Already one of the most popular women’s spectator sports in the US, the 2024 NCAA volleyball season is off to the races this month as the shifting lines of modern college sports plays out in real time.
Thanks to major conference realignments, regional rivalries turned national storylines will drive the narrative all the way to December's NCAA tournament.
The Big Ten's big changes
At the forefront of these shifts is longtime volleyball powerhouse the Big Ten, which welcomed USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington from the Pac-12 this summer to bring the conference total to 18 teams.
Added travel, raucous home crowds, and even fiercer competition will play into the conference's season storyline as Midwest heavyweights Wisconsin and Nebraska meet West Coast specialists in a quest to bring the Big Ten its first NCAA title since 2021.
"We knew the venues, everything was comfortable," Oregon head coach Matt Ulmer, speaking with JWS at last month's Big Ten Media Day in Chicago, said of his team’s former Pac-12 home. "I think we're going to [see] a lot of uncomfortableness this year, just with new change."
Surprises and upsets already define the 2024 season
Mirroring that uncertainty, several 2023 heavy-hitters have already produced surprising results this season. Two-time defending champion Texas fell to Minnesota in early non-conference play and again to unranked Miami last weekend, while Wisconsin went 0-3 before picking up a pair of weekend wins.
Then last week, 2023 runners-up Nebraska suffered a historic upset loss to unranked SMU, though they also bounced back with weekend victories.
With Power 10 rankings already a rollercoaster, expect even more impressive performances, greater parity, and larger crowds as college volleyball rides its meteoric rise through 2024.
The USA wheelchair basketball team and sitting volleyball team will both compete for Paralympic gold this weekend, after thrilling semifinal wins in the final days of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
USA sitting volleyball took down Brazil 3-1 in their semifinal on Thursday, and will continue their long-held Paralympic rivalry against China on Saturday at 1:30pm ET. The US will be going for their third-straight gold medal in the event, after finishing atop the podium in 2016 and 2020.
On Sunday, the US wheelchair basketball team will take on the Netherlands in a gold medal rematch of group play at 7:45am ET, in search of their first Paralympic gold since 2016.
Breaking through
US wheelchair basketball reached their first Paralympic gold medal game since Rio on Friday with a thrilling 50-47 win over China, exacting revenge on the squad who defeated them in their semifinal in Tokyo.
Rose Hollerman led the team in scoring with 20 points, and Chicago native Ixhelt Gonzalez scored 11 points off the bench after a game-clinching performance against Great Britain in the team's quarterfinal.
On Friday, the US struggled at times with China's full court defense, but a strong third quarter performance prompted a comeback from a halftime deficit, and Team USA proved clinical enough at the free throw line to hold off a late fourth quarter push.
The US will now look to erase their only loss of the tournament thus far, taking on the Netherlands for gold after falling to the Dutch 69-56 in their second game of group play.
Familiar gold medal opponent
USA sitting volleyball's gold medal foe is very familiar, as the US and China have played each other for Paralympic gold in every Games since 2008, with China's Paralympic final streak dating back to 2004.
The US are the reigning champions, winning gold in 2020 and 2016 after falling to China in 2012 and 2008.
Team USA will look for another strong match from outside hitter Katie Holloway Bridge, who led all scorers with 21 points in the team's semifinal win over Brazil.
They will be looking for a little bit of revenge themselves, after falling to China in their Paralympic opener during group play.
TEAM USA WILL PLAY FOR GOLD!
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) September 5, 2024
Women's sitting volleyball moves onto the FINAL after a win over Brazil. 🇺🇸 #ParisParalympics pic.twitter.com/iQuOjNI2i0
“The team’s gone through a lot since they’ve been here," head coach Bill Hamiter said after the match. "To come together and keep playing, and play well enough to get into that championship match was good."
In perhaps their toughest Olympic task so far, USA Volleyball took down Brazil 3-2 in this morning’s back-and-forth semifinal to advance to Sunday’s gold medal match.
The win guarantees the US a seventh Olympic podium finish and the chance to repeat their Tokyo gold medal win — a feat they accomplished by beating Brazil back in 2021.
