The first-ever League One Volleyball (LOVB) postseason begins on Thursday, with all six teams competing though the weekend determine who will eventually lift the pro league’s inaugural trophy on Sunday.
Following years of success at the youth level, LOVB’s pro arm is capitalizing on volleyball’s surging popularity by stocking rosters with Olympians and NCAA champions.
Atlanta, Houston lead LOVB postseason favorites
This weekend's four-day postseason follows a classic tournament format, with single-elimination quarterfinals and semifinals preceding a winner-take-all championship match.
Play-in teams Austin, Salt Lake, Omaha, and Madison will battle on Thursday night for spots in Friday's semifinals, where No. 1-seed Atlanta and No. 2-seed Houston await.
As the clear frontrunner, Atlanta is captained by 2025 LOVB MVP and Olympic gold medalist Kelsey Cook. The team also features Outside Hitter of the Year McKenzie Adams on the court and Coach of the Year Paulo Coco on the sideline.
Cook’s USA teammate Jordan Thompson, who finished the LOVB regular season as the league’s overall points leader, leads fellow tournament favorite Houston.
How to watch the 2025 LOVB Finals
LOVB's first-ever postseason begins with Thursday's quarterfinals, with Austin taking on Salt Lake at 4:30 PM ET before Omaha faces Madison at 7 PM ET.
Friday's semifinals begins at 6:30 PM ET, with Sunday's championship match starting at 4 PM ET.
All coverage for the 2025 LOVB postseason will air live across ESPN platforms.
Blockbuster viewership isn’t the only booming women’s sports statistic, with women's sports ads making serious inroads as more brands buy into the growing market.
Per a study released by TV outcomes company EDO on Tuesday, women’s sports saw an overall 56% year-over-year increase in ad effectiveness in 2024, with 40% more ad impact than an average primetime ad.
Based on consumer behavior metrics like brand searches and site visits, some of the most effective advertisers last year were apparel brands like Athleta, Fabletics, and Skims.
Even more, efficacy measures skyrocketed when brands put sports and women athletes in their content. CarMax ads spotlighting women's basketball stars, for example, exceeded other WNBA advertisers' effectiveness by 185%.
"Women’s sports are officially a business imperative," said EDO SVP and head of client solutions Laura Grover. "It’s not just about reaching this fast-growing audience — it’s about inspiring action, building brand affinity, and driving real business impact."
Basketball leads women's sports ad impact numbers
The spike in ad revenue coincides with the surging popularity of both college sports and women’s basketball, with ads during WNBA and NCAA games boosting viewer engagement and brand loyalty.
The 2024 WNBA Playoffs, for instance, saw an 11% increase in ad impact over the 2023 edition.
Meanwhile, both the 2024 WNBA Playoffs and 2024 NCAA women's basketball tournament ads proved 24% and 18% more effective, respectively, than the primetime average.
With March Madness taking over the airwaves in the coming weeks, expect even more brand involvement, as companies buy into both the NCAA sport and its stars.
One athlete leading that charge is USC sophomore phenom JuJu Watkins, whose numerous NIL endorsements have the 19-year-old starring in a commercials for NYX Professional Makeup, Degree, and State Farm.
Gymnastics, volleyball draw advertisers to NCAA women's sports
The NCAA also boasts significant brand boosts in rising women's sports like lacrosse and gymnastics, which saw respective ad impact growths of 26% and 15%.
That said, college volleyball boasts the sporting event with the biggest brand impact. With a 51% ad efficacy rate over the primetime average, Penn State's 2024 NCAA championship win over Louisville was last year's most effective women's sports TV program.
All in all, the market is seizing onto the fact that women’s sports are good business and, with a seemingly limitless ceiling, 2025 could see the highest rate of return yet.
A legend in the sport of volleyball is stepping down, as longtime Nebraska head coach John Cook announced his retirement on Wednesday.
Joining Nebraska in 2000 after seven years with Wisconsin, Cook's 25 years at the Cornhuskers' helm included 14 conference titles, 12 trips to the NCAA Final Four, and four national championships (2000, 2006, 2015, 2017). Most recently, Cook led the team to back-to-back national semifinal appearances.
Even more, Cook turned Nebraska volleyball into a can't-miss phenomenon. The Huskers are currently riding a 339 home match sellout streak dating back to 2001 — an NCAA record for all women's sports.
The three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year (2000, 2005, and 2023) also helped Nebraska stage two volleyball matches in their football stadium in August 2023, when 92,003 fans packed Memorial Stadium to break the international women's sports attendance record.
Cook retires with an overall 883-176 career record — the fifth-best all-time winning percentage in Division I (DI) volleyball history. His 722-103 resume with Nebraska makes him the winningest DI coach in the sport this century.
"I’ve been here for 25 years. That’s a long time to do something. It’s been a great run," Cook said in the school's announcement.
