The 2024 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 64 teams that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women's volleyball national champion for the 2024 season. It was the 44th edition of the tournament. It began on December 5, 2024, in various college campuses across the country, location determinations were chosen based on participating teams seedings. The tournament concluded with the championship game at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky on December 22, 2024.
Pittsburgh earned the #1 overall seed, while Nebraska, Penn State, and Louisville rounded out the top-4 overall seeds. All four teams successfully defeated their first & second round opponents, allowing them to host the regional rounds. Penn State remains the only NCAA Division I women's volleyball program to earn a bid to all 44 NCAA Tournaments since its inception in 1981.
For the first time since the 2008 NCAA tournament, all top-4 overall seeds made it to the final four. The wins guaranteed an ACC vs. Big Ten final, as the semifinal matchups were between conference foes Pittsburgh/Louisville and Nebraska/Penn State. With Louisville and Penn State advancing to the national championship, a female head coach would be guaranteed to win the NCAA Division I championship for the first time in NCAA Division I women's volleyball history.
Penn State won the program's 8th national championship by defeating Louisville 3–1 in the final. Louisville was making its second championship match appearance in 3 years. Penn State was led by Jess Mruzik who had 29 kills. Mruzik would go on to win the NCAA Tournament MVP. Katie Schumacher-Cawley made history by being the first female Division I head volleyball coach to win the title.
Tournament schedule and venues
First and Second Rounds (Subregionals) Hosted by the top 16 overall tournament seeds December 4 – December 7 Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: University of Pittsburgh) Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, Nebraska (Host: University of Nebraska–Lincoln) Rec Hall, University Park, PA (Host: Penn State University) KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville) Maples Pavilion, Palo Alto, California (Host: Stanford University) Sokol Arena, Omaha, Nebraska (Host: Creighton University) UW Field House, Madison, Wisconsin (Host: University of Wisconsin) Moody Coliseum, Dallas, TX (Host: Southern Methodist University) Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky) Desert Financial Arena, Tempe, Arizona (Host: Arizona State University) Gregory Gymnasium, Austin, Texas (Host: University of Texas) Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, Lawrence, Kansas (Host: University of Kansas) Holloway Gymnasium, West Lafayette, Indiana (Host: Purdue University) Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, UT (Host: University of Utah) Ferrell Center, Waco, TX (Host: Baylor University) Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon (Host: University of Oregon)
Regional semifinals and finals December 12 – December 15 Pittsburgh Regional, Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Host: University of Pittsburgh) Lincoln Regional, Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, Nebraska (Host: University of Nebraska–Lincoln) University Park Regional, Rec Hall, University Park, PA (Host: Penn State University) Louisville Regional, Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
National semifinals and championship December 19 & 22 KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky (Host: University of Louisville)
Qualifying teams
Automatic qualifiers Teams who won their conference championships automatically qualify. +Automatic qualifiers in the 2024 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournamentConferenceTeamAmerica EastNew HampshireAmericanWichita StateACCPittsburghASUNFlorida Gulf CoastAtlantic 10Loyola ChicagoBig EastCreightonBig SkySacramento StateBig SouthHigh PointBig TenPenn StateBig 12Arizona StateBig WestHawai'iCAACharlestonCUSAWestern KentuckyHorizonCleveland StateIvy LeagueYaleMAACFairfieldMACWestern MichiganMEACDelaware StateMissouri ValleyNorthern IowaMountain WestColorado StateNECChicago StateOhio ValleyMorehead StatePatriotColgateSECKentuckySouthernWoffordSouthlandTexas A&M–Corpus ChristiSWACFlorida A&MSummitSouth DakotaSun BeltTexas StateWACUT ArlingtonWCCLoyola Marymount
