2021 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament

The 2021 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament began on December 2, 2021, and ended on December 18, 2021, to determine the Division I National Champion in women's volleyball. Wisconsin won its first NCAA national championship by defeating Big Ten rival Nebraska 3–2. The championship match was played in front of an NCAA record crowd of 18,755.

The Final Four was held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The national semifinals were held on December 16 and the championship match was held on December 18.

Kentucky, from the Southeastern Conference, was the defending national champion. The Wildcats were eliminated in the second round to Illinois.

The tournament saw a particularly successful run by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Louisville, having gone a perfect 28–0 in the regular season, earned the first number one overall seed in conference history. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh earned the number three seed, its first top four seed in program history. Both teams utilized their home court advantages to earn their respective first trips to the national semifinals. Thus, the Cardinals and Panthers became the second and third semi-finalists from the conference in tournament history, and first since Florida State in 2011. Additionally, Georgia Tech also advanced to its first Regional Final since 2003, marking the first time the ACC had three Regional Finalists in one tournament.

While the ACC made history in the semifinals, the Cardinals and Panthers were joined by Wisconsin and Nebraska out of the Big Ten. Wisconsin made its third consecutive trip to the national semifinals, and was seeking its first title. Nebraska was the only semi-finalist who has won a National Championship, doing so five times. This tournament marked the fourteenth straight year that at least one member of the Big Ten reached the semifinal.

Tournament schedule and venues

The first two rounds, normally referred to as the subregionals, will be played at the sites of the top 16 seeds, replicating the format done in the basketball tournaments. The regionals will be played at four non-predetermined campus sites, which will be announced on December 5.

First and Second Rounds (Subregionals) December 2–3 Gregory Gymnasium, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas) Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas (Host: Baylor University) Holloway Gymnasium, West Lafayette, Indiana (Host: Purdue University) Sokol Arena, Omaha, Nebraska (Host: Creighton University) O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Florida (Host: University of Florida) December 3–4 L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville) Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: University of Pittsburgh) UW Field House, Madison, Wisconsin (Host: University of Wisconsin) Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky) O'Keefe Gymnasium, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology) Covelli Center, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University) Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, Nebraska (Host: University of Nebraska–Lincoln) George A. Smith Fieldhouse, Provo, Utah (Host: Brigham Young University) Maturi Pavilion, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Host: University of Minnesota) Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California (Host: University of California, Los Angeles) Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)

Regional semifinals and finals December 9 & 11 Louisville Regional, Freedom Hall (Host: University of Louisville) Madison Regional, Wisconsin Field House (Host: University of Wisconsin) Pittsburgh Regional, Fitzgerald Field House (Host: University of Pittsburgh) Austin Regional, Gregory Gymnasium (Host: University of Texas)

National semifinals and championship December 16 & 18 Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio (Host: Ohio State University)

Qualifying teams The following teams automatically qualified for the 2021 NCAA field by virtue of winning their conference's tournament. Unlike the 2020 tournament that consisted of only 48 teams due to COVID-19, the 2021 tournament returned to the usual format of 64 qualifying teams.

While Penn State remains as the only team to take part in all 41 tournaments, this is the first tournament appearance for Campbell, The Citadel, UIC, Mississippi State, South Alabama, and West Virginia, for a grand total of six teams.

Automatic qualifiers

ConferenceTeamConferenceRecordACCLouisville18–0 America EastUMBC12–0AmericanUCF19–1Atlantic 10Dayton16–0Atlantic SunFlorida Gulf Coast15–1Big 12Texas15–1Big EastCreighton16–2Big SkyNorthern Colorado13–3Big SouthCampbell14–2Big TenWisconsin17–3Big WestHawai'i18–2ColonialTowson12–4C-USAWestern Kentucky12–0HorizonUIC13–3IvyBrown13–1MAACFairfield16–2MACBall State17–1MEACHoward12–2Missouri ValleyIllinois State13–5Mountain WestBoise State10–8NortheastSacred Heart11–3Ohio ValleySoutheast Missouri State14–4Pac-12Washington17–3PatriotColgate13–3SECKentucky17–1SouthernThe Citadel7–9SouthlandTexas A&M–Corpus Christi 13–1SWACFlorida A&M14–2SummitSouth Dakota15–3Sun BeltSouth Alabama15–1West CoastBYU18–0WACUtah Valley8–6

