​NORTHERN COLORADO 3, APPALACHIAN STATE 1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-22)
 
STATESBORO, GA – Northern Colorado hit .322 overall and bounced back strong after dropping the first set, moving past Appalachian State on Friday in a Round 1 match of the 2024 NIVC.
 
The Bears (26-7) will face either Georgia Southern or Southeast Missouri State in the Super 16 round.
 
In Set 1, the Mountaineers (18-10) took an early 12-7 lead; the Bears got within 17-14 but App State hit .379 overall and was never seriously threatened late, getting the final kill by Elise Marchal.
 
Set 2 saw App State claim an 18-15 lead. UNC responded to move ahead 22-20 which forced the Mountaineers to call timeout. It went back and forth the rest of the way but UNC secured the set on a kill from Syd Cole. In Set 3, UNC took charge early with leads of 10-5 and 16-9, the last burst fueled by kills from Brynn Reines, Isabel Bennett and Gabi Placide.
 
Set 4 saw UNC come back from a 16-13 deficit to take a 19-17 lead before another timeout by the Mountaineers. It was tied at 22-all before an ace from Cole and a block from Placide and Maddie Davies ended the match.
 
Bennett had a career-best 21 kills for Northern Colorado. Placide had 16 kills, Davies added 11 kills and Cole finished with 51 assists. Sam Steele came through with 16 digs and Bella Lepore added 10 digs.
 
For the Mountaineers, Maya Winterhoff had 13 kills, Lulu Ambrose chipped in with 12 kills and Marchal had 11 kills. Addison Heidemann wrapped it up with 39 assists and 10 digs, Kenady Roper had 17 digs, Taylor McNear had 12 digs and Caroline Farthing finished with 11 digs.

​WYOMING 3, IDAHO STATE 1 (25-14, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21)
 
LARAMIE, WY – Wyoming used a balanced attack on offense and held Idaho State to just .157 hitting as the Cowgirls topped the Bengals in a Round 1 match at the 2024 NIVC.
 
Wyoming (16-12) will face Utah Valley on Friday on the Super 16 round.
 
Emma Winter closed with 12 kills for the Cowgirls; Sarah Holcomb and Claire Wagstaff each had 11 kills and Paige Lauterwasser added 10 kills. Kasia Partyka came through with 45 assists and nine digs, and Sierra Grizzle finished with 15 digs.
 
The Bengals (21-10) saw Sadie Bluth post 12 kills. Aliyah Sopo’aga had 31 assists, Asiah Sopo’aga had 17 digs and Jamie Streit added 13 digs.

​DEPAUL 3, TOLEDO 0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-16)
 
CHICAGO, IL – DePaul authored a sweep of Toledo on Thursday at the 2024 NIVC, with Jill Pressly leading the way on offense with 21 kills.  
 
The Blue Demons (20-13) will face Omaha on Friday in the Super 16 round.
 
Pressly had 10 kills in the first set. In Set 2, with the score 26-all, a service error by Toledo and a kill from Katelynn Oxley gave DePaul the win in a hard-fought set.
 
For the Blue Demons, Rachel Krasowski had 19 digs, Amanda Saeger finished with 38 assists and 11 digs, and Abby Cahill added 10 digs.
 
For the Rockets (17-15), Taylor Alt had 12 kills. Macy Hatkevich finished with 31 assists and 12 digs.

​BOWLING GREEN 3, WRIGHT STATE 1 (25-18, 13-25, 25-23, 25-17)
 
BOWLING GREEN, OH – Lauryn Hovey rang up 16 kills for Bowling Green as the Falcons moved past Wright State in the Super 16 round of the 2024 NIVC.
 
The Falcons (23-9) advance to the Great 8, with their opponent still to be decided.
 
After splitting the first two sets, with each team winning relatively comfortably, Set 3 was a profound nail-biter – Sydnie Hernandez’s ace gave Bowling Green a 18-15 lead, but things got tied up again at 23-all before the Falcons closed it out on a kill from Jessica Andrews and a game-sealing ace from Isabelle Laube.
 
Set 4 saw the Falcons claim a 17-12 lead on back-to-back kills from Hovey, and another push built the lead to 19-13, prompting a timeout by Wright State (24-7). But there would be no rallying against BGSU.
 
Mia Tyler had 14 kills for Bowling Green; Amanda Otten closed with 41 assists and nine digs, and Hernandez had 15 digs.
 
Sam Ott had 14 kills for Wright State; Reilly Zegunis added 12 kills, Lauren Yacobucci finished with 43 assists and Jenny Morey had 14 digs.

STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 3, JACKSON STATE 0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-14)

NACOGDOCHES, TX - Playing on its home court in the opening round of the 2024 NIVC, there were no postseason nerves for the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks as they cruised to a sweep over Jackson State to advance to the Super 16. 

The Ladyjacks hit .424 in the opening set to set the tone early for how this night was going to go. As a team, SFA hit .380 in the match. Jackson State was efficient in the first set as well, hitting .320, but were limited to just .063 and -.030 hitting in the second and third sets, respectively.

Katherine Holtman paced the Ladyjacks with 13 kills on .524 hitting and also added two service aces and three blocks. Kennedy Jones also reached double figures with 10 kills, while Kyanna Creecy finished the match with nine kills for SFA. The Ladyjacks were particularly aggressive from the service line and kept Jackson State on its backfoot, serving up nine aces in the match, led by three from Natalie Guerrero, who also had 10 digs.

