The NCAA Division I volleyball tournament kicks off Wednesday with first-round matches at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb.

The 11-day event, usually held in December but moved to April because of the coronavirus pandemic, will consists of 48 teams instead of the normal field of 64. The teams, as was the case in men’s and women’s basketball, will be in a bubble-like environment for duration of the tournament.

Here are some key storylines to follow:

Is this the Longhorns’ year?
In December 2009, Texas coach Jerritt Elliott took a stroll one day to find a respite from the steady beat of practices, media interviews and banquets. Elliott’s squad had made it to the Final Four for the second straight year, and as the coach made a journey through downtown Tampa, Fla., he grasped how fast and far the program had come.

Eight years earlier, Elliott had been hired to restore Texas back to its once-proud relevance. The Longhorns would lose a five-set heart-stopper to Penn State in the final that year, squandering a 2-0 advantage despite a dominating performance from Southwest High School graduate Destinee Hooker (34 kills, 17 digs, two aces and two blocks).
The runner-up finish, though, was a key moment of an unprecedented run that has seen Texas advance to at least the regional final in 13 of the past 14 seasons.

“The pressure to win was always welcomed because we knew every team we played, we had a target on our back,” said former setter Chloe Collins, who played Texas from 2013-2016, making it to two national finals and two other national semifinals. “Everyone wanted to beat Texas. By embracing all of those challenges, it led us to our success. We knew we had the talent, we just mentality had to stay in every match. Altogether, we knew what we accomplished at Texas was what some teams could only wish for, but for us, we knew we wanted more because we worked so hard to get there, every year. I believe Texas is a contender every year because Texas knows how to utilize their recruited talent to the best to win.”

In 2012, the Longhorns reached the mountaintop by defeating Oregon in the final. But they’ve twice lost in the title match, the national semifinals and regional final. A year ago, they were stunned in five sets at home in the regional semifinals by Louisville.

Texas has used the setback as motivation, dusting itself off to win another Big 12 championship during a season played in the backdrop of a pandemic. Led by junior outside hitters Logan Eggleston and Skylar Fields, middle blockers Asia O’Neal and Brionne Butler and setter Jhenna Gabriel, the Longhorns (23-1) will play in the second round on Thursday vs. either Samford or Wright State.

“This is another go-around for us,” Elliott said in a pre-tournament media session. “What we’ve done this season has been really impressive.”

What the Longhorns have done for the last 1 1/2 decades has also been admirable. It was why Juliann (Faucette) Johnson chose to leave her home state of California, where she had a pick between powerhouses Stanford, UCLA or Southern California, to go to Austin.

“For me, it was more about the challenge and knowing that the people who had come before had started something real cool,” said Johnson, who played in three Final Fours and just returned from Italy after playing in her eighth professional season. “I kind of had a hunch that we were going to be on the map and be in the Final Four and then the championship at some point, and I wanted to help get the team there. Obviously, I would have loved to have that title under my belt. I do have a sense of pride coming back those next seasons with the drive and motivation. You can always recruit in talent, but it’s how you play together that’s really going to get you where you need to be at the end of the season.”

The Longhorns’ endgame is a national title. Johnson believes this year’s squad has the potential to win it all.

From hunter to hunted
A year ago, Baylor was one of the darling stories of the tournament, if not the entire season. The Bears had been a program on the rise, but stamped their arrival among the elite by earning their first No. 1 ranking and trip to the Final Four. They lost to Wisconsin in four sets in the semifinals.

With high-flying outside hitter and reigning national player of the year Yossiana Pressley leading the way, the expectations for Baylor was going to be through the roof.

Baylor (19-6) has fared relatively well in its new outlook, overcoming four losses to Texas and setbacks to Kansas and Texas State, to land the No. 6 overall seed. The Bears, who received a first-round bye, play either Pepperdine or Maryland-Baltimore County in Thursday’s second round. The Bears edged Pepperdine in five sets on Feb, 28 in Waco.

“It’s so valuable because we were just happy to be there,” Pressley said of making the national semifinals in 2019. “I’m excited for us to compete at a high level.”

A new head for the crown
For the first time since the NCAA began a volleyball tournament in 1981, Stanford failed to make it into the field. Stanford was the two-time defending national champion.

The Cardinal, already hit hard by the graduation of 6-foot-6 outside hitter Kathryn Plummer, setter Jenna Gray and libero Morgan Hentz, were further hampered by COVID. The team had multiple matches postponed because of protocols and only played 10 contests, finishing with a 2-8 record.

With Stanford out of the picture, what teams might be poised to capture the top prize? The overwhelming choice appears to be Wisconsin, which lost in the final a year ago but return 6-8 middle Dana Rettke, outside hitter Molly Haggerty and setter Sydney Hilley.

Others to watch out for are Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas and Nebraska. UCLA is a trendy dark horse.

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1