Volleyball Today: NCAA first-round schedule; NIVC field, info; another coach fired

After the 64-team NCAA Tournament field was revealed, the NIVC 29-team bracket bracket was announced. All the info follows.

The NCAA tourney schedule is set and we’ll list the first-round matches.

The coaching carousel, which is likely to build up some speed now that the regular season is finished, spun at UCF.

Later Monday we will have our final VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll of the season. Our same pollsters will be voting on our NCAA Division I All-American team that will post on December 24, two days after the championship match.

NCAA tourney first round

There are 18 matches Thursday. They are not starting early in the day, nor are they spread out. We recommend multiple viewing devices, since every match will be shown only on ESPN+. ESPN will also have its whiparound show, The Fifth Set, which may be the best way for many viewers to keep up.

All times are Eastern:

3:30 — Loyola Chicago vs. BYU
4:30 — Western Kentucky vs. Minnesota
5 — UT Arlington vs. USC
5 — Texas State vs. Missouri
5:30 — Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech
5:30 — Ole Miss vs. Florida State
5:30 — South Carolina vs. Dayton
6:30 — Purdue vs. Western Michigan
6:30 — FGCU vs. Marquette
7 — Hawai’i vs. TCU
7:30 — Cleveland State vs. Kentucky
7:30 — Texas vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
8 — South Dakota vs. Creigton
8 — Wichita State vs. SMU
8 — Wisconsin vs. Fairfield
8 — Wofford vs. Baylor
9:30 — High Point vs. Oregon
9:30 — Utah vs. College of Charleston

There are 14 more first-round matches Friday:

4 — UTEP vs. Oklahoma
4 — Illinois vs. UNI
5 — North Carolina vs. Yale
5 — Florida vs. NC State
5:30 — South Dakota State vs. Miami
6:30 — Texas A&M vs. Colorado State
7 — Louisville vs. Chicago State
7 — Pittsburgh vs. Morehead State
7:30 — Penn State vs. Delaware State
7:30 –Washington vs. LMU
7:30 — Kansas vs. Colgate
8 — Nebraska vs. Florida A&M
8:30 — Arizona State vs. New Hampshire
10 — Stanford vs. Sacramento State

NIVC field includes Arizona, Virginia

Here’s the list of teams:

App State (18-9), Sun Belt
Arizona (20-9), Big 12
Arkansas State (26-5), Sun Belt
Binghamton (19-10), America East
Bowling Green (21-9), Mid-American
DePaul (19-13), Big East
East Carolina (18-9), American
Georgia Southern (21-6), Sun Belt
Idaho State (21-9), Big Sky
Jackson State (19-11), SWAC
Lindenwood (23-10), Ohio Valley
Mercer (26-6), Southern (AQ)
North Carolina A&T (17-10), CAA
Northern Colorado (25-7), Big Sky
Omaha (16-12), Summit
Pacific (18-12), West Coast
Stephen F. Austin (23-8), Southland
Southeast Missouri State (19-13), Ohio Valley
St. John’s (21-12), Big East
Toledo (17-14), Mid-American
UConn (24-7), Big East
Utah Valley (20-10), WAC
UTRGV (16-11), Southland
Virginia (21-10), Atlantic Coast
Washington State (16-11), West Coast
Winthrop (16-10), Big South
Weber State (14-15), Big Sky
Wright State (24-6), Horizon
Wyoming (15-12), Mountain West

Arizona, Virginia and Wright State got first-round byes. 

The tournament begins Wednesday when Binghamton plays at Bowling Green. See the complete schedule and get more info here.

Worth noting: App State vs. Northern Colorado features a former LSU player in UNC coach Lyndsey Benson Oates and a former LSU assistant in App State head coach Sarah Rumely Noble … Two of the nation’s top attackers are in the tournament, Pacific’s Alexa Edwards (fifth in the NCAA with 540 kills) and Binghamton’s Tsvetelina Ilieva (13th, 514) … Lindenwood won the Ohio Valley Conference Championship — sweeping Morehead State — but was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament because it is in transition from Division II … Virginia is moving up. The team had 10 more wins than it did in 2023 … Bowling Green’s Alexis Mettile is hitting .444, fifth in the NCAA.

UCF needs a volleyball coach

UCF, which finished 9-18 this season, 2-15 in the Big 12, fired coach Jenny Maurer. 

The school had just this on its website:

We would like to thank Jenny Maurer for her commitment and dedication to our volleyball program and student-athletes over the past nine years. This weekend we met with Jenny to inform her that we would be moving in a different direction regarding the leadership of our program. A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

Maurer replaced Todd Dagenais when he left to coach the Atlanta Vibe in last year’s first season of the Pro Volleyball Federation. In 2022, UCF went 28-2, 19-1 in the American Athletic Conference. In Maurer’s first season, UCF finished 17-12, 8-10 in its first year in the Big 12.

Maurer, a former head coach at Lehigh and Bradley, was Dagenais’ top assistant for seven years before taking over. She was a two-time Division III All-American at Washington University.

Our post-NCAA selection show Zoom

In case you missed it, commentary, laughs and insightful interviews:

 

 

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