The quarterfinals of NCAA golf match play weren’t without drama Tuesday. Here’s how the action unfolded.

Arizona vs. Stanford

While Arizona snuck into match play Monday night and earned the No. 8 seed, the Wildcats took full advantage of the opportunity Tuesday. With four of the matches split down the middle, it came down to sophomores Angelina Ye of No. 1 Stanford and Gile Bite Starkute of Arizona, who were even for most of the day.

The competition peaked on the 18th hole. Starkute — who hadn’t trailed all day — had to take an unplayable, giving Ye a clear advantage. But Ye missed the two putt that would have sent her team to the semifinals, enabling Starkute to take the bogey and extend the match.

We aren’t done yet! @BiteGile sends us to extra holes! We’re off to ⛳️ 10th on @GolfChannel! #BearDown | #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/Em9bdCBlsW

— Arizona Women's Golf (@ArizonaWGolf) May 25, 2021

The two headed to the 10th for extras. Ye holed a critical putt, but Starkute, from the edge of the green, made a monster birdie to lead Arizona to the semifinals and bring an end to Stanford’s postseason dominance.

GILE CALLS GAME! On to the ⛳️semifinals! #BearDown | #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/6Jp2wQzUXN

— Arizona Women's Golf (@ArizonaWGolf) May 25, 2021

Arizona could be on its way to another Cinderella run, three years after the Wildcats won the team title as the eight seed.

Ole Miss vs. Texas

Despite Texas holding firm all day, the Longhorns were unable to deliver the knockout punch, allowing Ole Miss to make things interesting late. Fifth-year senior Kennedy Swann finished strong in her match and earned a point for the Rebels, while Julia Johnson’s birdie miss enabled Sara Kouskova to capitalize on the 18th and give Texas the much-needed point.

While Agathe Laisne had as much as a three-stroke lead through 13, Chiara Tamburlini found her way back to tie the match, forcing extras. It wouldn’t take long to decide the winner, as Agathe Laisne birdied the 8th to earn the point for the Longhorns. 

🤘 @agathe_laisne's birdie on No. 8️⃣ to earn the point and give us the lead.

📊 https://t.co/qiz1CgkRwb pic.twitter.com/KZbtoLSELE

— Texas Women's Golf (@TexasWGolf) May 25, 2021

It was the matches between Andrea Lignell and Kaitlyn Papp and freshmen Smila Sonderby and Ashley Park that held all of the drama. Ole Miss needed to win both matches in order to advance to the semifinals. And win they did. 

Lignell spun one in against Papp to extend the match, and Ole Miss’ semifinal chances, even further. She then made par, before a routine tap-in by Papp extended the match.

Papp then had a big shot on the next hole that set her up for the birdie putt to send Texas through. Papp’s putt missed by centimeters, leaving the door open for Lignell. The two would remain tied through the 22nd hole of competition, where Lignell would sink the birdie and put a point on the board for Ole Miss — and the pressure on the freshman Sonderby.

ANDREA. LIGNELL.

She wins it in 22 holes.

Match all tied up 2-2 pic.twitter.com/ARcXKGwt6j

— Ole Miss Women’s Golf (@OleMissWGolf) May 25, 2021

Sonderby had been substituted in for Ellen Hume of Ole Miss on Monday after Hume had to bow out with a nerve injury. The true freshman proved to be up for the task.

On the 18th, Park missed the birdie, leaving the door open for Sonderby to walk through and take advantage. She birdied the hole to tie the match and extend Ole Miss’ run.

THE FRESHMAN!@smillaTsonderby ties her match up with 1 hole to play! Buckle up folks.

📊 https://t.co/BnOyxalAuf
📺 @GolfChannel pic.twitter.com/a7U2FiD6Z2

— Ole Miss Women’s Golf (@OleMissWGolf) May 25, 2021

The two would duke it out all the way to the 21st, where Park missed the bogey putt, setting up Sonderby to complete Ole Miss’ comeback and send Texas home.

𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄!!!