SFA now takes on Arkansas State tomorrow night in the Super 16 at 7 p.m. ET. 

EAST CAROLINA 3, WINTHROP 1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 25-11)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina (19-9) showed the power of home court advantage, even after a slow start, with an impressive win over Winthrop (16-11) on Thursday evening inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

In what turned out to be a back-and-forth battle in the first set, Winthrop, a squad within one set of an NCAA Tournament appearance, was able to get the early advantage after a 26-24 opening set victory.
 
The Pirates responded in the second set to level the match, with a 25-21 showing. East Carolina, out of the American Athletic Conference, made their second postseason appearance in program history, making it their second-straight season as well.
 
ECU, coming in with a 9-2 regular season record inside the friendly confines of their home court, posted the best single-season home winning percentage (81.8) in program history and that showed the rest of the way, after a 25-19 third set win.
 
The Pirates continued to ride the wave and secured the victory in convincing fashion with a 25-11 win in the fourth and final set of the opening match, locking in the 3-1 final.
 
Avery Jolley led the way for the Eagles, notching 17 kills and 18 points. Isabella Murray had an impressive performance with 39 assists in the match.
 
Carlia Northcross was the catalyst for ECU in their opening win, with .647 hitting and six blocks. Taryn Gilreath was vital on the defensive side, with 15 digs.
 
East Carolina advances to the Super 16 round and will play UConn on Friday at 6 p.m. for the right to advance to the Great 8.

​UTAH VALLEY 3, WASHINGTON STATE 0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-20)
 
LARAMIE, WY – Utah Valley hit .379 overall and led in aces, 7-1, as the Wolverines swept Washington State on Thursday in the opening round of the 2024 NIVC.
 
The Wolverines (21-10) will play Idaho State or host Wyoming in the Super 16 round on Friday.
 
Utah Valley hit .387 in winning the first set as Avery Shewell notched five kills, and the Wolverines were in total command in Set 2, building leads of 5-0, 11-4 and 18-8, getting three straight kills from Shewell to conclude that last burst of points. She also had two aces in the set.
 
Utah Valley controlled the final set, breaking away from an 8-all tie to lead 17-10. Madi Standifird got the kill for the final point of the match.
 
Shewell closed with 12 kills, Sami Blackett had 10 kills and Evalyn Chism came through with 31 assists. Lani Matavao had eight digs and Bella Wooden set a program record for blocks in a season (192).
 
The Cougars (16-12) saw Taryn Vrieling and Sage Brustad each finish with eight kills. Italia Bernal had 16 assists, Jaden Walz added 13 assists and Emma Barnero had nine digs.

OMAHA 3, LINDENWOOD 2 (25-14, 19-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-13)

CHICAGO, Il - The Omaha Mavericks outlasted the Lindenwood Lions (25-14, 19-25, 21-25, 25-20, 15-13) in a five-set thriller in the first round of the 2024 NIVC.

Omaha took the first set in convincing fashion, 25-14, but Lindenwood came storming back to take the next two sets and take a 2-1 lead over Omaha. But the Mavericks never waved and utilized a 7-0 run in the fourth set to take a 19-13 lead en route to forcing a decisive fifth set. 

Trailing 6-4 in the fifth set, Omaha went on a 5-0 run to take a 9-6 lead and never looked back. The Mavericks were led by junior outside hitter Kali Jurgensmeier who registered 19 kills on .357 hitting along with five blocks. Brynlee Arnold also was efficient for Omaha with 12 kills on .391 hitting, while McKenna Ruch rounded out the scoring for the Mavericks with nine kills and five blocks. 

Omaha will face the winner of DePaul and Toledo in the Super 16 tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET. 

​ARKANSAS STATE 3, UTRGV 1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-13)
 
NACOGDOCHES, TX – Arkansas State bounced back after dropping the first set to win the next three in increasingly dominant fashion, as the Red Wolves topped UTRGV on Thursday in the 2024 NIVC.
 
Arkansas State will play either Jackson State or host Stephen F. Austin in the Super 16 round on Friday.
 
UTRGV took an early 5-1 lead in Set 1, but things were tight for most of the set before kills by Elise Fourt and Nadine Zech and an error gave the Vaqueros a 20-17 lead. UTRGV finished off the set with two kills each from Zech and Perris Key. Arkansas State prevailed in Set 2, which was tied up at 19-all before two kills from Devyn Lewis opened up some breathing room.
 
In Set 3, Arkansas State pulled ahead much earlier, pushing a 10-8 lead to 17-10 on a kill from Haley Glunz and then rolling comfortably the rest of the way. Set4 was more of the same – the Red Wolves took leads of 8-1 and 12-3, both runs capped by kills from Lewis.
 
The Red Wolves (27-5), who earned their first postseason victory since 2018, saw Lewis finish with 10 kills. Erin Madigan and Valeria Ortiz each had 19 assists, Kaitlin Whitlock closed with 10 kills and 18 digs, and Sarah Martinez had 18 digs.
 
The Vaqueros (16-12) got 17 kills from Zech; Claudia Lupescu had 15 kills and 11 digs, and Key closed with 11 kills. Isabella Costantini had 44 assists and 11 digs, Ilana De Assis added 16 digs and 10 kills, and Celianiz Cabranes finished with 22 digs.