6 storylines to know ahead of the 2023 DI women's volleyball national championship

The national finals are set — (1) Nebraska vs. (2) Texas — and it'll be the first time that the DI volleyball championship will be aired on ABC. Ahead of this historic matchup, here are six intriguing storylines to be on the lookout for:

1. Extending streaks

Nebraska and Texas have seen each other on the national championship stage on two prior occasions: 1995 and 2015; the Huskers have beaten the Longhorns 3-1 and 3-0, respectively. The Longhorns lead Nebraska 11-5 in their all-time meetings, but Nebraska won their most recent matchup in the 2021 regional finals, 3-1. And though Nebraska's won five national titles to Texas' three, the Longhorns are the defending champions this year. Thus, it's Texas' two-peat on the line versus Nebraska's perfect national championship record over Texas.

📖 HISTORY: See all past champions here

2. Madisen Skinner's rare title quest

Madisen Skinner swinging between Anna Smrek and CC Crawford in the Texas-Wisconsin women's volleyball semifinal match in December 2023.

Madisen Skinner is on the hunt for her third national title, but this quest is split between two schools. She played her first two years at Kentucky, where she won the 2020 national championship — notably, over Texas — with a then-career-best 19 kills. After transferring to Texas in 2022, she added another national title to her personal accolades, hitting .307 that year.

Now, the junior hitter is having a career season, achieving Big 12 Player of the Year and AVCA All-American honors. She led the 2-seeded Longhorns to upset (1) Wisconsin in four sets on Thursday, notching a career-high six aces at the line. Up to this date, Skinner has only dropped one NCAA tournament match in the 18 she has participated in, racking up a massive 268 kills on .337 hitting.

Winning three volleyball national championships is rare, but it has been done in the recent past, circa Stanford 2016, 2018 and 2019, and Penn State's four-peat from 2007-2010. Winning three volleyball national championships between separate teams, though, might just make Skinner a unicorn in this case.

3. Starting lineup age gaps

Bergen Reilly in Nebraska volleyball's semifinal win over Pitt in December 2023.

The makeups of these two rosters could not be more different — their average ages are four years apart (Nebraska: 18, Texas: 22).

Starting with Nebraska, the Huskers don't have a single senior on their roster, with four true freshmen in the starting lineup. AVCA All-Americans Bergen Reilly and Harper Murray, as well as Laney Choboy and Andi Jackson are the new faces in the starting rotation, also accompanied by sophomores Lexi Rodriguez and Bekka Allick. The eldest of the starters is junior All-American hitter Merritt Beason, who's only 20 years old.

As for Texas, senior Asjia O'Neal is the oldest at 24, followed by Bella Bergmark, Madi Skinner and Carissa Barnes at 23. Sophomore libero Emma Halter and freshman setter Ella Swindle round out the youngest ages at 20 and 19 respectively. So, it'll be the tale of vetted talent versus new talent in this year's championship.

4. Keonilei Akana has played both sides

Defensive specialist Keonilei Akana has played for both Nebraska AND Texas — so this national final is certainly a full-circle moment for her. She had a two-year career with the Huskers, averaging 2.54 D/S her sophomore season and notching 21 service aces. Interestingly enough, she traveled to Austin and played (2) Texas in the regional finals that season (2021) and served up a career-high SEVEN service aces, which is STILL etched in Nebraska's record book for a four-set NCAA tournament match and tied for the most by a Nebraska player in any NCAA tournament match (rally and side out scoring). The Huskers went on to the national finals that season, losing in five sets to Wisconsin.

Keonilei Akana in Texas' semifinal win over Wisconsin.

Akana has spent her last two years with Texas, currently ranking third in service aces (31) and assists (65). This will be the first time that Nebraska has faced Texas since that 2021 regional final — and this time, Akana will be on the opposite side of the net.

5. First-round trouble

Texas dropped its first set of the tournament to Texas A&M in this year's tournament, and yet, still advanced all the way to the national final. The last time that a national champion didn't complete a first-round sweep was actually Nebraska back in 2015, when the Huskers fell in the first set to Harvard in their first-round matchup. Thus, if Texas wins on Sunday, it'll be the first time this feat has been done in eight years.

6. Record-breaking crowds

Thursday's semifinal crowd surpassed the indoor women's college volleyball attendance record at 19,598 fans. Amalie Arena has a maximum capacity of 21,500, so there's room to shatter this record once again on Sunday. Here are the Top 10 all-time attendance records for women's college volleyball; one or both of this year's national finalists teams have been involved in each of these 10 matches.

🔢 Full list of college volleyball attendance records