MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 15 University of Minnesota volleyball program has earned an at-large bid in the 2024 NCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament. The Golden Gophers (20-10, 13-7 Big Ten) were placed in the Lexington, Ky., region and will take on Western Kentucky in round one. The first two rounds will take place on Thursday, Dec. 5 and Friday, Dec. 6, it was announced tonight during the selection show on ESPN.
Minnesota received a No. 6 seed and will take on Western Kentucky (28-6, 18-0 CUSA) in the first match of the evening, set for 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. CT on Thursday. The match will be followed by No. 3 Kentucky facing Cleveland State at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. The winner of each match will advance to the Second Round, set for 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. ET on Friday evening. All matches will be played at No. 3 seed, Kentucky, inside Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky.
Should the Gophers advance out of the first two rounds, Minnesota is in the Pittsburgh Region and will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa., for the NCAA Regionals from Dec. 12-14. The Panthers (29-1, 19-1 ACC) are the tournament's No. 1 overall seed.
Louisville, Ky., is the host city for the NCAA Championships. They will take place Dec. 19-22 as the national semifinals and championship match will be played at the KFC Yum Center.
The 2024 season marks the 29th year the Golden Gophers have advanced to the NCAA tournament. Receiving an at-large bid this year, the Gophers have now advanced to the tournament in 10 straight seasons and 25 of the last 26 overall. As a program, Minnesota has had 29 straight winning seasons, dating back to the 1995 season.
Minnesota is one of nine Big Ten teams to make the 2024 NCAA tournament. Nebraska holds the No. 2 overall seed while Penn State (3) will also host a regional.
In all, the Gophers faced 14 teams that made up the field of 64. Along with the other Big Ten teams Minnesota faced this season, the Gophers also competed against Baylor, Chicago State and TCU.
The Gophers enter the NCAA tournament with a 20-10 (13-7 Big Ten) overall record. They placed in a tie for sixth in the Big Ten behind only Nebraska (19-1), Penn State (19-1), Wisconsin (17-3), Purdue (16-4) and Oregon (14-6).
Western Kentucky (28-6, 18-0 Conference USA) will make its seventeenth NCAA Tournament in 2024. Western Kentucky posts a 9-16 tournament record. Minnesota leads the series 1-0, with their last and only meeting being in 1984. Western Kentucky earned an automatic bid after winning the Conference USA Tournament.
TV and Tickets:
All first and second round matches will be streamed on ESPN+. Tickets for the general public can be purchased at
ukathletics.com/ticketing/volleyball/ starting Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT.
Tournament Details:
The NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball committee announced the 64-team field that will compete in the 2024 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.
Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Louisville and Penn State earned the top seeds in this year's tournament.
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 Atlantic Coast, Big Ten and Southeastern conferences led all conferences with nine teams selected from their leagues to compete in the championship tournament. The Big 12 was next with six programs advancing to the post season. This year's field features 39 teams who played in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship.
www.ncaa.com
