NCAA volleyball: Colorado St. wins 20th in a row, Cal Poly, UCSB, USA, FGCU win

Colorado State, ranked No. 14, went four Tuesday night as the Rams won their 20th in a row, beating their closest rival in the Mountain West, Wyoming.

The Big West leaders won, as Cal Poly swept CSUN and UC Santa Barbara beat Long Beach State.

FGCU got a big ASUN victory and South Alabama took over sole possession of the Sun Belt Conference East Division with a sweep of Troy.

The recaps follow, but first a look at Wednesday’s schedule.

Texas plays for the first time as No. 1 as the Longhorns (14-2, 8-0) go to Texas Tech (14-8, 4-4). Third-ranked Baylor (17-1, 7-1) — No.  in the NCAA RPI — is at Oklahoma (14-5, 6-2), as the Sooners get a shot at pulling into the mix at the top, Kansas State (7-13, 2-6) goes to West Virginia (10-11, 1-7), and Iowa State (13-7, 4-4) is at TCU (7-11, 2-6).

Three ranked Big Ten teams are in action as No. 4 Wisconsin (14-4, 10-0) — the only team unbeaten in league play — is home for Maryland (12-10, 4-6). No. 6 Minnesota (15-3, 9-1), tied with idle Penn State for second place, is home for Ohio State (11-11, 4-6), and No. 16 Purdue (14-5, 6-4) plays host to Indiana (12-11, 1-9).

There’s a big one in the SEC when No. 13 Florida (12-1, 8-1), tied with idle Kentucky for the league lead, goes to No. 24 Missouri (14-4, 6-2). Arkansas (8-13, 2-7) goes to Georgia (15-5, 7-2), which hopes to keep its half-game lead over Mizzou.

There is one match in the ACC when Miami (8-10, 4-6) goes to Florida State (13-6, 7-3). Florida State is three games back of No 3 Pittsburgh, but tied with North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Boston College a game behind 8-2 Notre Dame and Louisville. 

Metro Atlantic-leading Fairfield (15-4, 10-0) has a home match against Siena (9-13, 4-7). Fairfield has won 13 in a row. 

Robert Morris (19-3, 9-0), the last team unbeaten in Northeast Conference play this season, goes to Saint Francis of Pennsylvania (3-18, 3-6). Robert Morris, which has won nine in a row, holds a two-game lead over idle Bryant, which is 9-2 in the league.

The lone Ohio Valley Conference match pits Jacksonville State (14-8, 8-2) —which is tied for second with idle Morehead State and a game back in the win column of idle Southeast Missouri — against Tennessee Tech (10-13, 6-4).

Samford (18-5, 10-1) holds a half-game lead over idle ETSU in the Southern Conference and plays Mercer (11-12, 4-6).

There’s an intriguing non-conference match as Dayton of the Atlantic 10 (16-6) goes to Cincinnati of the American Athletic Conference (17-5).

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Colorado State rolls on: The Rams, 21-1 overall, are 11-0 in the Mountain West after their 27-25, 23-25, 30-28, 25-12 win over visiting Wyoming (14-8, 9-2). It was CSU’s 23rd win in a row at home in a series they call the Border War.

Paulina Hougaard-Jensen was out with an injury, but the other middle, Kirstie Hillyer, led with 17 kills, hit .314, and had a dig and four blocks, one solo. Breana Runnels had 15 kills, two aces, 13 digs and two blocks, one solo. Jessica Jackson had 11 kills and four digs, and Olivia Nicholson — who replaced Hougaard-Jensen — had nine kills, two assists, three aces, 12 digs and three blocks. Katie Oleksak had three kills in five attempts, 53 assists, two aces, a block and seven digs.

KC McMahon had 16 kills for Wyoming to go with a block and a dig. Emerson Cyza had 13 kills, hit .393, and had a dig and two blocks, one solo. Mackenzie Coates had a kill, 43 assists and 17 digs.

