Friday was not a good day to be the AVCA #1 team in the nation. The top-ranked teams in NCAA Division I, II, and III all lost last night.
Div. I: #9 BYU def. #1 Stanford 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 15-11)
The Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, UT is known as being the best home court advantage in NCAA men’s volleyball, but it worked its magic for the BYU women on Friday in their upset of #1 Stanford. The Cougars were led by Roni Jones-Perry the outside hitter put away 20 kills with a .341 hitting percentage. She also had 2 service aces, 1 solo block, and 4 block assists. McKenna Miller chipped in 15 kills, hitting .154. Their libero, Mary Lake, led the match the 18 digs.
After trail 0-2 in the match, Stanford’s comeback big was headed by Kathryn Plummer. While she committed 12 attack errors, hitting .176, she finished with 21 kills, 2 aces, and 4 block assists. Audriana Fitzmoris contributed 13 kills with a .385 hitting percentage, and Jenna Gray led the match with 53 assists.
Div. II: #1 Minnesota-Duluth Loses to Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech
The #1 team lost a pair of matches and only won a single set between the them. Olivia Ghormley scored points on 12 kills for Michigan Tech in their 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 27-25) sweep over Minnesota-Duluth. Megan Utlak led the match with 13 digs, and Laura DeMarchi contributed 36 assists.
Sarah Kelly led the match with 5 blocks for Minnesota-Duluth in the loss. She also was her team’s leading attacker with 11 kills. Their setter, Emily Torve distributed 31 assists
Minnesota-Duluth came back in the evening to drop a 3-1 (25-23, 25-15, 16-25, 25-23) decision to Northern Michigan. Leticia Antunes put away 21 kills for Northern Michigan. Sarah Kuehn led the match with 6 blocks, and Lynzi Svoboda contributed 40 assists.
Makenzie Morgen led Minnesota-Duluth with 11 kills. Sydney Lanoue, libero, produced a match-high 14 digs. Abby Thor produced 5 blocks at net in the defeat.
Div. III: #6 Johnson and Wales def. #1 Claremont-Mudd Scripps 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-10, 15-6)
Mary Coniglio’s 20 kills helped Johnson & Wales University come back from being down 1-2 to win the match in a tie-break. Johnson & Wales had not lost a regular season match in 1,041 days. That was until they dropped a 3-1 (24-26, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25) decision to Cal Lutheran on Friday in the opening match of the Pacific Coast Classic. The team bounced back to knock out the #1 team in NCAA Division III.
In addition to Coniglio’s 20 kills, Katie Leidhold finished with 12 kills. Brylee Frank contributed 41 assists in her team’s winning effort. Elyssa Nicolas led the match with 25 digs. This is the first time a team from Johnson & Wales has ever beaten a team ranked #1 in the nation.
Amanda Walker led Claremont with 20 kills, while Margot Mafra Spencer chipped in 14. Phoebe Madsen led the match with 6 service aces.
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