'Six Rotations': What to Watch as College Volleyball Conference Play Begins

Every week until a champion is crowned, the YouTube show "Six Rotations" will be available here, with a brief rundown of the episode and the top upcoming matches around the country.

The Final Week of Non-Conference Action

During a week that felt like a breather from the nonstop ranked vs. ranked matches, the chaos that consumes this incredible sport still made its presence felt.

The final week of non-conference play is always a mixed bag, as top teams Pitt and Texas elected to take the entire week off while Creighton continued their gauntlet of a schedule in a three-loss week (Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Kansas State).

Three ranked teams fell to unranked foes (Kansas State over Creighton in four, Colorado State over Colorado in three, and Pepperdine over USC in three). However, all three stayed in the AVCA Taraflex Top 25 Coaches Poll on Monday, September 21.

USC's 3-0 loss to Pepperdine was a lopsided one, as the Women of Troy never led in the match.

No. 3 Kentucky outdueled their Bluegrass rival No. 4 Louisville in a fun four setter on Sunday on ABC in front of over 6,000 fans. No. 1 Nebraska dropped sets to No. 24 North Carolina and Florida Gulf Coast after sweeping No. 25 Creighton on Wednesday in front of 15,405 Nebraskans in the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.

No. 6 Wisconsin has been playing without a starting attacker in Grace Egan due to a back injury, but the addition of 17-year-old Decelise Champion has been as anticipated. Champion debuted in the win over Texas A&M on September 11 with eight kills (and eight blocks), then shined on Thursday in the four set win over Marquette with a career-high 20 kills (hitting .441), with 11 digs. Then, in one set vs Milwaukee, Champion posted a 6-1-9 (.556) statline.

Week 4 @AVCAVolleyball / Taraflex Dl Women's Volleyball Top 25 🏐 #NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/OSH6p6tjH9
— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) September 21, 2026

The Week Ahead

Welcome to the "second season."

Many coaches split the college volleyball season into three parts. Pre-conference play is in the books. Conference play is about to begin. Then we have the postseason.

However there is a little housekeeping as Nebraska and Missouri never really got started at Wrigley Field earlier this month. So they will start over on Wednesday in the Devaney Center in Lincoln. Then conference play will commence.

Wed, Sep. 23	Time (EST)	Location	TV
No. 1 Nebraska vs Missouri	7 p.m.	Lincoln, NE	BTN
No. 3 Kentucky vs Vanderbilt	9 p.m.	Lexington, KY	SEC Network

Fri, Sep. 25	Time (EST)	Location	TV
No. 13 Tennessee vs No. 7 Texas	7 p.m.	Knoxville, TN	BTN
No. 5 SMU vs No. 12 Stanford	9 p.m.	Dallas, TX	ACC Network
No. 22 BYU vs No. 17 Baylor	10 p.m.	Provo, UT	FS1

Sat Sep. 26	Time (EST)	Location	TV
No. 15 Minnesota vs No. 20 Oregon	7 p.m.	Minneapolis	B1G+
No. 1 Nebraska vs Ohio State	9 p.m.	Lincoln, NE	BTN

Sun Sep. 27	Time (EST)	Location	TV
No. 10 Purdue vs No. 6 Wisconsin	1 p.m.	West Lafayette, IN (Mackey Arena)	BTN
No. 3 Kentucky vs No. 7 Texas	1 p.m.	Lexington, KY	ESPN
No. 2 Pittsburgh vs No. 12 Stanford	8:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh, PA	ESPN

Next episode will be Monday, Sep. 28

You can find all archived "Six Rotations" episodes HERE

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