In a season where records for attendance keep getting broken, more and more games are on national television and new faces and blue-bloods are battling it out heading into the meat of conference play, the college volleyball season is heating up.
Here are some of the top storylines as we hit midterm season.
Super conference? But maybe not how you expected it
Much ink has been spilled about conference realignment in college athletics, but most of the focus has been on how it affects different fall sports. But the changes to the conferences have added more great teams to a conference emerging as a volleyball destination: the ACC.
As Louisville and Pitt have emerged as burgeoning powerhouses over the past few seasons, the ACC’s new additions of Stanford and SMU have brought a historic blue-blood and a sudden upstart into what should be a fascinating conference race.
The conference has seven of the AVCA’s Top 25, including two top four teams in No. 1 Pitt and No. 4 Louisville — No. 5 Stanford, No. 12 SMU, No. 17 Georgia Tech, No. 19 Florida State and No. 25 North Carolina fill out the rankings.
The Panthers have been the story of the season, with only one loss on the season and a recent sweep of Stanford that propelled them to the top of the rankings. Sophomores Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford are an incredible attacking duo while veteran Valeria Vazquez Gomez adds another attacking great option for Pitt.
Louisville and Stanford both boast impressive out-of-conference wins on the season, but perhaps no team boasts a better non-conference win than SMU Mustangs. The Ponies gave the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers their only loss on the season in a 3-0 sweep in September. SMU also beat Pitt for their only loss on Oct. 12. The Mustangs’ offense is led by Naya Shime and Maya Tabron who have both averaged over 3 kills per set.
While Louisville is in the drivers’ seat in the conference race at this point with an unbeaten record in the ACC, the Cards and Panthers (one conference loss) will face off twice before the end of the season — including a huge match in Pittsburgh Friday night.
That’s not to mention the UNC Tarheels, who have just one conference loss to tie the Panthers in second place. Although they have yet to beat a ranked team, the Heels host FSU and Miami this weekend and still have Louisville, Pitt, SMU and Stanford on the schedule.
Meanwhile, SMU (two conference losses) hosts the Cards on Sunday at Moody Coliseum, where they’ve already defeated the Panthers and Huskers. And Stanford (two losses) will host Louisville to close out the season.
All of that is to say, the ACC has a lot of great matchups left on its slate to see who will win the title.
Blue-Bloods rise in the Big Ten
Two of the most historic programs in college volleyball are Penn State and Nebraska.
With the standards they have set — seven national titles for Penn State, five for Nebraska — it makes sense their seasons are judged by titles, not just Top 10 finishes. But PSU hasn’t won a national title since 2014 or a conference title since 2017. Last year, the Huskers finally broke through for a Big Ten title, breaking a four-year run of conference crowns for Wisconsin, yet Nebraska hasn’t won a national title since 2017.
All that is to say the road to the Big Ten title — and national title shot — likely will pass through Happy Valley and Lincoln this season. The two blue-bloods are so far 8-0 in conference and 18-1 overall, with each squad boasting huge wins in the young season.
The Huskers are once again loaded, returning the majority of the team that reached the national championship last season. Meanwhile, Penn State has the leading kill-getter in the Big Ten in Jess Mruzik and have added freshman sensation Izzy Starck who has been a great setter for the Nittany Lions.
The Huskers and the Nittany Lions will face each other on November 29 in a match that could decide the Big Ten. But the Wisconsin Badgers, who are 7-1 in Big Ten play, will have something to say in deciding the winner. The Badgers will take on Nebraska twice, while Penn State has to travel to Madison for a key match in November as well.
Can Texas three-peat?
Somehow, the two-time reigning national champion has been a bit quiet.
After a solid non-conference schedule that included wins over ranked Wisconsin and Baylor, the Texas Longhorns and Madisen Skinner are the leaders in their new conference (SEC) with an unbeaten conference record and straight-set victories over the conference’s two ranked foes.
Yet while the SEC clearly has a lot of muscle in football, the path for Texas in volleyball is not the same as other highly ranked teams in the Big Ten, ACC and even their old conference the Big 12. As it stands, Texas will face no other ranked teams the rest of the way — though Auburn is just outside the rankings also receiving votes.
Could that mean the Horns aren’t as battle-tested as other opponents? Could the strength of schedule, or lack thereof, mean the reigning champs get lower than a four-seed and will not have the chance to host multiple rounds of the NCAA tournament? Potentially.
What I can answer: Madisen Skinner is arguably the best player in the country, Jenna Wenaas is emerging as a super reliable second option and they have a clear championship pedigree. But it will be interesting to note how playing in a weaker conference for volleyball might affect Texas in the tournament.
Undefeated watch
For our last entry, we head all the way up to Brookings, South Dakota and see a team that still has a zero in their L-column.
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are hanging on to a 18-0 record and a 7-0 record in Summit League play so far this season.
The Jackrabbits are led by sophomore outside hitter Sylvie Zgonc from Hartford, Wisconsin. She has a whopping 4.29 kills per set and has finished only one game this season not hitting in double figures — a September 6 match against UIC where she had nine (so close). Zgonc also leads the team in digs for a team that isn’t afraid to get on the ground as five players have over 100 digs on the season.
On the other side of the defense, middle blockers Sydni Schetnan, Madison Burr and Alyssa Groves each average at least a block per set for the balanced Jackrabbits.
Not bad for a team that last season finished 9-20.
