The NCAA Divison One Volleyball Tournament has officially begun. Brackets have been made, and everyone is waiting for a winner. The first two rounds are done, and it is down to the Sweet Sixteen teams. This tournament is very special to many people in the volleyball world. 

“I have watched this tournament every year since the 2010 National Championship. Every year when the bracket comes out, I make my picks and try to follow every single game of the tournament,” Senior Noah Schuessler said. 

Seeding was decided on November 27th. D1 players gathered with their teams to see if they fought hard enough in their regular season, to make it to this year’s postseason tournament. The bracket is divided into four sections, with sixteen teams in each section ranked first through sixteenth. This year’s four number one teams include Nebraska, Wisconsin, Stanford, and Pittsburgh. 

These seedings reflect highly on how well each team did in their regular season. For Nebraska volleyball, their number one seed was earned with a fantastic record of 28 wins and one loss, after falling to another number one seed Wisconsin. Wisconsin with another impressive season went 26-3.

“I have the Wisconsin Badgers winning the national championship game, because I think they have the most physical team out there, and their defense is incredibly stellar,” Schuessler said. 

Many volleyball fanatics have filled out their brackets, and bet on a winner, junior Mandy Lawson being one of them. She has been watching the tournament for as long as she can remember. She also plays volleyball herself here at St. Dominic. Lawson loves watching a high level and intense game. She does plan on going to college for volleyball, but still is undecided of where she will go, but hopefully we will see her on TV playing in the next couple of years. 

“I consider the tournament to be the best time of the year, it’s great volleyball to watch and gets me excited to play at the next level myself,” Lawson said. 

In the first round of the tournament, there were five unexpected wins or losses out of the first 32 matches of the tournament. Seventh seed Auburn losing to Western Michigan, Texas Christian University winning against sixth seed Florida State, Baylor winning against seventh seed James Madison, Miami beating eighth seed UNI, and Hawaii beating seventh seed Iowa State. 

“I was hoping to get a perfect bracket this year, and was extremely surprised to see Florida State lose to TCU,” Lawson said. 

There have been some upsets in the early parts of the games, but not too many to ruin peoples brackets. Such as the unseeded Western Michigan vs. number seven Auburn. Auburn came into the tournament with a seventh seed, and was expected to win. Western Michigan had other plans. They came out strong in the first set with the score of 25-18. Then in the second set, Western Michigan was not done, and yet again beat them 25-17. Then to close it out in the third set, the ending score was 25-19. Not only did Western Michigan defeat Auburn, they swept them. 

The second round had very even matchups, and it was anyone’s fair game. As the games go on, it is more unpredictable of who could win. The sweet sixteen has some must watch matches including number three Purdue, playing number two Oregon. Both great teams who picked up some solid wins in their regular season. Purdue beat Wisconsin early on, as well as Oregon who fell to Stanford in a close five set match. 

“My favorite game in the tournament so far was Georgia Tech vs. Florida in the second round. Going into that game I knew that Georgia Tech were the underdogs because of their seeding, but as someone who watched college volleyball all season I knew that Florida was likely to lose this game,” Schuessler said. 

It’s great to see the volleyball community bond over such a competitive environment that the NCAA Tournament creates. Make sure to mark your calendars for the next few matches as we await to crown this year’s champion.