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NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament: Eight Pac-12 teams advance

by Jonathan Hawthorne
Dec 1, 2017
Aaron Cornia/GoDucks.com

Nine Pac-12 teams took the the court Friday during Day 2 of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament. Here's how they fared. 

usc

USC 3, Central Arkansas 1

Brittany Abercrombie reached the 1,000 career kill mark and USC knocked off Central Arkansas on Saturday night at the Galen Center.

Central Arkansas put up a fight against the No. 10-seeded Trojans, though. The Sugar Bears won the opening set, 25-22, before USC strung together some serious momentum. The Trojans got stronger as the match progressed, taking the final three sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-12) to see San Diego in the second round. 

Abercrombie finished with 14 kills, Khalia Lanier had 24 and Victoria Garrick had 13 digs in the USC victory.

Read more: USCTrojans.com

washington

Washington 3, LIU Brooklyn 0

Paced by Kara Bajema's 15 kills and nine digs, eighth-seeded Washington rolled to a convincing win over LIU Brooklyn, 25-10, 25-13, 25-18. Courtney Schwan chipped in ten kills while Bailey Tanner had 35 assists for the Huskies.

The Huskies were dominating during set one, tallying 18 kills and hitting .517. They limited the visitors to a .034 mark. Now winners of their last four matches, the Huskies will face Illinois in the second round.

Read more: GoHuskies.com

ucla

UCLA 3, Austin Peay 0

The No. 15 seed Bruins posted a commanding sweep of Austin Peay, 25-10, 25-13, 25-15, to open their postseason quest. Sarah Sponcil had 28 assists and 18 digs for UCLA, who held the visitors to a .051 hitting percentage. Reily Buechler tallied a match-high 13 kills while also adding ten digs. 

Cal Poly is next up for UCLA. The Bruins have now won their last four matches — all sweeps.

Read more: UCLABruins.com

stanford

Stanford 3, CSU Bakersfield 0

The defending champions began their title defense with a sweep of CSU Bakersfield on The Farm. The No. 3-seeded Cardinal won 25-11, 25-15 and 25-17 to face Colorado State in the second round.

Newly minted Pac-12 Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer tallied nine kills and seven digs. Audriana Fitzmorris had 10 kills, eight blocks and hit a career-high .833 (10-0-12) in the win. Pac-12 Setter of the Year Jenna Gray had 33 assists for Stanford. The Cardinal easily outhit the Roadrunners, .417 to .011. 

Read more: GoStanford.com

utah

Utah 3, Purude 1

Utah, which defeated Cleveland State during Thursday's first round, excelled during Friday's second-round action, taking down Purdue to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008. The Utes will take on the winner of No. 6 Texas and NC State. 

Utah's Adora Anae recorded 27 kills to set a new sngle-match school record for NCAA action while Bailey Choy turned in another impressive performance with 40 assists. 

The Utes captured the first two sets (25-23, 25-19) before Purdue rallied for a third-set win (25-13). Utah then locked up the fourth, 27-25, and the match victory.

Read more: UtahUtes.com

Colorado

Colorado 3, James Madison 0

The Buffs opened Friday's action by sweeping James Madison in Waco, Texas. Colorado recorded a commanding win (25-21, 25-14, 25-12) by posting 43 kills and hitting .305 in the match. The Buffs had just 11 errors on 105 attacks. Colorado's Frankie Shebby led all players with 12 kills while Alexa Smith had eight for the Buffs, who improve to 23-9. Colorado now own wins in each of its last four opening-round NCAA tournament matches dating back to 2005.

With the victory, Colorado advances to face the winner of No. 12 seed Baylor.

Read more: CUBuffs.com

Oregon

Oregon 3, Kennesaw State 0

A day after the Ducks announced they had extended head coach Matt Ulmer's contract by four years, Oregon picked up a commanding sweep (28-26, 25-19, 25-18) over Kennesaw State in Provo, Utah, and will advance to the NCAA second round for the eighth time since 2007.

Taylor Agost had a match-high 11 kills, Ronika Stone tallied nine blocks while Lindsey Vander Weide recorded 11 digs and seven assists for the Ducks, who advance to face No. 13 seed BYU on Saturday. 

Read more: GoDucks.com

Washington State

Washington State 3, Florida State 1

After a thrilling first set went the Cougars' way, Washignton State prevailed (34-32, 25-14, 23-25, 25-13) over Florida State. The Cougars were close to closing the match in three sets but showed in the fourth set that they had the upper hand against the Seminoles.

WSU's Taylor Mims exploded for 28 kills while Jocelyn Urias had 13 in the win. Mims was also lethal on the block, recording a match-high 22. Collectiely, the Cougars out-hit Florida State by posting a .272 mark.

The big win advances Washington State to the second round where No. 5 overall seed Nebraska awaits.

Read more: WSUCougars.com

Oregon State

North Carolina State 3, Oregon State 2

A thrilling five-set match went to the wire in Austin, Texas, but NC State ultimately prevailed. The match was the definition of back and forth. NC State won the first and third sets. Oregon State captured the second and fourth sets. In the pivotal fifth match, the Beavers narrowlly fell, 15-13. 

Mary-Kate Marshall carried the Beavers' attack, talling 19 kills. Kylee McLaughlin had 51 assists and Maddie Goings had 17 digs in the loss. 

Read more: OSUBeavers.com 

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