Welcome to Big10-ACC Volleyball Invitational

[Appa23]

Tonight is the semifinals of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament. This year, the ACC made a strong push to be considered the 2nd best league for women’s volleyball.

So, tonight it is Louisville v Wisconsin and then Pittsburgh v Nebraska on ESPN, live from Columbus.

Lots of chances for history to be made. This is only the 2nd and 3rd times that an ACC school has made the Final Four. No school has won the championship. (Kentucky became the first SEC school to win it all last year.) If Louisville wins, then Dani Busboom will be the first female head coach to win the title. She also would be the first person to win titles as player, asst coach, and head coach. (She has previous titles from her time at Nebraska.)

You also can see some of the future US Olympic volleyball team members.

[Appa23]

Meant to note that SSS’s beloved Ga Tech made the Elite Eight this year.

[earendel]

Tonight is the semifinals of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament. This year, the ACC made a strong push to be considered the 2nd best league for women’s volleyball.

So, tonight it is Louisville v Wisconsin and then Pittsburgh v Nebraska on ESPN, live from Columbus.

Lots of chances for history to be made. This is only the 2nd and 3rd times that an ACC school has made the Final Four. No school has won the championship. (Kentucky became the first SEC school to win it all last year.) If Louisville wins, then Dani Busboom will be the first female head coach to win the title. She also would be the first person to win titles as player, asst coach, and head coach. (She has previous titles from her time at Nebraska.)

You also can see some of the future US Olympic volleyball team members.

GO CARDS!!!

[Appa23]

Big Ten 2
ACC 0

It will be Nebraska v Wisconsin, with Nebraska looking for its 6th title, and Wisconsin will be looking for its 1st.

As Louisville's coach (Dani Busboom Kelly) is a friend of a friend, I was cheering for Louisville to win, but I am glad that there will not be the awkwardness of having to play "one of the family" for Nebraska.

[silverscreenselect]

Meant to note that SSS’s beloved Ga Tech made the Elite Eight this year.

The day that Georgia Tech made it to the Elite Eight was the same day that our women's basketball team beat Connecticut, putting an end to their 239-game winning streak against unranked opponents (we later beat Top 20 Georgia as well). Unfortunately, it became a very sad day a few hours later when we learned that Demaryius Thomas had died.

It's still a great accomplishment for Tech volleyball.

[Appa23]

Might as well close out this thread.

Congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers, who won a match for the ages and its first national title. 22-25, 31-29, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12, Overall, that is 116-114, which makes it as close to an even match over 5 games (with 3 deuce games) that you can have.

Don't cry for Nebraska -- they have three freshmen starters returning, including the best libero in the nation, with the new setter being another freshman who helped the USA win its first U18 world title last year and another highly ranked recruiting class coming into Lincoln. Plus, the Final Four returns to Omaha in 2022.

[SportsFan68]

The Final Four matches, then the final, were the most enjoyable sporting events I've watched on television all year.

Since Wisconsin hadn't won before, and since my high school uses "On Wisconsin!" as a fight song, I was cheering for Wisconsin. Yeah, pretty lame, I know. SteelersFan was cheering for Nebraska because that's where Penny is from. Again, pretty lame . . .

No matter which team you were cheering for, it was a great match.