NCAA Women
December 7, 2024
If you were looking for a Cinderella story in the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball tournament on Friday, you picked the wrong day.
The only significant upset saw a team from the Power Four SEC, Missouri, knock off a squad from the Power Four ACC, SMU, in a second-round match between seeded opponents.
In pick ‘em 4 vs. 5 tussles, highly regarded lower seeds Dayton (Atlantic 10) and Marquette (Big East) from non-power conferences prevailed.
Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament saw a blend of matches in the first and second rounds, and in the opening-rounders, the teams that figured to win did, the majority of them with ease.
One reverse sweep transpired: Oklahoma turned the tables on UTEP on a day when the SEC went 6-1.
Line of the night goes to 5-foot-8 Dayton dynamo Lexie Almodovar, who recorded 34 kills on 77 attacks with 13 errors (which included key winners in crunch time), two aces, eight digs and two blocks in the Flyers’ five-set triumph over Baylor. Almodovar eclipsed the 2,000-kill mark for her career.
In Division III, Juniata, coming off a reverse-sweep victory over Hope in the national semifinals, plays Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday. Juniata,…
