With nonconference play in the books, let’s look back on what we learned and what there is to look forward to.
1. It feels like we have more parity than ever this season. Top teams are going to have more losses than we are accustomed to. Not only did we have more ranked matchups, but we also saw more upsets left and right.
2. We saw a few non-Power Four schools emerge as threats this season. Creighton, for one, is a top-10 team out of the Big East. But another example is Wright State, which took down two Power Four programs in Ohio State and Miami (Fla.)
3. Headed into conference play, Pitt and Nebraska are the top two teams — and the top two teams to beat. The Panthers have yet to drop a single set and have been completely dominant through nonconference play. Now they will have a tough test of ACC foes like Stanford, Louisville and Georgia Tech.
POWER 10: Nebraska surges, Kansas enters in Michella’s latest rankings
4. There are multiple teams with a lot of potential to peak later in the season. We saw it last year with Texas peaking in the postseason and then winning a title — and we have more teams like that again this year. Texas, again, has the pieces to put it all together despite some early losses. The same goes for Wisconsin, as the Badgers get used to a new freshmen setter, but the reigning national player of the year, Sarah Franklin, is heating up. Kentucky last season had a lot of losses early before putting together a 16-game win streak. It could be a similar situation this year. And lastly, Florida has so much potential with Alexis Stucky back from injury at last alongside Kennedy Martin. There are a few more as well, but watch out for those teams with a lot of potential to peak late in the season.
5. I think we learned the races for the Big Ten, ACC and SEC championships are wide open. There are so many new teams in the Big Ten which will be so exciting, and there is a lot of talent looking to challenge Nebraska. The ACC will be a fun battle with Pitt, Louisville and Stanford, and the SEC with the introduction of back-to-back champions Texas to challenge Kentucky and Florida for the title. Kansas and Arizona State seem to be the front runners for the time being in the Big 12.
6. We learned a bit about who the freshman superstars will be this season— Izzy Starck at Penn State, Charlie Fuerbringer at Wisconsin, Ayden Ames at Texas, Ryla Jones at Pitt and Julia Hunt at Washington, to name a few.
Volleyball runs in the Starck family.
From growing up together to sharing the @PennStateVBALL court, the Starck sisters have always pushed each other to be better in all aspects of life.
This is the Starck Sisters’ story: 𝗔𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘁 pic.twitter.com/9oZWuaP3VM
— Big Ten Volleyball (@B1GVolleyball) September 24, 2024
We learned a lot with so much fun nonconference volleyball, but we have even more to look forward to.