It’s right here. The 2025 Division I ladies’s faculty volleyball season is upon us.
And now, an offseason stuffed with questions can start to be answered.
Can Penn State, after graduating 5 seniors, defend its title? Will Dani Busboom Kelly ensure that Nebraska lives as much as the preseason hype? Can Dan Meske preserve momentum rolling at Louisville? Can reigning Nationwide Participant of the 12 months Olivia Babcock lastly assist Pitt breakthrough and attain the title recreation? After combing the switch portal, will SMU and Wisconsin proceed to take steps ahead? Will Torrey Stafford propel Texas again into the Closing 4? What different transfers will make an impression? What new stars will emerge?
As curiosity in ladies’s faculty volleyball has grown, tv networks have began to take discover. Two years in the past, FOX began utilizing Massive Ten video games as lead-ins to NFL clashes. The mixture outcome, in keeping with Entrance Workplace Sports activities, was 1.7 million viewers, the most-watched regular-season volleyball window of all time. So FOX elevated its volleyball choices final 12 months throughout its platforms, broadcasting 18 common season video games. Different networks are airing faculty volleyball too, from NBC’s Peacock to ESPN. Final 12 months’s title recreation between Penn State and Louisville peaked at 1.9 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched title recreation of all time. As we’ve discovered with many ladies’s sports activities, if the parents in energy put these video games on an accessible platforms, individuals will watch.
So, faculty volleyball is less complicated to seek out and watch than maybe ever earlier than, whether or not you’re flipping by channels or streaming.
Listed here are 4 video games which are price tuning into this weekend:
No. 3 Pitt vs. No. 1 Nebraska
Friday, 7 p.m. ET — FOX
The AVCA First Serve Showcase begins Friday when two groups who made the Closing 4 final season face off in Lincoln, Nebraska. The bus driver for Pitt, Olivia Babcock, returns, however the Panthers have some new faces within the lineup. In the meantime, whereas Nebraska has a brand new head coach, it didn’t lose any gamers within the switch portal and introduced in a formidable recruiting class. On-paper, this seems like an excellent table-setter for the season. And it’s extremely attainable that we see these two groups face-off within the NCAA Event.
No. 12 Creighton vs. No. 2 Penn State
Saturday, 5 p.m. ET — FS1
Penn State misplaced some key gamers to commencement from its nationwide title workforce, however they convey again Nationwide Freshman of the 12 months Izzy Starck and introduced in some switch portal reinforcements like two-time All-American Kennedy Martin. A mid-major energy within the sport, Creighton is aiming to make its 14th consecutive NCAA Event this season underneath first-year coach Brian Rosen. Cal setter Annalea Maeder and Wisconsin libero Saige Damrow are among the many key incoming transfers for the Bluejays.
No. 6 Stanford vs. No. 1 Nebraska
Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET — ESPN
Nebraska will get its second ranked opponent take a look at on Sunday when it clashes with the Cardinal. This weekend, followers will get their first have a look at Logan Parks, a Stanford freshman who comes into this season with a number of hype. A longtime energy within the sport, a NCAA Division I volleyball event has by no means been performed with out Stanford in it. This must be a stable measuring-stick take a look at for each squads.
No. 11 Minnesota vs. No. 9 Texas A&M
Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET — Massive Ten Community
Coming off a visit to the Candy 16, and with their highest preseason rating ever within the historical past of the AVCA ballot, that is the primary of seven nationally televised matches that the Aggies will play on this season. Texas A&M returns 11 gamers from final 12 months’s workforce, added a robust freshman class, and introduced in Baylor switch Kyndal Stowers. The Gophers are coming off a season the place they notched wins over high 10 applications like Texas and Wisconsin, after which superior to the second spherical of the NCAA Event. Senior exterior hitters Julia Hanson and Mckenna Wucherer, each preseason All-Massive Ten honorees, anchor a squad that’s missed the postseason simply as soon as since 1999.