There were only three NCAA Division I volleyball matches Tuesday, but all three had major storylines.
Third-seeded South Dakota, which lost to South Dakota State in both of their Summit League regular season meetings, knocked off the top-seeded Jackrabbits in five sets to claim its fifth NCAA Tournament bid in seven years. South Dakota State, No. 30 in the unofficial RPI, will get an at-large bid.
In the Missouri Valley, top-seeded Northern Iowa won the first two sets, lost the third to third-seeded UIC and then trailed 23-15 in the fourth before coming away with a 25-22, 25-20, 16-25, 272-5 victory. UNI, which has won 20 matches in a row, is back in the NCAA tourney for the 20th time and third consecutive year.
And in the Ohio Valley, fourth-seeded Morehead State is headed to the NCAA Tournament despite getting swept by second-seeded Lindenwood. That’s because Lindenwood, in its second year in Division I, is not eligible for NCAA play.
Wednesday’s schedule includes the start of four tournaments, the Big East, Big Sky, Big West and Mountain West.
The matches of the day are in the ACC, where No. 1 Pittsburgh goes No. 3 Louisville in what has become one of greatest rivalries in the college game, No. 6 Stanford is at No. 19 Georgia Tech and No. 9 SMU is at No. 21 Florida State.
There’s another coaching opening, this one in the WAC.
It’s all in this NCAA edition of Volleyball Today.
NCAA volleyball Wednesday
Last season, Pittsburgh, en route to its third NCAA national semifinal in a row, pulled a reverse sweep over Louisville in the regular season and then did it again in the regional final. In their earlier regular-season meeting, at Pitt on October 25, Pitt won in five again, 25-21, 26-28, 25-17, 22-25, 15-12.
Pitt (27-1, 17-1), which has won 12 matches in a row, and Louisville (25-3, 17-1), which has won nine in a row, are tied for first in the ACC. Stanford (23-4, 15-3), which has won seven in a row, and SMU (23-6, 15-3), which has won eight in a row, are tied for third.
Also in the ACC, in addition to the previously mentioned matches of No. 6 Stanford at No. 19 Georgia Tech and No. 9 SMU at No. 21 Florida State, No. 25 North Carolina is home for Virginia, Cal is at Syracuse, Clemson is at Boston College, Miami is at NC State,
Wake Forest is at Duke and Notre Dame is at Virginia Tech.
There are eight matches in the Big Ten, highlighted by No. 10 Purdue at No. 14 Oregon. Fourth-ranked Penn State is at Rutgers, No. 6 Wisconsin is home for Ohio State,…
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