NCAA volleyball tournament final: Keys to Kentucky-Texas A&M

Kansas City, MO. – We understood. You’re tired of hearing about SEC dominance. The selection committee favors him, sometimes, because “it means more.”

But wait. …We’re talking about volleyball here.

For the first time in conference history, two SEC teams will compete for the volleyball national championship on Sunday afternoon when No. 2 Kentucky plays sixth-ranked Texas A&M at T-Mobile Center (3:30 ET, ABC). It took nearly four decades for the league to celebrate its first national championship when Craig Skinner’s Kentucky Wildcats won in 2020 — actually in spring 2021 due to COVID-19.

But this pairing is no coincidence. Three teams in the Southeastern Conference (Kentucky, Texas and Texas A&M) were in the top 10 in the final regular-season poll, and Texas’ upset of Wisconsin prevented the Final Four from being three-quarters of the SEC. Sunday’s results will ensure that four teams currently in the SEC have won national championships in the last six years (Kentucky 2020, Texas 2022 and 2023), although Texas did not join the conference until 2024.

Skinner began his news conference Friday by acknowledging the change.

“Congratulations to the SEC and our league’s coaches for putting our conference in a position to create an elite league in the sport of volleyball in the NCAA,” Skinner said.

Skinner, an assistant when Nebraska won the national championship in 2000, knew when he took the job at Kentucky in 2005 that the lack of SEC dominance could be a hindrance in recruiting. So, they used the “Come join us and become the first SEC team to win a national championship” pitch.

“To become really good, you have to invest a lot of time,” Skinner said. “I was a part of a national championship program. I just wanted people to feel what that’s like. Not only winning it, but getting to that point takes work, time and competitive desire, because that’s the way life is.

“So, I think in doing that, we broke down the doors that either Kentucky can do it again or someone else in the league can do it. We’re very proud to do that.”

SEC associate commissioner and senior women’s administrator Tiffany Daniels said non-conference scheduling, school investment and strong coaching hires have played a role in the advancement. A little pride didn’t hurt either.

Daniels said that when Greg Sankey became commissioner in 2015, he noticed that volleyball was the only sport among the conference’s then-21 offerings that had not captured a national title. He met with coaches at the conference and asked what the SEC could do to help them win championships. He said coaches “really leaned into that question and started thinking strategically about moving forward.

“I think that’s what we’re seeing, the fruits of that labor,” Daniels said.

Another thing that would have helped the league in the NCAA Tournament was the return of the SEC Tournament this fall. It was the first conference tournament for volleyball in two decades, and Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison admits he was initially “a little skeptical” about its chances. None of the other major conferences – the Big Ten, the ACC and the Big 12 – hold a conference tournament.

“Commissioner Sankey begged and pleaded with us,” Morrison said. “They wanted to create some – and this is a bad word, but – commercialization around, which is not a bad word anymore because in order for our sport to be viable and for a lot of things to happen it has to go down that path.

“I think they did an amazing job with it. All of a sudden we got really good volleyball against good teams in pressure situations.”

It was a primer for things to come.

Kentucky and Texas A&M faced pressure-tests during the run to the finals. The Wildcats came back from being down a set against Wisconsin in the national semifinals and advanced in five sets. The Aggies survived a two-set loss against Louisville in the regional semifinals and then upset Nebraska in a pressure-packed fifth round match in the regional finals.

Both teams love to talk about how grit and mental toughness have taken them to the championship match. Now, there remains one more win to come in the 2025 NCAA volleyball season. The only certainty is that an SEC team will claim it.

Here are four other storylines to watch during the championship match.

strength of pins

Traditionally, the best pin hitter in the title game claims the title for his team. Last year, it was Penn State’s Jess Mrzik. The year before that, it was Texas’ Madison Skinner. And the year before that, it was Texas’ Logan Eggleston. Well, you get the idea.

There were several powerful pins on both sides in Sunday’s championship game. The Wildcats feature Purdue transfers Eva Hudson (4.59 kills per set) and Brooklyn Daley (4.62 kills per set), and Aggies showcase Logan Lednicki (4.11 kills per set) and Kyndla Stowers (3.50 kills per set). He has scored 351 kills in the tournament.

But it won’t just be a competition to see which team can outwit the other. Hudson said it may be about who can “overcome” the other.

“Honestly, who lasts the longest,” she said. “And I think at the end of the day most of these games, especially during a Final Four championship, that’s what happens, right? Players like Kindle and Logan never stop fighting. They never stop going away. And we’re the same way.”

