The college volleyball season is in full swing as attendance records continue to be broken, more games are shown on national television, and new faces and talented players compete for the core of conference play. It is tinged with.
Here are some of the major storylines heading into the midseason.
Super meeting? But maybe it's not what you expected
There's been a lot of talk about conference realignment in college athletics, but what's garnering the most attention is how it will affect various fall sports. However, conference changes have added more good teams to the ACC, a conference that has emerged as a destination for volleyball.
While Louisville and Pitt have emerged as fast-rising powerhouses over the past few seasons, the addition of Stanford and SMU to the ACC has given historic blue bloodlines and sudden rise to an otherwise attractive conference. Brought to the races.
The conference features seven of the AVCA's top 25 teams, including two of the top four teams, No. 1 Pitt and No. 4 Louisville (No. 5 Stanford, No. 12 SMU, and No. 17 Georgia Tech). University, 19th place Florida State University, 1st place Florida State University). 25 North Carolina states fill out the rankings.
The Panthers have been the talk of the season, crushing Stanford with just one loss of the season and rocketing to the top of the standings. Sophomores Olivia Babcock and Torrey Stafford are an incredible offensive duo, and veteran Valeria Vazquez-Gomez adds another great offensive option for Pitt.
Louisville and Stanford both boast impressive non-conference wins this season, but perhaps no team boasts more non-conference wins than the SMU Mustangs. The Ponies suffered their only loss of the season in September, a 3-0 sweep to the No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers. SMU also defeated Pitt in its only loss in an Oct. 12 game. The Mustangs' offense is led by Naya Sime and Maya Tabron, both of whom are averaging over three kills a set.
Louisville currently leads the conference race with an undefeated ACC record, but the Cards and Panthers (one loss in conference) will face each other twice before the season ends — including Friday in Pittsburgh. A night that also includes a big match.
Not to mention the UNC Tarheels, who are tied for second place with the Panthers in the conference with just one loss. Although they have yet to win against a ranked team, the Heels host FSU and Miami this weekend, and the schedule still includes Louisville, Pitt, SMU, and Stanford.
Meanwhile, SMU (2 losses in conference) hosts the Cards at Moody Coliseum on Sunday and has already defeated the Panthers and Huskers. And Stanford (2 losses) hosts Louisville to close out the season.
That means there are a lot of great matchups left in the ACC to see who will win the title.
Bluebloods rise to the Big Ten
Two of the oldest programs in college volleyball are Penn State and Nebraska.
Given the standard they set (seven national titles at Penn State and five at Nebraska), it's no surprise that their seasons will be measured by titles, not just top-10 finishes. However, PSU hasn't won a national title since 2014 or a conference title since 2017. While the Huskers finally broke through to the Big Ten title last year, breaking Wisconsin's four-year record for conference championships, Nebraska has yet to win one. First domestic title since 2017.
That means the road to a Big Ten title and a national title will likely pass through Happy Valley and Lincoln this season. The two bluebloods are 8-0 in conference play and 18-1 overall, with each team boasting big wins in their young seasons.
The Huskers are loaded again, with the majority of the team that reached the national championship last season returning. Meanwhile, Penn State has one of the Big Ten's best kill-getters in Jess Murzik and added freshman sensation Izzy Stark, who was a great setter with the Nittany Lions.
The Huskers and Nittany Lions will meet on Nov. 29 in a game that could decide the Big Ten. But the Wisconsin Badgers, who are 7-1 in Big Ten play, will have something to say in determining the winner. The Badgers will play Nebraska twice, while Penn State also has to travel to Madison for a key game in November.
Can Texas get a three-peat?
For some reason, the two-time reigning national champion has been a little quiet.
After a solid non-conference schedule that included wins over top-ranked Wisconsin and Baylor, the Texas Longhorns and Madisen Skinner are the new SEC leaders with an undefeated conference record and straight-up wins over the conference's top two ranked teams. It becomes.
But while the SEC clearly has a lot of power in football, the path for Texas in volleyball is not the same as other top teams in the Big Ten, ACC or even the older conference, the Big 12. There are no other ranked teams in the rest. However, Auburn is also outside of the rankings and receiving votes.
Does that mean the Horns don't have as much fighting experience as other opponents? The strength of the schedule, or lack thereof, could put the reigning champions lower than the No. 4 seed and force them into multiple rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Does that mean there will be no more hosting opportunities? Potentially.
What I can answer: Madisen Skinner is arguably the best player in the country, Jenna Wenas has emerged as a very reliable second option, and they have clear championship pedigree. But it will be interesting to see how playing in a weaker volleyball conference will affect Texas in the tournament.
undefeated watch
For our final entry, we head to Brookings, South Dakota to see which teams still have zeros in column L.
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits are 18-0 and 7-0 in the Summit League so far this season.
The Jackrabbits are led by sophomore outside hitter Sylvie Zgonk from Hartford, Wisconsin. She has an impressive 4.29 kills per set, but there has only been one game this season in which she didn't hit double digits — on September 6th, when she scored nine goals (a close second). It's a game against UIC. Zgonc also leads the team in digs on a team that is not afraid to get on the ground, as five players have more than 100 digs in a season.
On the other side of the defense, middle blockers Sydney Shetnan, Madison Barr and Alyssa Groves are well-rounded Jackrabbits, each averaging at least one block per set.
Not bad for a team that finished last season with 9 wins and 20 losses.
