Thursday's 2024 NCAA volleyball semifinals aren’t just an all-No. 1 seed affair, they also pit conference rivals against each other on the sport’s biggest stage.

With one all-ACC and one all-Big Ten semifinal on deck, the sport's top conferences are poised to face off in Sunday's championship game. But while the Big Ten will look to add another piece of hardware to its deep volleyball trophy case, the ACC is aiming to snag their first-ever NCAA title in the sport.

The ACC teams hunting history

Thursday's first match features Pitt against Louisville, as each looks to become the ACC's first national volleyball champion. Both rivals have been knocking on the door of NCAA glory in recent years, with the Panthers falling in the last three national semifinals, while Louisville advanced to the Final Four in 2021 and became the conference's first-ever finalist in 2022.

Notably, this will be the third straight year that the ACC rivals have met in the tournament. The Cardinals took down Pitt 3-2 in their 2022 semifinal, while the Panthers ousted Louisville with a reverse sweep in last year's Regional final.

Both squads have been Top-5 teams all season, led by some of the country's top players. Pitt sophomore Olivia Babcock's service aces and kills rates topped the ACC this year, earning her the conference's Player of the Year award. Babcock shifted into an even higher gear in the postseason, setting an NCAA tournament record with her 31 kills against Oregon in the Panther's Regional semifinal.

Veteran outside hitter Anna DeBeer continues to be Louisville's workhorse, leading the Cardinals on their Regional stat sheet after a season in which the grad student crossed the 1,000 mark in both career kills and digs.

With the Final Four set in Louisville, the Cardinals have already won the home-court advantage lottery entering Thursday's semifinal. That said, for a chance at earning a national championship in front of their fans, Louisville will need to survive this year's overall top team — a Pitt squad who've already taken down the Cards twice this season.

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The Big Ten's perennial contenders

Boasting 32 semifinal appearances and 21 championship matches resulting in 12 national titles between them, Big Ten rivals Penn State and Nebraska will put their deep Final Four experience to the test against each other in Thursday's nightcap.

Nebraska has been near-perfect all tournament, dropping just one set, while Penn State has lost four — the most of any of the semifinalists.

The Nittany Lions, however, had the Huskers' number in the regular season, handing Nebraska their only conference loss all year and snapping their 25-match win streak in the process.

To again humble the Huskers, Penn State will need a repeat of their November block party that stifled Nebraska's offense, all while continuing their own attack, led by outside hitter Jess Mruzik. The grad student is on a postseason hot streak, coming in clutch by hammering at least 20 kills per match over Penn State's last three contests.

Nebraska, who didn't have a single senior on last year's roster, returned nearly all of their 2023 superstar team. Outside hitters Merritt Beason and Harper Murray fuel a relentless Cornhusker attack, while Nebraska's defense thrives behind libero Lexi Rodriguez — one of the four 2024 AVCA Player of the Year finalists.

Both Nebraska and Penn State will take Thursday's court with redemption on their minds. The Huskers are hungry to finish the job after being swept by Texas in last year's final. Penn State, on the other hand, are seeking a return to the mountaintop in their first semifinal appearance since 2017, when they fell to eventual champions Nebraska.

How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball Final Four

Pitt and Louisville will kick off Thursday's NCAA semifinal action in an all-ACC battle at 6:30 PM ET, with Nebraska and Penn State’s Big Ten dual set to start 30 minutes after the first match ends. Both matches will air live on ESPN.

The guaranteed ACC vs. Big Ten national championship match is set for 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage on ABC.

More NWSL stars are jumping ship, as both the San Diego Wave and North Carolina Courage saw respective key players Delphine Cascarino and Denise O'Sullivan sign with WSL clubs over the last few days.

Former Wave forward Cascarino inked a deal through the 2029/30 season with the London City Lionesses on Monday, one day after San Diego announced they had mutually parted ways with the French international despite her contract running through 2026 with an option for the 2027 NWSL season.

"I'm really happy to be here," said the 28-year-old in a statement. "London City is the only independent women's club in the WSL, which excites me."

North Carolina midfielder and captain O'Sullivan made a similar move on Saturday, as the Ireland international signed with Liverpool following more than eight seasons and a club-record 186 appearances for the Courage.

