BYU girls’s volleyball head coach Heather Olmstead celebrates after successful towards Utah in an NCAA volleyball recreation at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. Shafkat Anowar, Deseret Information
Not counting the pandemic-altered 2020-21 spring season when the NCAA Division I Ladies’s Volleyball Event was held at a completely impartial web site, BYU has began the event on its dwelling courtroom in Provo yearly since 2014.
What occurred that 12 months?
The Cougars didn’t obtain one of many prime 16 seeds for the event and needed to start postseason play on the street in Tucson, Arizona. They knocked off Seton Corridor and Arizona in Tucson, then moved on to Seattle and defeated Florida State and Nebraska.
“I feel we’re taking part in a few of our greatest volleyball, and we're excited to match up towards an excellent JMU workforce. I do know they're an excellent workforce, they usually have good coaches. Lauren (Steinbrecher) is an efficient coach, so they are going to be able to go.” — BYU girls’s volleyball coach Heather Olmstead
Within the Ultimate 4 that 12 months in Oklahoma Metropolis, they downed Texas in a nationwide semifinal match earlier than falling to No. 4 seed Penn State within the championship match.
That brings us to 2022. Ranked No. 18 within the AVCA ballot, the Cougars (21-6, 15-3) didn’t obtain a prime 16 seed and due to this fact are out on the street for the event’s first weekend for the primary time since that magical run eight years in the past.
Coach Heather Olmstead’s West Coast Convention runner-up faces Solar Belt champion James Madison (24-4, 15-1) in a first-round matchup Friday afternoon (2 p.m. MST) on the Petersen Occasions Heart on the College of Pittsburgh campus.
The winner of the BYU-JMU match will meet the winner of the Pitt-Colgate match on Saturday at 5 p.m. MST.
Though the Cougars would clearly quite be taking part in at dwelling, Olmstead stated making the event for the eleventh straight 12 months continues to be an enormous accomplishment. It's BYU’s thirty fifth total look in NCAA championships.
“We're tremendous excited to be within the NCAA Event,” Olmstead stated. “I feel our workforce has completed an amazing job this season. I'm pleased with the work that they’ve completed to get so far, how resilient our group has been, how we’ve stayed collectively and (how) we simply maintain getting higher because the season goes on.”
BYU has gained or completed runner-up within the WCC in all eight of Olmstead’s seasons in Provo. San Diego (27-1, 18-0) gained the WCC this 12 months and earned a No. 2 seed within the NCAAs and the fitting to host first- and second-round matches.
Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine are additionally within the event, probably the most (4) groups within the nationwide tourney for the WCC since 5 made it in 2018.
Olmstead stated the WCC continues to be one of many prime girls’s volleyball conferences within the nation; Subsequent 12 months, BYU will compete within the Large 12, which has 5 groups within the 64-team subject, together with No. 1 total seed Texas.
Regional play for groups successful two matches this weekend is on Dec. 8 and 10. The regional champions will play within the nationwide semifinals on Dec. 15 at CHI Well being Heart in Omaha, Nebraska.
The championship match is on Dec. 17 and shall be televised by ESPN2.
Don’t rule out the Cougars, who've taken this route earlier than.
“I feel we’re taking part in a few of our greatest volleyball, and we're excited to match up towards an excellent JMU workforce,” Olmstead stated.
“I do know they're an excellent workforce, they usually have good coaches. Lauren (Steinbrecher) is an efficient coach, so they are going to be able to go.”
Seventh-ranked Pitt (27-3, 17-1) gained the ACC championship for the fourth time within the final six seasons and will have a simple time with Colgate.
The Panthers downed BYU 3-1 on Sept. 3 in Provo within the BYU-Nike Invitational.
“Our workforce has been placing within the work this complete season, and there's no higher place to go than to Pitt for the primary spherical and play JMU,” stated BYU center blocker Heather Gneiting.
“We're able to take it one recreation at a time and are simply grateful for the chance to play on daily basis.”
The Cougars are No. 5 within the nation in workforce hitting proportion (.297) and No. 18 in kills per set (14.02).
James Madison has gained 15 straight matches and is led by Miette Veldman and Sophie Davis, who've 416 and 314 kills, respectively.
“The event has a ton of fine groups in it,” stated BYU junior outdoors hitter Erin Livingston. “We’re comfortable to be one among them. We’re able to go.”
BYU has superior to the Candy 16 or higher in 9 of its final 10 seasons. The Cougars are 54-34 all-time within the event and have a 23-5 document in first-round matches.