NCAA Women’s Volleyball
Top seeded and also reigning NCAA champions Nebraska swept New Hampshire (25-9, 25-23, 25-18) and Texas Christian University (25-22, 25-12, 25-16) to reach regionals. In front of 8,204 fans inside the “Bob Devaney Sports Center” against TCU, Huskers got eighth straight post-season victory and marked the 100th NCAA Tournament win in program history. Nebraska became just the second program in NCAA history to reach the 100-win milestone and advance to an NCAA Regional for the 32nd time, the most in NCAA history. Nebraska also improved to 29-2 on the season. Thus, Huskers scheduled 16th-seeded Penn State next Friday. Senior Kadie Rolfzen paced the Huskers against TCU with a match-high 14 kills on only 30 swings. She also added seven blocks, four digs and two assists.
Second-seeded Minnesota followed Nebraska’s footsteps to achieve two straight-set wins over North Dakota and Hawaii, respectively. The Gophers improved to 27-4 on the season, and remain undefeated at home. Sarah Wilhite accomplished a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs in Second Round versus Hawaii.
Wisconsin, third-seeded team after Regular Season, snatched double three-set win at home in Madison before getting regionals. Firstly, they downed Howard (25-11, 25-18, 25-10) and afterwards Washington State (25-18, 25-18, 25-17). Junior Lauryn Gillis led Badgers with 12 kills and four blocks against Washington State.
Texas destroyed University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Southern Methodist University, in this order, to reach 11th-straight Sweet 16, 29th overall in program history. At “Gregory Gym” in Austin, junior outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu led the hosts Longhorns in kills for the ninth time on the season with 15.
Creighton made the biggest upset in Second Round by eliminating fifth-seeded Kansas 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 16-25, 20-18) on road at “Horejsi Family Athletics Center” in Lawrence, Kansas! This was the first home loss of the season for Kansas while the Bluejays advanced to Sweet 16 for the second consecutive season thanks to 23 kills from Jaali Winters.
These are four regional sites, with teams’ records:
Lincoln Regional – at Lincoln, Nebraska
No. 1 Nebraska* (29-2) vs. No. 16 Penn State (24-9) at 12:00 (local time)
No. 8 Washington (28-4) vs. Arizona (20-14) at 14:30
Lincoln Regional Final: 16:00
Madison Regional – at Madison, Wisconsin
No. 3 Wisconsin* (27-4) vs. Ohio State (22-12) at 14:00
No. 6 Stanford (23-7) vs. Florida State (26-5) at 16:30
Madison Regional Final: 18:00
Austin Regional – at Austin, Texas
No. 4 Texas* (27-4) vs. No. 13 BYU (29-3) at 16:00
No. 12 Michigan (24-10) vs. Creighton (28-6) at 18:30
Austin Regional Final: 8 p.m. on ESPNU
Minneapolis Regional – at Minneapolis, Minnesota
No. 2 Minnesota* (27-4) vs. No. 15 Missouri (27-5) at 20:15
No. 7 North Carolina (29-3) vs. No. 10 UCLA (26-6) at 22:45
Minneapolis Regional Final: 22:00
* Indicates Host Institution
At each site, teams will compete in single-elimination regional semifinal competition on December 9. Regional final matches are set for following day. Regional winners will advance to the national semifinals and championship final co-hosted by The Ohio State University and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission at “Nationwide Arena” in Columbus, Ohio, on December 15 and 17.
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