The 2022 DI women’s volleyball championship semifinals, previewed

The 2022 DI women’s volleyball national semifinals are set. The teams have touched down in Omaha, Nebraska, with all the game action starting this Thursday, Dec. 15. Four teams remain in pursuit of a national title, and for the first time in the entire history of the sport, no Big Ten or Pac-12 teams are competing in the semifinals. No. 1 Texas, No. 2 San Diego, No. 2 Pittsburgh and No. 1 Louisville remain — one Big 12 team, one WCC team, and two ACC teams. Texas is the only team out of the group that has won a national title before. 

San Diego and Louisville both have a female head coach, and both are in pursuit of making history as the first female volleyball head coach to win a national title. No ACC team has ever won it, and no WCC team has ever won it. We have a lot of firsts that could happen this year. The sport is growing. 

Schedule and how to watch:

You can also click or tap here for the interactive bracket.

Now let’s preview the semifinal matchups. ?

No. 1 Texas vs. No. 2 San Diego

Alright, there is a lot to unload here. Let’s start with the Texas Longhorns… back in the national semifinals after getting knocked out by Nebraska in the regional final last year, and falling to Kentucky in the national title game in 2020. Logan Eggleston leads this team in her final season. She averages over five points per set with 4.23 kills per set on .300 hitting. AND, she has 41 service aces on the season. She is joined by Madi Skinner this year, who averages four points per set behind Eggleston. Eggleston is the Big 12 Player of the Year for the third-consecutive season, while Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres is the Big 12 Setter of the Year, Zoe Fleck is the league’s Libero of the Year and Jerritt Elliott is the Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career. A loaded team. 

I’ve said this many times before, but this team has been knocking on the door for years. They feel all too similar to last season’s Wisconsin team, as they too had been looking to put it all together for multiple years until POY Dana Rettke finally led them to that title in 2021. The difference for Texas this year is that they really do have all the pieces. The offense is run so well by Ka’aha’aina-Torres with so many offensive weapons. They serve so tough, enabling them to stay in the system often enough to get things going out of the middle with Asjia O’Neal, Molly Phillips or Kayla Caffey. And then they also added Zoe Fleck to the backcourt this year to really amp up their defense. This team has been on the top of college volleyball for years now, but they really want that national title. 

They will have San Diego in the national semifinals on Thursday. The last time the Longhorns played the Toreros was when Texas swept San Diego in the 2021 season opener in Austin. In the Aug. 27, 2021 match, nine current Toreros players appeared in the match and four current Longhorns played. The difference is a lot…