Top-ranked Pittsburgh remained undefeated with a win against SMU, No. 14 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 media poll, No. 11 Oregon beat No. 16 USC, No. 12 Arizona State beat Arizona in four games and UCLA beat No. 1 AVCA. 24 Washington on Wednesday in NCAA Division I volleyball.

In this edition of Volleyball Today we have the key results and top performances, a look at Thursday’s schedule and an update on the best US players playing professionally.

NCAA volleyball on Thursday

There are three Big 12 games involving four ranked teams. Eighth-place Kansas, the only team without a league loss at 12-1, 3-0, falls to West Virginia (6-9, 0-4). No. 17 TCU (11-3, 3-1) is at Utah, which is unranked but is 13-2 and also 3-1. No. 18 Baylor (10-4, 2-1) goes to No. 23 BYU (9-6, 2-2) and Kansas State (4-9, 2-2) plays at Cincinnati (11-3, 2- 2). 1).

Ohio State (7-7, 0-4) has its only Big Ten game at Northwestern (3-9, 1-3).

ACC and SEC are inactive.

South Dakota State (14-0, 3-0 Summit League), the only team other than Pitt undefeated, is at home against Omaha (5-9, 3-0) in a battle of conference leaders. Third-ranked North Dakota State (6-6, 2-1) is at Kansas City (3-11, 1-2).

First-place Pepperdine is idle, but second-place San Francisco (10-5, 3-0) plays a West Coast Conference game in Portland (9-5, 2-2), while San Diego (8-6, 3-0 ) plays a West Coast Conference game in Portland. 1) is at Loyola Marymount (11-4, 3-1) and Washington State (8-5, 3-1) is at Pacific (11-5, 1-3).

UT Arlington (14-2, 4-0), the only WAC team without a league loss, is the home opener for Seattle U, while the two of the three second-place teams face Grand Canyon (10-5, 3-1). ) is at Utah Tech (9-5, 3-1). Southern Utah (7-8, 3-1) is home to California Baptist.

Bowling Green (10-6, 5-0), the only MAC team without a league loss, is home to Eastern Michigan (13-4, 4-1), one of three teams tied for second place. Central Michigan (13-4, 4-1) is in Toledo while Buffalo (8-10, 4-1) is out.

Southeastern Louisiana (13-4, 5-0), tied with Stephen F. Austin (13-5, 5-0) atop the Southland Conference, is home to Nicholls.

Georgia Southern (12-1, 2-0) puts its 11-game winning streak on the line in a Sun Belt Conference game against Troy. GSU sits atop the East Division at 2-0, while Texas State is 4-0 and leads the West Division.

SoCon-leading Mercer (13-3, 3-0) heads to Samford (9-5, 3-1).

Tennesse Tech (15-1, 4-0) is the only team undefeated in Ohio Valley Conference play and has won five straight. The Golden Eagles play at Lindenwood (10-7, 4-1), which is tied for second place with idle Southeast Missouri (7-10, 4-1).

NCAA Volleyball Wednesday

Olivia Babcock, the 2023 VolleyballMag Freshman of the Year, didn’t hurt her chances as the 2024 National Player of the Year while she was in the lead Pitt (15-0, 5-0) to a 25-17, 25-18, 25-9 ACC win SMU (12-4, 4-1). The Panthers hit .427.

Babock had a season-high 18 kills – 12 in the second set – and hit .571 with two errors in 28 attacks and continued her serving attack with four more aces. Babcock, who had 12 aces last Sunday at Boston College, also had three blocks and seven digs. Torrey Stafford had 13 kills with two errors in 23 attacks to hit .423 and had four assists, one block and six digs. Valeria Vazquez-Gomez had six kills, one assist, three of Pitt’s 10 aces, 14 digs and two blocks, one solo, and Rachel Fairbanks had two kills in four clean attempts, 37 assists, one ace, one block and seven digs.

SMU’s Natalie Foster had five kills in 12 error-free attacks, but her teammates combined for 20 kills and 15 errors as the Mustangs hit .109…

Oregon (12-2, 4-1 Big Ten) swept the visiting team USC (11-4, 3-2) 25-18, 27-25, 25-19. Mimi Colyer had 17 kills with one error in 37 attacks to hit .432 and had nine digs and two blocks, one solo. Mackenzie Morris had 16 digs and three assists. Ally Batenhorst had 11 kills for USC…

Arizona State (15-2, 4-1 Big 12) won 25-20, 23-25, 31-29, 25-15 Arizona (12-4, 1-4) as the two former Pac-12 teams played their first Big 12 match against each other. Geli Cyr led ASU with 23 kills, hit .302 and had one block and 17 digs. Mary Shroll had 32 digs and five assists and Argentina Ung had four kills, 42 assists, three blocks and 20 digs. Arizona’s Jaelyn Hodge had 20 kills, two assists, one ace, four blocks and 13 digs…

