A Comprehensive Look at NCAA Volleyball Awards History

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) volleyball tournament stands as a prominent event in the world of collegiate athletics. This article explores the history, structure, and significant awards associated with NCAA volleyball, with a focus on the Division I women's tournament.

The Foundation of NCAA Volleyball

Volleyball became a part of the NCAA championship program for women's sports in the 1981-82 school year. This move occurred as the NCAA was competing with the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) for governance of women's collegiate sports. The inaugural NCAA championship tournament took place in 1981, involving 20 schools vying for the title.

NCAA Volleyball Tournament Structure

The NCAA volleyball tournament is an annual event organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the national champion of women's collegiate volleyball among its Division I members in the United States. The NCAA volleyball tournament occurs every second semester of the academic year. It is divided into three divisions: the Juniors division for high school male students and the Seniors division which is subdivided into Men's Senior division for male college students and Women's Senior division for female college students. The tournament attracts numerous teams from various schools, fostering a highly competitive environment. There is also an NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship, which until 2012 was open to members of all three NCAA divisions, as there are far fewer men's programs than women's. However, starting in the 2011-12 school year (2011 women's season, 2012 men's season), a Division III championship was established.

Impact of COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, the NCAA moved its 2020-21 championship events in fall sports from fall 2020 to spring 2021.

Seeding

Starting in 1993, the top 4 teams in each region were seeded. The 4 teams seeded No. 1 are shown with double underline, and 12 teams seeded between No. 2 and No. 4 are shown with .

Key NCAA Volleyball Awards

AVCA Player of the Year Award

Each year, the AVCA Player of the Year Award is presented to the most outstanding female collegiate volleyball player in the country. Winners are selected by a committee of head volleyball coaches from all collegiate levels. Notable winners include Kathryn Plummer (Stanford), a two-time AVCA National Player of the Year and three-time NCAA champion who went on to play professionally and represent the US Women's National Team, and Misty May (Long Beach State), who won three Olympic gold medals in beach volleyball with Kerri Walsh - another AVCA Player of the Year Award winner (Stanford).

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) began in 1981 as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association (CVCA). What started with just 100 members grew quickly. By 1983, the organization had over 500 coaches involved and continued to grow, including programming for NCAA Division II, Division III and the NAIA.

NCAA ELITE 90 Award

The NCAA ELITE 90 award honors the exceptional achievements of student-athletes. This prestigious accolade is given to those who have not only excelled at a national championship level in their sport but have also achieved the highest academic standards among their peers. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be an active member on the roster, eligible for the championship, and a member of the designated squad size at the championship site in sports with squad size limitations. For team sports: If they are injured during the course of one of the NCAA tournament games, they must have played in more than 90 percent of the team's regular season games. Only undergraduate GPA is applicable. If the student-athlete has graduated from your institution and is in graduate school, he or she is still eligible for the award but consideration will be based strictly on an undergraduate GPA, so just include undergrad GPA and credits on the form. For swimming relay teams: A student-athlete must have qualified for the championship on his or her own merits.

Conference Awards

The ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC announced their respective top players and coaches for the year.

ACC: There are co-players of the year in Louisville senior outside and Florida State junior outside Audrey Koenig. The defensive player of the year is Louisville junior libero Elena Scott, the setter is Pittsburgh junior Rachel Fairbanks, and the top freshman is Pitt right side Olivia Babcock. The coach of the year is Florida State’s Chris Poole.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

BIG 12: The player of the year is Texas junior outside Madisen Skinner. The setter is Kansas junior Camryn Turner, the libero is Houston senior Kate Georgiades and the freshman is Iowa State outside/right side Nayeli Gonzales. The coach of the year is Ray Bechard of Kansas.

PAC-12: Kendall Kipp, Stanford’s fifth-year right side, is the player of the year. The setter is Stanford junior Kami Miner, the libero Stanford senior Elena Oglivie and the freshman is Cal outside Maggie Lie. The coach of the year is JJ Van Niel of Arizona State.

SEC: There were, incredibly, four coaches of the year, Jason Watson of Arkansas, Craig Skinner of Kentucky, Dawn Sullivan of Missouri and Eve Rackham Watt of Tennessee. Georgia senior middle Sophie Fisher is the player of the year, Missouri sophomore Maya Sands is the libero and Kentucky outside Brookyn DeLeye was the top freshman.

Big Ten Network analyst Emily Ehman projects that Wisconsin’s Sarah Franklin is the POY, Nebraska libero Lexi Rodriguez is the defensive honoree, Nebraska’s Bergen Reilly is the top setter and freshman, and Nebraska’s John Cook is the coach of year. Loeswick was named Sun Belt coach of the year and his Chanticleers won the SBC tournament and the NCAA bid,

Keegan Cook is in his first year at Minnesota and so is Matt Jones at UC Santa Barbara, promoted when Nicole Lantagne Welch retired after last season.

Liesa Rosen is the first-year coach at Fresno State, the surprise winner from the Mountain West, and Jamie Morrison got the SEC’s Texas A&M back into the tournament in his first year.

NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Tournament: An Overview

The NCAA Divsion I women’s volleyball tournament begins Thursday with 16 matches, including all four of the regional No. 2 seeds - Kentucky, Oregon, Texas and Louisville - and No. 1 Wisconsin. The other No. 1 seeds - Nebraska, Stanford and Pittsburgh - - open play Friday. Since there are 32 first-round matches, Friday will be loaded, with not only the 16 first-round matches, but eight between the Thursday winners. Every first-round match can be seen on ESPN+. The matches at Texas will also be shown - if you get it - on the Longhorn Network for the last time, because that entitiy goes away after this school year when Texas joins the SEC.

Historical Champions

Just 12 programs have won since the NCAA began holding women’s volleyball championships in 1981:

Stanford (9 times)
Penn State (7)
Nebraska (5)
UCLA (4)
Hawai’i (3)
Long Beach State (3)
USC (3)
Texas (3)
Pacific (2)
Kentucky (1)
Wisconsin (1)
Washington (1)

Kentucky of the SEC was the only team outside of the Big Ten or Pac-12 to win the crown since Texas of the Big 12 won in 2012 when it won in the spring of 2021.

Additional Facts

Penn State is the only school to compete in every NCAA Division I Tournament since it started in 1981.
San Diego is the first team to make the NCAA national semifinals one year and fail to make the tournament the next since defending-champion Stanford in 2020/21. Worth noting is that Stanford finished 2-8 in the COVID-marred spring of 2021. Before that, another team coached by Kevin Hambly, Illinois, played in the title match in 2011 but didn’t make the tournament in 2012.
Texas swept Louisville for the 2022 national title, its first since 2012. In the semifinals, Texas San Diego, making its first national semifinals appearance, and Louisville beat Pittsburgh in five as two ACC teams made their second and back-to-back final-four appearances.
Nebraska was No. 1, followed by Stanford, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky, Oregon, Creighton and Arkansas.

Other Volleyball Competitions

In addition to NCAA volleyball, other volleyball competitions exist.

LSGH won its five championships under the junior team of DLSU. Howard Mojica (Season) Rey Taneo Jr. Joebert Almodiel (Season) Rey Taneo Jr. Ma. Ma. Joyce Sta..

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