The Rebels win epic match 3-2 to advance to #NCAAGolf semifinals. #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/O9KNMR85af

— Ole Miss Women’s Golf (@OleMissWGolf) May 25, 2021

Duke vs. Arizona State

Defending national champion Duke took care of business easily against Arizona State, winning 3-1-1. Anne Chen led Alessandra Fanali all day, taking care of business for the Blue Devils and earning the point.

Gina Kim sunk her own putt to put a second point on the board for the Blue Devils and take the win over Olivia Mehaffey.

𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄@gina_kim0504 wins her match 2&1‼️#GoDuke #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/lF3FMh8D1T

— Duke Women's Golf (@DukeWGOLF) May 25, 2021

Phoebe Brinker then took care of business and advanced the Blue Devils into the semifinals to face off against Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State vs. Auburn

Compared to the rest of the field, Oklahoma State vs. Auburn was about as routine as it gets. 

OSU dominated this one as world amateur No. 7 Maja Stark took care of business for the Cowgirls. Teammates Lianna Baile and Rina Tatematsu also held their own and took wins in their matches. Isabella Fierro and Megan Schofill took 19 holes to decide their match, but eventually Fierro sunk one to take the win.

That magic moment.

📺 @GolfChannel#NCAAGolf I #GolfSchool pic.twitter.com/kj74NEeBSK

— OSU Cowgirl Golf (@OSUcowgirlgolf) May 25, 2021

Elena Hualde had the only win of the day for Auburn.

Next up: The semifinals, with Duke taking on Oklahoma State and Arizona facing off against Ole Miss.

No. 7 USC took down No. 4 UConn on Saturday, winning 72-70 in a battle between two bonafide NCAA basketball championship contenders still figuring out a consistent flow of play.

USC led by as many as 18 in the first half. However UConn came storming back, briefly pulling ahead in the fourth quarter before the Trojans outlasted the Huskies to secure the narrow victory.

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JuJu holds on to secure USC win

With UConn superstar Paige Bueckers tight on her heels, USC standout JuJu Watkins registered a game-leading 25 points, alongside six rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.

Bueckers and Huskies freshman Sarah Strong split scoring duties for UConn, notching 22 points each with Strong adding 11 rebounds.

After opening the season at No. 2, this highly touted UConn squad has dropped pivotal games against Notre Dame and now USC to go 0-2 in Top 10 matchups. It's a pattern legendary coach Auriemma will hope to correct before the Huskies face their next ranked opponent in early February.

"I thought the execution part in the first half was just as bad as I've seen in a few years here in Connecticut," Huskies boss Geno Auriemma said after the loss.

"This is a really significant win, and it's a really significant win because of the stature of UConn's program and what Geno Auriemma has done for our sport," commented USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb.

Weekend upsets shake top-ranked NCAA basketball teams

Elsewhere, upsets dominated the NCAA basketball conversation this weekend, with Top 25 contenders falling short as this season's undefeated list continues to shrink.

No. 15 Michigan State saw their first loss on Friday, falling to unranked Alabama 82-67 in a low scoring matchup. Afterwards, No. 9 Duke suffered their own unranked loss on Saturday, ceding a tough defensive battle to USF 65-56.

Seventeenth-ranked Georgia Tech remains undefeated with Saturday's ranked win over No. 23 Nebraska, while No. 14 West Virginia lost to unranked Colorado later that day.

Parity is the name of the game this season, with conference realignment, the transfer portal, and other recent shifts impacting a number of programs across the NCAA. And with conference play looming, teams will rely on regional rivalries and schedule strength to prepare them for heightened competition in the new year.

Penn State won the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship on Sunday, rising above Louisville's hometown advantage and a monster second set by the Cardinals to claim the program's eighth all-time title and first in 10 years.

In the victory, Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley became the first woman head coach in NCAA tournament history to win the championship — all while battling breast cancer.

