Five-time national champion Nebraska leads the way among the No. 1 seeds in the upcoming NCAA women's volleyball tournament. The bracket was unveiled Sunday; the first and second rounds will be played on campus sites this coming Thursday through Sunday.
The 28-1 Cornhuskers' quest for a perfect season ended Friday when they lost at Big Ten rival Wisconsin. The 26-3 Badgers, who won the 2021 NCAA title, join Nebraska, nine-time champion Stanford (26-3) and Pitt (25-4) as the four No. 1 seeds.
The No. 2 seeds are Kentucky, Louisville, Oregon and Texas. The No. 3s are Arkansas, Creighton, Purdue and Tennessee, and the No. 4s are BYU, Florida, Kansas and Washington State.
The 64-team volleyball tournament bracket seeds the top 32 teams nationally. The regional semifinals and finals also will be at campus sites. If the four No. 1 seeds advance, they will host those regionals, which will be played Dec. 7-9.
The volleyball final four will be at Amalie Arena in Tampa, with the semifinals Dec. 14 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). Then for the first time, the championship match will be televised on ABC, at 3 p.m. ET Dec. 17.
Nebraska made history on Aug. 30, drawing the largest crowd ever for a women's sports event: 92,003 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. The team the Huskers swept that night, Omaha, is also in the NCAA field; the Mavericks made the Division I tournament for the first time by winning the Summit League championship. While still in Division II, Omaha went to the NCAA tournament 19 times, including winning the 1996 national championship.
Omaha is one of four school making their first appearance in the Division I tournament, along with Coppin State (MEAC), Wofford (Southern) and Grand Canyon (WAC). Penn State, the No. 5 seed in Wisconsin's region, is the only school to appear in every NCAA tournament; this will be the Nittany Lions' 43rd appearance.
Nebraska and Stanford each have made 42 appearances. Hawai'i has made 41 appearances, and defending national champion Texas, No. 2 in Stanford's region, has made 40.
The SEC has eight teams in the field, led by Kentucky, which is the No. 2 seed in Nebraska's region. The Big 12 has seven teams in the field, and the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 five each.