In Thursday’s semifinal against Wisconsin, Hudson dominated in the fourth and fifth sets. Her final kill of the game sealed the Wildcats’ fate and earned her 29 kills with a .455 hitting percentage. In the sweep against Pitt, Stowers and Lednicki combined for 30 kills to lead their program to its first title game. When Stowers was asked about the increase in kills over the past few games, he said he was at a loss for words.

“Pure gratitude. It’s crazy,” Stowers said. “It’s an absolutely crazy experience. We’ve been confident in ourselves all year. From the first game of the season, we knew we were capable of it.”

Remember October?

Kentucky defeated the Aggies 21-25, 25-22, 25-15, 27-25 in a thriller on Oct. 8 in College Station. Texas A&M has clearly hit another gear in December, however, sweeping No. 20 TCU, No. 9 Louisville, No. 1 Nebraska and No. 4 Pitt in the postseason. “It feels like a long time ago,” A&M outside hitter Emily Helmuth said of the regular season matchup. “It’s hard to remember honestly, so much has happened since then. I remember after the fourth set all the fans and everyone including us feeling like – I don’t know – it was a confusing feeling, we knew we were going to go to the fifth. I think we left feeling like there was a lot of unfinished business there.”

Kentucky outside hitter Asia Thigpen noted the Aggies’ big presence at regionals in Lincoln last week. “Since then they have grown as a team [October],” Thigpen said. “We have it too.” “I think we just have to continue to believe in ourselves that we can do this.”

Hudson echoed Thigpen’s point.

“Both of our teams have improved so much since then that it’s like playing with a completely new team,” Hudson said. “And I mean, same game plan, but you have to be ready for anything at this point in the tournament.”

check the vibe

A large number of fans from Nebraska were supposed to travel down Interstate 29 to Kansas City this weekend, but Texas A&M’s upset of the No. 1 Cornhuskers last week canceled those plans. Nevertheless, the City of Fountains remains in a festive mood.

Last year’s final drew 21,860 fans at the KFC Yum!, an NCAA postseason record. Center in Louisville, Kentucky. It didn’t hurt that Louisville was playing Penn State. (The home team lost four matches.)

The popularity of the sport has grown every season, and interest in Kansas City this weekend is no exception. Downtown restaurants had waiting lists, and the crowd at T-Mobile Center was lively Thursday night for the semifinals.

“The vibe has been amazing,” Morrison said.

The NCAA said attendance at Thursday night’s semifinal session was 18,322 — a sellout. NCAA director of championships and alliances Kristin Fassbender said that the empty seats in the lower bowl during the first game were mostly team-block allocations, which were eventually occupied by fans who had not yet arrived for the second game. “There’s a lot of excitement,” Fassbender said.

Nebraska fans, still grieving, helped fill the field. Thursday night, the crowd erupted when a fan in Husker gear appeared on the video board.

Morrison took note of all the cravings.

“One of the things I really respect about the Nebraska fans is that a lot of them have come out,” he said. “I know there were some things on social media, disappointment and that. What I mean is this: If we can do what I believe we can do at Texas A&M, I believe the 12th Man can also be where the passion for volleyball is, get to the Final Four, whether we’re in it or not.

“… We need to step up the volleyball fans, and in that get a card from Nebraska and go. I think the crowd has been amazing. I had a lot of thumbs up. When I was walking out I couldn’t tell if it was ‘good job’ or ‘gig’em’ from the Nebraska fans. [Thursday] Night.”

x factor

Although Hudson and Delay get most of the headlines at Kentucky, Hudson believes her team’s X factors are middle blockers Lizzie Carr and Thigpen.

“When Lizzie Carr leads, we’re almost unstoppable,” Hudson said. “She’s very exciting to the team. But then we also have Asia Thigpen, who is one of the most competitive people I’ve ever seen, and she makes me better. Without her, we wouldn’t be here.”

Hudson said Thigpen, who stands 5 feet 11 inches, is sometimes overlooked because of her height — emphasizing her ability to be his secret weapon on the court.

The Aggies’ X factor in this game may have been their ability to play with “so much grit,” as described by their team. It could also be the nine seniors – let’s not forget about middle blocking standout Ifena Kos-Okpala on their roster – who are poised to make their last college game their most memorable yet.

“I want to finish my collegiate career as a winner,” senior Ava Underwood said. “We go into the gym every day with the mentality that we’re going to be the strongest team out there. We all want to play for each other. We want to win for each other.”

In his third season with the Aggies, Morrison led his program to its first Final Four and first national championship game. After defeating Pitt in the semifinals, he credited his seniors for changing his future.

Morrison said, “We’ve built it. Not only a team that can go to the Final Four and play for a national championship this year, but something that I think will last for a long time.” “That’s what I came to Texas A&M to do – to build something that will last. This group has helped us do that.”