It wasn’t always an easy path, but all four No. 1 seeds advanced to the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament final four in Louisville.
No. 1 overall seed Pittsburgh was pushed to five sets by Oregon in the regional semifinals. Louisville was down match points but pulled off a five-set win against Northern Iowa in the second round. Penn State dropped four sets along the way, including two against Creighton in the regional final. Nebraska dropped its lone set against Dayton in a regional semifinal.
Now, conference rivals will clash with a spot in the national championship game on the line. First up Thursday is an ACC showdown between Pittsburgh and Louisville at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. That’s followed by Big Ten powerhouses Nebraska and Penn State on ESPN. The winners will play Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.
Penn State has seven national championship in women’s volleyball. Nebraska, runner-up a year ago, is a five-time champion. Pittsburgh and Louisville are seeking their first.
ESPN’s Katie George, Holly McPeak, Sam Gore, Paul Sunderland, Courtney Lyle, Michael Voepel and Aishwarya Kumar highlight the players to watch, the keys to the matchups, the X factors and then make their predictions.
