Penn State went down 24-24 in the first set against Pepperdine in Austin, Texas, on Friday, but then the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions came back to beat the No. 5 Waves 26-24, 25-18, 19-25, 25-14. In the First Point Collegiate Challenge nightcap, No. 15 Lewis also was down 24-22 in the first set before winning, but in this one No. 8 Stanford ultimately came away with a 24-26, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 victory.
Other winners included top-ranked Hawai’i, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Long Beach State and No, 6 Ball State.
A recap of Friday’s action follows, and there were two NCAA women’s coaching moves, but first a look at what’s happening Saturday in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
They’re back at it again in the Texas capitol for the second day of the First Point Collegiate Challenge when Pepperdine plays Lewis and Stanford plays Penn State.
Among the other matches on the schedule are UC San Diego at UCLA, Long Beach State at George Mason and UC Irvine at Concordia Irvine.
Want to watch a match? If it’s being shown, we have the viewing links in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
Penn State (5-0) of the EIVA hit .400 and beat previously unbeaten Pepperdine (4-1) of the MPSF. Its Penn State’s best start since 2009. John Kerr had 20 kills with four errors in 39 attacks. He added two assists, three blocks and five digs, Michal Kowal had 11 kills with one error in 16 attacks, two assists, four aces, four digs and three blocks, one solo, and Toby Ezeonu had 10 kills in 20 errorless attacks. Brett Wildman, last year’s EIVA player of the year, made his season debut with seven kills and eight digs. Jaylen Jasper led Pepperdine with 21 kills — eight in the third set — as he hit .368 and had an ace and six digs …
Stanford (5-0) got a career-high 21 kills from Theo Snowy in its win over Lewis (3-3). Snoey had five errors in 32 attacks and hit .500 to go with two aces, seven digs and two blocks.
Pepperdine’s Max Roquet led the Flyers with 18 kills …
Hawai’i (4-0) swept visiting Saint Francis (0-4). The Greek pair of Dimitrios Mouchlias and Spyros Chakas had 14 kills kills each … Long Beach State (3-0) swept LIU (3-2) at George Mason in Virginia. Long Beach had 35 kills with seven errors in 66 swings to hit .424. Spencer Olivier had 10 kills with one error in 16 attacks … UCLA (5-0) swept visiting No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (1-6) after escaping 32-30 in the first set. The Bruins won the next two 25-17, 25-21. Grant Sloan had 11 kills and Ethan Champlin, Alex Knight and Merrick McHenry had 10 kills each …
Ball State (1-2) hit .542 and swept Harvard (2-1). The Cardinals had 45 kills and six errors in 72 attacks. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva led with 10 kills … No. 7 UC Irvine (5-0) swept visiting Concordia (3-2). Francesco Sani had 16 kills and hit .419 to go with an ace, six digs and three blocks …
Among the other results Friday, Loyola Chicago swept NJIT; BYU swept Fairleigh Dickinson; Adrian beat Alderson Broaddus in five,; Quincy got swept twice, by Lincoln Memorial and Charleston; Hiram beat Kentucky State in four; Mount Olive swept Merrimack, Randolph-Macon beat Barton in four; Limestone beat King in four; D’Youville swept American International; CSUN swept Menlo; and Purdue Fort Wayne swept Missouri S&T.
SAINT LOUIS HIRES: The new coach is former SLU player and assistant Andrea Beaty, who has been an assistant at Denver. Beaty replaces her former coach, Kent Miller, at Saint Louis, which finished 18-13 last season, 10-8 in the Atlantic 10.
Saint Louis has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2009, the year before Beaty started playing at the school.
GEORGETOWN OPENS: David Heller resigned as the coach of the Washington, D.C. school after three seasons as head coach. The Hoyas finished 4-25 last season, 2-16 in the Big East. Georgetown has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1999.
NCAA volleyball: Top men’s teams all win; one women’s job filled, another opens Volleyballmag.com.
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