NCAA Girls
December 7, 2023
Will there be a brand new champion for the third time in 4 years?
Historical past signifies in any other case because the NCAA Division I girls’s volleyball match heads into Thursday’s spherical of 16.
Simply 12 packages have gained the nationwide championship since 1981, the yr the NCAA performed its first match. USC gained that first title, the identical yr Texas gained the final AIAW nationwide championship.
Since then, USC gained two extra, in 2002 and 2003, and Texas has gained the NCAA title 3 times, in 1988, 2012 and final yr.
When Kentucky gained in 2020 (spring 2021), the Wildcats turned the primary first-time champion since Washington in 2005. Wisconsin turned a first-time winner in 2021.
Thursday’s spherical of 16
Right here is Thursday’s schedule, in chronological order, with all instances Jap:
No. 5 Louisville (26-4) vs. No. 12 Creighton (29-4), midday, ESPN2
No. 1 Nebraska (30-1) vs. Georgia Tech (24-6), 2 p.m., ESPN2
No. 4 Pittsburgh (27-4) vs. No. 13 Washington State (26-7), 2:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 8 Kentucky (21-7) vs. No. 9 Arkansas (27-5), 4:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 3 Wisconsin (28-3) vs. Penn State (23-8), 7 p.m., ESPN2
No. 7 Texas (24-4) vs. No. 10 Tennessee (26-4), 9 p.m., ESPN2
No. 6 Oregon (28-5) vs. No. 11 Purdue (23-8), 9:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 2 Stanford (28-3) vs. Arizona State (28-6), 11:30 p.m., ESPNU
Girls coaches
Six of the ultimate 16 groups are coached by girls, however in not less than one regional solely certainly one of three can emerge. At Pittsburgh, Louisville (Dani Busboom Kelly) performs Creighton (Kirsten Bernthal Sales space) and Washington State (Jen Greeny) performs Pitt.
At Nebraska, Georgia Tech’s Michelle Collier is the lone girls coach as her group performs the Huskers and Kentucky performs Arkansas.
It’s the identical at Wisconsin, the place Katie Schumacher Cawley’s Penn State group performs the Badgers and Oregon performs Purdue.
And at Stanford, Eve Rackham Watt and Tennessee play Texas and Stanford performs Arizona State.
No girls has coached an NCAA winner.
Texas-Arlington broke throughto the nationwide semifinals in 1989 beneath Cathy George.
BYU been to the nationwide semifinals beneath Elaine Michaelis (1993) and Heather Olmstead (2018).
Florida, beneath Mary Sensible, has been to the nationwide semifinals eight instances (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2017), shedding within the 2003 title match to USC within the 2017 closing to Nebraska.
Louisville’s Kelly took the Cardinals to the 2021 nationwide semifinals and to final yr’s closing in opposition to Texas.
Tons of transfers
Whereas acknowledging that the wealthy all the time get richer and that the highest groups would get this far regardless, however transfers have had an incredible influence on this spherical of 16. Most of the high attackers are transfers. Here’s a listing, not meant to incorporate everybody, of serious gamers on their respective second groups so as of seeds:
Nebraska — Merritt Beason, who left Florida after final season, leads the Huskers with 414 kills, 63 greater than her closest teammate.
Wisconsin — Sarah Franklin, in her second yr with the Badgers after leaving Michigan State, is the Huge Ten participant of the yr. She has 438 kills, 182 greater than her closest teammate. Temi Thomas-Ailara, who transferred from Northwestern, is fourth in kills and Carter Sales space, who got here from Minnesota, is fifth in kills and leads Wisconsin in blocks.
Pittsburgh — Emma Monks, who leads the Panthers with blocks, 44 greater than her subsequent closest teammate, transferred from Michigan State.
Louisville — Charitie Luper, who left UCLA after final season, is second in kills and third in digs.