"For me personally, the greatest accomplishment in coaching is seeing former players...taking the lessons they’ve learned from being a Nebraska volleyball player and applying it to their everyday lives," he continued. "There is no greater reward in coaching than that."
"I’ve always said to 'Dream Big,' and we’ve dreamed bigger than any volleyball program in the history of the world."
Alumna Dani Busboom Kelly succeeds Cook
Cook's successor is former Nebraska volleyball star Dani Busboom Kelly, who helped earn the 2006 national title as the starting libero before serving as Cook's assistant during the Cornhuskers' fourth title run in 2015.
Busboom Kelly took over as Louisville's head coach in 2017, leading the Cardinals to the program's first-ever Final Four in 2021 and following it up with national championship game appearances in 2022 and 2024. She exits the ACC squad with a 203-44 record and has agreed to a six-year contract with her alma mater.
"The opportunity to come home to Nebraska is more than a dream come true," Busboom Kelly said in a statement. "Nebraska is the greatest place in the world to play volleyball and I am honored to be a part of it once again!"
League One Volleyball Pro (LOVB) kicks off its inaugural season on Wednesday, as the largest brand in youth volleyball enters its professional era.
LOVB's debut season will feature six teams playing a collective total of 60 games over 14 weeks of play, with all squads taking aim at mid-April's league Finals.
Also on the inaugural schedule is a winner-take-all in-season tournament called the LOVB Classic, which will begin on Friday, February 14th, running through the Valentine's Day weekend.
Capitalizing on markets known for their rabid NCAA volleyball fanbases, LOVB has rooted its six teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha, and Salt Lake City. Austin's roster, for example, includes eight former NCAA champions from the University of Texas, allowing Longhorns fans to easily follow recent college stars like Logan Eggleston and Madisen Skinner into their professional careers.
Similarly, Omaha's lineup will allow the Cornhusker faithful to see University of Nebraska legends Justine Wong-Orantes and Jordan Larson — the most decorated US indoor volleyball Olympian in history — back in action.
The LOVB youth league pipeline goes pro
With 54 junior clubs currently entrenched across the US, League One Volleyball already has an established pipeline for many NCAA stars interested in turning pro, including several members from Team USA's 2024 Olympic silver medal-winning squad.
That infrastructure aided LOVB in raising over $160 million in funding before its first serve, with sports icons like retired WNBA star Candace Parker and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn backing the league.
In another testament to the league's anticipated success, LOVB's inked a broadcast deal with ESPN in May 2024. The contract guarantees that 10 of this season's matches will air across the sports giant's networks this season, with 18 contests set to stream on ESPN+.
"As viewership numbers for the Olympic Games and marquee collegiate games have proven once again, there is a massive audience appetite for women's volleyball around the globe, and we can’t wait to bring an elite level of professional volleyball," said LOVB president Rosie Spaulding.
How to watch the first-ever LOVB pro volleyball match
LOVB is kicking off its professional league with an historic clash, as Atlanta's three-time Olympic medalist Kelsey Robinson Cook will face fellow Team USA stars Haleigh Washington and Jordyn Poulter of Salt Lake City for the first time on US soil on Wednesday.
Atlanta will host Salt Lake in the league's debut match, which will stream live at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN+.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
After another jam-packed weekend of 2024 NCAA Division I volleyball tournament action, all four No. 1 seeds are still standing, sending Pitt, Louisville, Penn State, and Nebraska to Thursday's national semifinals.
Overall No. 1 seed Pitt booked their fourth straight Final Four appearance by first squeaking by No. 4 seed Oregon in a back-and-forth five-set thriller in Thursday's Regional semifinal, before making quick work of No. 3 Kentucky in three straight sets on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Louisville followed up their Thursday sweep of No. 4 Purdue with a redemptive 3-1 win over No. 2 Stanford, avenging their 3-1 loss to the Cardinal to close out regular season play.
On the other side of the NCAA bracket, reigning back-to-back national champions No. 3 Texas fell 3-1 to No. 2 Creighton on Friday. The Bluejays' hopes for a first-ever Final Four appearance didn't last long, however, as Penn State, who ousted No. 5 Marquette 3-1 on Friday, took down Creighton in five tough sets in Sunday's Regional final.
Finally, after downing underdogs No. 5 Dayton 3-1 in their Regional semifinal, Nebraska completed their 2024 hat trick of sweeps against No. 2 Wisconsin on Sunday, tacking on an NCAA tournament ousting to their two regular-season straight-set defeats of their Big Ten rivals.
An ACC vs. Big Ten championship on deck
This Sunday's national championship match is guaranteed to be an ACC vs. Big Ten affair, as both of Thursday's NCAA semifinals pit conference foes against each other. The fact that 2024's last-standing quartet hail from these Power Four leagues is unsurprising, as each has been the sport's two strongest conferences in recent history.
