The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) divides women’s volleyball teams into regions to facilitate tournament play and seeding for the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship. Determining how many regions there are requires looking at how the NCAA structures this division and playoff system.
The NCAA Volleyball Championship Tournament
The NCAA volleyball tournament is made up of 64 teams. To determine which teams participate, there is a selection process and national seeding that divides teams into regions to manage tournament matchups and seeding.
This tournament features teams from Division I women’s volleyball programs across the country. There are 334 Division I women’s volleyball programs recognized by the NCAA for the 2022-2023 season.
To qualify for the NCAA tournament, teams compete in regular season play within their athletic conference. The NCAA volleyball championship provides automatic qualification spots for teams that win their regular season conference championships. There are 32 athletic conferences that receive automatic bids.
The remaining 32 spots in the 64 team tournament field are at-large bids. These bids are given out by the NCAA selection committee based on a team’s regular season record, strength of schedule, and other factors.
NCAA Volleyball Regions
The 64 teams that qualify for the NCAA volleyball tournament are divided into regions to facilitate the bracket seeding and competition. There are a total of 8 regions used for NCAA women’s volleyball.
The 8 regions are:
- Pacific Northwest
- Pacific Southwest
- West
- Northwest
- North Central
- Southwest
- Mideast
- Northeast
Each of the 8 regions consists of 8 teams, for a total of 64 across the regions. The composition of the regions is determined by geographical location along with competitive balance between regions.
Regional Ranking
Within each region, the 8 teams are ranked 1 through 8. This ranking determines the regional playoff matchups and seeding in the national NCAA bracket.
The #1 ranked team in each region plays the #8 team, #2 plays #7, #3 plays #6, and #4 plays #5. The winners of these matches then compete in the regional semifinal and final to determine which team advances from that region to the national NCAA quarterfinals.
NCAA Volleyball Championship Bracket
Once the field is divided into the 8 regions of 8 teams each, the national championship bracket can be determined.
The winner of each regional final advances to the national quarterfinals. This gives 8 teams that comprise the quarterfinal field.
The quarterfinal matchups pit each of the 8 regional winners against each other. These matches produce the 4 semifinalists.
The 2 semifinal matches determine the championship matchup between the final 2 teams remaining.
In summary, the 64 team field is divided into 8 regions that each send 1 team to the national quarterfinals. This structure facilitates competitive balance and geographical representation in the championship tournament.
Regional Location
The regional rankings and matchups occur at predetermined regional sites. The NCAA announces the hosts of these 8 regional tournaments prior to selections.
Regional hosts are awarded based on a bidding process by schools and venues. Hosting requires appropriate venue size and logistical support to manage the tournament play.
The top teams in each region are often rewarded with hosting their regional. This gives them home court advantage for these early playoff rounds.
Here are the hosts for the 2022 NCAA regional tournaments:
Region | Host |
---|---|
Austin | Gregory Gymnasium – University of Texas |
Gainesville | Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center – University of Florida |
Louisville | L&N Federal Credit Union Arena – Bellarmine University |
Madison | UW Fieldhouse – University of Wisconsin |
Stanford | Maples Pavilion – Stanford University |
Seattle | Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion – University of Washington |
Omaha | D.J. Sokol Arena – Creighton University |
Tallahassee | Tully Gymnasium – Florida State University |
The winners at each of these 8 regional sites will advance to the national quarterfinals.
Number of NCAA Volleyball Regions
To summarize the key points:
- There are 64 teams in the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball championship tournament
- These 64 teams are divided into 8 regions of 8 teams each
- Each region plays matches at a regional host site to determine the regional winner
- The 8 regional winners advance to the national quarterfinals
So in total, there are 8 NCAA volleyball regions used for the Division I women’s volleyball championship tournament.
Conclusion
The NCAA strategically divides the 64 women’s volleyball tournament teams into 8 regions. This facilitates logistics of hosting early rounds at regional sites while also promoting competitive balance in the national bracket.
The 8 regional winners that emerge then compete for the national championship. This regional structure allows a diverse field both geographically and competitively to compete for the national title each year.