Showtime! Nebraska vs. Pittsburgh, Wisconsin vs. Texas
Asjia O’Neal leads Texas into its match with Wisconsin/Matt Smith photo
TAMPA — Showtime!
The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship national semifinals are Thursday.
Here’s what you need to know:
The matchups, time and TV
Pittsburgh vs. Nebraska, 7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN
Texas vs. Wisconsin, 30 minutes after the first match, ESPN
From ESPN: All three matches will be called by play-by-play commentator Courtney Lyle, alongside analysts Holly McPeak and Katie George. This is the second straight year the trio will be on the call for the final rounds of the tournament. Eric Frede and Missy Whittemore will handle on-site studio coverage between semifinal matches.
ESPN has the action in Tampa covered from every angle, including exclusive and behind-the-scenes coverage. In addition to the traditional main telecast and the ESPN+ stream, an alternate “High End Zone” viewing option will be available on ESPN+ for the semifinals and the Championship, giving fans the option to watch the match from the end zone angle.
How they got here
Top-seeded Nebraska (32-1) finished 19-1 in the Big Ten and won the conference by two games over Wisconsin. The Huskers swept their first three NCAA Tournament matches over Long Island, Missouri and Georgia Tech before beating Arkansas in four sets.
Fourth-seeded Pittsburgh (29-4) tied with Florida State atop the ACC at 16-2. The Panthers swept Coppin State in the first of the NCAA tourney, beat USC in four, swept Washington State, and then pulled off a reverse sweep to beat fifth-seeded Louisville in five.
No. 7 Texas (26-4) went 17-1 and won the Big 12 by three games. The Longhorns beat Texas A&M in four, swept SMU, beat Tennessee in five and then beat second-seeded Stanford on its home floor in four sets.
Third-seeded Wisconsin (30-3) finished second to Nebraska in the Big Ten and swept Jackson State and Miami to open the NCAA Tournament, beat Penn State in four and then beat Oregon in four.
Stats of note
Since Texas won it all in 2012, just five teams have won the title, and that includes Texas last year. Nebraska won in 2015 and 2017 and Wisconsin won in 2021. The others were Penn State in 2013 and 2014 and Stanford in 2016, ’18 and ’19.
Two of the top three offensive powers are here. While Stanford led the nation in hitting percentage (.316), Wisconsin was second (.313) and Pitt third (.308). Texas is 14th (.283) and Nebraska No. 18 (.279).
Conversely, the leaders in opponent hitting percentage face each other. Nebraska tops the nation at .134, while Pitt is second at .138. Wisconsin is fourth at .144 and Texas is not in the top 50 at .185.
Wisconsin (3.09/set), Pitt (2.97) and Texas (2.94) go 1-2-3 in blocking. Nebraska is No. 22 at .264.
Among the individual leaders are Asjia O’Neal of Texas, who is second in nation at 1.62/set, followed by No. Carter Booth of Wisconsin (1.60), No. 4 Emma Monks of Pitt (1.57) and No. 9 Becka Allick of Nebraska (1.45).
Madisen Skinner of Texas, the Big 12 player of the year, is No. 6 in kills per set (4.79). Next among the players here is No. 28 Wisconsin’s Sarah Franklin, the Big Ten player of the year, at 4.19.
Streaking: Pitt has won nine in a row, Texas has won eight in a row, Wisconsin has won seven in a row, and Nebraska has won five in a row (since losing to Wisconsin).
One player will be going for her third NCAA title. Madisen Skinner won it all as a freshman at Kentucky, then transferred and won last year at Texas.
They said it
“It will be really interesting to see how these matches are played out. You’re talking about four teams that are elite defensively. You’ve got the top three blocking teams in the country and the team that isn’t in the top three, I think they lead the country in team defense,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Think about that. But then you have people that can terminate and multiple people that can terminate from all four teams. There’s four teams that can win in more than just one way.”
Nebraska’s Merritt Beason on a USA national team for Pitt’s Dan Fisher and setter Rachel Fairbanks was a teammate.
“I loved playing for Coach Dan,” Beason said. “He was one of the few coaches that I could instantly click with in a very short amount of time. That was really, really cool. He was very good about building relationships and being very personable, even in a very short amount of time. That stood out a lot about him. And he pushed us and I loved playing for him.
“And Rachel, she’s one of a kind. She’s hilarious and a great person. And I absolutely loved playing with her. They’re both great people. Rachel’s obviously a great setter. So I’m excited to see them again and to be able to play them and kind of get another rematch like last year and kind of have another chance at that.”
Wednesday’s quote of the day: When we asked Pitt coach Dan Fisher what Nebraska had to do to beat the Panthers, he paused, thought about it, and then said: “I think mostly they’re going to have to play great defense.”
What’s next
The winners play at 3 p.m. Eastern Sunday on ABC. It’s the first time the NCAA final will be on ABC after years of being shown on Saturday night on either ESPN or ESPN2.
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