The NCAA Event spherical of 16 begins Thursday with 4 matches in a row starting at 1 p.m. Japanese. The schedule with notes follows.
So does some NIVC motion after Northern Colorado — which pulled off a reverse sweep in opposition to Arkansas State — and Arizona joined Bowling Inexperienced within the semifinals.
We’ve bought some switch portal updates, not one thing we’re going to comply with every day, however they’re a part of this all-NCAA version of Volleyball At this time:
NCAA volleyball Thursday, Friday
All matches on ESPN2
THURSDAY
At Pittsburgh (second matches begin half-hour after the primary ends)
1 p.m. — Missouri (22-8) vs. Kentucky (22-7), Oregon (24-7) vs. Pittsburgh (31-1)
At Louisville
7 p.m. — Florida (23-7) vs. Stanford (27-4), Purdue (27-6) vs. Louisville (27-5)
FRIDAY
At Penn State
1 p.m. — Texas (20-6) vs. Creighton (31-2), Marquette (25-8) vs. Penn State (31-2)
At Nebraska
7 p.m. — Texas A&M (21-7) vs. Wisconsin (25-6), Dayton (31-2) vs. Nebraska (31-2)
See the up to date bracket at NCAA.com.
ICYMI:
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Kentucky swept visiting Missouri in SEC play on October 6 after which beat the Tigers in 4 at Mizzou on November 27 to finish the common season … Pitt opened the season on August 30 with a sweep at Oregon … Stanford and Florida performed from 2021-23 in pre-conference, didn’t play one another this season… Purdue, 13-4 all-time in opposition to Louisville, didn’t play the Cardinals this yr. Louisville swept the final three conferences, twice in 2022 together with the NCAA Event … that is the primary assembly between Texas and Creighton for the reason that Longhorns swept their 2016 NCAA tourney match … Marquette and Penn State have met as soon as, early in 2013 … Wisconsin had performed Texas A&M eight occasions, the final in 2019, earlier than sweeping the visiting Aggies on September 21 … Dayton and Nebraska have performed 4 occasions, the final early in 2014.
HISTORY: Texas swept Nebraska in 2023, giving the Longhorns back-to-back titles. Texas defeated Wisconsin 4 within the semifinals. Pittsburgh bought swept by Nebraska because the Panthers made their third nationwide semifinal look in a row.
Simply 12 packages have gained for the reason that NCAA started holding girls’s volleyball championships in 1981: Stanford (9 occasions), Penn State (7), Nebraska (5), UCLA (4), Hawai’i (3), Lengthy Seashore State (3), USC (3), Texas (4), Pacific (2), Kentucky (1), Wisconsin (1) and Washington (1).
Kentucky of the SEC was the one crew exterior of the Massive Ten or Pac-12 to win the crown since Texas of the Massive 12 gained in 2012 when the Wildcats gained within the spring of 2021.
Eight groups stay in Division II
The NCAA Division II match has 4 quarterfinals Thursday and it’s straight chalk.
Prime-seeded Ferris State performs eighth-seeded Bentley and No. 4 Lynn faces No. 5 Wingate on one facet of the bracket, whereas second-seeded Central Oklahoma State performs No. 7 San Francisco State and third-seeded Angelo State performs No. 6 Gannon on the opposite.
Click on right here for the NCAA DII bracket.
NIVC
A few Massive East groups battle it out Thursday for the fourth NIVC semifinal spot when UConn (26-7) performs St. John’s (23-12). The winner performs Bowling Inexperienced of the MAC, which superior Monday with a four-set win over the Massive East’s DePaul.
In Wednesday’s different quarterfinals, at Arizona, Northern Colorado of the Massive Sky got here again for a 20-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-20, 15-13 victory over Arkansas State of the Solar Belt, and Arizona — the final Massive 12 crew left within the postseason — swept the Mountain West’s Wyoming.
Northern Colorado’s Alayna Tessena and Annette Baker had 12 kills every and Isabel Bennett had 10, hitting .444, to go together with 5 blocks, one solo. Bella LePore had 9 digs, an help and 4 aces, and Sam Metal had 13 digs, 4 assists and three aces. UNC is 28-7; ASU ended its season 28-6.
Arizona (22-9) gained 25-19, 25-18, 25-17, ending Wyoming’s season 17-13. Jordan Wilson led AU with 13 kills, an ace, 12 digs and a solo block. Jaelyn Hodge had 10 kills, 4 blocks and 5 digs, and Carlie Cisneros had 10 kills and eight digs.
NCAA volleyball switch portal chock full
NCAA kills chief Caylen Alexander, the 6-foot junior exterior for Hawai’i, is within the portal.
One participant who isn’t is Ohio State’s Grace Egan. She mentioned she’ll switch to Wisconsin.
Queue up Charleton Hester within the authentic Planet of the Apes: “It’s a madhouse! A madhouse!”
As khon2 in Hawai’i reported:
Alexander, a local of Alpharetta, Georgia, was a dominant drive for the Rainbow Wahine through the 2024 season. In Hawaii’s NCAA Event loss to TCU final week, she capped off a stellar marketing campaign wherein she led NCAA Division I in whole kills (611) and whole factors (676.5). She ranked fifth nationally in kills per set (5.09) and seventh in factors per set (5.64). Alexander was named Massive West Offensive Participant of the 12 months and have become a member of UH’s prestigious 1,000-kills membership, ending the season with 1,225 profession kills, rating sixteenth in program historical past.”
Egan, a 6-foot-1 product of Sterling, Illinois, redshirted in 2023 after getting harm 18 units into the season. This yr, the surface was fourth in kills for the Buckeyes with 200 (2.52/set), hitting .170. She averaged 2.03 digs/set. Curiously, Egan had a season excessive, and greater than 10 % of her kills, on November 27 when she had 22 in a five-set loss to Wisconsin.
Among the many others within the switch portal who may help top-level groups instantly are Auburn’s Madison Scheer, Baylor’s Allie Sczech, Cal’s Maggie Li, Kansas’s Ayah Elnady, Ohio State’s Emmi Sellman and USC’s Jadyn Livings. That’s solely a portion of an enormous checklist, however like the person mentioned, it’s a madhouse.
