Top-ranked Pittsburgh remained undefeated with a series of visiting SMU, ranked No. 14 in the VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll, No. 11 Oregon swept No. 16 USC, No. 12 Arizona State defeated Arizona in four, and UCLA defeated No. 24 AVCA Washington on Wednesday in NCAA Division I volleyball.

We’ve got the most important results and top performances, a look at Thursday’s schedule and an update on the best American players playing professionally in this edition of Volleyball Today.

NCAA Volleyball Thursday

There are three Big 12 games involving four ranked teams. Eighth-ranked Kansas, the only team without a league loss at 12-1, 3-0, heads to West Virginia (6-9, 0-4). No. No. 17 TCU (11-3, 3-1) is at Utah, which is unranked but is 13-2 and also 3-1. No. No. 18 Baylor (10-4, 2-1) moves to No. 23 BYU (9-6, 2-2) and Kansas State (4-9, 2-2) plays at Cincinnati (11-3, 2-2) 1).

The lone Big Ten matchup has Ohio State (7-7, 0-4) at Northwestern (3-9, 1-3).

The ACC and SEC are inactive.

South Dakota State (14-0, 3-0 Summit League), the only other team besides Pitt without a loss, is home to Omaha (5-9, 3-0) in a battle of conference leaders. Third-ranked North Dakota State (6-6, 2-1) is Kansas City (3-11, 1-2).

First-place Pepperdine is inactive, but San Francisco (10-5, 3-0) will play a West Coast Conference game in Portland (9-5, 2-2), while San Diego (8-6, 3-0 ) 1) plays at Loyola Marymount (11-4, 3-1) and Washington State (8-5, 3-1) is at Pacific (11-5, 1-3).

UT Arlington (14-2, 4-0), the only WAC team without a league loss, is home to Seattle U, while the two of the three teams tied for second place play Grand Canyon (10-5 , 3 -1) is at Utah Tech (9-5, 3-1). Southern Utah (7-8, 3-1) is home to California Baptist.

Bowling Green (10-6, 5-0), the only MAC team without a league loss, is home to Eastern Michigan (13-4, 4-1), one of three teams ranked second. Central Michigan (13-4, 4-1) is at Toledo, while Buffalo (8-10, 4-1) is off.

Southeastern Louisiana (13-4, 5-0), tied with inactive Stephen F. Austin (13-5, 5-0) atop the Southland Conference, is home to Nicholls.

Georgia Southern (12-1, 2-0) puts its 11-game winning streak on the line in a Sun Belt Conference matchup against visiting Troy. GSU sits atop the East Division at 2-0, while Texas State leads the West at 4-0.

SoCon-leading Mercer (13-3, 3-0) heads to Samford (9-5, 3-1).

Tennesse Tech (15-1, 4-0) is the only team undefeated in Ohio Valley Conference play and has won five straight. The Golden Eagles play at Lindenwood (10-7, 4-1), which is tied with Idle Southeast Missouri (7-10, 4-1) for second place.

NCAA volleyball Wednesday

VolleyballMag’s 2023 National Freshman of the Year, Olivia Babcock, did not hurt her chances for 2024 National Player of the Year as she led Pitt (15-0. 5-0) to a 25-17, 25-18, 25-9 ACC blowout of visits SMU (12-4, 4-1). The Panthers hit .427.

Babock had a season-high 18 kills — 12 in the second set — and hit .571 with two errors in 28 attacks, continuing her serving attack with four more aces. Babcock, who had 12 aces last Sunday at Boston College, also had three blocks and seven digs. Torrey Stafford had 13 kills with two errors in 23 attacks to hit .423 and had four assists, a block and six digs. Valeria Vazquez-Gomez had six kills, one assist, three of Pitt’s 10 aces, 14 digs and two blocks, one solo, and Rachel Fairbanks had two kills in four flawless attempts, 37 assists, one ace, one block and seven digs.

SMU’s Natalie Foster had five kills in 12 error-free attacks, but her teammates combined for 20 kills and 15 errors as the Mustangs hit .109…

Oregon (12-2, 4-1 Big Ten) scored on the visiting team USC (11-4, 3-2) 25-18, 27-25, 25-19. Mimi Colyer had 17 kills with one error in 37 attacks to hit .432 and had nine digs and two blocks, one solo. Mackenzie Morris had 16 digs and three assists. Ally Batenhorst had 11 kills for USC…

State of Arizona (15-2, 4-1 Big 12) won 25-20, 23-25, 31-29, 25-15 Arizona (12-4, 1-4) as the two former Pac-12 teams played their first Big 12 game against each other. Geli Cyr led ASU with 23 kills, hitting .302, and had a block and 17 digs. Mary Shroll had 32 digs and five assists and Argentina Ung had four kills, 42 assists, three blocks and 20 digs. Arizona’s Jaelyn Hodge had 20 kills, two assists, an ace, four blocks and 13 digs…

UCLA (8-6, 2-3 Big Ten) won 25-27, 26-24, 25-22, 25-23 Washington (13-2 3-2). Cheridyn Leverette led the Bruins with 18 kills, hitting .348 to go with three blocks and two digs. Grayce Olson had 16 kills, hit .483 and added an assist, three aces, four blocks and five digs. Peyton Dueck had 18 digs and two assists and Audrey Pak had three kills, 51 assists, two aces, a block and five digs. Emoni Bush, who hit .393, and Audra Wilmes each had 13 kills for Washington…

