Every NCAA Division I volleyball conference will be decided Friday or Saturday, two days that promise plenty of drama as four conference tournaments are competed and the regular-season comes to a close.
All eyes will be on the Big Ten, as Wisconsin (23-3, 17-1) and Nebraska (24-3, 16-2) battle for the conference title and a top-four seed, while Ohio State (19-7, 15-3) holds out hope to stay in the mix.
Third-ranked Wisconsin, which has won 16 in a row, goes to No. 5 Nebraska and No. 8 Ohio State, coming off back-to-back losses to unranked Maryland and Indiana, is home for No. 9 Minnesota. Wisconsin won the first match with Nebraska 25-23, 25-23, 25-18, and Ohio State swept at Minnesota on October 12.
No. 19 Purdue is at No. 11 Penn State in a big seeding match for both teams, Maryland is at Indiana, Rutgers is at Michigan and Illinois is at Northwestern.
The drama continues Saturday when Wisconsin goes to Ohio State and Minnesota goes to Nebraska.
The Mountain West became a two-bid league when runaway regular-season leader UNLV was upset in the MWC Championship by Utah State. That means that the Rebels will get an at-large bid and the tournament winner Friday, either second-seeded San Jose State or fourth-seeded Utah State, will be the conference’s automatic bid.
In the American Athletic Conference. No. 22 Houston (28-2, 19-0) plays at No. 23 UCF (26-1, 18-1). Houston has won 20 in a row since lost in four at Texas and beat UCF in four at home on October 7. UCF has won 14 in a row since. Both teams will get in but the winner will be in the hunt for a top-16 seed.
Hawai’i holds a two-game lead on UC Santa Barbara and can clinch the Big West title and its automatic bid when the Rainbow Wahine play at UCSB. If UCSB wins, the race will be decided Saturday when Hawai’i goes to CSUN.
Stanford clinched the Pac-12 title, but plenty is on the line in every match Friday. The sixth-ranked Cardinal is home for Cal, while No. 10 Oregon tries to solidify its top-16 standing against visiting Oregon State. That will be the last match for exiting coach Mark Barnard. Visiting No. 24 Washington and No. 25 Washington State are playing for seeding, and so is USC when it entertains UCLA. And Colorado puts its at-large hopes on the line…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Volleyballmag.com…