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For a long time, they played in the same conference. But now Nebraska is in the Big Ten, and Missouri in the SEC. Sunday, they both played exciting five-set NCAA volleyball matches that could be key to conference titles. Theres still a long way to go, of course, but the past weekend was big for the Tigers and the Cornhuskers.Missouri atop the SECKentucky was riding a 13-match winning streak coming into Mizzou on Sunday, but the Tigers got off to a fast start by taking the first two sets. The Wildcats responded by winning the next two.Then it came down to a fifth-set battle in which Tigers senior outside hitter Carly Kan took over. She had five of her 17 kills in that set, leading Mizzou to a 15-12 victory.Kan is a native of Hawaii, yet went all the way to Missouri because she loved the coaching staff and team atmosphere. At 5-foot-9, Kan is a bit small these days for an outside hitter. But her role model in that regard is former Hawaii star Kanani Danielson, who finished her career for the Rainbow Wahine in 2011 as a three-time AVCA first-team All-American. The 5-10 Danielson had 1,760 kills for Hawaii; Kan is at 1,527 for Mizzou.While the Wildcats streak was snapped, the Tigers now have won 13 in a row. Theyre 18-3 overall and 9-0 in the SEC. Sundays victory didnt quite get Missouri into this weeks AVCA Top 25, but that could come if the Tigers can extend their streak. Wednesday, theyre on the road at last years SEC champion, Texas A&M (9 p.m. ET, ESPNU). The Aggies stand fourth in the SEC behind Missouri, Kentucky and Florida.Nebraska solidifies No. 1The top ranking in the AVCA poll was a hot potato for the past few weeks, but it stayed put Monday.The Huskers, who started the season ranked No. 1, dropped to third in the Oct. 3 poll after a loss to Ohio State. But Nebraska went back to No. 1 on Oct. 17 after both Minnesota and Wisconsin had taken a turn in the top spot.Those two teams visited a packed-as-usual Devaney Center over the weekend, and Nebraska beat them both. The matches were quite different. The Huskers crushed it in a 3-0 sweep Friday against the Badgers, who had trouble getting anything going. Contrast that to Sunday, when Nebraska prevailed in a gritty 3-2 win over Minnesota.The Gophers looked a lot more like themselves than they did in a surprisingly difficult, come-from-behind 3-2 victory at Iowa on Friday. Nebraska vs. Minnesota had the look of a national championship match, with some thrilling rallies and great plays from both sides.Perhaps the ultimate decider was defense. Huskers senior Justine Wong-Orantes set a school record for digs in a match with 35. Shes now 35 away from becoming Nebraskas career leader in that category.The Huskers also had a season-high 17 blocks against Minnesota, led by Briana Holmans 10.But the overall star of the weekend for the Huskers was senior middle blocker Amber Rolfzen. She had a career-high 16 kills against Wisconsin, and then equaled that with 16 more against Minnesota. That earned her the Big Ten player of the week award Monday.Nebraska is now tied atop the Big Ten at 9-1 with Penn State, which lost 3-2 at Michigan on Saturday. The Wolverines Carly Skjodt had a career-high 27 kills in that match.By the way, the Huskers and the Nittany Lions still have two meetings this season: Nov. 4 at Penn State and Nov. 16 at Nebraska.Texas vs. Kansas, Part 2Texas remains atop the Big 12 at 8-0, but it hasnt been easy for the Longhorns. They have just one sweep in their conference matches, vs. TCU. And three of their last five matches have gone five sets.The most recent was Friday at Texas Tech, which is winless in the Big 12. But the Red Raiders pushed the Longhorns the distance after winning the fourth set 28-26. Texas won the fifth set 15-7, but it was still a little too close for comfort for the Longhorns.Meanwhile, Kansas is 7-1, with its only loss coming at Texas on Sept. 24. Now its almost time for the rematch. No. 2-ranked Texas visits No. 6 Kansas on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3).First up, though, its Oklahoma for the Longhorns on Wednesday, while the Jayhawks are at Texas Tech that night.Irish testCoach Jim McLaughlin left Washington, where he won a national championship in 2005, to try to turn Notre Dame into a true volleyball powerhouse. In his second season with the Irish, hes already made great progress.Last year, Notre Dame was 7-25 overall and 2-18 in the ACC. This year, the Irish are 18-4 and 9-1, tied with Florida State for second in the league behind 10-0 North Carolina.The Irish gave the visiting Tar Heels a run for their money on Oct. 14, but UNC escaped 15-13 in the fifth set. This weekend, Notre Dame is host to Miami and Florida State.Meanwhile, out WestNo. 