The NCAA women’s volleyball Sweet 16 began Thursday in Pittsburgh at noon ET with the first serve. After 15 hours, when the last point was scored at Stanford, all of the No. 1 players were still alive, but a No. 2 had lost.
All of this led to the regional finals on Saturday. They were the last stop on the road to Tampa, which is where the national semifinals and final will be held. Together, the eight teams left have won 18 national titles. Texas, which won last year, is one of them. The No. 2 Longhorns beat Tennessee in five sets after being down 2-1 and having match point. It was the longest match of a long Thursday.
In five sets, Arkansas, a No. 3 seed from the SEC, beat Kentucky, the No. 2 seed and the national winner in 2020. Arkansas is the first team in programme history to make it to the Elite Eight.
No. 2 Louisville also had to play five sets to beat No. 3 Creighton. Only in Madison did the quarterfinals not have a five-set match. No. 1 Wisconsin beat Penn State 3-1, and No. 2 Oregon beat Purdue in straight sets.
The regional finals on Saturday start at 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU and the ESPN app. Take a look at the matches.
ACC foes meet again in the Pittsburgh regional
Finally, No. 1 Pitt plays No. 2 Louisville at 4 p.m. ET.
These groups show how to get the community and the sports department to commit to a programme and hire the right coach. In Pitt’s history, they had only beat one top-10 team before Dan Fisher took over in 2013. He has been Pitt’s coach for 11 years and has a record of 286–66 (81.3%). The Panthers have become one of the best teams in the country under his leadership.
Like Pitt, Louisville wants to make it to the national playoffs for the third year in a row. Before she became coach of the Cardinals in 2017, Dani Busboom Kelly was a volleyball royalty: as a player and an assistant coach at Nebraska, she won national titles. In seven years with the Cardinals, she is 173–37 (82.4%) and has won 82.4% of her games. Louisville beat Pitt in the national semifinals last year, but Texas beat them in the title.
Pitt and Louisville tied in their ACC volleyball games this season, but both won on their home court. Olivia Babcock, the ACC rookie of the year, had 15 kills to lead Pitt’s win over Washington State on Thursday. The regional playoff match between Louisville and Creighton was won by Louisville with 39 kills from Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer.
Can the Razorbacks pull off a huge upset in the Lincoln regional?
Finally, No. 1 Nebraska plays No. 3 Arkansas at 6 p.m. ET.
It’s a good time to use the “David vs. Goliath” metaphor. Nebraska is one of the best college sports programmes for women in any sport, having won five national titles. Arkansas, on the other hand, has never been to the Elite Eight before. It’s only fair that the 28-5 Razorbacks do so now that they’ve had such a great season.
And while we’re talking about outsiders, 5-foot-7 outside hitter Jill Gillen of Arkansas is the perfect example of one in volleyball right now. Today, most liberos are that tall because so many batters are over 6 feet tall. But Arkansas gave Gillen a chance to show that she could play with the big girls, which she did. In Arkansas’s quarterfinal win over Kentucky, the team with the most kills (20) and most digs (12) had a win.
The Huskers are still, of course, the clear favourite. Their only loss this season was at Wisconsin, which was also a No. 1 seed. Merritt Beason and Harper Murray both get just over seven kills per set, and Nebraska has won all three of its NCAA playoff games so far by sweeping the other teams.
Madison Regional: The Ducks try to beat the Badgers
Finally, No. 1 Wisconsin plays No. 2 Oregon at 8 p.m. ET.
Who would have thought that Wisconsin and Oregon would be in the same conference one day? But that’s what will happen in the Big Ten next season.
But this year, the Ducks are still representing the Pac-12, and they want to make it to the national quarterfinals for the second time in the school’s history. In 2012, they lost the national title to Texas. The Ducks have been to the Elite Eight twice in a row. Last year, they lost to Louisville in five sets in the regional final.
So far in the NCAA volleyball playoffs, Oregon has won all of its games by a set score. This season, Mimi Colyer, Morgan Lewis, and Gabby Gonzales have been Oregon’s best hitters.
The last time Wisconsin won the national title was in 2021, and they want to do it again. There is no better place for the Badgers to play than UW Fieldhouse, where they have been to the national semifinals five times. Sarah Franklin, the Big Ten player of the year, had 17 kills in Wisconsin’s win over Penn State in the semifinals.
Battle of the big-timers at the Stanford regional
Big game between No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Texas at 10 p.m. ET.
So, the Cardinal will play in the ACC next season, while the Longhorns will play in the SEC. But this is a match between the Pac-12 and the Big 12, and it’s also a match between two of the best volleyball programmes in history.
Stanford has won a record nine NCAA titles. Their most recent win was in 2019. Texas just won its third title and is the current winner. The Longhorns were only one point away from being eliminated in the fourth set against Tennessee on Thursday. Things did not look good for them. They got back on track and won the regional finals in five sets. ASU beat Stanford in five sets in the semifinals. Stanford lost the first set, but then won the next three.
Kendall Kipp is the player of the year for the Cardinal, and Madisen Skinner is the player of the year for the Longhorns.
