Volleyball’s national championship tournament field is set after the NCAA revealed the bracket for the 2025 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday. The tournament will show off the sport’s growth and parity, as only one team, Nebraska, enters the tournament undefeated, and there should be plenty of notable clashes early in the tournament.
Here are our biggest takeaways and questions ahead of the 2025 NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, which begins on Tuesday and wraps up with the championship game on Sunday, Dec. 21.
Top seeds lean toward teams with toughest schedules
The four No. 1 seeds — Nebraska, Kentucky, Texas and Pittsburgh — are notable because of how they have all faced top competition throughout the regular season. Nebraska beat Kentucky and Texas in non-conference play before playing in the competitive Big Ten. In addition to their SEC schedules, Kentucky took on Pitt, Penn State and SMU, while Texas played Creighton, Wisconsin, Arizona State and Louisville. Playing in the ACC is already tough enough for Pitt, but they also played Florida and Arizona State. The No. 1 seed is incredibly valuable in women’s volleyball because it gives teams home-court advantage all the way to the national semifinals.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNebraska is No. 1 after a year of change
After Nebraska made it to the Final Four last season, John Cook, the team’s longtime head coach who led the Cornhuskers to four national titles, retired. He was replaced by former Husker player and Louisville head coach Dani Busboom-Kelly. The team has somehow improved under her tutelage. Nebraska went undefeated in the regular season with wins over Pitt and Kentucky, earning the No. 1 overall seed. Now, they will have huge expectations to win it all after such an impressive season.
A big part of why Nebraska made an easy transition under a new coach is that its core of upperclassmen has so much high-level experience. They have been to the Final Four and the national final, but haven’t left with a trophy. Players like Harper Murray and Bergen Reilly can show their experience as they push to win it all.
Pitt’s Olivia Babcock can be one of the tournament’s best players, but can her Panthers bring home the trophy?
In 2024, junior Olivia Babcock won every award she could in volleyball, being named the AVCA Player of the Year, the ACC Player of the Year, and was even an ESPY nominee and a semifinalist for the Sullivan Award (awarded to the best overall collegiate athlete). What she hasn’t won, though, is a national championship with her team. In fact, of the top four seeds, Pitt is the only team that hasn’t won a national title. Babcock owns the Pitt record for kills in a match with 45, and she can take things over when she needs to. How that will translate in the tournament is what we will see this coming weekend.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNo. 2 seeds could play spoilers
While the top seeds are formidable, don’t look past the second seeds. Louisville, in its first season with Dan Meske in charge, went 24-6 in the regular season and could be a tough matchup for Nebraska as the Cardinals face their former coach. SMU went 25-5 and has wins over tournament teams like Baylor and Louisville. Arizona State won the Big 12 Tournament and went 26-3 in the regular season. Playing in the ACC, Stanford put together a 27-4 record as it aims to win the school’s 10th title, the most in the sport. Prepare for some potential chaos.
Texas’ Torrey Stafford is the impact transfer to watch
Last season, while playing for Pitt, Torrey Stafford demonstrated she can be one of the country’s better players, notching 400 kills for the Panthers. After the season, she transferred to Texas, where she’s had 454 kills and helped the Longhorns earn a No. 1 seed. She could make waves in this tournament, especially as Pitt and Texas could face off in the national semifinal.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSchedule and how to watch
Games will start on Thursday, December 4, in on-campus locations for the highest seeds for the first two rounds of the tournament. Regionals, the weekend of December 11-14, will also be on campus sites. The winning teams from each regional will then head to Kansas City for the Final Four on Thursday, December 18, and the national championship on Sunday, December 21. Every game will air on the ESPN family of networks, with the national title game airing on ABC.
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