Eight matches Thursday: Breaking down the NCAA volleyball round of 16

There are 16 teams left in the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball tournament and they have a combined 75 losses.

The majority of them — with some notable exceptions — are to other teams in this remaining round of 16.

For example, No. 1 Nebraska’s loss was to No. 3 Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s were only in the Big Ten, to Nebraska, No. 11 Purdue and Penn State.

Second-ranked Stanford lost to Florida in August, to Nebraska in September and then only to Arizona State in the Pac-12.

Three of those 75 losses came on the first day of the season, way back on August 25, when No. 4 Pittsburgh lost in four to BYU at Montana, defending national-champion No. 7 Texas lost in four at Long Beach State and No. 8 Kentucky lost in four at Colorado State. 

Our headline the next day:

“Upsets — Long Beach stuns Texas — and surprises on NCAA first day like no other”

It set the tone for a season in which anything could — and would — happen.

In our story that day:

“A reminder that it was the first day of a long season, one that is always a marathon and not a sprint. The top teams, especially, should be commended for playing each other and giving themselves and NCAA volleyball fans a high quality schedule to start the season.”

With that, here is the chronological TV lineup for Thursday’s NCAA tourney round of 16. A breakdown of each match follows:

NCAA tourney round of 16

All times Eastern
No. 5 Louisville (26-4) vs. No. 12 Creighton (29-4), noon, ESPN2 
No. 1 Nebraska (30-1) vs. Georgia Tech (24-6), 2 p.m., ESPN2
No. 4 Pittsburgh (27-4) vs. No. 13 Washington State (26-7), 2:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 8 Kentucky (21-7) vs. No. 9 Arkansas (27-5), 4:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 3 Wisconsin (28-3) vs. Penn State (23-8), 7 p.m., ESPN2
No. 7 Texas (24-4) vs. No. 10 Tennessee (26-4), 9 p.m., ESPN2
No. 6 Oregon (28-5) vs. No. 11 Purdue (23-8), 9:30 p.m., ESPNU
No. 2 Stanford (28-3) vs. Arizona State (28-6), 11:30 p.m., ESPNU

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