Volleyball today: Lindenwood stuns Ball St.; Rise win in PVF; USC tops UCLA in beach

Fourth-seeded Lindenwood stunned top-seeded Ball State on Thursday in the MIVA semifinals, bouncing the Cardinals in five sets to advance to Saturday’s championship match. The Lions, in the title tilt for the first time, play third-seeded Ohio State, which beat second-seeded Loyola Chicago in four.

Penn State had to go four to beat Harvard, but the Nittany Lions will play George Mason, which swept Charleston, in the EIVA title match Saturday. The top two teams in the MPSF, UCLA and Grand Canyon won and meet in Saturday’s final.

Friday’s schedule includes the SIAC championship match between Fort Valley State and Central State, the Big West semifinals with Long Beach State playing CSUN and UC Irvine vs. Hawai’i, and the Conference Carolinas semifinals pitting Belmont Abbey vs. Mount Olive and North Greenville vs. King.

In the Pro Volleyball Federation, the Grand Rapids Rise beat the Orlando Valkyries in four. There is one PVF match Friday when the first-place Atlanta Vibe go to the Columbus Fury. 

In a battle of the NCAA’s top two beach teams, No. 2 USC beat No. 1 UCLA.

In the MIVA, Lindenwood won its eighth match in a row by beating Ball State, which now has very slim hopes of an at-large NCAA bid. Read the Lindenwood recap here and the Ball State account here.

Ohio State won its fourth in a row by ousting Loyola Chicago, left in the same situation as Ball State. Read the Ohio State recap here and the Loyola story here.

Penn State got 31 kills from John Kerr in its win over Harvard. Read the Penn State recap here. Read Mason’s account of its sweep of Charleston here.

The winners Thursday in the Big West were Hawai’i, which ended UC Santa Barbara’s season, and CSUN, which swept UC San Diego. 

In the MPSF, UCLA swept USC and GCU beat Stanford in four.

In the SIAC, which gets its first automatic bid this year,  Fort Valley State advanced to the title match by knocking out Kentucky State and Central State beat host Edward Waters.

The NEC, which doesn’t get a bid, has Saint Francis (PA) playing Daemen in Saturday’s championship match. Click here for all the NEC Championship results and information.

In the Pro Volleyball Federation, the Rise defeated the Valkyries. Read the Grand Rapids account here.

USC beat UCLA in beach, a rivalry that has provided great battles all season — they’ve split four meetings — and promises to do the same at the NCAA Championship next month. Click here for the USC’s account of Thursday’s home finale, in which the Trojans also beat Loyola Marymount.