Volleyball
This is going to be a great competition. Six Pac-12 teams earned entrance bids. Stanford is still strong, ranked No. 3. The Washington Huskies are the No. 8 seed. The Pac-12 also has UCLA Bruins & USC Trojans, Utah Utes, and Washington State Cougars. The SEC is tough, represented by No. 9 Kentucky Wildcats, No. 10 Florida Gators, No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies, and Mizzou Tigers. The Big 12 is stacked with No. 1 Baylor Bears, No. 2 Texas Longhorns, Iowa Cyclones, and Oklahoma Sooners. The Big 10 is also loaded with the Wisconsin Badgers at No. 4, Nebraska Cornhuskers at No. 5. Pittsburgh at No. 6, the Minnesota Gophers at No. 7, Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 11, Purdue at No. 16, and Michigan Wolverines.
Besides the fact that the Big 12 has the top two ranked teams, the Big 10 is probably the toughest conference overall with their seven entrants – six of them ranked and four in the top ten. One thing that will be interesting as some of these bigger matchups come up, will be checking the odds at Bovada Sportsbook to see the sports handicappers think. This could be useful for predicting the winners in those tough games between two good teams.
#1 Baylor Opens Against Sacred Heart
The Baylor Bears are fresh off a win over TCU which netted them their first-ever Big 12 Championship win. Unfortunately for Sacred Heart, they drew the #1 seed in the first round. But Sacred Heart is no stranger to drawing tough competition in the tournament. In 2010 they took on Nebraska and in 2011, they took on the Stanford Cardinal. They even got a set win over the top-ranked Cardinal team.
Sacred Heart earned their place in the championship tournament by sweeping the NEC Tournament and taking the title. They blasted through the LIU Sharks and then continued on to smash the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils in straight sets. So, despite the Baylor Bears No. 1 seed, the Pioneers are no pushovers, and they are carrying a lot of momentum.
#2 Texas Opens Against Albany
The Longhorns will face Albany (NY) on Thursday. The Great Danes of Albany might be excited to draw the #2 team right off the bat. At least this way they can get perhaps the toughest game of the year out of the way … Or perhaps, they are shaking in their proverbial boots, worries about an early exit in the first round. But as far as the latter is concerned, we doubt it. Albany is coming off the America East Championship, winning the title for the seventh time in the program’s history. So, the girls are fired up and ready to face anyone the NCAA can throw at them. They went 9-1 in the America East and hold a 16-10 overall record throughout the regular season.
The Last time the Texas Longhorns Women’s Volleyball team was seeded in the Top 4 was back in 2019. Whoever wins will face Texas State or UC Santa Barbara. And the team that wins both games will move on through regional play on the 13th and 14th of December.
We’re headed to Palo Alto!!! #PioneerTogether #GoPios pic.twitter.com/gxGUAoNszy
— Denver Volleyball (@DU_Volleyball) December 2, 2019
#3 Stanford Opens Against Denver
The reigning champions are seeded No. 3 in the country and will open their tournament against the Denver Pioneers. The Pioneers are coming off a 3-2 loss to Colorado State but their big win over the ranked No.4 Omaha squad sealed the deal for their tournament berth as well as netting them a Summit League Championship title. The Pios are 23-8 overall and looking forward to heading to Palo Alto to face the Cardinal.
Denver is going to have their hands full with the No. 3 seed, though. Stanford finished 18-2 in a tough Pac-12 conference and 24-4 overall. They’ve already beat the likes of Texas, Nebraska, Florida, Washington State, Utah, Cal, and USC. The Cardinal are ready to make a run at repeating as NCAA Champs and Denver is their first obstacle.
