The 2022 DI Women’s Volleyball National Semifinals are set. The team will land in Omaha, Nebraska, and all games will begin on his Thursday, Dec. 15. With four teams still chasing the national title, Big Ten and Pac-12 teams will compete in the semi-finals for the first time in the entire history of the sport. Texas remains No. 1, San Diego No. 2, Pittsburgh No. 2, and Louisville No. 1. One Big 12 team, one WCC team and two ACC teams. Texas is the only team in the group to have previously won a national title.
San Diego and Louisville both have female head coaches, and both aim to make history as the first female volleyball head coach to win a national title. I never did. There are many firsts this year. Sports are growing.
Schedule and how to watch:
you can also Click or tap here for interactive brackets.
Now let’s preview the semi-final matchup. 🥁
No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 San Diego
All right, there’s a lot to unload here. Let’s start with the Texas Longhorns… after losing to Nebraska in the regional finals last year and to Kentucky for the 2020 national title, they’re back in the national semifinals. Logan Eggleston is leading this team’s final season. She averaged over her 5 points per set with her 4.23 kills per set and a .300 batting average. And she has her 41 serves her aces in the season. Maddy Skinner joins in this year and is second only to Eggleston in averaging 4 points per set. Eggleston is the Big 12 Player of the Year for her third straight season, Saige Kaaha Aina Torres is the Big 12 Setter of the Year, Zoe Fleck is the league’s Libero of the Year, and Jerrit Elliott is the coach. ninth year in his career. high load team.
I’ve said it many times before, but this team has been knocking on our door for years. They feel very similar to last season’s Wisconsin team, as they too were looking to put it all together for multiple years until POY Dana Rettke finally led them to that title in 2021. This year. The Texas difference is that they really have…a piece of everything. Attacks are very well executed by Kaahaaina Torres with so many offensive weapons. They serve very tough and can stay in the system often enough to take things from the middle ground with Asjia O’Neal, Molly Phillips, or Kayla Caffey. And they added Zoe Fleck to the backcourt this year to beef up their defense. This team has been at the top of college volleyball for years, but they really want that national title.
They will face San Diego in the national semifinals on Thursday. The last time the Longhorns faced Toreros was when Texas swept San Diego in his 2021 season opener in Austin. The August 27, 2021 game featured nine current Toreros players in the game, with four current Longhorns playing. But the difference doesn’t stop there. Gaby Blossom had yet to transition to the program, and last season the team his Texas beats were eliminated in the opening round of the tournament.
Now, the San Diego team is making history, reaching the national semifinals for the first time in show history. And by proving the Commission wrong about seeding and overthrowing #1 Stanford. Toreros had been in the top 4 or 3 for much of this season after defeating multiple ranked teams to start the campaign. Their only loss of the year came at the hands of Louisville, another No. 1 seed in the tournament. But after non-conference play, the strength of Torreros’ schedule dropped significantly more than anyone else’s. However, they matched in the bracket to face off in the regional finals. San Diego made a big statement with his five-set victory over the Cardinals.
We mentioned Blossom’s move to the program, but she made an incredible difference. She averaged 11.39 assists per set and spread the ball well into her offensive arsenal. increase. Redshirt senior Katie Rooks leads the scoring with 4.12 points per set. 325 she is right behind her with 3.89 points per set on her hits, and Breanna Edwards is averaging 3.69 points per set. In the win over Stanford, Lukes led his USD with his 20 kills, followed by senior opponents/setters Flooring and Edwards with 18 kills each to beat Stanford .283 to .253. Edwards and junior her middle her blocker Layla Blackwell set the pace for San Diego’s defense with seven total blocks each. Additionally, Blackwell also added 14 kills offensively. It takes them all to beat the Cardinals, and it will need it again against a tough and experienced Texas team.
I would like to pay attention to how these two teams will compete in the serve and pass game. Longhorns deliver a tough service and Toreros have to match.
The first semifinal matchup between Texas and San Diego will begin on Thursday, December 15 at 7:00 PM ET.
No. 2 Pittsburgh vs. No. 1 Louisville
The second matchup of the semifinals will only feature a rematch between Pitt and Louisville for the third time this season. All ACC Battle. Rivals in a meeting. Two very well-known teams with two very similar goals – to win the championship for the first time in the history of the ACC conference. This matchup at least guarantees him one ACC team in the domestic title game. Last season, both teams qualified for the national semifinals on opposite sides of the bracket, and both were knocked out as Wisconsin and Nebraska advanced to the title game.
Starting in Louisville, the Cards are back in the National Semifinals after a great season. This is another team loaded from top to bottom, headed offensively by Claire Chaussé. Shosé has a quick swing and has been a special player for this team all season. Consider he had 27 kills in his come-from-behind victory against Georgia Tech. She averages over 4 points per set while surpassing .300. But Anna DeBeer is the true leader of this team. After missing most of the season with her knee injury, she reappeared in the lineup to play from the back row towards the end of the regular season. She is now back in a big way. She led the card with 17 kills in a five-set win over Oregon to advance to the national semifinals.
The Panthers lost most of their talent from last season’s national semifinal team. We’re talking huge players like Leketor Member-Meneh, Kayla Lund and Chinaza Ndee. But Courtney Bazelio entered the equation. A move to Iowa State has had a huge impact on the Panthers this season. 329 batting average, leading the team with her 4.33 points per set. She’s a big deal that Valeria Vazquez Gomez should know too. She played a big role in this team in her 2022 as the top scorer behind Bazelio. The Panthers have her two setters and he runs a 6-2 offense, but the Card has Raquel Lazarus as his QB and he runs a 5-1 offense.
However, as mentioned above, the two teams have already met twice this season. So what have we learned? Well, they split up the series. In the first of the two matchups, Pittsburgh came out with his FIRE. They cruised through the first two sets completely and caught Louisville completely off guard. We won. All of this “slow start” happened a few times in Louisville. They were forced to come from behind against Georgia Tech later in the season, and the message was “no more” in post-game talks. The next big test was a rematch with Pitt, and Card responded quite well.
The cards dominated every aspect of the game, beating the Panthers in virtually every statistical category. 309 as a team, holding Pit to the .088 clip. They blocked the Panthers with his 12-for-5, to which the Panthers posted his ace with eight serves. Besides, the card totaled 32 digs, and he registered seven fewer offensive errors compared to 22 digs in the pits. Pitt struggled in the serve and pass game—Louisville came out aggressively from the service line and Pitt couldn’t find a strong rhythm, as Claire Chaussee hit . He took the lead, followed by Nena Mbonu with eight kills. It also didn’t have DeBeer as a major threat.
However, Pitt was dominant throughout the postseason. They beat him to one of the hottest teams in the NCAA with his five-set victory over Wisconsin in the regional final. 213 batting average with 18 kills, followed by Chiamaka Nuwocoro and Vazquez Gomez with 12 and 11 respectively. Serena Gray scored his 9 kills with a strong hitting efficiency of . 320 in 5 blocks. The biggest difference, though, is clutch time. The Badgers were in the middle of a 6-0 run at the end of the fifth set with the whole gym on the side of the net and the Panthers still made it through. Bazelio and Vazquez-Gómez teamed up in his 3-0 duo to win the fifth set, defeating the defending champion with his one. This is not the same team that was hit by Louisville near the end of the season. Whose match could it be?
The winner of each semifinal will advance to the National Championship on ESPN on Saturday, December 17th.
