2022 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament

2022 NCAA women's Division I volleyball tournament
Finals siteCHI Health Center Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
ChampionsTexas (3rd NCAA (4th national) title)
Runner-upLouisville (1st title match)
Semifinalists
Winning coachJerritt Elliott (2nd title)
Most outstanding playerLogan Eggleston (Texas)
Final Four All-Tournament TeamSaige Ka'aha'aina-Torres (Texas)
Asjia O'Neal (Texas)
Madisen Skinner (Texas)
Claire Chaussee (Louisville)
Anna DeBeer (Louisville)
Aiko Jones (Louisville)
«2021  2023»

The 2022 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 64 teams that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's volleyball national champion for the 2022 season. The 42nd edition of the tournament began on December 1, 2022, in various college campuses across the country, location determinations were chosen based on participating teams seedings. The tournament concluded with the championship game at CHI Health Center in Omaha on December 17, when Texas defeated Louisville 3–0. The win gave Texas its 4th national title and first since 2012.

The 2022 NCAA tournament was the first time that 32 teams were seeded (previously, only 16 national seeds were awarded).[1] For the first time since 2013, Texas earned the number 1 overall seed.[2] Louisville,[3] defending 2021 NCAA champion Wisconsin,[4] and Stanford,[5] rounded out the overall number 2–4 national seeds. Penn State, the no. 4 regional seed in the Wisconsin bracket, earned its 42nd straight bid to the NCAA tournament, remaining the only Division I team to participate in every NCAA tournament since its inception in 1981.[6]

Among the Power Five conferences, the SEC led all conferences with seven bids,[7] followed by the Big Ten and Pac-12 with six each,[6][5] and the ACC and Big 12 with five each.[8][9]

Throughout the first two rounds of play, only one top four regional seeded team failed to advance to the Sweet 16 (No. 4 Creighton in the Stanford regional). The Big Ten conference recorded the best win/loss record in the first two rounds, going 11–1 in matches played and advancing 5 of 6 teams to the Sweet 16. Additionally, only three non-Power five conference teams advanced past the second round (San Diego, Marquette, and Houston).[10] The wins gave Houston the program's first NCAA tournament match win since the 1994 tournament.[11]

Texas, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and San Diego advanced to the final four. Pittsburgh's upset win over Wisconsin and Texas's defeat of Ohio State snapped a 14-year streak of at least one Big Ten conference team in the final four. Stanford and Oregon's losses also shut out the Pac-12 from advancing, marking the first time in the 42-year history of the NCAA tournament that no final four teams came from the Big Ten or Pac 12 conference.[12] San Diego advanced to its first final four in school history after upsetting Stanford 3–2. Louisville and Pittsburgh advanced to its second straight final four, setting up a rematch between the ACC foes; they split their regular season matches, handing each other its only conference loss of the season as they ultimately won a share of the conference title.[13]

  1. ^ "2022 NCAA volleyball tournament: Bracket, schedule, scores for the DI women's championship".
  2. ^ "Longhorns awarded No. 1 seed in NCAA volleyball tournament, hosts Fairleigh Dickinson in 1st match". November 28, 2022.
  3. ^ "Louisville Earns No. 2 Overall Seed and Will Host Samford in NCAA First Round".
  4. ^ "NCAA Bound: Badgers earn top regional seed".
  5. ^ a b "Stanford earns No. 4 national seed to highlight Pac-12 women's volleyball's six 2022 NCAA Tournament teams". Archived from the original on November 28, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Six Big Ten Schools Selected For NCAA Volleyball Tournament". Archived from the original on November 28, 2022.
  7. ^ "Seven Teams to Compete in NCAA Volleyball Championship".
  8. ^ "Five ACC Teams Headed to 2022 NCAA Championship".
  9. ^ "Five Big 12 Teams Selected to 2022 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship".
  10. ^ "The remaining 16 teams in the DI women's volleyball tournament, re-ranked before the 2022 regionals".
  11. ^ "WATCH: Houston volleyball player dives over a table vs. South Dakota during crazy rally in NCAA tournament".
  12. ^ "DIVISION I WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS BOOK" (PDF).
  13. ^ "2022 Women's Volleyball Standings".