2023 NCAA Tournament Bracket | Schedule | Standings | Pac-12 Statistics | NCAA Statistics | Pac-12 Record Book

The Pac-12 saw four out of its five 2023 NCAA Tournament teams win two matches on opening weekend and advance to the Sweet 16 round, the most the conference has sent to the second weekend since 2018. The four are also tied with the Big 10 for most in the country, followed by the SEC with three, the ACC two and the Big 12 and Big East one apiece. 

No. 1 seed Stanford and No. 2 seed Oregon are making their second straight appearances in the regional semifinals, while No. 4 seed Washington State returns to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018. No. 5 seed Arizona State is back after an even longer absence, making its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1995 after winning its first two tournament matches for the first time in program history since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. The Pac-12's fifth tournament team - USC - won its first-round match 3-0 over UMBC but came up short in a 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh to end its season.

The road gets tougher from here and for Stanford and Arizona State, they will have to go through each other as the Sun Devils will travel to Maples Pavilion for the third matchup between the squads in 2023. ASU should bring some confidence with them as the Sun Devils handed the Cardinals their only conference loss of the season in Tempe at the end of October - and it was sweep to boot, only the second sweep Stanford suffered all year long. The Pac-12 showdown is set for Thursday, December 6 at 8:30 p.m. PT live on ESPNU. 

The Ducks and Cougars both head out on the road, with Oregon taking on No. 3 seed Purdue in Madison, Wisconsin on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. PT and Washington State facing No. 1 seed Pittsburgh on the Panthers' home floor on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. PT, also on ESPNU. 

SWEET 16 

• Stanford (28-3, 19-1) easily dispatched its opening-round opponent Fresno State 3-0, but did get a test in the second round as Houston went the distance with the Cardinal in a five-set victory by the home squad. The win helped push the tournament's No. 2 overall seed to its 20th NCAA regional semifinal since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1998. The third-round matchup between Stanford and Arizona State marks the first time two Pac-12 teams have met in the tournament since Stanford defeated Utah in the third round in 2019. Stanford enters the weekend enjoying its longest winning streak of the season at 10 matches, while ASU has won three straight. Joining the Cardinal and Sun Devils in Palo Alto is No. 2 seed Texas and No. 3 seed Tennessee, who will play at 6 p.m. PT on Thursday in Maples Pavilion. The winners of each pairing will advance to the regional final, set for Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. PT.
• Oregon (28-5, 16-4) was dominant at home in sweeping Southeastern Louisiana and Hawaii to reach the regional semifinals for the second straight year and ninth time in program history. It is just the second time Oregon has reached the Sweet 16 in back-to-back years and first time since 2007 and 2008. The Ducks are playing their best at the right time having won seven straight and 11 of their last 12 matches. The matchup with third-seeded Purdue will be the fourth meeting between the programs, the last being in the 2021 Spring NCAA Tournament, a 3-1 win by the Boilermakers. The winner will advance to take on either No. 1 seed and host Wisconsin or No. 5 seed Penn State on Saturday.
• Washington State (26-7, 14-6), who is just one of 11 Power 5 programs to reach each of the last eight NCAA Tournaments, hosted first and second round matches at Bohler Gym for the seventh time overall and first time since 2018. The Cougars delivered for their home crowd, sweeping Grand Canyon and downing Dayton 3-1 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in program history and the second time under head coach Jen Greeny. The first-match sweep was its third straight in NCAA opening round matches. Winners of seven straight, WSU will travel to top-seeded Pitt, who took down Coppin State and USC to advance to its fourth straight regional semifinal. No. 2 seed Louisville and No. 3 seed Creighton will meet in the other match with the winners facing off in the regional final on Saturday. 
• Arizona State's (28-6, 14-6) historic regular season carried the Sun Devils into two NCAA tournament wins in Provo - a pair of sweeps over Georgia and No. 4 seed and host BYU - to reach the program's third Sweet 16 and first since 1995. The sweeps marked the 19th and 20th this year, extending the new program record for most in a season. The win over the Bulldogs was ASU's first NCAA tournament win since 2014, while the two weekend wins marked the first time ever the Sun Devils had won its first two NCAA tournament matches (since 1998). ASU, who was one of three No. 5 seeds to make the Sweet 16, will hope it can repeat its earlier season sweep over the Cardinal, its first win over Stanford since 2021 and first three-set sweep since 1993, on Thursday but will have to do it on the road this time where the Sun Devils have only won once in 38 all-time meetings. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE - NCAA TOURNAMENT SWEET 16 AND ELITE EIGHT ROUNDS (Full Schedule)