Oregon — Gabby Gonzales, who left Ohio State after final season, is second in kills and third in digs; Kara McGhee, who left Baylor after final season, leads in blocks and is fourth in kills; and setter Hannah Pukis began her profession at Washington State, is in her second yr at Oregon, and is second this season within the Pac-12 in assists per set. Gonzales, McGhee and Pukis are all on the all-Pac-12 group.
Texas — Maybe most notable amongst transfers is Madisen Skinner, who gained a nationwide title with Kentucky as a freshman and is in her second yr at Texas, the place she gained all of it once more final yr. She’s the Huge 12 participant of the yr and has 463 kills, 86 greater than Jenna Wenaas, a first-year switch from Minnesota. Bella Bergmark, in her second yr with Texas after beginning her profession at Cal, is second to Asjia O’Neal in blocks. Nebraska switch Keonilei Akana served the ace that gave the Longhorns the nationwide title a yr in the past and is third in aces for Texas this season and fifth in digs.
Arkansas — Sania Petties, who transferred after final season from Mississippi State, is second in blocks and fourth in kills.
Tennessee — Jenaisya Moore, who left Ohio State after final season, is second in kills, Erykah Lovett, in her second yr with the Vols afer leaving Lengthy Seashore State, is third in kills. Raeven Chase was ineligible the primary half of the season after transferring from Jap Michigan and nonetheless is second in blocks.
Washington State — Iman Isanovic left Arizona State, the place she led the Solar Devils in kills final sesaon, and is second in kills this season for Washington State.
Georgia Tech — Tamara Otene, who leads the Yellow Jackets in kills, performed her first two seasons at Illinois State. That is her second yr at GT, the place she was third in kills final yr. DeAndra Pierce, who began at Texas, leads GT in blocks and is fourth in kills. Liv Mogridge, who transferred from North Carolina after final season, is second in blocks.
Penn State — The Nittany Lions are loaded with transfers. Setter Mac Podraza, who transferred after a four-year, All-American profession at Ohio State, and main attacker Jess Mruzik, who’s in her second yr after transferring from Michigan, each made the all-Huge Ten group. Mruzik has 504 kills, 188 greater than her subsequent closest teammate, Camryn Hannah, a first-year switch from Clemson. Taylor Trammel, in her second yr after transferring from Purdue, is second in blocks and third in kills. Zoe Weatherington, who began at Utah and is in her second yr at Penn State, is fourth in kills and fourth in blocks.
Arizona State — There are eight Solar Devils who began elsewhere, together with main blocker Claire Jeter. She is in her third season at ASU after beginning at Texas A&M. Second-leading blocker Maddie McLaughlin began at SUNY Geneseo and is in fourth yr at ASU. Mary Shroll, who leads in digs, is in her second season after transferring from Loyola Marymount.
Saturday’s regional finals
The 4 regional finals will probably be proven on ESPNU, all in a row, beginning with the Pittsburgh regional at 4 p.m.. Then comes the Nebraska regional at 6 p.m., the Wisconsin regional at 8 p.m. and Stanford regional at 10 p.m.
There is no such thing as a means, after all, that matches will end in lower than the 2 hours alloted — one can solely marvel why the matches couldn’t begin a number of hours earlier to keep away from overlap — so be ready to have a second TV/system helpful to look at on another ESPN community and/or an ESPN streaming outlet.
Historical past
Texas swept Louisville for the 2022 nationwide title, its first since 2012. Within the semifinals, Texas defeated San Diego, which was making its first nationwide semifinals look, and Louisville beat Pittsburgh in 5 as two ACC groups made their second and back-to-back final-four appearances.
Simply 12 packages have gained for the reason that NCAA started holding girls’s volleyball championships in 1981: Stanford (9 instances), Penn State (7), Nebraska (5), UCLA (4), Hawai’i (3), Lengthy Seashore State (3), USC (3), Texas (3), Pacific (2), Kentucky (1), Wisconsin (1) and Washington (1).
Kentucky of the SEC was the one group outdoors of the Huge Ten or Pac-12 to win the crown since Texas of the Huge 12 gained in 2012 when it gained within the spring of 2021.