April 26, 2021 at 8:38 pm by Preston Espar
Allison Fann / Daily Nexus
With two 3-1 wins in the Big West Tournament against Long Beach State University and UC San Diego, the UC Santa Barbara menâs volleyball team won their first-ever Big West Championship and clinched a berth in the NCAA menâs volleyball tournament.
This will be the programâs first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2011 and marks one of the greatest seasons of in-conference play in UCSB history. After a successful regular season that saw the Gauchos finish 13-4, UCSB breezed by their first tournament opponent, Long Beach State, who had to defeat UC Irvine to move onto the semifinals. However, the championship game was not as easy as the semifinals as UCSD kept it close until the deciding point. Â
Olympic overview: BYU track and cross country teams take home national championships
The BYU track and cross country teams had a heyday at NCAA nationals, taking first place as a team in the women’s distance medley relay and women’s cross country, as well as individually in men’s cross country.
Cross Country
The BYU women’s cross country team won the NCAA National Championship on March 15, the Cougars’ fifth team national title in program history. The team competed at the OSU Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma, finishing with 96 overall points.
BYU had seven runners competing, five of which finished in the top 40. Senior Anna Camp-Bennet led the way for the Cougars, finishing the 6K course in just 20:28.3, 11th place overall. Junior Aubrey Frentheway and senior Whittni Orton were not far behind her, finishing 15th and 17th respectively.
Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“Around the NCAAW Weekly” highlights the notable events of the week. Check out the milestones, surprises, best games and outstanding performances for games played through Sunday, Feb. 28:
Conference champions
No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies
In addition to moving up to the 1-line in the NCAA Top 16 reveal on Sunday, the Aggies celebrated their first-ever SEC regular-season championship and first regular-season title title in any conference since winning the Big 12 in 2007.
Texas A&M defeated the No. 5 South Carolina Gamecocks 65-57 on Sunday to secure the title. Senior forward N’dea Jones had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the contest to surpass 1,000 career rebounds and reach 1,010, which is good for first place in Texas A&M history, ahead of former record-holder Anriel Howard (1,002).
February 24, 2021 in Sports, Volleyball
Redshirt junior outside hitter Billy Fautleroy led the team with 22 kills Wednesday night. (Peter Gastis | Daily Trojan)
The men’s volleyball team fell in three straight sets against the Pepperdine Waves at Galen Center Wednesday night. USC now stands at 1-3 on the seasonand in the MPSF conference. The Trojans have lost their last three matches, winning only two sets in those three losses.
USC came close to pushing the match to four sets, taking an 18-15 lead in the third, but ultimately service errors prevented the Trojans from finishing. After holding off five Pepperdine match points, USC had an opportunity to win the set leading 28-27. However, the Waves were able to climb back and secured the win 30-28. It was the first time the Trojans were swept this season.