The brackets are all locked and set for the 2024 NCAA women’s volleyball championship and we’re in for an incredible edition this year.
The set up of the bracket can lead to tantalizing future matchups of some of the top teams, there are some serious dark horses sprinkled in looking to spoil the party and the two-time defending champion is not one of the top eight teams in the tournament.
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the key storylines to watch for heading into December Madness.
The tale of two conferences
Throughout the season, the top four ranked teams in the nation were comprised of programs from either the ACC or the Big Ten.
Although the teams traded places at times, it was the Pitt Panthers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Penn State Nittany Lions and Louisville Cardinals who established themselves as the top four. The Huskers and Nittany Lions shared the Big Ten title after PSU beat the Huskers in its final match of the season. Meanwhile, Pitt’s only loss was to the SMU Mustangs as they beat the Cardinals twice to win the ACC.
Those four teams earned No. 1 seeds, meaning they’ll get home court advantage throughout the tournament until the Final Four. But the rest of the teams in the conference were pretty darn good too.
The ACC, Big Ten and SEC each had nine teams selected from their conferences to compete in the championship tournament.
In fact, three of the No. 2 seeds are from the ACC or Big Ten, and they were paired with a conference mate for some potential grudge matches. Pitt is on the same side of the bracket as SMU, Louisville is on the same side as Stanford — the two have split wins this year — while Nebraska and Wisconsin are in the same corner of the bracket as well.
All that is to say, it’s likely those top teams can see some familiar faces in key tournament games.
A Texas three peat?
Despite the understandable eyeballs on the top seeds, somehow the defending national champion is sliding under the radar.
The Texas Longhorns and Madi Skinner are a No. 3 seed, sitting in the same corner of the bracket as No. 1 seed Penn State and No. 2 seed Creighton. They also have won the last two national championships in dominant fashion.
The lack of focus might be because the Longhorns went 18-6 on the year, with out-of-conference losses to Minnesota, Miami and Stanford and three straight SEC losses to Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma. In fact, Kentucky pipped Texas to the SEC title in the Horns’ first year in the conference.
Texas ended the season on a six-game win streak and Madi Skinner is still one of the most dangerous players in the country. Yet maybe the relative quietness surrounding the Horns will help motivate them in the tournament. They’re always a tough customer come December and have a chance to cause some upsets as the defending champion. What a fun place for them to be.
The deeper field
Although the tournament is still much chalkier than the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, the spread in the field is getting better where teams that aren’t in the top few seed lines can hope to make a deep run.
Take for example No. 7 Georgia Tech. They have been a program on the rise and have real talent. They take on Tennessee in the first round contest in Madison, before a possible match with the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers. That’s a much tighter contest in terms of talent than previous 2 vs. 7 matchups in the tournament.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are only a six seed. They have proven they can go toe-to-toe with the top programs in the nation, beating the Badgers and Longhorns early in the season and were a pesky out in Big Ten play.
Out of the Big 12, Kansas and Utah are three and four seeds, respectively, and have a history of solid programs who can make deep runs. On the other hand, No. 3 Arizona State has made just its second tournament appearance in a row after going 13-19 in 2022. No. 7 Missouri is in a similar boat, reaching its second straight tournament appearance after posting a 9-19 record just two seasons ago.
While they might not be favorites to reach the Final Four, all these squads are getting better and better, making for a less top-heavy tournament. I don’t think the tournament is going to have the equivalent of a 1 seed being upset by a 16 seed like the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments have seen, but the matchups are getting closer and closer every year.
It’s an exciting time to be a volleyball fan, both for fans of traditional powers and fans of teams looking to rise up. Now let’s sit back and enjoy the volleyball.