UCLA (8-6, 2-3 Big Ten) won 25-27, 26-24, 25-22, 25-23 Washington (13-2 3-2). Cheridyn Leverette led the Bruins with 18 kills and hit .348 with three blocks and two digs to go. Grayce Olson had 16 kills, hit .483 and added one assist, three aces, four blocks and five digs. Peyton Dueck had 18 digs and two assists and Audrey Pak had three kills, 51 assists, two aces, one block and five digs. Emoni Bush, who hit .393, and Audra Wilmes each had 13 kills for Washington…

temple The American Athletic got 25 kills from Sydney Jones in its five-set win Binghamton of the American East. Jones hit .327 and had 10 digs. Teammate Taylor Davenport had 21 kills, two assists, one ace, three digs and two blocks, one solo. Binghamton’s Tsvetelina Ilieva had 21 kills, six digs and three blocks… Eastern Kentucky won his ASUN match with Bellarmine as AG Vandagriff had 10 kills with one error in 18 attacks and two blocks and Jose Schmitendorf had 16 digs, four assists and three aces… New Hampshire of Eastern America flocked to visit climax of the Big South as Kelly Kaufmann had 13 kills without an error in 20 at-bats to hit .650 and added two blocks…

In Rhode Island Atlantic 10 sweep by FordhamHavyn Rolle had 11 kills, a .500 hit and an ace, four digs and seven blocks, two solo… Houston held on to its Big 12 victory with five sets against the visitors Iowa State Angela Grieve had 21 kills, one ace, nine digs and four blocks, one solo. Katie Corelli had 17 kills, hit .394 as well as a dig and a block and Kate Georgiades had 26 digs, nine assists and an ace. Iowa State’s Faith DeRonde had 17 kills and Lilly Wachholz had 16… UConn swept Pprovidence in the Big East and Hanna Tylska had 11 kills with one error in 24 attacks…

UTEP improved to 16:2, 6:0 Conference USA with a four-set win against the guests NM State as Kaya Weaver had 12 kills with one error in 17 swings to hit .647. She had four blocks, a solo… Kennesaw State escaped with a five-set CUSA victory Jacksonville State. JSU’s Kayla Williams had 22 kills, two assists, nine digs and two blocks… Also in CUSA, Western Kentucky hit Middle Tennessee in four, as Kaylee Cox tallied 15 kills, hit .382 and had four assists, seven digs and two blocks. Izzy Van De Wiele had 12 clean kills in 17 attacks to go, plus a dig and five blocks, a solo…

Missouri the SEC came to visit Southeast Missouri State of the OVC, as Jordan Iliff had 14 kills, hit .500 and had four of her team’s 10 aces, two digs and two blocks. Maya Sands had 16 digs, seven assists and two aces…Texas A&M won his SEC match in four games Ole Miss as Logan Lednicky had 20 kills, hit .310 and added an ace, 15 digs and four blocks, two solo. Ava Underwood had 21 digs and five assists… Florida A&M better than a visit Bethune Cookman in five, as Iyonnie Sanford had 13 kills and hit .435 in the SWAC match, followed by five digs and a block.

American women play abroad

While many American women are playing Athletes Unlimited and/or waiting for the LOVB and Pro Volleyball Federation leagues to start, many top players are traveling with their professional teams in other countries.

Last week’s highlights:

In Italy, Khalia Lanier had 10 kills and hit .714 for Imoco Conegliano, who advanced with two blocks and an ace in a sweep of Busto Arsizo… Lindsey Ruddins had eight kills and an ace in Scandicci’s win over Cuneo… Simone Lee had 17 kills, a block and an ace as Vallefoglia lost in five sets to Firenze… Ashley Evans had two kills and two blocks as the setter made her A1 debut in Bergamo’s win over Perugia…Olympic champion Avery Skinner was named MVP as Chieri defeated Novara in five sets. Skinner had 17 kills and hit .310.

In Türkiye, where Dana Rettke Moving from Italy to Eczacibasi, she scored four kills, two blocks and two aces in a sweep against Aras Kargo… Micaya White led Sigorta Shop to a five-set win over Sariyer with 22 kills (.327) and three blocks. Yaasmeen Bedart Ghani had 16 kills, five blocks and three aces… Kendall Kipp scored four kills as a substitute on her Turkish League debut as VakifBank were defeated by Galatasaray…

In Germany, Madelyn Robinson had 12 kills (.706) and two aces as Stuttgart defeated Munster… Danielle Harbin had 15 kills, four blocks and three aces as Potsdam defeated Efurt in five sets… Sabrina Starks had 10 kills (.769), added a block and an ace… Crystal rivers had 12 kills, three blocks and an ace as Stuttgart defeated Wiesbaden…

In France, Lexi Hadrych earned MVP honors as TFOC defeated Mulhouse in four sets. Hadrych had 23 kills (.419) and three blocks and Karson Bacon had five kills and two blocks. Katelyn Evans led Mulhouse with 24 kills, three blocks and an ace and Annayka Legros had 13 kills (.667) and two blocks… Morgan Fingall had 13 kills and three blocks as Volero Le Cannet defeated RC Cannes in five meetings. Lauren Matthews led Cannes with 14 kills, four aces and three blocks…setter Ella May Powell was named MVP as Nantes defeated Chamalieres and she had two aces and a kill…

In Brazil, Jenna Grey and Minas Tenis Clube claimed their first title of the season by defeating the Campeonato Mineiro …

And in Hungary, where Taylor Bannister Vasas continues to be a star, claiming their first title of the season by winning the MEVZA (Central Europe) Super Cup. Bannister had 14 points in the sweep.