NCAA volleyball winners, losers: Texas A&M’s grit, Nebraska eliminated

The 2025 NCAA volleyball tournament regional rounds had elite play, high-stakes matches and an historic upset.

Texas A&M is going to the Final Four after shocking the volleyball world by eliminating No. 1 overall seed Nebraska in a five-set thriller. The No. 1 overall seeded Cornhuskers had their formally undefeated season and hopes for a sixth program title squashed.

No. 1 seeds Kentucky and Pittsburgh and No. 3 seeded Wisconsin will join the Aggies in Kansas City for the national semifinals, which will be played at the T-Mobile Center on Thursday, Dec. 18.

Which program will win a national championship? As the teams prepare for their toughest tests yet and continue their push for a national title, here are the winners and losers from the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds.

Winners

Texas A&M’s upset of No. 1 Nebraska

The Aggies had an answer for nearly everything the Cornhuskers unleashed. Texas A&M deployed a tempo offense, service pressure and timely blocks to disrupt the usually surefire Cornhuskers. Even after withstanding a two-set Nebraska rally to even up the match, which included 10 Cornhuskers set points and three Aggies match points in the fourth set, Texas A&M hit the gas in the final set to end Nebraska’s perfect season. The Aggies responded to every push from Harper Murray and Rebekah Allick and held standout Andi Jackson in check. Kyndal Stowers had 25 kills to lead three Texas A&M players with double digits in the category. The Aggies had 30 total blocks and nine aces.

No. 1 seeds sweep in the Sweet 16

All four No. 1s made outlasted their opponents during the Sweet 16. Kentucky easily moved past Cal Poly, Pittsburgh grinded out a win over Minnesota, Texas edged out Indiana and Nebraska cruised past Kansas. The Jayhawks had the roughest day among the ousted teams. They had 22 attack errors, six service errors and finished the match with a .029 team hitting percentage.

Pitt’s excellent pancake kill against Minnesota

No. 4 seed Minnesota gave No. 1 Pittsburgh all it could handle, despite the Panthers walking away with a 3-0 victory. Pittsburgh earned every point during an intense back-and-forth matchup that had a stunning 23 ties. Nothing represented the type of match it was more than a sequence in the second set when Minnesota’s Jordan Taylor sent a ball flying over the net. Several Pitt players couldn’t stop it until Brooke Mosher saved the possession with a perfectly timed pancake that sent the ball back over to the Gophers for a crafty kill.

Texas A&M’s libero dig kill vs. Nebraska

Texas A&M’s gritty win against Nebraska was so incredible it doesn’t feel real. Not only did the Aggies eliminate an undefeated team, but they survived a five-set slugfest with the No. 1 overall seed. The match required some serious stamina and even better effort and attention to detail. Look no further than Tatum Thomas’ impeccable slide to get under the volleyball and push it up and over the net for a rare libero dig kill.

Standout performances in the reginal rounds

Several players had standout performances during the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds. Texas outside hitter Torrey Stafford had a tournament performance for the ages in the Sweet 16, including 19 kills on 28 swings and a blistering .679 hitting percentage. Her hitting percentage was the fourth highest in NCAA tournament history for regional, semifinal or national championship match. She also added eight digs and four blocks. During the Elite Eight, Pitt’s Brooke Mosher gets the nod for her all-around day. Mosher had four kills on .500 hitting, three, seven digs and four blocks.

• Other Sweet 16 top performers
  • Ava Martin, Creighton: 23 kills on .388 hitting
  • Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin: 27 kills on .373 hitting | 10 digs
  • Kiara Reinhardt, Creighton: 15 kills on .737 hitting | 3 blocks
  • Rebekah Allick, Nebraska: Nine kills on 1.000 hitting | 3 blocks
  • Kenna Wollard, Purdue: 23 kills on .457 hitting | 10 digs | 5 blocks
  • Olivia Babcock, Pittsburgh: 19 kills on .366 hitting | 8 digs | 3 blocks
  • Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Texas A&M: 9 kills on .316 hitting | 5 digs | 12 blocks
• Other Elite Eight top performers
  • Mimi Colyer, Wisconsin: 22 kills on .296 hitting | 5 digs
  • Logan Lednicky, Texas A&M: 24 kills on .250 hitting | 6 blocks
  • Kenna Wollard, Purdue: 15 kills on .344 hitting | 13 digs | 4 blocks
  • Una Vajagic, Wisconsin: 15 kills on .458 hitting | 8 digs | 2 blocks
  • Kyndal Stowers, Texas A&M: 25 kills on .327 hitting | 16 digs | 2 blocks
  • Olivia Babcock, Pittsburgh: 23 kills on .333 hitting | 4 digs | 2 blocks
  • Brooklyn DeLeye, Kentucky: 18 kills on .326 hitting |12 digs | 3 blocks
  • Harper Murray, Nebraska: 25 kills on .255 hitting | 3 aces | 9 digs | 2 blocks

Losers

Nebraska previously undefeated season ends without a title

Since 1981, there have been four programs to finish a season undefeated and win a national championship: Long Beach State (1998), Nebraska (2000), Southern California (2003) and Penn State (2008, 2009). This year’s Nebraska Cornhuskers will not join that list. The Cornhuskers racked up 33 consecutive victories to open their season, tying the second-most wins by a Nebraska team since 1981, before being eliminated Sunday. Texas A&M handed Nebraska its first home loss since 2022 (63 home matches) to advance to the Final Four.

Cal Poly’s Cinderella run ends during the Sweet 16

After upsetting No. 5 BYU and No. 4 USC in back-to-back five-set thrillers, the Mustangs didn’t have enough against No. 1-seed Kentucky. Cal Poly was swept, 3-0. The Mustangs were unable to get their offense and defense on the same page from one set to the next. Standouts Kendall Beshear and Emma Frederick, who had been fantastic all tournament, weren’t enough to overpower Kentucky. (Cal Poly had few solutions for the Wildcats’ depth or Lizzie Carr and Eva Hudson, who had 20 combined kills and nine total blocks.) By the time the third set ended, the Mustangs had finished with a .114 team hitting percentage and 19 errors.

No. 2 seeds eliminated by No. 3 seeds during the Sweet 16

For the first time since 2009, not a single two-seed team advanced to the Elite Eight. They were all eliminated by the three-seeds during the Sweet 16. Arizona State lost to No. 3 Creighton, SMU lost to No. 3 Purdue and Stanford lost to No. 3 Wisconsin ― all by the score of 3-1. Louisville tried to hold off No. 3 Texas A&M, but was defeated, 3-2, in an absolutely wild reverse sweep. The Aggies fought back and grinded through, including unleashing a stunning nine blocks during the fourth set to secure their place in the Elite Eight.

The pain of losing in the Elite Eight

In the Elite Eight, Kentucky fended off a Creighton team that ran out of steam. For the second straight season, the Bluejays were bounced one round shy of the Final Four. A late tournament loss is a painful reality, and Bluejays freshman Abbey Hayes was overcome with emotion post-match. Hayes, who was comforted by a hug from sophomore Saige Damrow, could not hold back the tears as the team walked to the locker room. Later, senior Ava Martin tried to encapsulate why the loss hurt so much.

‘Our big thing is playing with joy, and I really hope other people can see that because we just have so much fun playing out there together,’ Martin said. ‘That’s just what makes it so hard. We just love each other so much, and we love the sport of volleyball. We’re just happy to be out there doing it.’