“Big day for volleyball” as NCAA championship match moves to Sunday on ABC

NCAA women’s volleyball just got a big boost from ESPN and ABC.

The national-championship match, traditionally played on Saturday night and shown on either ESPN or ESPN2, will move to Sunday afternoon on ABC.

This year’s national semifinals, final and coinciding American Volleyball Coaches Association convention are in Tampa.

“The move to ABC is incredible for the sport of women’s volleyball,” said Stanford coach Kevin Hambly, who coached Illinois in the 2011 national-title match and won with Stanford in 2018 and 2019. “This opens us up to every television and streamer in the country.

“The number of potential casual viewers moves to the tens of millions. I know all of the coaches are over the moon with excitement by ABC’s commitment to volleyball.”

Kelly Sheffield, the Wisconsin coach whose Badgers won the 2021 NCAA title and who has coached in the 2013 and 2019 finals, has been outspoken about volleyball getting better TV exposure.

“I think everyone who closely follows this sport would agree, ‘it’s about damn time.’ This is really important,” Sheffield said. I have no concerns about people staying an extra day for the finals … it’s the championship!

“The increase in the number of households this will reach who previously couldn’t access it will be huge. If it’s promoted the right way I wouldn’t be surprised to see two or three times more viewers than we’ve ever had. Big day for volleyball with this news!”

Here is the news release from ESPN:

ESPN and the NCAA have announced that the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3 p.m. ET. The semifinals will remain on Thursday, Dec. 14 on ESPN, with the first semifinal airing at 7 p.m. and the second semifinal airing 30 minutes after the completion of the first.  

“NCAA women’s volleyball has been a focus of our overall growth efforts for some time now as we continue to build upon our deep commitment to women’s sports, and moving the championship to ABC is the next step in that strategy,” said Dan Margulis, ESPN senior director, Programming & Acquisitions. “With the additional coverage on our college networks and ESPN+ over the past several years, we now carry more than 2,500 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball matches each season. Adding ABC to the line-up will enhance our efforts to grow a sport with incredible talent and an already extremely loyal…