For the 35th time since 1981’s original bracket, The Big West has multiple teams dancing in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship.
Big West Champion Hawai’i (23-8) earned the automatic qualifying berth after sweeping through Long Beach State to claim the inaugural crown at the 2023 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship. Regular-season Big West victors UC Santa Barbara earned an at-large bid into the field after compiling a 27-4 overall record on the year with a 17-1 mark in league action.
Hawai’i is set to face seventh-seeded Iowa State (20-9) in the first round on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT/2 p.m. HT. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Cyclones and the ‘Bows, hosted by the quadrant’s second seed, Oregon. Interestingly, this will not be the first meeting between a Big West team and ISU in 2023, as UCSB downed the then-ranked No. 23 Cyclones in Ames on Sept. 14.
Should UH advance, the ‘Bows will meet up with the advancing team from the Oregon (26-5) and Southeastern Louisiana (28-4) matchup. Oregon makes the bracket as an at-large entrant with Southeastern Lousiana earning the trip as the Southland victors.
Hawai’i is making an impressive 41st trip to the NCAA Championship, and 30th in consecutive seasons for which they have competed, excluding the 2020 COVID season when The Big West did not compete. The last NCAA field missing UH was in 1992, when the Rainbow Wahine were competing in the WAC. Hawai'i is one of four teams to dot the field on more than 40 occasions, alongside Stanford (42), Nebraska (42), and Penn State (43).
The Rainbow Wahine offense is powered by four-time All-Big West first team performer Amber Igiede who led The Big West in production all season and picked up Championship Most Valuable Player honors last night. Igiede enters the national postseason averaging a conference-best 3.79 kills and 4.71 points per set while hitting at an impressive .401 clip, a mark good for 19th in Division I. Kate Lang is 20th in the country in assists average with 10.64 per set.
UC Santa Barbara is in the national postseason for the 30th time, the last since 2019 when The Big West saw a trio of teams in the bracket. The Gauchos are set to duel with No. 8 seed Houston (18-9) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT in Stanford, Calif.
UCSB and the Cougars have faced off on four occasions in the distant past, with the Gauchos sporting a 3-0-1 in the series history. The last meeting came in 1994, a 3-1 win for UC Santa Barbara.
Should the Gauchos advance, the second round opponenent will be the winner of host and No. 1 seed Stanford (26-3) and Mountain West champion Fresno State (19-3).
UC Santa Barbara is the home of The Big West Player of the Year in Michelle Ohwobete and Libero of the Year Macall Peed under the direction of Big West Coach of the Year Matt Jones, in a first year at the helm. Ohwobete averages 3.58 kills and 4.23 points per set while serving up 38 total aces on the year. Peed scoops up a Big West-best 4.43 digs per set. UCSB enters the postseason as the seventh-best blocking team in the country, averaging 2.78 denials per set.
The first and second rounds will be played on the campuses of the top four seeds in each quadrant, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. The regionals are set for non-predetermined campus sites Dec. 7 and 9, with the final four teams converging on Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., for competition Dec. 14 and 19.