No. 1 Texas 3, West Virginia 0
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Behind a career-high 11 kills by sophomore middle blocker Molly McCage, No. 1 Texas collected its 10th consecutive win with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 31-29) victory against West Virginia. McCage and All-American outside hitters Haley Eckerman and Bailey Webster combined for 40 of Texas' 48 kills in the win.
Texas (14-2, 7-0 Big 12) never trailed in game one, but it took a 6-2 run halfway through the set to break away from West Virginia (16-6, 2-5 Big 12) for an 18-11 advantage. The teams traded points until Eckerman sealed the 25-15 Texas victory with her fourth kill. Eckerman, Webster and McCage each had four kills in the opening stanza and the Longhorns outhit the Mountaineers .517-.150.
The Longhorns broke a 2-all tie early in the second set with a 4-0 run that began on a Mountaineer service error. Game two ended on West Virginia's fifth service error of the match and Texas took a 2-0 lead into the break.
In a neck-and-neck third set, West Virginia strung together three consecutive points for its biggest lead of the match at 17-14. West Virginia continued to fight back and pushed the game into extra points until back-to-back kills by Eckerman clinched the 31-29 Texas win.
No. 2 Penn State 3, No. 24 Ohio State 0
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Senior Deja McClendon led the No. 2 Penn State women's volleyball team (17-2, 8-1) to a 3-0 sweep (25-9, 25-11, 25-16) against No. 24 Ohio State (14-7, 2-7) on Wednesday. With the victory, the Nittany Lions improve their conference winning streak to eight consecutive matches.
McClendon registered a team-high 10 kills on .500 hitting, adding nine kills, two blocks and a season-high two aces. Senior Ariel Scott followed close behind with nine kills, adding one dig and five blocks. Junior Nia Grant matched a season-high mark with six blocks, including one solo stop, while also tallying three kills, one ace and four digs.
Junior Micha Hancock directed the Nittany Lion offense to a .333 hitting clip, dishing out 23 assists and 11 digs for a double-double, adding three aces and three blocks.
PSU limited the Buckeyes to a -.030 hitting clip, surrendering less than 10 kills in sets one and two, including just four in the first frame alone. The mark is the first time the Nittany Lions have held a Big Ten opponent to a negative attacking percentage since Nov. 5, 2008, when PSU limited Indiana to a -.020 clip in a 3-0 win at Rec Hall.
No. 6 Stanford 3, Oregon 0
STANFORD, Calif. -– No. 6 Stanford posted a 25-22, 25-13, 25-22 win against 20th-ranked Oregon Wednesday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal improves to 14-4 on the season and 7-2 in the Pac-12, while the Ducks fall to 12-7 overall and 5-4 in the conference.
As a team, Stanford registered 14 blocks in the match, one shy of its season-high. The Cardinal outhit the Ducks .296 to .122. Stanford has now won 23 consecutive home matches in Maples Pavilion, dating back to the 2012 season. The Cardinal is now 7-0 at home this season and 12 of its 14 wins have come in three sets.
Senior middle blocker Carly Wopat led the Cardinal with 11 kills on 20 swings with no errors to hit .550. She also tallied seven blocks and tied her season high with four digs. Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Burgess also registered 11 kills in the win to go with five digs and three blocks. Sophomore Brittany Howard finished with nine kills, 11 digs and four blocks, while sophomore Inky Ajanaku posted six kills and seven blocks.
Sophomore setter Madi Bugg registered 36 assists, six digs and two aces in the win. Junior libero Kyle Gilbert collected a match-high 21 digs, while senior Rachel Williams finished with nine digs and four blocks.
Michigan 3, No. 10 Michigan State 1
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- A Jenison Field House-record crowd of 6,183 fans watched an epic four-set battle between archrivals Michigan State and Michigan on Wednesday night, and were treated to a match that featured 47 tie scores and 27 lead changes as the Wolverines took a 3-1 decision (25-20, 22-25, 24-26, 30-32). MSU dropped its third consecutive match and fell to 6-3 in Big Ten play, and is now 17-4 overall.
The attendance was the largest home volleyball crowd at Jenison Field House in MSU volleyball history. Only one MSU home match had a larger attendance, and that came in November 2010 at the Breslin Center (6,824). Both matches were against Michigan.
Errors once again plagued the Spartans, who committed 18 service errors - for a total of 46 in the last three matches - and hit just .187. Michigan hit just .132 in the four sets, and despite being out-blocked by MSU 15-6, got timely kills and improved to 14-6, 4-5 in the Big Ten.