2023 AVCA ALL-REGION AWARDS 

• The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced its annual All-Region awards on Tuesday, December 5 and 25 student-athletes and one coach from Pac-12 women's volleyball were honored. 
• In the Pacific North Region, Stanford's Kendall Kipp earned her second consecutive Regional Player of the Year award, while California's Maggie Li became the Bears' first ever Pacific North Region Freshman of the Year. In the Pacific South Region, USC's Skylar Fields was tabbed the region's Player of the Year and Arizona State first-year head coach J.J. Van Niel picked up the first Regional Coach of the Year award in program history.
• In all, 13 from the Pac-12 earned Pacific North Region First Team selections and four more were tabbed Pacific North Honorable Mention. Stanford and Oregon led the way with six selections apiece in the region, followed by Washington State with three and California and Washington with one each.
• In the Pacific South Region, all eight Pac-12 selections were first team honorees, led by Arizona State's program-record four selections. USC and UCLA each garnered two in the region. 

2023 ALL-PAC-12 AWARDS 

• The 2023 All-Pac-12 postseason honors were announced this week at the conclusion of the regular season and three of the five individual award winners were repeat honorees - Stanford's Kendall Kipp was again selected as the Pac-12 Player of the Year, while Cardinal setter Kami Miner was named the Pac-12 Setter of the Year for a second straight year and Stanford libero Elena Oglivie picked up her second consecutive Pac-12 Libero of the Year honor.
• California's Maggie Li became just the third Bear all-time to be named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and the first since 1990 after a stellar collegiate debut season that saw her win six Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards, tied for second-most in conference history.
• In just his first season as a head coach, Arizona State's J.J. Van Niel was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, the first honor by a Sun Devil head coach since 1992. Van Niel, who is only the third league coach all-time to win the award in his debut season, led the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.
• 12 of the 18 All-Pac-12 honorees were repeat selections from a year ago with Washington State's Magda Jehlarova becoming the first in conference history to earn the award five times during a career. Her teammate - Pia Timmer - along with Oregon's Hannah Pukis and Stanford's Caitie Baird are now three of just 28 women's volleyball student-athletes in Pac-12 history who are four-time honorees. 

FINAL RPI - REGULAR SEASON 

• In the ninth and final RPI update of the 2023 regular season on Nov. 26, three Pac-12 teams rank in the top 15 and four are in the top 25.
• Stanford stayed at No. 2, while Oregon checks in at No. 8, Washington State at no. 13 and Arizona State at No. 23. 
• USC, which made a 21-spot rise five weeks ago is at No. 33. 
• To end their seasons, UCLA was at No. 55, Washington finished at No. 70, California at No. 78, Utah at No. 116, Oregon at No. 151 and Arizona at No. 158.

AVCA TOP 25 

• The Pac-12 ended the regular season with four straight weeks of five squads appearing in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Top 25 poll with Stanford at No. 2, Oregon at No. 6, Washington State at No. 10, Arizona State at No. 18 and USC at No. 25. All five will represent the conference in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
• The five total in the top 25 is tied for the most with the Big 12. Earlier this season, the Pac-12 saw a two-week run of three in the top five, but that came to an end on Oct. 16, but was the only conference this season to have 3 in the top five at any point.
• Stanford is one of three teams, joining No. 1 and unbeaten Nebraska and No. 5 Wisconsin, who has spent the entirety of the season - from pre-season through week 14 - in the top five. Oregon has joined Stanford in the top 10 all season long as well. Washington State spent weeks three through 12 in the top 10, while Arizona State has been in the top 25 for 10 weeks after entering the poll for the first time since 2018. The Trojans are in the poll for their fourth week after being ranked in the initial preseason poll. 
• WSU's three-week stint in the top five earlier this season was its longest in program history, while the No. 4 ranking was also its highest, besting the previous high of No. 5 back in October of 1995. The week-three jump from No. 11 to No. 7 was the Cougars' first time in the top 10 since 2016.   

