Sarah Mendoza had 41 combined kills in Kentucky's wins

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A Look Back at the Weekend Highlights
It was another exciting weekend of action, with many of the biggest matches not decided until a fifth set. One of the big winners was 11th-ranked Stanford, which picked up a pair of big road victories. The Cardinal beat No. 16 UCLA for the 17th straight time by scores of 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-20 before sweeping 13th-ranked USC (25-23, 35-33, 25-18). Junior outside hitter Alix Klineman, an All-American in each of the past two seasons, led the way in both matches. She posted 23 kills, 10 digs and five blocks against the Bruins and had 24 kills on .357 hitting to go with 11 digs vs. the Women of Troy. The middle set of the latter match was a classic, with Stanford saving five set points before finally converting on its seventh set point with a Klineman kill.

No. 15 Kentucky had a weekend of ups and downs, but persevered to come out with a pair of five-set triumphs. The Wildcats traveled to fifth-ranked Florida on Friday and managed to win just nine points in the opening set. But UK would rally and eventually take a 9-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11 victory. Junior Sarah Mendoza paced the Wildcats with 20 kills. It ended a 19-match losing streak in Gainesville and marked Kentucky's first win there in exactly 20 years and one day. On Sunday, Kentucky won the first two sets, but was stretched to the limit by South Carolina before finally prevailing 25-20, 25-21, 23-25, 19-25, 15-13. Mendoza had 21 more kills and 12 digs. Senior outside hitter Ivana Kujundzic had 22 kills and 12 digs for South Carolina. Kentucky is the lone SEC team to remain unbeaten in league play, at 4-0.

No. 12 Illinois also played a pair of five-setters on the road - but the Illini could manage just one victory. On Friday, 23rd-ranked Michigan State saved four match points in the fourth set and rallied for a 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 28-26, 15-10 win over Illinois. The Fighting Illini dropped the first two sets the following evening against No. 6 Michigan, but senior outside hitter Kylie McCulley led Illinois back to a 21-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-11 win in which the U of I had a 15-3 blocking edge.

Both USC and UCLA managed to earn weekend splits with tough home wins over ninth-ranked California. The Trojans needed five sets to do so on Friday, saving three match points and finally converting on their fourth chance in a 22-25, 29-27, 25-19, 16-25, 22-20 decision. Both Jessica Gysin from USC and Cal's Mindi Wiley posted 21 kills in the match, while Trojan Alex Jupiter and Hana Cutura of the Bears had 19 apiece. On Saturday, UCLA beat Cal 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22.

One of the biggest accomplishments of the weekend was turned in by Iowa, despite the fact that the Hawkeyes won just a single set in two matches. That set, though, was the third frame on Friday against top-ranked Penn State in what would eventually be a 25-16, 25-10, 24-26, 25-18 win for the Nittany Lions. The Hawkeyes saved a match point en route to ending Penn State's streak of 141 consecutive set victories in regular-season play - a string that reached back to Nov. 27, 2004, when Michigan took a set from PSU. Senior setter Alisha Glass helped Penn State to .381 hitting in the match and her classmate, Megan Hodge, had 20 kills. The Lions then swept Wisconsin (25-18, 25-20, 25-16) on Saturday to tie their own Big Ten record for consecutive conference victories, at 49. PSU has won an NCAA-record 80 in a row overall.

Third-ranked Washington is now the only Division I school to have yet to be defeated in a set this season, as the Huskies delivered two more impressive wins over the weekend. UW was challenged early against Arizona State, but eventually prevailed 25-23, 25-16, 25-22. Junior setter Jenna Hagglund and Washington then dominated No. 18 Arizona, outhitting the Wildcats .413-.094 en route to a 25-15, 25-13, 25-16 win. UW has won all 42 sets in its 14 matches this season (including four against ranked opponents), by an average score of 25.0-16.7. Washington's closest set was the second one against Oregon on Sept. 25, when the Ducks actually held a set point before the Huskies prevailed 26-24.

The other unbeaten team remained that way, as Texas won 25-20, 25-21, 25-21 at Kansas State. Senior setter Ashley Engle had 10 kills on 12 attempts herself and also led the Longhorns to .392 hitting.

There was even more great action in the Pac-10, as Oregon State upset No. 7 Oregon in five sets, 25-21, 21-25, 10-25, 25-22, 16-14, in front of a Gill Coliseum record crowd of 3,576. Beavers' senior outside hitter Rachel Rourke had 29 kills, including seven in the final set - in which OSU survived a match point. One of the other unranked but dangerous conference squads, Washington State, turned in an outstanding weekend by sweeping 18th-ranked Arizona 25-21, 25-22, 26-24 on Friday, despite 18 kills from Arizona's Tiffany Owens. The Cougars then rallied for a five-set (25-19, 24-26, 13-25, 25-17, 15-10) victory against Arizona State. WSU sophomore outside hitter Meagan Ganzer had 20 kills in the match, while freshman libero Oceana Bush registered a school-record 39 digs. Junior outside hitter Sarah Reaves pounded 26 kills for ASU.

Freshman rightside hitter Monique Mead had 19 kills and 14 digs to lead Georgia Tech to a five-set (19-25, 27-25, 15-25, 27-25, 16-14) win at No. 17 Florida State. The Seminoles had their 11-match winning streak snapped despite senior Nikki Baker setting them to a .336 hitting percentage (compared to .190 for the Yellow Jackets). FSU was also challenged by Clemson, but used 24 kills from senior middle blocker Brianna Barry to grab a 26-24, 25-20, 23-25, 20-25, 15-7 win.

Two other ranked teams were upset over the weekend, as well. No. 20 San Diego was swept (25-18, 25-23, 25-23) on the road by Pepperdine, which had lost four straight. Both teams hit well, with senior Kiah Fiers leading the Waves to a .365 mark and junior Kelsi Myers setting USD to a .316 attack percentage. Creighton earned its first-ever win over a nationally-ranked team with a 26-24, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20 win against No. 25 Wichita State. Junior libero Nayka Benitez (36 digs) and senior middle blocker Jessica Houts (nine blocks) led the Blue Jays defense, which held the Shockers to .059 hitting en route to improving to 6-9. No. 22 Long Beach State avoided the upset bug with a five-set win over UC Santa Barbara. Senior outside hitter Naomi Washington had 23 kills for the 49ers.