Tournament seeds +Pittsburgh RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 1 2Pittsburgh ACC Automatic 29–1 2 8SMU ACC At–Large 24–7 3 10Kentucky SEC Automatic 20–7 4 17Oregon Big Ten At–Large 22–7 5 15TCU Big 12 At–Large 21–7 6 28Minnesota Big Ten At–Large 20–10 7 23Missouri SEC Automatic 20–8 8 34Oklahoma SEC At–Large 14–10 38UTEP CUSA At–Large 27–5 54Texas State Sun Belt Automatic 22–8 42Western Kentucky CUSA Automatic 28–6 40Hawaii Big West Automatic 21–9 60High Point Big South Automatic 23–6 108Cleveland State Horizon Automatic 23–9 65Wichita State American Automatic 18–13 180Morehead State Ohio Valley Automatic 18–14+State College RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 1 4Penn State Big Ten Automatic 29–2 2 6Creighton Big East Automatic 29–2 3 12Texas SEC Automatic 18–6 4 13Utah Big 12 At–Large 24–5 5 20Marquette Big East At–Large 23–8 6 21USC Big Ten At–Large 21–9 7 26Florida State ACC At–Large 21–9 8 27North Carolina ACC At–Large 22–7 37Yale Ivy League Automatic 19–5 39Ole Miss SEC At–Large 17–11 45UT Arlington WAC Automatic 29–2 47Florida Gulf Coast ASUN Automatic 27–4 91Charleston CAA Automatic 25–8 84 Southland Automatic 20–10 103South Dakota Summit Automatic 21–9 205Delaware State MEAC Automatic 17–13+Louisville RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 1 3Louisville ACC At–Large 25–5 2 5Stanford ACC At–Large 25–4 3 11Kansas Big 12 At–Large 24–4 4 15Purdue Big Ten At–Large 25–6 5 24BYU Big 12 At–Large 19–9 6 18Florida SEC Automatic 21–7 7 30Loyola Marymount WCC Automatic 24–5 8 35Northern Iowa Missouri Valley Automatic 25–7 32Illinois Big Ten At–Large 18–12 36Washington Big Ten At–Large 19–11 48NC State ACC At–Large 16–12 57Loyola Chicago Atlantic 10 Automatic 21–11 79Western Michigan MAC Automatic 20–12 85Colgate Patriot Automatic 19–10 128Sacramento State Big Sky Automatic 21–11 167Chicago State Northeast Automatic 19–9+Lincoln RegionalSeedRPISchoolConferenceBerth typeRecord 1 1Nebraska Big Ten At–Large 29–2 2 7Wisconsin Big Ten At–Large 23–6 3 9Arizona State Big 12 Automatic 29–2 4 19Baylor Big 12 At–Large 22–7 5 14Dayton Atlantic 10 At–Large 29–2 6 22Texas A&M SEC Automatic 19–7 7 25Georgia Tech ACC At–Large 20–9 8 33Miami (FL) ACC At–Large 21–10 29 South Dakota State Summit At–Large 27–2 31Tennessee SEC At–Large 15–11 59Colorado State Mountain West Automatic 20–10 50South Carolina SEC At–Large 16–11 67Wofford Southern Automatic 23–8 146New Hampshire America East Automatic 18–9 143Fairfield MAAC Automatic 21–11 156Florida A&M SWAC Automatic 27–6 RPI as of Nov. 24 2024
Bracket
Pittsburgh Regional
Schedule
First Round
Second Round
Regional Semifinals
Regional Final
Region All-Tournament Team Olivia Babcock (Most Outstanding Player) – Pittsburgh Rachel Fairbanks – Pittsburgh Emmy Klika – Pittsburgh Brooklyn DeLeye – Kentucky Emma Grome – Kentucky Michelle Ohwobete – Oregon Jordan Iliff – Missouri
Louisville Regional
Schedule
First Round
Second Round
Regional Semifinals
Regional Final
Region All-Tournament Team
Anna Debeer (Most Outstanding Player) – Louisville Charitie Luper – Louisville Elena Scott – Louisville
University Park Regional
Schedule
First Round
Second Round
Regional Semifinals
Regional Final
Region All-Tournament Team Jess Mruzik (Most Outstanding Player) – Penn State Gillian Grimes – Penn State Camryn Hannah – Penn State Izzy Starck – Penn State Ava Martin – Creighton Norah Sis – Creighton Madisen Skinner – Texas
Lincoln Regional
Schedule
First Round
Second Round
Regional Semifinals
Regional Final
Region All-Tournament Team Harper Murray (Most Outstanding Player) – Nebraska Andi Jackson – Nebraska Bergen Reilly – Nebraska Lexi Rodriguez – Nebraska Sarah Franklin – Wisconsin Lexie Almodovar – Dayton Logan Lednicky – Texas A&M
Final Four
National semifinals
Game recap Semifinal 1: Pittsburgh vs. Louisville
The opening set was back-and-forth, it was tied 14–14 before Pittsburgh responded with a run to go up 23–16 before winning 25–21. The second set was also close, tied at 19–19, Pittsburgh would eventually take the lead 22–21 before Louisville tied it up at 23–23 after a block from senior All-American Anna DeBeer. Louisville would win the second set 25–23 to even the match at one set a piece. In the third set, Louisville won in extra points, 29–27, to take the 2–1 lead. Despite DeBeer going down with an ankle injury in the beginning of set 4, Louisville rushed out to a 9–3 lead, eventually going up 21–13. Louisville would win the fourth set 25–17 and advanced to the championship match for the second time in three seasons. Louisville was led by its outside hitter trio of DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, who all recorded 14 kills each. Pittsburgh was led by AVCA National Player of the Year Olivia Babcock, who had a career-high 33 kills in the match.