The last-place WSL team reportedly shelled out a club-record transfer fee of approximately £300,000 to roster the 31-year-old two-time NWSL champion and three-time Shield-winner, who called Liverpool "a new challenge" that will see her "only a 40-minute flight away" from her family in Cork, Ireland.

Though the NWSL departures of Cascarino and O'Sullivan mark a kind of homecoming for the European standouts, they are just the latest to exit the US league, after USWNT star Sam Coffey joined WSL-leaders Manchester City last week.

"England — for men and women — is the country of football," noted Cascarino. "It's always been a goal of mine to play in this league."

New York Sirens forward Taylor Girard made PWHL history this week, earning a record four-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a line skirmish at the end of Sunday's 2-1 win over the Montréal Victoire.

The brawl occurred at the the final buzzer of the PWHL's record-breaking Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, with eight players — four Sirens and four from the Victoire — subsequently issued 10-minute misconducts in addition to Girard's infraction.

As the sole player not originally on the ice to join the skirmish, Girard was the only player to receive an additional 20-minute charge.

Even more, Girard's actions immediately triggered a four-game suspension, as the PWHL Rulebook dictates that exact punishment for "the first player to leave the players' bench illegally during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation from either or both Teams."

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The four-game ban marks the longest punishment in PWHL history, doubling the two-game suspension that Seattle Torrent defender Aneta Tejralová received for an illegal check to the head last month.

With the PWHL on break after January 28th as 30% of the league's rosters compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics, the four-game suspension means that Girard — who sits second on New York's scoring sheet with five goals on the season — will not be available for the No. 2 Sirens until March 5th.

The WTGL is stocking up on golf stars, as TMRW Sports' newly announced offseason league begins to build its debut roster in partnership with the LPGA.

World No. 1 golfer Jeeno Thitikul (Thailand) signed on to participate in WTGL's inaugural season this week, alongside No. 5 Charley Hull (England), No. 6 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), No. 25 Brooke Henderson (Canada), and No. 79 Lexi Thompson (USA).

"WTGL will be a global stage to showcase LPGA stars, and this first wave of committed players represents that opportunity with some of the world's best," said TMRW Sports founder and CEO Mike McCarley in Monday's press release.

Set to launch next winter, the WTGL looks to build off the popular, second-year men's Tomorrow's Golf League (TGL), with the competition integrating both a physical and virtual golf environment inside Palm Beach Gardens at Florida's SoFi Center.

"These players will thrive in WTGL's competitive environment as fans will witness their skill and connect more deeply with their personalities through the unprecedented access the league delivers," said McCarley, noting that TGL golfers remain mic'd up throughout the team event.

The WTGL is also earning stamps of approval from several women's sports greats, as the Alex Morgan co-founded Trybe Ventures — an investment group that includes Morgan's fellow former USWNT stars Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach — became the new league's lead capital partner last week.

The WSL is cashing in on the women's game, with two UK clubs surpassing €25 million in annual revenue for the first time, according to the Deloitte Football Money League report on the 2024/25 season that dropped this week.

Reigning UWCL champions Arsenal topped the list for the first time after taking in €25.6 million last season, followed closely by WSL title-holders Chelsea FC's €25.4 million.

Meanwhile, Perennial European contender FC Barcelona (€22 million) dropped to third after leading the group in 2023/24, outpacing WSL titans No. 4 Manchester City (€12.9 million) and No. 5 Manchester United (€12.8 million).

Due to a lack of revenue data, the yearly study did not include major women's leagues in the US, Sweden, or Australia, giving the rankings a European bent as the total sum crossed the €150 million mark for the first time — a 35% increase over the previous season's Top-15 Money League clubs.

Commercial income was the biggest revenue driver for many top clubs, with sponsorship deals and brand partnerships leading the charge.

Arsenal also benefitted from increased revenue on the men's side, allowing the women's team to up its investment while avoiding running at a loss.

How to watch the top Deloitte Football Money League clubs in action

Deloitte Football Money League leader Arsenal will take on No. 5 Man United while revenue runners-up Chelsea will face the WSL-leading Man City in the 2025/26 Women's League Cup semifinals on Wednesday.

The concurrent clashes will kick off at 2 PM ET, streaming live on YouTube.