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Penn State tops Louisville in a back-and-forth matchup

Sunday's championship game drew a sell-out crowd of 21,860 to the KFC Yum Center in downtown Louisville, setting a new NCAA volleyball championship record. It was Louisville's second-ever title match, after finishing second to Texas in 2022.

After suffering an ankle injury in​ Thursday's semifinal upset against Pitt, however, Louisville entered the match without senior outside hitter Anna DeBeer. The absence ultimately proved too great to overcome.

The Nittany Lions won the first set 25-23, before Louisville saved 10 set points to dramatically take the second set 34-32.

But the Nittany Lions roared back, overwhelming the Cardinals to win the third set 25-20 before closing out the deciding set 25-17.

A moving win for Penn State's women's volleyball coach

Penn State coach Schumacher-Cawley, who was diagnosed with cancer last fall, stayed with her team throughout the 2024 season.

"I'm very happy for Katie, and it's a big deal for this sport," Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "I'm thankful… that we can move on and that more women will be in this position in the future."

As for Schumacher-Cawley, she remained ever humble.

"I'm inspired by the young kids that are sick," she said after the win. "If I can be an inspiration, then I take that. But I feel good. I'm fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people."

The new-look New York Sirens continue to impress in the early stages of the 2024/25 PWHL season, most recently notching a big 4-2 win over Toronto in the the team home opener on Wednesday.

All four of New York's goals came in the second period — the most in a single period all season — and all were the first goals of the season by each scorer.

Finland international Noora Tulus opened the game's scoring with her first PWHL goal, with teammates Emmy Fecteau, Micah Zandee-Hart, and Jaime Bourbonnais following suit. Both Fecteau's goal and team captain Zandee-Hart's were the first of their PWHL careers.

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Sirens rookie Sarah Fillier and teammate Alex Carpenter both assisted on Tulus's game-opening goal, with each booking a point in their fourth straight contest. Fillier remains in the PWHL's lead with two goals and five assists for a total of seven points, while Carpenter is just behind with six points — though her three goals make her the league's scoring leader.

As for the Sceptres, forwards Hannah Miller and former Siren Emma Woods each made a dent in the scoresheet with goals of their own in the third period, but it wasn't quite enough as Toronto failed to complete the comeback.

Last-place Toronto has now allowed their opponents to breach the scoresheet first in each of their 2024/25 matchups, ultimately losing their last three games in regulation.

New York Sirens to face Minnesota Frost in top matchup

New York's shifting fortune highlights the second-season league's rapidly growing parity. With only one loss through their first four games, the Sirens sit in second place to stake an early season claim on "most improved" after finishing last in the PWHL's inaugural season.

Just above New York on the league's table are the Minnesota Frost. The reigning Walter Cup champions are holding strong as the team to beat, but New York has already proved that it's possible after handing Minnesota an overtime 4-3 season-opening loss on December 1st.

The Sirens' will officially take aim at the top of the PWHL table on Sunday, when New York will try to gift Minnesota a second season loss in the league's pre-Christmas closer. This time, the Sirens will have the crowd on their side as the Frost visit New York's home ice.

How to watch New York Sirens vs. Minnesota Frost in PWHL action

The puck is set to drop on New York vs. Minnesota at 12 PM ET on Sunday, with live streaming coverage on YouTube.

Despite being populated by all four No. 1 seeds, Thursday's 2024 NCAA volleyball semifinals served up the bracket's biggest upsets, as heavily favored Nebraska and overall top seed Pitt were sent packing by their conference foes.

In front of 21,726 fans — a new record for college volleyball's postseason — Louisville shocked Pitt with a 3-1 victory before Penn State ousted Nebraska in a five-set instant classic.

Louisville books second national championship ticket

After dropping their first set to Pitt on Thursday night, it seemed the deck was stacked against the Cards, who had already lost twice to the Panthers in the regular season.

However, buoyed by their raucous home crowd, Louisville surged back, sweeping the next three sets to book their first trip to the national championship match since 2022, when they became the first and only ACC team to ever compete in the collegiate final.

