.
Coach Brooke Niles’ deep Florida State squad has provided tantalizing glimpses of its potential in successful all seven of its duals whereas going 34-1 in matches. The fourth-ranked Seminoles have been pressured to shuffle their lineup with out two-time AVCA All-American Paige Kalkhoff, who’s injured and out for the season however will return subsequent 12 months, Niles informed Volleyball Journal.
On residence sand within the Seminole Seashore Bash final weekend. FSU plowed underneath three ranked groups – No. 16 Georgia State (5-3), No. 18 Stetson (6-2) and No. 20 Tampa (5-5 after victories over Eckerd and host Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday).
“Mainly, we now have gotten stable performances from everybody,” Niles mentioned. “Now we have been in a position to play lots of people and we now have lots of depth.”
Bouncing between the 1s and 2s, “Raelyn White and Audrey Koenig have performed very well. Raelyn is full-time defending after full-time blocking or cut up blocking most of her time at FSU,” Niles added. “Additionally, Skyler Germann and Maddie Anderson have accomplished properly collectively and with different companions.”
The Seminoles should wait a few weeks till their first checks in opposition to different prime national-title contenders, that coming within the East Meets West Invitational (March 15-16) on fabled Manhattan Seashore with duals in opposition to UCLA and Loyola Marymount.
No. 8 LSU (8-1) had been 5-0 fats cats in its Tiger Seashore Bash, the one shut name coming in a 3-2 victory over Tulane (8-2). Reilly Allred and Parker Bracken are 8-0 on Court docket 2 for the Bayou Bengals, who’re off this weekend. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7-2) loved a stable occasion in Baton Rouge, successful 4 out of 5 and falling solely to LSU 4-1. North Alabama (5-3) went 2-2.
Arizona (7-0), ranked nineteenth, received its three duals within the Malibu Traditional, however was stretched to 3-2 outcomes by host Pepperdine (2-3) and Boise State (7-3), which completed 3-1. The Broncos’ high workforce of Marlayna Bullington and Sierra Land had been undefeated and picked up pair-of-the-week honors from the Southland Convention.
Click on right here for the AVCA coaches ballot.
Week 3 schedule
Extra questions determine to be answered this weekend within the Pac-12 South Invitational in Tempe, Arizona, on Friday, Saturday and Saturday. The occasion options all 9 convention members, but it surely’s not a real round-robin.
UCLA’s itinerary of 4 duals consists of No. 10 Arizona State (6-0) and Stanford, which can play California and the host Solar Devils. USC’s hardest checks doubtless will come in opposition to Arizona and Washington.
A bevy of stable packages will collect for the Seashore Invitational on Saturday and Sunday at Lengthy Seashore Metropolis Faculty in California: Loyola Marymount, host Lengthy Seashore State, No. 13 Florida Worldwide (9-0), Stetson, Santa Clara and Southern Mississippi.
No. 12 Hawaii seems to gather some victories after on 0-5 begin throughout its second match, the Queen’s Cup, that may run Thursday by means of Saturday. A seeded championship bracket will probably be contested on the ultimate day primarily based on round-robin outcomes. The sphere on iconic Queen’s Seashore in Honolulu consists of the Rainbow Wahine, Boise State, Saint Mary’s, Pepperdine, Nebraska and Chaminade.
The season’s second Tampa Invitational on Friday and Saturday options Florida State, Florida Gulf Coast (7-3), Coastal Carolina (4-4), Houston Christian and the host Spartans.
Within the Horned Frog Problem in Fort Price, Texas, on Friday and Saturday, TCU will welcome Tulane, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UC Davis, Stephen F. Austin and Alabama-Birmingham.
After going 4-0 in its Wheeler Seashore Bash final weekend, South Carolina (4-4) will once more play the host. The Gamecocks will probably be joined of their Carolina Problem in Columbia on Saturday and Sunday by North Florida, New Orleans, Tennessee Tech and Japanese Kentucky.
On Wednesday in Atlanta, the Georgia State Day of Duels will function the host Sandy Panthers, No. 15 Florida Atlantic (6-2), Mercer and Austin Peay.
Eckerd Faculty will maintain its Battle on the Bay on Friday and Saturday in St. Petersburg, Florida. The D-II Tritons will welcome Missouri State (9-0, venturing away from its Ozark residence sand for the primary time), Jacksonville, D-II Palm Seashore Atlantic and D-II Saint Leo.
The North Alabama Invitational in Florence on Friday and Saturday consists of the host Lions, Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Carson Newman.
