NCAA Women
August 6, 2024
CHICAGO — The biggest storyline of the 2024 Big Ten season wasn’t even in the building on Monday as the conference had the first of two media days.
At the third annual Big Ten Volleyball Media Days, most of the coaches were asked about the four newcomers to the league: Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington. Their addition stretches the conference to both coasts of the country and complicates schedules and travel.
Those four new schools will meet the media here on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be new for everyone. It’s the first year, so there’s going to be a learning curve,” Rutgers coach Caitlin Schweihofer said.
Each Big Ten school will play each West Coast team once this year. Central and Eastern Time Zone schools will either travel to play Oregon and Washington or spend a weekend in Los Angeles taking on UCLA and USC. They will host the two schools they do not travel to.
Michigan State coach Leah Johnson doesn’t view the travel as an obstacle but as just another road trip. Because the Spartans haven’t played the new members before, they will treat those matches more like nonconference opponents and learn about their different styles.
“We’ll play that…