Big West: Maia Dvoracek had 20 kills as Cal Poly (16-6, 9-1) swept CSUN (8-13, 3-6) 25-19, 25-18, 25-15. Dvoracek, who had two errors in 32 swings to hit .531, had an assist, three aces, and four digs. Nikki Jackson and Jessica McRoskey had eight kills each …

UCSB (19-2, 9-1) beat Long Beach State (7-14, 4-5) 25-22, 22-25, 31-29, 25-15 as Lindsey Ruddins had 21 kills, hit .348, and had an assist, an ace, eight digs and a block. Tallulah Froley had 13 kills, hit .333, and had two digs and two blocks. The two setters, Romoni Vivao and Kjia Rivers, combined for nine kills (Vivao was four for six with no errors), 50 assists, two aces, and 14 digs and Rivers had four blocks. Kashauna Williams led Long Beach State with 21 kills, an ace, six digs and a block. Avery Nelson had 14 kills and Yizhi Xue had 10, hit .364, and had four digs and three blocks, one solo.

ASUN: Florida Gulf Coast not only improved to 22-3 overall, 10-1 in the conference, but avenged its only league loss with a 25-17, 25-20, 25-22 win over Liberty (14-9, 7-4). It left FGCU a full game ahead of Kennesaw State (16-7, 9-2). KSU swept NJIT.

FGCU, which has won 12 in a row, hit .189. Erin Shomaker led with 10 kills, a block and four digs, and Snow Burnam and Tori Morris had eight kills each … KSU hit .410 against NJIT (1-25, 0-1). Lauren Chastang had 16 kills, hit .517, and had two aces and five digs.

Around the nation: There was one Sun Belt match as South Alabama (18-7, 9-2) swept Troy (18-5, 8-3) to take over sole possession of first place in the East Division. Idle Coastal Carolina is a half-game back at 8-2. Kelley Hartman and Hannah Harris had 12 kills each for South Alabama. Hartman hit .391 and had an assist and three blocks, while Harris hit .476 and had two assists, four blocks and 11 digs …

Southeastern Louisiana (12-13, 6-5) swept New Orleans (11-14, 4-7) and Houston Baptist (15-11, 7-4) did the same to Abilene Christian (5-16, 3-8) in the Southland Conference. Jodi Edo led SLU, having its best season in years, with nine kills, hit .368, and had five blocks, one solo … HBU hit .313, led by Kelly Colwell’s 15 kills. She hit .406 and had eight digs … 

In the Big Sky, Montana  (4-18, 3-8) won in four at Montana State (10-10, 6-5) as Amethyst Harper had 21 kills, hit .395, and had eight digs and two blocks. Missy Huddleston had 14 kills, an assist, an ace, eight digs and three blocks. Evi Wilson had 15 kills for Montana State … 

Southeast Missouri (17-8, 9-2 Ohio Valley) kept pace near the top of the standings as it won in five at UT Martin (9-17, 5-6) as Annie Wehrheim and Laney Malloy had 13 kills each and Mikayla Kuhlmann had 12. Gintare Mackeviciute had 17 kills for UT Martin … 

Zoe McBride had 24 kills for Morgan State (12-11, 6-4) as it won a MEAC match in four over visiting Coppin State (10-14, 6-4). McBride had an assist, two aces, and 14 digs, and teammate Tylar Roberson had 19 kills, an ace, 16 digs and a solo block …  

In the lone Summit League match of the night, Omaha (14-11, 7-4) swept Oral Roberts (6-19, 2-9). Isabella Sade, Sadie Limback and Alexa Biase had 11 kills each for Omaha ….

In non-conference matches, Sydney Kleinman had 22 kills and hit .386 as East Carolina of the American Athletic (15-8) beat N.C. Central of the MEAC (6-21) in four. Bri Woods added 19 kills, 18 digs and two blocks … Florida A&M of the MEAC (8-18) swept visiting Alabama State of the SWAC (11-19) as Maria Yvette Garcia had 19 kills, hit .415, and had four aces, nine digs and a solo block.

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