A volleyball rivalry with Olympic history
The longtime rival nations have met on the Olympic court many times, including five medal contests over the last eight Olympics.
In those five matches, Brazil walked away with three medals (two gold, one bronze), while Team USA notched one gold and one bronze in two wins.
Team USA ends Brazil's Olympic gold medal hopes
While there wasn’t a medal on the line in this morning's five-set thriller, the teams definitely played like there was. The US struck first, taking the first set before trading the next three with Brazil, who forced the deciding fifth set largely off the outstanding play of star Gabi Guimarães.
But the States shifted into gear in the fifth, downing Brazil 15-11 off a Kathryn Plummer kill to clinch a spot in Sunday's final.
Plummer led the US with 26 points, while fellow outside hitter Avery Skinner and opposite Annie Drews contributed an impressive 19 and 18, respectively.
What's next for USA Volleyball
Today's win might have been the USA’s toughest challenge on their path to back-to-back gold, but to complete the job, they’ll have to take down the winner of today’s Turkey-Italy semifinal.
The volleyball gold medal match will kick off on Sunday at 7 AM ET, with live coverage across NBC networks.
USA Beach Volleyball loses Olympic medal bid
Over on the sand, Team USA’s last hope for a beach volleyball medal vanished in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round, making this the first Summer Olympics without a US team on the podium since 2000.
Last-standing US pair Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes fell in straight sets to Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli, just one day after fellow US duo Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth fell in the round of 16.
It’s a disappointing finish for a national contingent that’s claimed four of the previous five gold medals — most recently by Alix Klineman and April Ross’s Tokyo A-Team.
The Pro Volleyball Federation began its inaugural season on Wednesday, with 11,624 fans showing out in Omaha to watch as the Atlanta Vibe took on the Omaha Supernovas.
It was the largest crowd to ever watch a professional volleyball match in the United States.
11,624 of YOU!
— Omaha Supernovas (@OmahaSupernovas) January 25, 2024
No place like Nebraska ♥️ pic.twitter.com/lkKSxvqZ2H
And the crowd got a show. While the Supernovas dropped their opening two sets, they rallied to take it to five sets. Atlanta avoided the reverse sweep, however, taking the fifth set after going down 15-13.
“History was made tonight,” Atlanta’s Alli Linnehan said. “That’s what we just kept saying. History is being made and it’s just so awesome that we get to be a part of it.”
Atlanta coach Todd Dagenais conceded that it was about more than just the road win.
“As much as we’re excited about this road win,” Dagenais said, “that’s nice. But I think it was an incredible to share the court with them tonight with such an great crowd and I’m so happy for the league to pull this off.
“This is the dream that we all bought into. This is what we wanted to be a part of and I think we gave the fans of volleyball, of the PVF, we gave them a great match and something they can be excited about.”
“It was a spectacle, it was an event, it was something amazing that happened and we were so proud to be part of it,” Omaha coach Shelton Collier said. “This was breaking ground for a professional volleyball league and there could have been 800 people and a poorly played match and it was an incredible match with an incredible crowd, an incredible atmosphere.”
The Pro Volleyball Federation has signed its first media deal, bringing televised professional volleyball games to CBS Sports.
CBS Sports is the first media organization to partner with the PVF, and the deal likely includes domestic and international rights. According to Sportico, the deal includes a minimum of 10 matches to be aired in 2024 along with the league semifinals and championship games.
“This is another groundbreaking day in the history of Pro Volleyball Federation,” PVF co-founder Dave Whinham told Sportico. “We have a great partner that believes in the growth of women’s professional volleyball in North America. We are very proud of this relationship and excited about the dynamic new ways we will be able to present our matches within the CBS Sports platform.”
The PVF started in 2022 and includes seven teams with plans to expand next season. The existing teams are the Atlanta Vibe, Columbus Fury, Vegas Thrill, Grand Rapids Rise, Omaha Supernovas, Orlando Valkryies and San Diego Mojo, and the league will introduce teams in Kansas City, Dallas and Indianapolis in 2025.