Tournament seeds

+Louisville RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 1 1Louisville ACC Automatic 28–0 8 7Georgia Tech ACC At–Large 23–5 9 9Ohio State Big Ten At–Large 25–5 16 21Florida SEC At–Large 20–8 31Ball State MAC Automatic 25–6 173Florida A&M SWAC Automatic 22–1 204Howard MEAC Automatic 18–12 11Miami (FL) ACC At–Large 24–4 35Michigan Big Ten At–Large 18–11 28North Carolina ACC At–Large 21–8 49South Alabama Sun Belt Automatic 25–6 42South Carolina SEC At–Large 14-14 29Tennessee SEC At–Large 19–9 213The Citadel SoCon Automatic 14–11 129UIC Horizon Automatic 20–11 18Western Kentucky C-USA Automatic 27–1+Madison RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 4 4Wisconsin Big Ten Automatic 25–3 5 5Baylor Big 12 At–Large 20–5 12 17Minnesota Big Ten At–Large 19–8 13 13UCLA Pac-12 At–Large 23–5 106Colgate Patriot Automatic 18–9 117Fairfield MAAC Automatic 24–8 33Florida Gulf Coast ASUN Automatic 26–5 48Iowa State Big 12 At–Large 16–11 56Northern Colorado Big Sky Automatic 24–6 37Pepperdine WCC At–Large 22–5 70South Dakota Summit Automatic 20–9 26Stanford Pac-12 At–Large 18–10 99Texas A&M–CC Southland Automatic 19–9 38Texas Tech Big 12 At–Large 17–12 22UCF AAC Automatic 26–6 36Washington State Pac-12 At–Large 19–11+Pittsburgh RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 3 2Pittsburgh ACC At–Large 26–3 6 10Purdue Big Ten At–Large 23–6 11 15BYU WCC Automatic 28–1 14 8Creighton Big East Automatic 30–3 90Boise State Mountain West Automatic 24–10 40Dayton A-10 Automatic 25–5 67Illinois State MVC Automatic 19–13 34Kansas Big 12 At–Large 16–11 16Marquette Big East At–Large 26–5 54Ole Miss SEC At–Large 21–8 23Oregon Pac-12 At–Large 22–8 27Penn State Big Ten At–Large 20–10 63Towson Colonial Automatic 26–4 172UMBC America East Automatic 19–11 20Utah Pac-12 At–Large 21–8 76Utah Valley WAC Automatic 16–12+Austin RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 2 3Texas Big 12 Automatic 24–1 7 6Kentucky SEC Automatic 24–4 10 12Nebraska Big Ten At–Large 21–7 15 14Washington Pac-12 Automatic 24–4 73Brown Ivy Automatic 20–5 94Campbell Big South Automatic 21–9 19Florida State ACC At–Large 19–9 57Hawai'i Big West Automatic 21–7 30Illinois Big Ten At–Large 20–11 47Kansas State Big 12 At–Large 15–12 25Mississippi State SEC At–Large 25–5 24Rice C-USA At–Large 19–6 138Sacred Heart NEC Automatic 19–9 39San Diego WCC At–Large 20–7 88Southeast Missouri State OVC Automatic 26–7 43West Virginia Big 12 At–Large 19–9

Bracket The tournament bracket was announced on November 28, 2021. Times are shown in Eastern Standard Time.

Louisville, KY Regional

Schedule

First round

Second round

Regional semifinals

Regional final

Madison, WI Regional

Schedule

First round

Second round

Regional semifinals

Regional final

Pittsburgh, PA Regional

Schedule

First round

Second round

Regional semifinals

Regional final

Austin, TX Regional

Schedule

First round

Second round

Regional semifinals

Regional final

Final Four

National semifinals

National championship

Final Four All-Tournament Team

Anna Smrek – Most Outstanding Player (Wisconsin) Dana Rettke (Wisconsin) Sydney Hilley (Wisconsin) Nicklin Hames (Nebraska) Madi Kubik (Nebraska) Anna Debeer (Louisville) Leketor Member-Meneh (Pittsburgh)

Media coverage For the second consecutive season all matches aired on the ESPN Family of networks. Rounds 1 and 2 streamed on ESPN+ with the exception of Texas matches, which were televised by LHN. All Sweet 16 and Elite 8 matches aired on ESPNU or ESPN+. ESPN aired the national semifinals while ESPN2 aired the national championship.

Rounds 1 & 2

Atlanta: Andy Demetra and Kele Eveland Austin: Paul Sunderland and Salima Rockwell Columbus: Brendan Gulick and Greg Franke (Fri); Luke Maloney and Hanna Williford (Sat) Gainesville: Tom Collett Lexington: Dick Gabriel and Kathy DeBoer Lincoln: Larry Punteney and Kathi Wieskamp Louisville: Sean Moth and Patty Dennison Norton Los Angeles: Darren Preston

Madison: Chris Vosters and Liz Tortorello Nelson Minneapolis: Johnny Kahner and Meredith Uram Omaha: Jake Eisenberg and Shannon Smolinski Pittsburgh: Jason Earle and Amanda Silay Provo: Jarom Jordan and Amy Gant Seattle: Jason Dorow Waco: Lincoln Rose, Katie Smith (Thurs), and Adam Johnson (Fri) West Lafayette: Cory Palm and Alex Brophy

Regional semifinals & Regional Finals

Austin: Paul Sunderland and Salima Rockwell Louisville: Eric Frede and Katie George

Madison: Courtney Lyle and Karch Kiraly Pittsburgh: Alex Loeb and Missy Whittemore

Semifinals & National Championship

Paul Sunderland, Salima Rockwell, and Christine Williamson

Records by Conference

ConferenceBidsRecordWin %R32S16E8F4CMNCBig Ten822–776422 1ACC613–65332Big 1277–7331Pac-1267–652SEC64–631West Coast32–311C-USA22–22American11–11Atlantic 1011–11 Atlantic Sun11–11Big East21–21Big West11–11MAC11–1119 Others190–19

The R32, S16, E8, F4, CM, and NC columns indicate how many teams from each conference were in the Round of 32 (second round), Round of 16 (third round), quarterfinals (Elite Eight), Semi-finals (Final Four), Championship Match, and National Champion, respectively. The following conferences failed to place a team into the round of 32: America East, Big Sky, Big South, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, and the WAC. The conference's records have been consolidated in the other row.

NCAA tournament record The following NCAA Tournament records were broken during the 2021 tournament: Attendance record, championship match – 18,755

References