THE EVE EDITION
AFTERGLOW | WED OCT 7
Atlanta and Golden State are both one win from the WNBA Finals, and they got there in very different ways Wednesday night. The Dream withstood Breanna Stewart’s 35 points and a New York comeback before winning in overtime without their leading scorer, while the Valkyries let a 16-point lead slip away against the defending champions and still made the final two winning plays, a Veronica Burton three and a Kiah Stokes block at the rim.
College volleyball delivered two ranked upsets. #6 SMU handed #2 Pittsburgh its first loss of the season in four sets, winning a 38-36 third set that ran to 21 ties, while Olivia Babcock broke Pitt’s career kills record in defeat. Oklahoma rallied past #12 Texas A&M in five for the Aggies’ first SEC loss. EVOLVE set up Succession IV when Nikkita Lyons accepted Wendy Choo’s rematch challenge after ambushing Anya Rune. In Beijing, Nikola Bartůňková routed #7 Karolína Muchová to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal, where she will meet Mirra Andreeva.
Dream Outlast Liberty in Overtime, Move One Win From WNBA Finals
Atlanta absorbed Breanna Stewart’s best game of the postseason and a late New York rally, beating the Liberty 101-98 in overtime to take a 2-0 lead in their semifinal. Angel Reese and Jordin Canada scored 23 points apiece for the Dream, who won without injured leading scorer Allisha Gray and moved within one victory of their first Finals appearance since 2013.
Stewart finished with 35 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, and rookie Marine Fauthoux forced overtime with a three at 10.3 seconds. New York shot 54.7 percent but committed 17 turnovers that became 28 Atlanta points, and the last one decided it: Naz Hillmon’s layup put the Dream ahead with 20.8 seconds left, Sabrina Ionescu sailed a pass out of bounds, and Reese sealed it at the line. Teams leading a best-of-five WNBA series 2-0 have never lost one, and Atlanta can close it Friday in Brooklyn.
Valkyries Push Aces to the Brink
Golden State withstood a Las Vegas comeback from 16 points down and beat the Aces 83-81 at Chase Center to take a 2-0 series lead. Veronica Burton hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 41.5 seconds remaining, her only field goal of the night, and Kiah Stokes, playing with five fouls, preserved the win by blocking Chelsea Gray at the rim in the final seconds.
A’ja Wilson scored 18 of her game-high 24 points after halftime and gave Las Vegas its first lead at 76-74 with 1:36 left as Golden State’s interior defenders fought foul trouble. Gabby Williams tied it, a shot-clock violation handed the Valkyries the ball back, and Burton buried a 28-footer. Tiffany Hayes scored 21 off the bench, Williams had 20 and Kayla Thornton added 16. The second-year Valkyries can reach the Finals with a win Friday in Las Vegas.
SMU Hands #2 Pitt Its First Loss of the Season
#6 SMU handed #2 Pittsburgh its first loss of the season, winning 21-25, 25-19, 38-36, 25-22 on the road to improve to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the ACC. The match turned on a 74-point third set with 21 ties and six lead changes, including a four-touch call that first gave SMU the set before it was overturned on review.
Natalia Newsome and Suli Davis each had 17 kills, Newsome hitting .519, and SMU hit .347 against a Pitt team that entered leading the nation in hitting percentage. Olivia Babcock made history in defeat, her 25 kills breaking Pitt’s career record and her two aces setting another program mark. The teams meet again Sunday in Dallas.
Oklahoma rallied past #12 Texas A&M 17-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 15-11 in Norman, handing the Aggies their first SEC loss. Texas A&M twice held a one-set lead, but the Sooners took the fourth 25-23 and the fifth 15-11. Kyndal Stowers led the Aggies with 20 kills.
Lyons Accepts Choo’s Succession IV Challenge After Rune Ambush
Anya Rune beat Veronica Haven in 2:02 on Wednesday’s EVOLVE, but the night’s biggest women’s development came moments later, when Sloane Jacobs and Nikkita Lyons attacked Rune, jammed a garbage-filled trash can over her head and Lyons accepted Wendy Choo’s challenge for Succession IV.
Choo answered backstage, saying she felt she was only beginning to establish herself as champion when she lost the title and accusing Lyons of cheating to beat her. Lyons took the WWE EVOLVE Women’s Championship from Choo at Succession III with Jacobs at ringside, striking her with a crystal Jacobs had planted there. Alix Brooks also shaped Kale Dixon’s match against Aaron Rourke, interfering until the referee disqualified Dixon at 1:19.
Bartůňková and Andreeva Set Beijing Semifinal
Nikola Bartůňková needed just 67 minutes to beat #7 Karolína Muchová 6-3, 6-0 at the China Open and reach the first WTA 1000 semifinal of her career. The #26 seed won the first five games and took the set on her sixth set point after Muchová saved five and won three straight games. She then won the last seven games of the match. It was her second Top 10 win in Beijing after #2 Aryna Sabalenka, and it guarantees her Top 30 debut.
Her opponent will be #4 Mirra Andreeva, who beat #19 Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(4), 7-6(3) for her first win in three meetings with the Russian. Andreeva served for the match at 5-3 in the second set before Alexandrova forced another tiebreak, then won five of the last six points to finish it. At 19, she is the youngest China Open semifinalist since Ágnes Szávay in 2007.
LAST LIGHT
Atlanta and Golden State now face the same number: one. The Dream are a win from their first Finals since 2013, and the Valkyries are a win from reaching the Finals in only their second season, at the expense of the team that has won three of the last four titles.
SMU’s night in Pittsburgh belongs in the same category. The Mustangs did not catch Pitt on an off night; they won the match’s defining set, outblocked the Panthers 12.5-6 and finished the job on the road, and they get the rematch at home in four days. Wednesday did not settle every race, but it changed several of them.