“[Volleyball] is the only team sport in the world where the women’s version doesn’t take a backseat to the men’s version,” said Stephen Evans, one of the founders of the PVF. “And most people will tell you that the women’s version is more fun to watch and attend. It’s not a thing taking away from the men’s game. It’s just a different game.”
The matches will be aired primarily on CBS Sports Network, with the possibility that some may be aired on CBS throughout the partnership term. The PVF’s national broadcast schedule, which will include other media partnerships, will be released at a later date.
Texas took home the NCAA women’s volleyball title Sunday, sweeping No. 1 overall seed Nebraska to win its second straight championship.
The win came in front of a record-breaking crowd of 19,727 – breaking the indoor volleyball attendance record set just days before during the NCAA semifinals. And it caps off a record-breaking year for attendance in women’s volleyball, centered around Nebraska.
“You think you’re invincible. You think it’s destiny. ‘It’s ours.’ And I think Texas experienced that,” Nebraska coach John Cook said.
The Cornhuskers set the record for the largest crowd at a women’s sporting event, hosting 92,003 fans at an outdoor match at Memorial Stadium. They also had the largest home season total with 255,953 people turning out. And now, they are part-owners of the largest NCAA volleyball game.
Yet despite Nebraska’s historic season, there weren’t any doubts Sunday about Texas being national champion once again. Libero Asjia O’Neal served 10 consecutive points in the second set, which proved pivotal in the 3-0 sweep.
“Volleyball is a huge game of momentum,” O’Neal said. “During that run, I could totally feel the momentum shift to our side. We were playing with so much confidence and joy and I just knew that we had the game in the bag. … I was smiling because I was so happy with how we were feeling. You just feel it. I felt we were going to win the match.”
And the serving really became the key to the game.
“They had a level of serving we haven’t seen all year and that really impacted us in our momentum and our confidence and then everything started going their way and they got all the momentum and we just couldn’t ever get it back,” Cook said.
Texas took home the title in the first NCAA volleyball championship match to be televised on ABC.
“We had all the confidence in the world,” Texas star outside hitter Madisen Skinner told ESPN after the match. “I’ll say it until I die — this team was peaking right now and we just had so much trust and belief in one another. I mean our service pressure was insane. It gave us so many options in transition.”
O’Neal called it “the most joyous season I’ve ever had in my life.”
“We were just able to play free — we love each other and support one another and throughout the whole year, it was just so fun,” O’Neal said. “It was definitely challenging at times, but just today as an example, everyone played free, everyone had confidence in one another, and we were able to go out and take down some really incredible teams.”
Nebraska volleyball dominated throughout the season, but in the national championship match, Texas flipped the script.
The second-seeded Longhorns defeated the Huskers, who entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, in a three-set sweep (25-22, 25-14, 25-11) to win the title for the second year in a row.
Before Sunday’s final at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, Nebraska (33-2) had lost just one set during its tournament run. The Huskers had lost just one match all season, to Big Ten rival Wisconsin in November.
Before Sunday’s final, Texas (28-4) had just one clean sweep during the tournament, a 3-0 win against SMU in the second round. The Longhorns needed to save a match point against Tennessee in the round of 16.
After that, though, battle-tested Texas bested the top three ranked teams in the country, defeating Stanford, 3-1, in the quarterfinals, Wisconsin, 3-1, in the national semifinals, and then a young but powerful Nebraska squad in the title match.
Texas outside hitter Madisen Skinner won Most Outstanding Player for the national semifinals. She posted match highs of 16 kills and five digs in the championship match.
🏆🤘 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐒 🤘🏆
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 17, 2023
(2) @TexasVolleyball repeats as National Champions after sweeping (1) Nebraska 🧹#NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/bLWkbUYK9m
HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A TEXAS TWO-STEP?! 🏆🏆#NCAAWVB x @TexasVolleyball pic.twitter.com/sbkCa0C2lz
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 17, 2023
The NCAA volleyball final is set, with Nebraska and Texas set to face off at 3 p.m. ET Sunday. Sunday’s match at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, will be the first volleyball national championship televised on ABC.