GAMECHANGER/AVCA DIVISION I NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• After not seeing any national weekly honors through the first two months of the season, the Pac-12 earned the Gamechanger/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week honor in back-to-back weeks with Arizona State senior and three-time Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week this season Marta Levinska earning the conference's first American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I National Player of the Week award of the season on Oct. 31 followed by USC All-American senior Skylar Fields, also a three-time Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week in 2023, earning her third career national weekly honor on Nov. 7.
• The two honorees this season match the total from last fall, while Fields picks up the award in two consecutive years.
• Levinska was the fifth Sun Devil in program history to earn the honor and Fields collected the 13th national weekly honor in Trojan history.

AMONG THE NCAA LEADERS (Team)

• After the opening weekend of the NCAA Touranment, all four Pac-12 teams still alive rank in the top 14 in hitting percentage. Stanford continues to lead the country (.322), followed by Arizona State in 9th (.292), Washington State in 11th (.289) and Oregon in 14th (.283).
• Two teams are in the top 20 in kills per set, with Stanford 5th in the NCAA (14.50) and Oregon at 17th (13.90). 
• Oregon is the league's top-ranked blocks per set squad in 10th (2.76), with Stanford the next best at 16th (2.70). 
• Arizona State is third in the country with 2.03 aces per set, followed by Stanford in 18th at 1.88 per set. 
• Stanford ranks second in the NCAA in assists per set (13.68) followed by Oregon in 16th (12.96). 
• Defensively, Oregon ranks 7th in opponent hitting percentage at .149.

AMONG THE NCAA LEADERS (Individual)

• Two rank in the top-10 in assists per set - Stanford's Kami Miner is 4th (11.76) and Oregon's Hannah Pukis is ninth (10.89).
• USC's Skylar Fields is 6th in the country in attacks per set (12.49).
• Washington State's Magda Jehlarova is 13th (1.39) in blocks per set with Stanford's McKenna Vicini in 17th (1.36).  
• WSU's Jehlarova in 6th in hitting percentage (.431), followed by Oregon's Kara McGhee in 9th (.421).  
• USC's Fields owned the Pac-12's top kills per set average at 5.14, which ranks 2nd in the country and Arizona State's Marta Levinska is 6th (4.74).
• USC's Fields also has the conference's top points per set mark at 5.55, which is third in the nation, while ASU's Levinska is 7th at 5.44 and Stanford's Kendall Kipp ranks 17th at 5.01. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Stanford (28-3) was one of just 6 teams in the country to have three or fewer losses at the end of the regular season. Stanford, Oregon and Arizona State's 28 wins are tied for 7th-most among all teams.
• Stanford, who played six ranked teams out of nine non-conference games, owned the seventh-toughest schedule in the country during the regular season. Washington State was the next highest with the 15th-toughest schedule, while Oregon had the 21st-toughest.
• Washington State fifth year senior Magda Jehlarova officially became the NCAA all-time blocks leader in the rally scoring era (since 2001) on the last week of the regular season and is the just eighth player in the NCAA to reach the 700 mark since 2001. In September, Jehlarova officially became Washington State's all-time blocks leader, breaking the old mark of 615 set by former Cougar Carrie Couturier from 1988-91. In Saturday's second-round NCAA tournament win over Dayton, Jehlarova officially became the Pac-12 record holder (includes pre rally scoring era) for most all-time blocks, with her 766 total breaking the previous mark of 757 set by UCLA's Marissa Hatchett, who played for the Bruins from 1989-92. 
• On Oct. 2, Jehlarova earned her second Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week award of the season and the 10th of her career, giving her 11 combined defensive and offensive weekly awards to set a new conference record for most career weekly honors, surpassing former Washington standout Krista Vansant (2011-14). 
• USC's Skyar Fields finished her career as the NCAA active career leader for kills with 2,141 after surpassing the 2,000 career kills mark against Arizona State on Nov. 5.
• Oregon's Hannah Pukis sits atop the active career list for total assists with 5,291 while Stanford's Kami Miner is currently sixth in the NCAA with an 11.54 career assists per set mark.
• Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Cal's Maggie Li, who earned her sixth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor on Nov. 20, became the first freshman in Pac-12 history to start the season with three consecutive Pac-12 freshman weekly nods. She is also the first ever Bear to earn a weekly award in three consecutive weeks. She finished her first season as the Pac-12's top freshman in kills, kills per set, points and points per set, ranking among the conference's top-five overall players in all of those categories.

