The 2024 faculty volleyball season will now each begin and finish in Louisville.
The AVCA introduced Monday that Kentucky, Louisville, Wisconsin and Nebraska will take part in its First Serve Showcase on Tuesday, August 27, on the KFC Yum! Heart, additionally the positioning of NCAA Division I Ladies’s Volleyball Championship in December.
The First Serve Showcase will begin with Nebraska of the Large Ten taking part in Kentucky of the SEC at 7 p.m. Japanese, adopted by Wisconsin of the Large Ten versus Louisville of the ACC. The matches shall be broadcast on ESPN2.
“Louisville is the place to be for girls’s faculty volleyball this yr!” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly mentioned in a launch. “We’re trying ahead to the brand new season, and this marquee occasion shall be an effective way to begin it off.”
The occasion additionally builds upon a season wherein tv and attendance information appeared to fall each week. Nebraska performed a match in its Memorial Stadium final August and drew a crowd of 92,003 whereas the NCAA title match drew a median viewers of 1.7 million viewers.
“The AVCA may be very excited to convey collectively 4 groups of this caliber to get the brand new season began,” AVCA CEO Dr. Jaime Gordon mentioned. “AVCA First Serve gives one other method to showcase the game and proceed the momentum from the record-setting 2023 season.”
After a three-day presale, tickets grow to be out there to the general public on June 14.
The 4 taking part groups all completed the 2023 season ranked within the high 10 of the ultimate AVCA ballot and are among the greatest packages up to now 5 years.
Wisconsin has made the season’s ultimate week in 4 of the previous 5 years, together with successful the 2021 NCAA title. The Huskers completed because the nationwide runners-up in 2021 and 2023. Louisville reached the nationwide semifinals in 2021 and 2022, whereas Kentucky gained the 2020 nationwide championship.
In addition they all have ties to educate John Prepare dinner, as they’re his present college (Nebraska), his former college (Wisconsin) and packages led by two of his former assistants (Craig Skinner at Kentucky and Busboom Kelly at Louisville).
The NCAA granted a waiver as a result of the occasion will occur earlier than the allowed begin date of August 30. The groups will even probably search one other waiver to maneuver up their first apply date, which could overlap with the Large Ten Media Days from August 5-6 in Chicago.
The First Serve Showcase would be the second high-profile early-season occasion for the Badgers. Wisconsin additionally performs within the two-day Ladies’s School Volleyball Showcase at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Discussion board. The Badgers and Minnesota will every play matches towards Stanford and Texas over Labor Day weekend with the matches showing on FOX and FS1.
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield mentioned including one other occasion and pushing the envelope is nice for everybody within the sport.
“We’re very locked in so far as we must be doing extra of most of these occasions – getting elite groups taking part in elite groups with nationwide tv protection and in massive arenas the place we will pack them,” he mentioned. “I’m actually excited. There’s been plenty of hoops to leap via on this from NCAA laws. Jaime Gordon and his group, credit score to them as a result of they had been in a position to get it completed on very brief discover.”
Prepare dinner, no horsing round, will get contract extension
Though his reign because the top-paid faculty coach was interrupted for just some months, Nebraska coach John Prepare dinner regained the title after receiving a brand new contract final week.
Prepare dinner agreed to a five-year extension that may hold him with the Huskers via the 2028 season and pay him a base price of $825,000 yearly. His earlier settlement, which capped out at a wage of $750,000 and was set to run out in January 2025, was set to run out at the moment.
Texas coach Jerritt Elliott briefly held the title after signing a brand new deal for $800,000, together with a base pay of $500,000 and $300,000 in 2024 for skilled companies funds. These funds will enhance yearly, and he may cross Prepare dinner once more for the 2026 season.
Prepare dinner mentioned he labored on the brand new take care of Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen, who was employed in March. Prepare dinner mentioned he initially needed the athletic division to buy him a brand new horse as a part of his compensation. Nonetheless, once they mentioned that wasn’t potential, Nebraska added a $70,000 retention bonus to be paid on July 1. Prepare dinner mentioned he plans to make use of that cash to buy a horse from a outstanding ranch in Nebraska.
“We’re lucky to have John Prepare dinner main our volleyball program,” Dannen mentioned. “He’s probably the most achieved coach within the nation and one of many high coaches within the historical past of American volleyball. John’s expectations are for nothing lower than excellence in each endeavor, and his document displays that.
The contract additionally features a deferred compensation settlement. The funding account shall be arrange with a $1 million preliminary deposit attributed to Prepare dinner’s companies in 2024. Will probably be managed by an funding supervisor as chosen by NU. The funds will grow to be absolutely vested by Dec. 31, 2024. If Prepare dinner leaves to educate at one other college or is fired for trigger earlier than the contract expires, he forfeits the account.