This marks Nebraska’s 11th trip to the NCAA final, with the Huskers having won five national titles to this point. They defeated fellow No. 1 seed Pitt in a 3-0 sweep, 25-20, 25-23, 25-17. Nebraska will face defending national champion Texas, a No. 2 seed, after the Longhorns upset No. 1 seed Wisconsin in four sets in the other semifinal.
For the Longhorns, Sunday will be their 10th NCAA final appearance. They have won three titles and will be going for their fourth. This will be the two teams’ third matchup in the national championship, with Nebraska beating Texas in 2015 and in 1995.
From 1996 to 2010, the two were conference rivals when Nebraska was still a part of the Big 12. Nebraska currently holds the series’ edge, 33-24. It’s a storied rivalry, with the first match between the programs coming in 1981. The latest match was the 2021 NCAA regional finals, which was won by the Huskers.
“There’s such a rich tradition of alumni, All-Americans, people that have won national championships on both sides,” Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said. “It’s Celtics vs. Lakers.”
The NCAA volleyball tournament has reached its final four, with Nebraska, Pitt and Wisconsin all advancing as No. 1 seeds. Reigning champion Texas also reached the semifinals as a No. 2 seed.
In the quarterfinals, Nebraska beat Arkansas in four sets, as did Wisconsin with Oregon. Texas upset top-seeded Stanford in four sets to advance. Pitt was the only team to go to five sets in its regional final, besting last year’s national runner-up Louisville.
For the Longhorns, this year marks their 15th Final Four and their 11th in the last 16 seasons. They’ll face Wisconsin, which won the national championship in 2021 and is into its fourth Final Four in the last five years.
“We’re still climbing,” Badgers senior Devyn Robinson said. “We haven’t reached our best volleyball so we’re on our way up.”
Nebraska, meanwhile, entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. The Huskers finished as runner-up in 2021, and their last championship came in 2017.
Pitt is the only team among the final four never to have won a national championship, or to have advanced to the championship match. The Panthers will have the chance to do so Thursday, but they will have to go through Nebraska in order to do it.
The semifinals and championship will take place at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
NCAA women’s volleyball tournament: Schedule
- Semifinals: Thursday, Dec. 14 (ESPN)
- No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 1 Pitt — 7 p.m. ET
- No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 2 Texas — 9:30 p.m. ET
- Championship: Sunday, Dec. 17 (ABC)
- Semifinal winners — 3 p.m. ET
Four teams. One title. It’s all going down in Tampa. 🏆
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 10, 2023
(1) @Pitt_VB 🆚 (1) @HuskerVB
(2) @TexasVolleyball 🆚 (1) @BadgerVB #NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/2zh7CFpBd4
The NCAA volleyball tournament has arrived, with Nebraska locking up the No. 1 overall seed.
The five-time national champion Cornhuskers lead a contingent of stacked No. 1 seeds, including 2021 title winner Wisconsin, nine-time champion Stanford and Pitt.
No. 2 seeds include Kentucky, Louisville, Oregon and 2022 champion Texas, while Arkansas, Creighton, Purdue and Tennessee enter as No. 3 seeds. Rounding out the top four seeds are BYU, Florida, Kansas and Washington State.
A total of 64 teams will compete in the tournament. The field includes first-timers in Omaha, Coppin State, Wofford and Grand Canyon.
Penn State is in the tournament for the 43rd time. The Nittany Lions are the only program to appear in the tournament every single year. Nebraska and Stanford each have made 42 appearances and Hawai’i has made 41, while defending national champion Texas has made 40.
The SEC leads all conferences with eight teams, while the Big 12 has seven teams and the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 each have five.
For the first time, the championship match will be televised on ABC, taking place at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 17.
Check out the full bracket here. The full schedule for first round matches – including time of matches – is here.
NCAA women’s volleyball tournament: Schedule
- First and second rounds: Thursday, Nov. 30, through Sunday, Dec. 3
- Regionals: Thursday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 9
- Semifinals: Thursday, Dec. 14 — 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Championship: Sunday, Dec. 17 — 3 p.m. ET on ABC