As for Pitt, Thursday's loss was just their second all season, and not even 2024 AVCA Player of the Year Olivia Babcock's astounding 33 kills could extend their title chase. Notably, their national semifinal curse continues, with the Panthers now falling in the NCAA tournament's penultimate round for four straight years.

On the other hand, Louisville's victory was a true team effort, with three senior outside hitters — Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz — leading the offensive charge with 14 kills each.

The Cardinals' roster was also required to step up in unexpected ways. Just two points into the fourth set, Louisville star DeBeer crumbled to the court with an ankle injury and did not return to the match. The visibly shocked Cards looked to freshman Payton Petersen, who made a massive statement by recording two kills and four clutch digs to help seal the win.

"I wanted to do this for her," Petersen said of DeBeer. "She's meant so much to me."

Penn State roars back to top Nebraska

In Thursday's battle between two Big Ten titans, the message was clear: Never count out the Nittany Lions.

After falling behind the Cornhuskers 2-0 in what increasingly looked like an inevitable Nebraska victory, Penn State emerged from the brink of defeat to pull off the first reverse sweep of the Huskers in the NCAA tournament since 1982.

Following a 5-0 run that helped the Nittany Lions stay alive with a third set win, they flipped a 22-16 deficit into a match-point battle that ended the fourth set 28-26 in Penn State's favor. With the match now equalized, Penn State took control in the fifth, holding off Nebraska 15-13 to clinch their first championship trip since winning their seventh title in 2014.

Star Jess Mruzik led the Nittany Lions' charge with a 26-kill, 12-dig double-double, putting together what Nebraska head coach John Cook called "one of the best performances [he's] ever seen by an outside hitter." 

Like Louisville's Petersen, freshmen also stepped up for Penn State, with Izzy Starck recording six key blocks and redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius hammering 20 kills against her former team, having transferred from Nebraska in December 2023.

As for the Huskers, their stacked roster showed out, with outside hitter Harper Murray leading the charge with a 20-kill, 15-dig double-double, plus three aces — the most by any player in either match on Thursday. Middle blocker Andi Jackson also had a standout night, putting together a near-errorless performance to finish with 19 kills.

Four-time All-American libero Lexi Rodriguez added program history to Thursday's mix, closing out her NCAA career as the Huskers' all-time digs leader with 1,896.

Sunday's court will make NCAA history

Louisville and Penn State's semifinal victories have guaranteed that Sunday's 44th NCAA volleyball championship match will go down in the history books.

With Dani Busboom Kelly leading the Cardinals and Katie Schumacher-Cawley coaching the Nittany Lions, a woman head coach will lift the national championship trophy for the first time.

Only two women have ever coached their teams into the college volleyball final, with Florida's Mary Wise doing so in 2003 and 2017 before Busboom Kelly followed in 2022.

For context, the last seven Division I basketball trophies came under women head coaches.

The fact that this glass ceiling still exists is partially due to volleyball having less women in head coaching positions than other NCAA sports. Less than half of Division I's 334 teams are led by a woman, while basketball boasts nearly 68% female leadership and softball claims almost 74%.

Busboom Kelly's ACC exceeds that 50% stat, but the Schumacher-Cawley remains one of only six women leading the Big Ten's 18 teams.

Both of Sunday's sideline leaders know what it takes to win the national championship, with Schumacher-Cawley taking the 1999 title while playing for Penn State and Busboom Kelly doing the same with Nebraska in 2006.

Even so, in some ways, this year's title will mean even more, as the coaches pave the way for future generations of volleyball leaders.

"[There’s] just honestly no better feeling than being led by a female because that could be me someday, that could be one of my teammates someday," Mruzik noted. 

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How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball championship match

Sunday's final won't just make women's coaching history, it could see Louisville earn the ACC's first-ever NCAA volleyball title. But to do so, the Cardinals, who fell to Penn State 3-0 in early September, will have to deny the Nittany Lions an eighth national championship.

NCAA volleyball will crown its Division I champion in Sunday's 3 PM ET match, with live coverage on ABC.