Louisville volleyball gets No. 1 seed, Kentucky and WKU also dancing in NCAA tournament
Top-ranked Louisville volleyball ended a historic regular season with a perfect 28-0 record, an outright ACC title and now can add the top seed in the upcoming NCAA volleyball tournament to the résumé.
The moment we knew 🙌#GoCards x #NCAAVB pic.twitter.com/psDGegl8Uq
— Louisville Volleyball (@UofLVolleyball) November 29, 2021
The Cardinals open play against the University of Illinois-Chicago (20-11) Friday at the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena in Louisville.
If they win, they'll meet the winner of Ball State and Michigan.
U of L will host its first two round games.
𝟭𝘀𝘁 & 𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀
📍 Louisville, KY
📅 Dec. 3-4
(1) @UofLVolleyball
🆚@UIC_Volleyball
@BallStateWVB
🆚@umichvball#NCAAVB— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) November 29, 2021
No. 1 Louisville ended its regular season last Friday with a four-set victory over Notre Dame.
More: No. 1 Louisville volleyball unimpressed by its unbeaten regular season
The Cardinals are seeking their first national championship in program history but still staying grounded despite eyes on them at the top overall seed.
”We’ve really done a great job of just going one game at a time, one match at a time, and I’ve been so impressed with how mature they are and how poised they are in tough situations and just handling everything that’s been new with us this year,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said during the ESPN broadcast. “Really impressed with what they’ve been able to do and how consistent they’ve been.”
UIC made it here by way of beating Northern Kentucky in five sets in the Horizon League final.
Kentucky to host Southeast Missouri State
The defending national champion Kentucky had another solid regular season capped off with a fifth straight SEC title and now will represent its conference as a No. 7 seed, facing off against Southeast Missouri State (26-7) in Lexington on Friday.
UK will also get to host its first two games.
If they were to win, they'd take on the winner of Illinois/West Virginia.
The Wildcats (24-4) have been a top-10 program all season long and won the conference crown outright after posting a 17-1 record in the SEC.
UK had a dominant postseason in 2020. In five matches played, the Wildcat dropped just two sets and took down national powerhouse Texas to win the program's first championship.
Looking back: Kentucky volleyball beats Texas to win first national championship in program history
SEMO downed Morehead State in five sets in the OVC title game.
Western Kentucky to face South Carolina
The Hilltoppers had their share of postseason magic in 2020 reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time and now will plenty of key pieces from that team, the expectations remain high.
WKU continued its dominant run in Conference USA after beating Rice in four sets to win the league title. It marked the Tops third straight conference title and seventh in eight years.
Western Kentucky is heading to Georgia Tech for the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament, where it will open against South Carolina. pic.twitter.com/eavj4mMORM
— Jared MacDonald (@JMacDonaldSport) November 29, 2021
The team reached No. 18 in the rankings sporting a 27-1 record.
They’ll open play against South Carolina (14-14) at Georgia Tech on Friday. If they win they'll face the winner of The Citadel or Georgia Tech.
If the Cardinals and Hilltoppers were to make a special run, they could potentially meet in the Elite Eight with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Reach Dominique Yates. Twitter: @RealDYates. Email: dyates@courierjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville, Kentucky and WKU dancing in NCAA volleyball tournament