NON-CONFERENCE WRAP

• Pac-12 programs closed non-conference play at 96-31 (.756), the best mark among all leagues in 2023 (ACC .741, SEC .731; Big 12 .707; Big 10 .671), and a marked improvement over the last two seasons - 84-37 (.694) in 2022 and 78-36 (.684) in 2021.
• The Pac-12 went 11-8 overall against opponents ranked in the Top-25 of the AVCA Poll, with its top-three ranked teams - Stanford, Oregon and Washington State, going 10-4 against ranked foes. The four losses all came against top-10 opponents, while eight of the 10 wins came on the road or at neutral sites.
• USC added a ranked win on the road, taking down No. 17 Purdue on the final weekend of non-conference play.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

• Pac-12 institutions have won 17 of the 42 all-time NCAA championships in women’s volleyball, four more than the next closest conference (Big Ten), and four of the past 12.
• The Conference has had at least five teams earn NCAA Tournament bids in 24 consecutive seasons and eight postseason berths in five of the past 10 tournaments.
• Four different Pac-12 teams have won at least one NCAA title (UCLA, USC, Stanford, Washington), double any other conference. The Big Ten (Nebraska, Penn State) and Big West (Hawaii, Long Beach State) are the only other leagues with multiple NCAA champions.
• Seven different Pac-12 programs have made NCAA semifinal appearances since 2001 and 14 of the past 22 NCAA championship matches have included at least one Pac-12 program.
• At least one Pac-12 team has played in 27 of the 42 NCAA title matches all-time, the most of any league. At least one Big Ten team has been in 22 NCAA finals all-time and a Big West team has played in the title match nine times.
• Five NCAA title matches have been between two Pac-12 teams (2002, 1994, 1992, 1984, 1981). The only other conference to have an all-conference NCAA title match is the Big Ten, which has done so three times (2021, 2013, 2000).
• A Pac-12 team has been one of the final four teams in all but six years of the NCAA tournament.
• Since 2010, the Pac-12 has the second-most NCAA Tournament berths of any league with 94.
• The Pac-12 has had 10 or more first, second and third-team All-America selections in 13 of the last 18 seasons. Thirteen former Pac-12 players have earned first, second or third-team All-America honors four times, while 30 players have earned All-America honors three times, with Magda Jehlarova (Washington State) garnering her third nod last season.
• Since 1990, Pac-12 players garnered AVCA Player of the Year honors 15 times, including the seven of the last 12  - California’s Carli Lloyd (2010), USC’s Alex Jupiter (2011), Oregon’s Alaina Bergsma (2012), Washington’s Krista Vansant (2013), USC’s Samantha Bricio (2015) and Stanford’s Kathryn Plummer (2017 and 2018). Overall, the Pac-12 has produced 16 student-athletes that have won AVCA Player of the Year, the most of any league. Thirteen Big Ten student-athletes have earned the honor, along with 10 from the Big West and one each from the Big 12 and WCC.
• The Honda Sports Award for volleyball has been bestowed upon a Pac-12 athlete 21 times in its 47 years of existence, including eight of the past 12. The Big Ten has had 11 student-athletes earn the honor, the Big West seven, the SEC two and the Big 12, WCC, A-10 and MWC each one.

FINAL CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

2023 PAC-12 WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL WEEKLY AWARDS