17 Stanford is an uncharacteristic 6-4 and tied for fifth in Pac-12 play. But its been kind of a weird season overall in the conference. The Cardinal have a chance to make up some ground this week. Theyll host league-leading Washington, 8-2 and ranked No. 7, on Wednesday. Then Stanford takes on No. 18 Washington State -- which is tied for third at 7-3 with UCLA and Oregon -- on Friday.San Diego remains unbeaten atop the West Coast Conference, but the match of the year in conference play is Friday. No. 5 San Diego travels to Provo, Utah, to face No. 16 BYU. The Toreros are 10-0 in the WCC, while the Cougars are 8-2. Discount Balenciaga . 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Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. Balenciaga Shoes On Sale . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. The ongoing rivalry between Bray Wyatt?and Randy Orton?has been one of the few weaker links on SmackDown Live over the last few weeks.?Theyve opened the show numerous times in this window, and occupied a significant amount of airtime in an effort to get people behind this conflict, to varying levels of success.Theres been teleportation, borderline kidnapping, the return of Luke Harper and the (at times) confusing involvement of Kane?--?but until Tuesday night, there wasnt much in the way of a reason for this conflict or a compelling direction for it to go. Rather than taking another step in the same direction this time around, however, Orton made a dramatic pivot at an unexpected moment and brought some much-needed intrigue to the conflict by RKOing Kane.It all started with yet another Kane vs. Wyatt no disqualification match, and despite the supernatural developments of the last few weeks, the return of Harper and even the presence of a casket, it was hard to ignore thoughts of just how seemingly incapable Wyatt has been against the devils favorite demon.The pair met for the first time at SummerSlam 2013 in a Ring of Fire match, which Wyatt won. But since then, the matches between him and Kane have had results that are unimaginably imbalanced. Including live events, in matches in which Kane and Wyatt have been on opposite sides, Wyatt is an abysmal 5-42 overall and 1-28 in singles confrontations.Its utterly unthinkable that the 29-year-old, who is being positioned as the next generations version of Kane or The Undertaker, has been so soundly and regularly beaten by a 49-year-old who should, in theory, have passed the torch to Wyatt in one of these many showdowns. Ortons actions, and the resulting victory could very well be the first domino to fall in that long overdue transition.The no-DQ stipulation was clearly going to draw Harper and Orton into the fray, especially considering the last two weeks of confrontations between the four. Harper seemingly teleported to the ring and swung the tide of the match, but, curiously at the time, Orton didnt immediately respond with an appearance of his own.Theres been a lot of teleporting lately, but as they use the materializing/vanishing power and establish its parameters more clearly, they have to get away from things like Kane just magically being able to use them too, give reasons why it doesnt use it more during matches or when it could help Wyatt against his foes and make it feel like more than just a deus ex machine for whatever thing you want to accomplish in a given week.By the time Orton finally did run in, Kane had started to swing things back in his favor. Harper rolled back into the ring, but backed down against Orton, which was troubling. As Kane and Orton positioned themselves to dispatch Wyatt, the RKO on Kane drew a dramatic and confused reaction from the Green Bay crowd. Orton rolled out of the ring, Wyatt got a rare victory over Kane and everyone was left scratching their heads.Orton soon gave his reason for the confounding decision. If you cant beat em ... joinem.In all honesty, the most likely outcome is a Stone Cold Steve Austin-esque approach, in which Orton would seemingly just attack anyone at his convenience and whim. In the meantime, though, as hard a time as Wyatt would have trusting Orton and vice versa, giving Orton that rare victory over Kane at least sets up a few weeks of somewhat unpredictable ways to move forward. For Orton, whos undoubtedly done the best work of his career as a heel, it could be just what the doctor ordered.Speaking of unexpected and intriguing turns, the true (if brief) opening to SmackDown Live saw James Ellsworth thanking Dean Ambrose for helping him to two wins over WWE world champion AJ Styles and changing his life. Ellsworth simply wanted to be ringside to return the favor, but Ambroses first instinct was to tell Ellsworth to stay behind backstage.That first interaction seemed to foreshadow something potentially ominous, like Ellsworth snapping after getting beat up by Styles and used by Ambrose. Instead, just as Ambrose made his way to the ring, another interaction with Ellsworth led to Ambrose relenting and allowing Ellsworth in his corner.Caring about Ellsworth got Ambrose in trouble early, as it distracted him and allowed Styles to nail a slingshot plancha heading into a commercial break. For much of the match, it appeared as if this would be the third time in a row that Ellsworth was Styles undoing, as Styles took the time to dropkick the diminutive man while he stood on the outside and lost the momentum to Ambrose. But when Ambrose dumped Styles back out, an incensed Ellsworth snapped and hit No Chin music. After a stunned moment from Ambrose and the referee, with each of them looking back-and-forth, theere was no choice but to disqualify Ambrose and cost him the chance to be the No.dddddddddddd. 