Semifinal 2: Penn State vs. Nebraska
Penn State and Nebraska were meeting for the second time in just 3 weeks, as Penn State defeated Nebraska 3–1 in their final regular-season conference matchup to secure a share of the conference title.
The opening set was close, with Nebraska edging out Penn State 25–23. Nebraska won the second set relatively easy, 25–18, going up 2–0 and looking poised to advance to the championship. Penn State went on a 5–0 run in the third set to take the lead, and eventually won, 25–23. In the fourth set, Nebraska went on a run to take a commanding 22–16 lead. Despite only having a 0.3% chance to win the match at that point, Penn State chipped away at Nebraska's lead. Nebraska had two match point opportunities at 24–22, but Penn State tied it at 24–24. Penn State eventually won the fourth set, 28–26, to force a fifth set. In the fifth set, Penn State was able to maintain at least a 1-point lead throughout most of the set, and eventually won on a final kill from senior outside hitter Camryn Hannah, 15–13. The win was only the second reverse sweep (when a team wins in 5 sets after being down 0–2) in the Final Four since Penn State accomplished same in the 2009 NCAA title match vs. Texas. Penn State was led by senior outside hitter Jess Mruzik and redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius, who had 26 kills and 20 kills, respectively. Nebraska was led by sophomore outside hitter Harper Murray and sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson, who had 20 and 19 kills, respectively.
National championship
Game recap
Final Four All-Tournament Team
The following players were named to the final four all-tournament team: Jess Mruzik (Penn State) – Most Outstanding Player Camryn Hannah (Penn State) Gillian Grimes (Penn State) Charitie Luper (Louisville) Sofia Maldonado Diaz (Louisville) Harper Murray (Nebraska) Olivia Babcock (Pittsburgh)
Media coverage
Rounds 1 & 2 All matches were televised on ESPN+:
Pittsburgh: Jeff Hathhorn, Kelsey Bonk, Amanda Silay Lincoln: Larry Punteney, Kathi Wieskamp University Park: Kasey Kreider, Jack Rachinsky Louisville: Jeff Milby, Stephanie Cantway Palo Alto: Kevin Danna, Naya Crittenden Omaha: Shannon Smolinski, Jon Schriner Madison: Joey Bonadonna, Kate McGrann Dallas: Chris Mycoskie, Jill Kramer
Lexington: Dick Gabriel, Stephanie Niemer Tempe: Braiden Bell, Gavin Schall Austin: Lincoln Rose, Shelby Coppedge Lawrence: Leif Lisec, Jill Dorsey-Hall West Lafayette: Craig Combs, Max Bury Salt Lake City: Jim Watson, Victoria Dennis Waco: Hannah Sedwick, Mike Leslie Eugene: Saul Galvan, Lily Crane
Regional semifinals & Regional Finals All matches televised on ESPN+ & ESPN2, with the Nebraska/Wisconsin regional also being nationally televised on ABC