In the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, the No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns (26-3) face the No. 3 seed Wisconsin Badgers (27-4) in an Elite Eight matchup at Gregory Gymnasium on Sunday, a rematch of the sweep by the Longhorns in the 2025 Opening Spike Classic This is the second time that the two top ten powerhouses have faced each other this season with the No. 1 seed Longhorns sweeping the No. 3 seed Badgers 2025 Opening Spike Classic in Madison.

The early-season win by Texas capped a successful weekend in Wisconsin following a sweep of then-No. 12 Creighton and marked the fourth straight win by the Horns over the Badgers, including a 3-1 victory in the 2023 Final Four that launched head coach Jerritt Elliott’s team into the title game where they won a second straight national championship.

That matchup features a balanced attack for Texas as freshman outside hitter Cari Spears notched a team-high 11 kills, fellow freshman outside hitter Abby Vander Wal added 10 kills, and junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford had nine.

Wisconsin enters Sunday’s match fresh off a victory over No. 2 seed Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen, swinging .420 against the Cardinal for their first top-10 win on the year. Wisconsin leads the nation in kills per set at 15.10, edging Texas at 14.85. Leading the Badgers is outside hitter Mimi Coyer, who enters the match with 543 kills on the year alongside setter Charlie Fuerbringer, who averaged 15.25 assists per set against Stanford. Outside hitter Una Vajagic collected her 10th double-double of the season with 13 kills, 11 digs, and a hitting percentage of .444, while middle blockers Carter Booth and Alicia Andrew also excelled. Booth racked up 14 kills while hitting .700. The Badgers are trying to punch their ticket to the Final Four for the sixth time in program history.

The No. 3 Longhorns hold the edge in their series against the Badgers, 8-4, with a 3-1 record in the postseason The two teams rank in the top-three in hitting percentage, with Wisconsin owning a slight advantage at .326 to Texas .317.

Leading the Longhorns is junior outside hitter Torrey Stafford who is ninth in the country with a 4.78 kills per set average and 10th in the NCAA with 5.35 points per set. Stafford has recorded 11 double-doubles on the season while middle blocker Ayden Ames is just four blocks shy of 200, one kill from 300, and sits fifth in the SEC with a .380 hitting percentage.

Setter Ella Swindle holds the ninth slot in assists per set at 9.01 surpassing 2200 career assists while libero Emma Halter holds the back line down ranking 10th in digs per set with 3.61 and No. 8 on the Texas all-time career digs list with 1,294.

True freshman Cari Spears has recorded 346 kills, averages 3.26 per set and is hitting .294 for the Longhorns with the help of middle blocker Nya Bunton who stands tall at the net with .339 hittiing percentage.

The deep bench for the Horns has been a force for Texas, led senior Whitney Lauenstein, who has stepped up the tournament by hitting .250 against Indiana and .571 against Florida A&M.

First serve is at 6:30 p.m. Central on ESPN.

#1 Nebraska vs. #6 Texas A&M

When: Sunday, December 14th at 2 pm CT

Where: Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, NE

Below is the remaining schedule for the tournament throughout the month of December. Check out the NCAA bracket here.

Third Round Matches
December 11^th (# are seeds in the last AVCA Coach’s Poll)
#11 Creighton Defeated #8 Arizona State 3-1
#2 Kentucky Defeated Cal Poly 3-0
#4 Pitt Defeated #17 Minnesota 3-0
#12 Purdue Defeated #7 SMU 3-1

December 12^th
#3 Texas Defeated #15 Indiana 3-0
#10 Wisconsin Defeated #5 Stanford 3-1
#6 Texas A&M Defeated #9 Louisville 3-2
#1 Nebraska Defeated #16 Kansas 3-0

Fourth Round Matches
December 13^th
#2 Kentucky Defeated #11 Creighton 3-0
#4 Pitt Defeated #12 Purdue 3-1

December 14^th
#1 Nebraska vs #6 Texas A&M 2:00 pm CT on ABC
#3 Texas vs #10 Wisconsin 6:30 pm CT ESPN

#1 Nebraska Cornhuskers (33-0, 20-0 B1G)

Key Wins: Kentucky, Pitt, Wisconsin
Key Losses: None
NCAA Path: LIU 3-0, Kansas State 3-0, #16 Kansas 3-0

#6 Texas A&M Aggies (26-4, 14-1 SEC)

Key Wins: Louisville, Texas, Minnesota
Key Losses: Texas (SEC Tournament), Kentucky, TCU, SMU
NCAA Path: Campbell 3-0, #20 TCU 3-1, #9 Louisville 3-2

The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s and women’s track and field teams didn’t have to travel far Saturday to compete in the first meet of their season, competing in CSS Opener inside the Burns Wellness Center on the campus of the College of St. Scholastica.

The women’s side had eight first place finishers and performers, which included a relay team. Kate Fitzgerald won the 60m race with a time of 7.74, a new PR for the senior. Another PR was run by 60m hurdle champion sophomore Lilian Wanzek, who ran to a 9.09. Wanzek also won the long jump with a distance jumped of 5.52. 

Junior 600m runner Emily Bastain earned a first place finish and PR time of 1:38.16, a race in which the Bulldogs took the first five spots, including junior Madi Wodele in second with a PR of 1:38.42. 

Other first place finishers on the indoor track included sophomore Avary Fitzpatrick in the 400m (59.54) and junior Ellie Hanowski in the 3000m (10:43.93). The Bulldog 4×400 relay of Wodele, Kuechle won in a 4:09.26

In addition to Wanzek’s jump, two other first place spots in field events were scooped up by UMD, including sophomore Sophie Mahnke in the high jump (1.55m), and freshman Ilm’aime Ntambwe in the triple jump (11.28m).

24 women earned top-three spots on the podium Saturday.

On the men’s side, freshman Nolan Bien ran to a 8.39 in the 60m hurdles to finish on top, while sophomore Austin Kehr posted a 1:22.52 in the 600m. The Bulldogs 4×400 relay of Brady Johnson, R. Olson, Bien and J. Heimkes finished first with a time of 3:28.48.

Senior jumper Will Heydt jumped to a PR of 7.04m to best his field, and then recorded a meet and venue record of 14.90 – that doubled as another PR – in the triple jump. Sophomore Noah Rodenwald won the pole vault with a height of 4.40.

In all, 16 men’s competitors earned top-three places.

The Nebraska volleyball team (33-0) plays in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament after sweeping Kansas on Friday. The Huskers face the Texas A&M Aggies (26-4), who defeated Louisville in a reverse sweep.

Nebraska’s offense ranks first nationally with a .355 hitting percentage. The defense is equally impressive, ranking first nationally in opponent hitting percentage, .121. 

Junior Harper Murray leads the team, averaging 3.47 kills and 2.18 digs per set, and has a team-high 31 aces. Setter Bergen Reilly runs the offense at an elite level with an average of 10.41 assists and 2.70 digs per set. Middle blocker Andi Jackson is averaging 2.79 kills per set on .486 hitting with 1.16 blocks per set.