Tennessee and Florida won in the SEC, Ohio State and Illinois got Big Ten victories, and Cincinnati won in the Big 12 on a relatively quiet Wednesday in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball.
The recaps and top performances follow, but first a look at Thursday’s schedule and that includes Baylor-Texas.
Always the benchmark in the Big 12, the battles between the Bears and Longhorns almost always decide the league. In this case, VBM No. 5 Texas (14-3, 9-0) is the host for back-to-back matches with AVCA No. 20 Baylor (12-7, 6-3) in Austin’s Gregory Gym.
However, in this one year where VBM No. 9 BYU joined the league and before Texas and Oklahoma go to the SEC next year, Baylor has to win both to stay in the race. BYU (18-3) is tied for second with UCF (16-4, 7-2), which lost twice at Baylor last week. BYU goes to Kansas State (11-8, 5-5) and UCF is home for TCU (12-9, 5-5). Also, VBM No. 16 Kansas (14-4, 5-3) is home for West Virginia (9-13, 2-7). The Big 12 has seven teams in the NCAA RPI top 40, including Iowa State at 36 and Houston at 40. TCU, at 54, is up against it.
The lone Big Ten match has AVCA No. 16 Purdue home for Minnesota, which at RPI 48, needs…