Information from across the Large Ten
Wisconsin provides new flooring
The UW Area Home has gone mushy. No less than, the courtroom has.
Wisconsin unveiled footage of its new Taraflex courtroom on social media final week. The courtroom seems just like the outdated flooring, with a wood-grain print surrounded by a crimson border. Beforehand, the Badgers performed straight on the wood courtroom within the Area Home.
Lately, many packages have added a mushy floor on high of a wood courtroom to assist restrict the bodily affect on the gamers. As well as, the courts make it simpler to slip and save put on and tear on gamers’ our bodies.
Schedules coming quickly
Because the Large Ten soccer schedule is finalized and launched in parts, the volleyball groups ought to quickly know when they’re taking part in convention foes.
Usually, the league slots volleyball matches into the TV schedule as soon as all of the soccer video games are on the calendar. Within the final two years, the Large Ten has launched its league schedules on June 14. In 2021, the schedules got here out on June 12.
This yr, the Large Ten introduced all of the matchups for the 18 members. Every crew will play each different crew as soon as with three pairs of home-and-home matchups.
Purdue, Minnesota wrap up international journeys
The Golden Gophers completed a 12-day journey throughout Europe after taking part in matches in Türkiye, Slovenia and Italy.
In the course of the journey, Minnesota performed three matches in Istanbul, the hometown of sophomore libero Zeynep Palabiyik, towards Vakifbank TBC, Eczacibasi and Yesilyurt. In Slovenia, the Gophers confronted Odbojkarski Klub Nova KBM Branik (Slovenia). Minnesota wrapped up the journey in Italy by taking over Busto Arsizio Volley and the Italian Federation U22 Crew.
Talking of Minnesota, coach Keegan Prepare dinner and spouse Sarah welcomed their second youngster this previous Friday. Keegan and Sarah met when he was on a international tour on the identical venue in Slovenia and she or he was working there.
Purdue additionally spent its two-week journey in Italy, Croatia and Türkiye.
The Boilermakers went 4-0-1 through the tour. They tied the Italian Federation Crew 3-3 in Milan. Purdue didn’t drop one other set throughout the remainder of the journey, selecting up wins towards OK Pula and Mladost in Croatia after which taking part in 5 units twice towards PSA Hearth Ants in Istanbul.
Rutgers’ Detering strikes up
Rutgers coach Caitlin Schweihofer promoted Abby Detering to affiliate head coach.
Underneath her steerage, Rutgers setters recorded probably the most assists per set since 2018 and probably the most kills per set since 2012. Deterring, who performed at Florida and Penn State, enters her third season on the Scarlet Knights’ employees.
“Abby gives high-level taking part in expertise and introduced that have to information our offense,” Schweihofer mentioned. “She has a powerful recruiting imaginative and prescient for the way forward for this system and has made devoted recruiting efforts to strengthen the Rutgers volleyball model throughout the nation and the world.”
Switch Market Roundup
Though the switch portal closed through the center of Could, packages are nonetheless including gamers to their rosters because the summer time begins.
Northwestern: First-year coach Tim Nollan continued to construct out the Wildcats’ roster by including two transfers over the past week of Could in center blocker Sophia Summers and outdoors hitter Lily Wagner.
Summers began all 31 matches for Washington as a fourth-year sophomore through the 2022 season, averaging 1.36 kills and .087 blocks per set. She was not listed on the Huskies’ roster for the 2023 season.
Wagner joins the Wildcats after spending her first yr at Liberty. The 5-11 attacker appeared in 59 units throughout 18 matches. She contributed probably the most through protection, averaging 2.02 digs per set. The switch brings Wagner nearer to dwelling, as she grew up outdoors Milwaukee. Her mom, Amy, gained a Large Ten title in 1997 at Wisconsin, the place she was additionally named an All-American.
Illinois: The Illini introduced a pair of newbies to its roster on Thursday. Outdoors hitter Averie Hernandez isn’t altering conferences or dwelling state as she goes from Northwestern to Illinois. As a sophomore final season, she began 9 matches for the Wildcats and performed in 25 matches whereas averaging 2.52 kills per set.
Vivian Campbell performed in eight matches as a freshman setter at Cincinnati. Of her 35 assists, 27 got here in her lone begin of the season towards Butler.
Michigan State: The Spartans shall be boosted by including Akasha Anderson from Auburn.
The junior outdoors hitter was an all-SEC choice as a freshman and amassed 356 kills final yr, the second most for the Tigers. Anderson recorded double-digit kills in 22 of her 27 matches and topped the 20-kill mark on three events.
