The top 7 storylines in the 2022 DI women’s volleyball tournament

The 2022 DI women’s volleyball tournament is here, with games starting on Thursday, Dec. 1. We have a lot to look forward to and a pretty short wait until the action begins. But until then, here are the top seven storylines I am ready to watch play out in the postseason. 

Is this the year of Logan Eggleston and the Texas Longhorns?

The biggest one of all — is it the year of Logan Eggleston? All season long everyone has said that the Player of the Year award was hers to lose. But that is not the only thing she is missing … she came back to Texas for a national title. That is, the title they have been searching for the past three seasons, coming up short in all three of them. If you have read any of my articles or watched me talk about volleyball in videos at all this season, you might have heard me say this before. This year’s Texas team reminds me so much of last year’s Wisconsin team. The Badgers, too, had been knocking on the door for a national title for years, coming up short every time, and had their star Dana Rettke and crew returning for her fifth and final season. Looking for that AVCA NPOY award and of course, the trophy at last and the fairytale ending. I remember writing these exact words in my 2021 preseason storylines article: “Will this be the year of Dana Rettke?” And in my postseason recap, I wrote this: “The Dana Rettke prophecy came true.”

If you don’t see the similarities between these two teams stories, you just might need to look a little harder. The Longhorns return all of their pieces from last season, and then added even more. Eggleston, Molly Phillips and Asjia O’Neal returned, they added a huge outside in Madi Skinner, and then amped up their defense with the addition of Zoe Fleck. They quite literally have all the pieces to win a national title, and it feels like this is their year to do it. The Longhorns do have a tough quadrant of the bracket — a little tougher than you might expect for the No. 1 overall seed. But, it is still possible they make it out. Let’s see if this is their year. 

Who will go on the inevitable run?

Upsets are bound to happen. It is sports, after all. No matter how much better a team is, they can always be beaten on any given night for any number of reasons. With single elimination, a chalk bracket is so incredibly unlikely. Last season, we saw Kansas go on a run led by Caroline Crawford, now a star on Wisconsin’s roster. The Jayhawks upset Oregon in the first round before downing Creighton. Illinois pulled off a huge upset over No. 7 Kentucky, too. Who will make some noise this season?

How will San Diego fare?

Another big and exciting question mark for this season: How will San Diego do in the tournament? The Toreros burst onto the scene this year after pulling off some BIG wins in the beginning of the season. They surged into the top 10 and then stayed up there as teams fought through…