Temple of the American Athletic got 25 kills from Sydney Jones in the five-set win Binghamton of the America East. Jones hit .327 and had 10 digs. Teammate Taylor Davenport had 21 kills, two assists, an ace, three digs and two blocks, one solo. Binghamton’s Tsvetelina Ilieva had 21 kills, six digs and three blocks… Eastern Kentucky swept his ASUN match Bellarmin as AG Vandagriff had 10 kills with one error in 18 attacks and two blocks and Jose Schmitendorf had 16 digs, four assists and three aces… New Hampshire of the American East Highlight of the Big South, as Kelly Kaufmann had 13 kills without errors in 20 attacks to hit .650 and add two blocks…

In of Rhode Island Atlantic 10 sweep of FordhamHavyn Rolle had 11 kills, hit .500 and had an ace, four digs and seven blocks, two solo… Houston held on for a five-set Big 12 win over the visiting side The state of Iowa while Angela Grieve had 21 kills, an ace, nine digs and four blocks, one solo. Katie Corelli had 17 kills, hit .394, and had a dig and a block and Kate Georgiades had 26 digs, nine assists and an ace. Iowa State’s Faith DeRonde had 17 kills and Lilly Wachholz had 16… UConn swept Providence in the Big East and Hanna Tylska had 11 kills with one error in 24 attacks…

UTEP improved to 16-2, 6-0 in USA Conference with a four-set victory over the visiting team NM State while Kaya Weaver had 12 kills with one error in 17 swings and hit .647. She had four blocks, one solo… Kennesaw State came away with a five-set CUSA victory The State of Jacksonville. JSU’s Kayla Williams had 22 kills, two assists, nine digs and two blocks… Also in CUSA, Western Kentucky beat Middle Tennessee in four, as Kaylee Cox had 15 kills, hit .382 and had four assists, seven digs and two blocks. Izzy Van De Wiele had 12 kills without mistakes in 17 attacks to go with a dig and five blocks, one solo…

Missouri from the SEC who came to visit Southeast Missouri State of the OVC when Jordan Iliff had 14 kills, hit .500 and had four of her team’s 10 aces, two digs and two blocks. Maya Sands had 16 digs, seven assists and two aces…Tex A&M won his SEC match in four hours Ole ma’am as Logan Lednicky had 20 kills, hitting .310 and adding an ace, 15 digs and four blocks, two solo. Ava Underwood had 21 digs and five assists… Florida A&M beat visit Bethune Cookman in five, as Iyonnie Sanford had 13 kills and hit .435 in the SWAC match to go with five digs and a block.

American women playing abroad

While many American women Athletes Unlimited are playing and/or waiting for the start of the LOVB and Pro Volleyball Federation competitions, there are many top players with their professional teams in other countries,

Among last week’s highlights:

In Italy, Khalia Lanier had 10 kills and hit .714 for Imoco Conegliano to go with two blocks and an ace in a sweep of Busto Arsizo… Lindsey Ruddins had eight kills and an ace in Scandicci’s sweep of Cuneo… Simon Lee had 17 kills, a block and an ace as Vallefoglia fell to Firenze in five sets… Ashley Evans had two kills and two blocks as the setter made her A1 debut in Bergamo’s sweep of Perugia… Olympian Avery Skinner was named MVP when Chieri defeated Novara in five sets. Skinner had 17 kills and hit .310..

In Turkiye, true Dana Rettke made the move from Italy to Eczacibasi, she had four kills, two blocks and two aces in a sweep of Aras Kargo… Micaya White led Sigorta Shop to a five-set win over Sariyer with 22 kills (.327) and three blocks. Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani had 16 kills, five blocks and three aces… Kendall Kipp had four kills as a substitute in her Turkish league debut as VakifBank was swept by Galatasaray…

In Germany, Madelyn Robinson had 12 kills (.706) and two aces as Stuttgart swept Munster… Danielle Harbin had 15 kills, four blocks and three aces as Potsdam defeated Efurt in five sets… Sabrina Starks had 10 kills (.769) added a block and an ace… Crystal rivers had 12 kills, three blocks and an ace as Stuttgart swept Wiesbaden…

In France, Lexi Hadrych earned MVP honors as TFOC upset Mulhouse in four sets. Hadrych had 23 kills (.419) and three blocks and Karson bacon had five kills and two blocks. Catherine Evans led Mulhouse with 24 kills, three blocks and an ace and Annayka Legros had 13 kills (.667) and two blocks… Morgahn Fingall had 13 kills and three blocks as Volero Le Cannet defeated RC Cannes in five. Lauren Matthews led Cannes with 14 kills, four aces and three blocks … Setter Ella May Powell was named MVP when Nantes defeated Chamalieres and she had two aces and a kill…

In Brazil, Jenna Gray and Minas Tenis Clube won their first title of the season by beating the Campeonato Mineiro …

And in Hungary, true Taylor Bannister Although still a star, Vasas took the first title of the season by winning the MEVZA (Central European) Super Cup. Bannister had 14 points in the sweep.