That said, the ACC is still seeking its first-ever NCAA volleyball championship, though both Pitt and Louisville have come wildly close in recent seasons. The Panthers fell in the national semifinals in each of the last three tournaments, while Louisville made the trip in both 2021, losing in the semis, and 2022, when they stumbled in the championship match to title-winners Texas.
The Big Ten's two semifinalists, on the other hand, boast a slew of national trophies. Penn State's seven titles and Nebraska's five trail only Stanford's nine for most by a program in NCAA volleyball history. That said, the Nittany Lions are entering on a nine-year title drought, and Nebraska hasn't hoisted national hardware since 2017, so both will be hungry to ascend this weekend's podium.
How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament Final Four
The semifinal round will take place on Thursday, beginning at 6:30 PM ET with ACC champion Pitt taking on Louisville. Big Ten champion Nebraska will play Penn State shortly after the ACC tilt, with both matches airing live on ESPN.
The national championship match will go down at 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage on ABC.
Just 16 teams remain in the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament after last week's opening rounds, setting the stage for this weekend's four Regional showdowns.
Hosted by the No. 1 seeds (Pitt, Nebraska, Penn State, and Louisville), each four-team mini-tournament will send one squad to next Thursday's national semifinals in Louisville.
Regional action kicks off in the ACC
The Pitt and Louisville Regionals will start the Sweet Sixteen action on Thursday, when the Panthers host No. 7 Missouri, No. 3 Kentucky, and No. 4 Oregon. Louisville helms the evening party, which includes No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Purdue, and No. 6 Florida.
With Pittsburgh already in full swing, the Wildcats added a third defeat of Missouri to their 2024 tally on Thursday, ousting the Tigers 3-1 and extending their win streak to 14 matches in the process.
About to take the court are two of the nation's best blocking teams, with the overall No. 1 seed Panthers aiming for a repeat of their season-opening sweep of the Ducks.
Thursday night's action starts when Stanford, whose nine NCAA titles dwarf all other Division I programs, takes on a tough Florida side who upset No. 3 Kansas in a gritty five-set thriller last Saturday.
Finally, while no team is immune to upsets at this level, Thursday's closer between Purdue and Louisville is especially vulnerable after the Cardinals barely survived Northern Iowa on Saturday.
The Big Ten begins hosting on Friday
Big Ten courts will serve as the stage for Friday's Regional semifinals, with Penn State hosting No. 2 Creighton, No. 3 Texas, and No. 5 Marquette before Nebraska welcomes No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 5 Dayton, and No. 6 Texas A&M to Cornhusker country.
Friday's opener pits two offensive powerhouses who've swept their way through the NCAA bracket against each other. The Bluejays, who are riding a 24-match win streak, will try to harness that momentum to end the back-to-back defending champs Longhorns' hopes of a three-peat.
Soon after, the Nittany Lions will again defend home court — a feat they've accomplished in every 2024 home match — in Friday's second tilt against the Golden Eagles.
Like Penn State, fellow Big Ten behemoth Wisconsin is likely to emerge victorious from their Regional semifinal, a rematch of the Badgers's September sweep of Texas A&M.
Capping the weekend's first matches is a battle of experience against this year's Cinderella squad. In their 40th Sweet Sixteen appearance, Nebraska's superstar-stacked roster will take on Regional debutants Dayton, who outlasted No. 4 Baylor in five gritty sets to earn the trip. The Flyers boast the fifth-best defense in the country, and they'll need every ounce of it to snap the Huskers' 43-match home win streak.
How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball Regionals
Thursday's action is in full swing, and No. 2 Creighton vs. No. 3 Texas will jumpstart Friday's slate at 1 PM ET before Saturday and Sunday each feature a pair of Regional finals.
The full schedule will stream live on ESPN+, with ESPN2 also airing all matches through Saturday.
Sunday's games received a broadcast bump, with the Nebraska Regional final airing at 3 PM ET on ABC and the Penn State-hosted finale taking the 8:30 PM ET slot on ESPN.
On today's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins dives into basketball. She kicks things off with a look at the first WNBA expansion draft since 2008, when the Golden State Valkyries selected 11 players from around the league to build their inaugural 2025 roster.
Pivoting to the college court, Watson chats through No. 3 South Carolina's winning week, zeroing in on how the defending national champions dominated two Top-10 teams.
Finally, Watkins takes a trip around the sports world, discussing NWSL free agency, NCAA soccer's College Cup, NCAA volleyball, PWHL hockey, and more.
The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes in women’s sports. This is the weekly rundown you’ve been missing, covering the USWNT, NWSL, WNBA, college hoops, and whatever else is popping off in women’s sports each week. Special guest appearances with the biggest names in women’s sports make The Late Sub a must-listen for every fan. Follow Claire on X/Twitter @ScoutRipley and subscribe to the Just Women’s Sports newsletter for more.
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