🏐 Five Big 12 Teams selected to 2022 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship

IRVING, Texas— Five Big 12 programs were selected to the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship, the second consecutive season over half the league has made the 64-team field. The percentage is the highest of any conference in the country. Texas was announced as the No. 1 overall seed and is the Big 12’s automatic qualifier. Baylor is a four-seed while Iowa State is a six-seed in the bracket. Kansas and TCU also received bids.

This is the second time in program history that Texas has entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed and the 13th time since 2007 that the Longhorns are one of the top-4 national seeds. UT won a conference-record sixth consecutive Big 12 title, finishing 15-1 in league play and 22-1 overall. Texas held the top spot in the RPI in all eight rankings this season and will face Fairleigh Dickinson at 8 p.m. CT in Austin, Texas Thursday, Dec. 1.

Baylor has earned an at-large bid to its seventh postseason in a row, a program record. The Bears (23-6, 12-4) finished runner-up in league play, marking the sixth consecutive season that Baylor has finished in the top two of the Big 12. BU will match up against Stephen F. Austin in Waco, Texas at 7 p.m. CT Thursday, Dec. 1.

Iowa State (19-11, 10-6) heads back to the tournament for the 16th time in Cyclone history, with 15 happening under head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch. ISU will take on Florida Gulf Coast at 3:30 p.m. CT Friday, Dec. 2 in Gainesville, Florida.

Kansas (18-10, 8-8) returns after a Sweet 16 trip in 2021, marking the 11th time the Jayhawks have made the field. KU is paired with seventh-seeded Miami (Fla.) for a 4:30 p.m. CT match Thursday, Dec. 1 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

TCU will make its fourth appearance in program history and its first since 2016, led by first-year head coach Jason Williams. The Horned Frogs (16-10, 11-5) finished third outright in the Big 12 standings for the first time in program history while setting a program record for Conference wins in TCU’s 11-year Big 12 era. TCU will play eighth-seeded Washington in Madison, Wisconsin at 4:30 p.m. CT Friday, Dec. 2.

New for this year, the top 32 teams were seeded nationally in pods of four and placed within four regions. Per the established bracketing principles, the top seeds are provided the opportunity to host. Additionally, team pairings are determined within the pods (ones paired with eights, twos paired with sevens, threes paired with sixes and fours paired with fives) and assigned geographically within their pods, with the exception that teams from the same conference are not paired during the first and second rounds.

First- and second-round matches will be played Dec. 1-3 at 16 campus sites. Teams winning both matches will continue to regional play Dec. 8 & 10. Regionals for the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be held at four non-predetermined campus sites, which will be announced Dec. 4. At each site, four teams will compete in single-elimination regional semifinal competition.

The regional winners will advance to the national semifinals and championship final hosted by Nebraska in conjunction with the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA), Dec. 15-17 at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The national semifinal matches will be broadcast on ESPN, and the championship match will air on ESPN2.

All preliminary site match times can be found online at www.ncaa.com/volleyball.

Follow Big12Sports.com and the Conference’s social media platforms for additional coverage of Big 12 Volleyball teams throughout the postseason.

2022 NCAA DI Women’s Volleyball Championship Big 12 First Round MatchupsThursday, Dec. 1Kansas vs. No. 7 Miami (Lincoln, Nebraska)4:30 p.m.SFA at No. 4 Baylor     7 p.m.Fairleigh Dickinson at No. 1 Texas 8 p.m.Friday, Dec. 2No. 6 Iowa State vs. FGCU (Gainesville, Florida)    3:30 p.m.TCU vs. No. 8 Washington (Madison, Wisconsin)4:30 p.m.

Times are listed as Central. Rankings reflect NCAA Championship seed.