1 contender to the world championship.Could this lead to an Ambrose heel turn? Possibly. What will it mean for next week? It could give us the path towards having Styles and Ambrose in the five-on-five Survivor Series match instead of title match that night, it could lead to a harder edge to Ambroses character or it could simply be a bump in the road. The only thing thats clear is that, with so many questions lingering about each of these top conflicts on SmackDown, theres every reason in the world to want to tune in again next week to find out.The Miz continued to use?The Spirit Squad as his lackeys, and also carried on in wearing black clothes to mourn the death of the Intercontinental championship brought on by Dolph Zigglers win. Kenny and Mikey, still adorned in their signature green singlets and track pants, introduced Miz in the only way they knew how.As cheerful as that was, these are dark times 16 days of living in a world where the Miz is no longer your Intercontinental champion, said The Miz, who then went on to say that he was most sorry for all of the great champions before him who made that title the most prestigious one in the WWE.This predictably brought Ziggler out to the ring to offer Miz his title rematch on the spot, but when Miz declined and the trio moved towards a 3-on-1 beatdown, Heath Slater & Rhyno came to the rescue once again. In a matter of moments, Zigglers words got turned around and The Spirit Squad quickly found themselves with a SmackDown tag team title match. Rhyno snapping and giving them the match cashed in nicely on the offhand comments Rhyno made over the last few weeks about hating male cheerleaders.There was no shock title change in store, and it seems as if the Spirit Squad is going to screw up too many times at key moments to have a relationship with the Miz that lasts very much longer.The questions on commentary alluding to Slater losing his job should he lose were just silly -- the condition that hed get a contract if he won the tournament and the titles was one thing, but there was no mention that he had to stay champion to stay employed. It was an off week for the commentators as a whole, but most especially when JBL and, momentarily, Mauro Ranallo, talked over Wyatts entrance for no apparent reason, to tell us a bunch of things weve heard before. If you want to get Wyatt over like an Undertaker, some reverence for one of the best entrances in the WWE would go a long way.Hits and missesAlexa Bliss gets better on the microphone each week, and she played the heel to near-perfection in her encounter with the returning Becky Lynch. The goal before any title match is to put the outcome in as much doubt as possible, and by laying Lynch out and painting her yellow (both figuratively with her words and literally with a spray can), Bliss did exactly what she came out the curtain to do.The Survivor Series teams started to come together with a match between The Hype Bros and The Ascension. Mojo Rawley, the former Green Bay Packers defensive end, got a chance to perform in front of a friendly crowd and, along with Zack Ryder, the pair became the first two to lock up spots for Toronto. While theres still a chance that GMs could dangle a carrot for anyone who could potentially be a sole survivor (or reward superstars after the fact), its looking like were inevitably going toward no real stakes to these Survivor Series matches outside of brand pride -- the same kind of problem thats made this event feel unworthy of its mantle as one of the big four pay-per-views.On the other hand, giving stakes to a match that wouldnt otherwise have them is a nice touch -- and exactly the kind of thing that an event like Survivor Series should do. In the absence of stakes in the Survivor Series matches themselves, having all-or-nothing matches like Natalya vs. Nikki Bella for the captaincy of Team SmackDown, or qualifying matches like Hype Bros vs. Ascension, is a nice consolation prize.It was also nice to see Nikki implement John Cenas?STF, (the brutal-looking version he used on Ambrose, rather than his rather partisan-looking standard approach) to earn the victory. If Nikkis tweet post-match is any indication, however, it might not have been her beau giving her pointers to hitting that move. Yet another blindside attack on Nikki seemed to garner an actual reaction for Carmella for once, so it seems like somethings going right in that rivalry for her too. This conflict needs to lead to something soon, though, before it turns the corner and becomes simply too repetitive. ' ' '