The NCAA women’s volleyball season starts in two weeks and teams are a few days into practice with an eye on what should be a blockbuster opening weekend.
ESPN has announced its volleyball schedule for its family of network, including matches on ESPN2, ESPNU, the ACC Network, the SEC Network and Longhorn Network.
Four of the Power 5 have announced their preseason all-conference teams and coaches’ picks for order of finish, and we have some links to some of the fun teams have been having in the first week of practice.
ESPN volleyball coverage
Most of the matches, of course, will be seen this season on ESPN+. But on the networks, things get going August 26 with Troy at Georgia on the SEC Network. The next day, the SEC Network has San Diego at Texas A&M, and on Sunday Ohio at Kentucky. There are two showcase matches later that week with Stanford at Florida on the SEC on Tuesday and Minnesota at Texas on Wednesday on the Longhorn Network.
Other matches of note on ESPNU throughout the season: Louisville at Kentucky on September 14, Nebraska at Kentucky on September 18, Washington at UCLA on September 25, Stanford at Utah on October 9, Oregon at UCLA on October 16, and San Diego at BYU on November 22.
There are only four Big Ten matches on ESPNU: Rutgers at Illinois on October 12, Minnesota at Iowa on October 19, and Michigan at Ohio State on October 26.
Wisconsin plays at Michigan on October 23 on ESPN2.
ESPN’s coverage includes play-by-play by Jay Alter, Kevin Barnett, Krista Blunk, Drew Carter, Tyler Denning, Eric Frede, Sam Gore, Alex Loeb, Courtney Lyle, Bill Spaulding and Paul Sunderland.
The list of analysts includes VBM contributor Emily Ehman, Nicole Branagh, Kelly Burke, Shelby Coppedge, Amy Gant, Katie George, Jennifer Hoffman, Holly McPeak, Courtney Thompson, Missy Whittemore and Christine Williamson.
Here’s a link to the ESPN news release with the complete broadcast schedule.
About that opening weekend
The showcase matches have perennial Big 12 power Texas at the Big Ten’s Ohio State on back-to-back nights. Don’t be surprised to see a rematch very late in the NCAA Tournament.
The B1G’s Minnesota goes to the Big 12’s Baylor and TCU and the B1G’s Purdue plays at Tennessee against MAC-champion Bowling Green. The Boilermakers also play Tennessee, which should contend for the SEC title.
The ACC’s Pitt goes to Texas A&M, where it plays the WCC’s San Diego and the Big West’s Hawai’i, the…
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