INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball committee announced the 64-team field that will compete in the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Thirty-one conferences were awarded an automatic qualification, while the remaining 33 positions were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket.
Nebraska, Kentucky, Texas and Pittsburgh earned the top seeds in this year’s tournament. The top four seeds have combined for 10 national titles in the tournament’s history. Nebraska finished the season with the best record in Division I (30-0) and undefeated in the regular season for the third time in program history. It was the Huskers’ first unbeaten conference season since 2004 as a member of the Big 12 Conference and is the first Big Ten Conference team to go 20-0 in Big Ten conference play since Penn State in 2009. Kentucky secured the second spot after posting a 25-2 record and winning the SEC Volleyball Tournament over Texas. The Wildcats went undefeated in SEC play. The Longhorns finished the season with a 23-3 record, with two of those three losses coming to the second-seeded Wildcats. Rounding out the top four is the Atlantic Coast Conference co-champion Pitt, who finished the season with an overall record of 26-4 and 18-2 in conference play.
Tournament Seeds
Automatic qualifiers noted in parentheses:
1. Nebraska (Big Ten)
2. Kentucky (SEC)
3. Texas
4. Pittsburgh
5. SMU
6. Stanford (ACC)
7. Arizona St. (Big 12)
8. Louisville
9. Texas A&M
10. Creighton (Big East)
11. Wisconsin
12. Purdue
13. Minnesota
14. Indiana
15. Southern California
16. Kansas
For the third year, the top 32 teams were seeded nationally in pods of four and placed within four regions. Per the established bracketing principles, the top seeds were provided the opportunity to host. Additionally, team pairings are determined within the pods (ones paired with eights, twos paired with sevens, threes paired with sixes and fours paired with fives) and assigned geographically within their pods, with the exception that teams from the same conference are not paired during the first- and second rounds.
The Big 12 Conference led all conferences with 10 teams selected from its league to compete in the championship tournament. The Big Ten Conference was next with nine programs advancing to the post season. The Atlantic Coast Conference sends seven teams to the tournament.
This year’s field features 35 teams who played in the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Two teams are making their first-ever tournament appearance: St. Thomas (Minnesota) and Toledo. The longest hiatus belongs to the University of South Florida with its last appearance coming in 2002. Penn St. remains the only team that has earned a berth to all 45 championship tournaments while Nebraska and Stanford have appeared in all but one.
During the previous 44 years of the championship, 12 schools have won a national title, eight of which earned a place in this year’s bracket. Previous winners competing in the field are: Kentucky (2020), Nebraska (1995, 2000, 06, 15, 17), Southern California (1981, 2002, 03), Stanford (1992, 94, 96, 97, 2001, 04, 16, 18, 19), Penn St. (1999, 2007, 08, 09, 10, 13, 14, 24), Texas (1988, 2012, 22, 23), UCLA (1984, 90, 91, 2011) and Wisconsin (2021).
First- and second-round matches will be played December 4-6 at 16 campus sites. Teams winning both matches will continue to regional play December 11-14. Regionals for the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be held at four non-predetermined campus sites, which will be announced on December 6. At each site, four teams will compete in single-elimination regional semifinal competition.
The regional winners will advance to the national semifinals and championship final hosted by the University of Kansas and University of Missouri-Kansas City, in conjunction with the Kansas City Sports Commission, December 18 & 21 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. The national semifinal matches will broadcast on ESPN starting at 6:30 p.m. ET, and the championship match will broadcast on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.
All preliminary site match times can be found on the attached championship bracket or online at
