The NCAA women’s volleyball Final Four will feature all four No. 1 seeds, as Nebraska and Penn State won their regional finals on Sunday to tie with Pitt and Louisville, who advanced on Saturday.
The national semifinals are Thursday in Louisville, with the hometown Cardinals facing the Panthers at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Huskers vs. the Nittany Lions. Both matches are on ESPN. The national championship game will be Sunday, Dec. 22, at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.
Both semifinals meet conference foes. ACC rivals Louisville and Pitt are each seeking their first national championships in volleyball. It’s very different on the other side of the bracket: Big Ten rivals Penn State (seven) and Nebraska (five) have 12 NCAA titles and nine runner-up finishes between them.
During the regular season, No. 1 overall seed Pitt defeated Louisville in their two matchups, and Penn State defeated Nebraska in their meeting.
The Huskers, now in their 18th NCAA Final Four, easily advanced Sunday, beating Wisconsin 26-24, 25-17, 25-21. Senior Taylor Landfair, playing her first season at Nebraska after transferring from Minnesota, led the Huskers with 11 kills. Nebraska also swept the Badgers in both Big Ten regular-season meetings this year.
Penn State is making its 14th NCAA Final Four appearance, but the competition was tough on Sunday. The Nittany Lions were pushed to five sets by No. 2 seed Creighton, looking to make its first Final Four and advance to the all-Nebraska-school semifinals. But the Nittany Lions, like the other No. 1 seeds, took advantage of playing regionals on their home court to win the fifth set 15-7. Jace Murczak led Penn State with 20 kills.
No female head coach has ever won an NCAA Division I volleyball championship, which was first contested in 1981. But there’s a chance that could happen this year, as two women — Louisville’s Dani Busbom Kelly and Penn State’s Katie Schumacher-Cowley — are in the final four.
The only coach in the Final Four with a first title is Nebraska’s John Cook, who has four titles with the Huskers. All of Penn State’s championships came under Russ Rose, who retired after the 2021 season.