Utah earns No. 4 seed, BYU 5 to open NCAA volleyball tournament

PROVO — A week after falling out of the AVCA top 25 national coaches poll for the first time in Heather Olmstead's 10-year tenure as head coach, the BYU women's volleyball team is hitting its stride.

The Cougars (19-9, 12-6 Big 12) wrapped up Big 12 play with a pair of road wins in the Sunflower State, first downing No. 11 Kansas 3-1 in Lawrence to hand the Jayhawks just their fourth loss of the year before moving on to a 3-1 win over Kansas State.

Now they'll get another shot at the NCAA Tournament for the 13th straight season and 37th overall.

Fifth-seeded BYU, which was the first team outside the coaches poll, will open in the West Lafayette regional Dec. 5 against Loyola Chicago (21-11). The match will start at 1:30 p.m. MST on ESPN+.

No. 4 Purdue will host MAC champion Western Michigan in the other match of the regional.

"We're super excited to be heading into the NCAA Tournament," Olmstead said. "We're grateful to be playing Loyola Chicago, I think they're a great team. We're going to dive into them later today, but as a group we're really happy with the body of work that we put together this whole season. We've battled and we've gotten better, and that's what we're going to continue to focus on this week so we can play our best volleyball in the tournament."

The Cougars are led by sophomore middle blocker Brielle Kemavor, who ranks 11th nationally with 1.49 blocks per set for 164 blocks that included 30 solo stuffs. BYU is a top-25 blocking team, averaging 2.60 blocks per set, and Kemavor has already tied BYU's rally-scoring era record for most double-doubles in a season with three.

BYU will be joined in the NCAA Tournament by No. 17 Utah, which stormed back to take a five-set win over Iowa State 19-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 15-12 to cap a 24-5 season, including a 14-4 mark in its first season in the Big 12.

Led by a two-setter offense of Isabelle Marco and Grace Hammond, the Utes enter the tournament on a seven-match winning streak powered by Kamryn Gibadlo, Emrie Satuala, Allie Olsen and Lauren Jardine, who all had double-digit kills against the Cyclones.

Utah earned a host seed at No. 4, and will welcome CAA champions College of Charleston in a regional that also includes fifth-seeded Marquette and Florida Gulf Coast at the Huntsman Center.

The Utes' regional is opposite No. 1 overall seed Penn State, which has participated in every NCAA volleyball tournament since the tournament's inception in 1981.

The Nittany Lions are joined in the top-four overall seeds by Pittsburgh, Nebraska and Louisville, which lost to Stanford 3-1 in Sunday's regular-season finale. But the Cardinals' No. 1 nonconference strength-of-schedule gave them the nod to lead one of four corners of the bracket.

Chicago State and UTEP are the tournament's two debutants in 2024, making the field for the first time in program history.

In addition to BYU and Utah, four other Big 12 teams earned a spot in the bracket. The ACC, Big Ten and SEC tied for the most bids per league with nine apiece.

• TCU drew a No. 5 seed and will face Big West champion Hawaii on Dec. 5 in fourth-seeded Oregon's regional.
• No. 3-seeded Kansas will host a regional that includes North Carolina State, Florida, and first-round opponent Colgate.
• Fourth-seeded Baylor will host SoCon champion Wofford in a regional that also includes South Carolina and fifth-seeded Dayton.
• Big 12 champion Arizona State drew a No. 3 seed and will host a regional that includes first-round opponent New Hampshire, Mountain West champion Colorado State and SEC foe Texas A&M.

Following the opening rounds Thursday through Saturday, regional play will begin Thursday, Dec. 12 through Sunday, Dec. 15. The national semifinals are Dec. 19 on ESPN, followed by the national championship Dec. 22 on ABC.

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