The Final Four is almost here. Each of the four teams remaining in the NCAA women’s tournament has made at least four previous trips to the national semifinals.

UConn leads the way and will be making its 22nd Final Four appearance on Friday while Stanford will be making its 15th. South Carolina and Louisville will each be making their fourth appearances.

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UConn: 22

With 21 previous Final Four appearances, UConn is no stranger to the game’s biggest stage. The Huskies have featured in every Final Four since 2008, making 14 straight runs to the semifinals, and they have gone on to win the tournament seven times in that span.

In the Huskies’ 21 appearances before this season, the team advanced to – and won – the NCAA tournament final 11 times. UConn has never finished as the runner-up in the NCAA tournament, which just adds to the program’s impressive résumé.

Minneapolis, the site of this year’s Final Four, holds special meaning for the Huskies – it’s where UConn won their first national title in 1995.

Stanford: 15

Both Tara VanDerveer and Geno Auriemma joined their respective teams in 1985 and, since then, have brought them unprecedented success. While UConn’s Final Four success has no equal, Stanford and Tennessee are the only two other programs to reach more than 14 Final Fours.

Since its two NCAA titles in the ’90s, Stanford has made eight other Final Four runs – including last year when the Cardinal won the title again. Twice they’ve been runner-up, in 2008 and 2010.

Tennessee, UConn and USC are the only teams to win back-to-back national titles. Stanford will be looking to become the fourth this season, and if the Cardinal pull it off, they’ll join an elite club of champions.

South Carolina: 4

Unlike Stanford and UConn, South Carolina’s Final Four dominance has come within the last 10 years. After making their first Final Four in 2015, the Gamecocks made their second in 2017 and went on to win their first national title.

South Carolina made the Final Four again last year, losing to eventual champion Stanford by one point.

Since then, they’ve only gotten better, finishing the 2021-22 regular season the wire-to-wire No. 1 team in the nation.

Louisville: 4

While Louisville has made the Final Four three times prior to Friday and the championship game twice, the Cardinals have yet to win a national championship.

But they’ve been one of the nation’s better – if not slightly underrated – teams in the past few years, making the Final Four in 2018. All four of their appearances have come in the Jeff Walz era.

“We’ve been pretty good all year,” said Walz after the team’s Elite Eight win. “It’s not this year. You go back five years, we’ve won the third-most games.”

With half of the Elite Eight now set, a few Big Ten underdogs still have a shot at disrupting the No. 1 seed stronghold at the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend.

The No. 3-seed Purdue Boilermakers are through to the quarterfinals after defeating No. 2-seed SMU 3-1 on Thursday, while the No. 4-seed Indiana Hoosiers, No. 3 seed-Wisconsin Badgers, and the still-undefeated overall No. 1 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers all face stiff Sweet Sixteen competition on Friday afternoon.

Coming off a strong regular season, the Big Ten could still field half of the quarterfinal round — though that would require the first No. 1-seed upset of the 2025 national tournament in the form of an Indiana victory over top-seeded Texas.

Bolstered by their defensive leader, senior middle blocker Madi Sell, the Hoosiers booked just their second-ever Sweet Sixteen trip with last week's win over No. 5 Colorado, with Indiana now hoping their lucky run continues against the 2022 and 2023 champion Longhorns.

Meanwhile, the No. 1 Huskers will look to keep rolling against No. 4-seed Kansas while the No. 3 Badgers aim to snag another Big Ten spot in the Elite Eight by ousting No. 2-seed Stanford on Friday.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament this weekend

The NCAA volleyball tournament's Sweet Sixteen action will wrap with four games on Friday, starting with No. 1 Texas vs. No. 4 Indiana at 12 PM ET.

The Elite Eight will then meet at the net on Saturday and Sunday to determine the last-standing teams heading to next week's Final Four in Kansas City.

All of this weekend's NCAA tournament games will air live across ESPN platforms.

Team USA is on a roll, officially taking the four-game 2025 Rivalry Series against Canada before the slate of friendlies is even over, with the US collecting three consecutive wins so far — and one shot left at making it a clean sweep.

The US downed their northern neighbors by a commanding 10-4 scoreline in Edmonton on Wednesday, marking Team USA's first-ever 10-goal victory against the reigning Olympic champs — all while upping the 2025 series' goal tally to 20-6.

While each team fine-tunes rosters ahead of the 2026 Olympics, one test remains for both international hockey titans before the Winter Games take the ice in February.

"The work doesn't stop. Our Olympic team is not named. There's still one more game to go," said USA captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, acknowledging that her squad is not taking their foot off the gas despite the recent lopsided results.

"We have one more game against them before the Olympics," echoed Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin. "We're all aware of that."

How to watch Team USA vs. Canada in the 2025 Rivalry Series

The puck drops on the final match of the sixth annual hockey Rivalry Series between the USA and Canada in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will begin at 9 PM ET on the NHL Network.

The latest FIFA women's soccer rankings dropped on Thursday, with Spain widening their lead at No. 1 after winning a second consecutive UEFA Nations League title earlier this month.

The USWNT held steady at No. 2, ceding 7.48 points after losing an October friendly to No. 22 Portugal before going on to secure four straight wins over Portugal, No. 35 New Zealand, and No. 13 Italy to close out 2025.

Elsewhere in the FIFA Top 10, No. 3 Germany and No. 6 Brazil both saw boosts after successful fall runs, while Canada skidded to No. 10 amid a recent five-match winless streak, with Les Rouges's last victory coming against No. 43 Costa Rica last June.

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The biggest changes, however, occurred outside the top ranks, as No. 96 Nicaragua, No. 118 Burkina Faso, and No. 137 American Samoa all rose by 16 spots.

Notably, upcoming USWNT opponent Paraguay saw the largest drop in this month's Top 50, sliding five spots to No. 46.

Ultimately, as the USWNT battled to keep pace in a year of roster experimentation — and without a major competition on the team's 2025 docket — the many international competitions in Europe benefitted victors and challenged losers in this week's FIFA rankings update.

The No. 16 USC Trojans are gearing up for another top-ranked test, hosting the reigning national champion No. 1 UConn Huskies in the weekend's flashiest NCAA women's basketball matchup on Saturday.

Coming off their second ranked win of the season, USC topped No. 20 Washington 59-50 last Sunday, with 22 points and 12 rebounds from freshman Jazzy Davidson helping pull the Trojans to a 7-2 record.

"I saw a resolve in our team," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb afterwards. "I knew we could get the next stop, I knew we could get the next play."

USC will face a particularly familiar foe against the Huskies — this time without sidelined star junior JuJu Watkins — after UConn knocked the Trojans out of the NCAA tournament two years in a row.

Notably, sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel departed USC over the summer for the Huskies, with the former Trojan averaging 7.7 points per game entering Saturday's clash with her old team.

"I just try to take one game at a time, but I'm excited to go back," Heckel said ahead of her first trip back to LA since transferring. "I had a great freshman year there, and I learned a lot, and it was a great experience, a lot of fond memories. So I'm looking forward to it."

How to watch No. 1 UConn vs. No. 16 USC on Saturday

The Trojans will host the Huskies with tip-off set for 5:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Live coverage of the clash will air on FOX.