NCAA volleyball championship – How Wisconsin won, tournament highs and more

Wisconsin won the 2021 NCAA volleyball championship on Saturday, marking the second time this calendar year the sport crowned a new champion.

Kentucky claimed the national title in April when the fall 2020 season was pushed to the spring of 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Wildcats’ reign atop the sport lasted just under eight months, as the season returned to its normal place in the fall.

The Badgers’ road to their first championship did not come easy. They outlasted previously unbeaten Louisville in the semifinals and overcame a 1-0 deficit to beat Nebraska in a five-set thriller in front of an NCAA championship record crowd of 18,755 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Our analysts break down the final four and the state of the sport, and they take a brief look at the 2022 season.

What was the biggest key to Wisconsin winning it all?

Mechelle Voepel: The Badgers’ defense prevailed in both the semifinal and final victories. Coach Kelly Sheffield talked about how Wisconsin couldn’t have pulled out either match without reaching that high of a level defensively.

Missy Whittemore: This match was so incredibly close and could have absolutely gone either way. The defense on both sides of the net was the best I think I’ve ever seen in a match. Wisconsin’s block certainly positioned the Badgers to have an advantage, but it was the lead they jumped out to in the fifth set that did it. Nebraska’s rally to narrow that gap was one of the most impressive runs I’ve ever seen, but Wisconsin was able to hold on in the end.

Paul Sunderland: I picked a Wisconsin-Nebraska final, and the deciding moment may well have come in the second set. The Cornhuskers had four set points and could not close it out. They served two balls into the net, taking a lot of pressure off the Badgers. The match turned right there. I always thought that Wisconsin was the slightly better team, so the longer the match went, the better for them.

Jen Hoffman: The record-setting…