2002 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament

The 2002 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament began on December 5, 2002 with 64 teams and concluded on December 21 when Southern California defeated Stanford 3 games to 1 in New Orleans, Louisiana for the program's second NCAA title and fifth overall national title.

2002 NCAA women's Division I volleyball tournament
2002 NCAA Final Four logo
Champions	Southern California (2nd NCAA (5th national) title)
Runner-up	Stanford (10th title match)
Semifinalists	Florida (6th Final Four) Hawaiʻi (7th Final Four)
Winning coach	Mick Haley (2nd title)
Most outstanding player	Keao Burdine (Southern California)
Final Four All-Tournament Team	Katie Olsovsky (Southern California) April Ross (Southern California) Logan Tom (Stanford) Ogonna Nnamani (Stanford) Kim Willoughby (Hawaiʻi)

It was Southern California's first national title since 1981, while Stanford was the defending 2001 national champion. Semifinalist Hawaiʻi was making the program's seventh NCAA final four appearance, while Florida made the program's first final four appearance in four years.

Records

The conference champion from each of 31 conferences earned a bid to the 2002 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, along with 33 at-large bids. The Big Ten and Pac-10 led all conferences with eight bids each. In all, ten conferences had a team ranked in the top 16 of the tournament. As of 2017, this is the most conferences represented by seeded teams in a single tournament in the 64-team era (since 1998).

West Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Cal Poly Big West At-large 15-12 California Pac-10 At-large 19-11 College of Charleston Southern Automatic 29-5 Fresno State WAC At-large 23-6 George Mason CAA Automatic 22-7 Long Beach State Big West At-large 28-3 Michigan State Big Ten At-large 19-11 16 Notre Dame Big East Automatic 23-7 9 Pepperdine West Coast Automatic 23-6 San Diego West Coast At-large 25-7 Santa Clara West Coast At-large 24-6 Texas A&M Big 12 At-large 20-9 UCLA Pac-10 At-large 19-13 8 UC Santa Barbara Big West Automatic 28-2 1 USC Pac-10 Automatic 25-1 Utah Mountain West Automatic 25-8

East Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record 5 Florida SEC Automatic 30-2 Florida State ACC At-large 21-12 Kansas State Big 12 At-large 20-8 Manhattan MAAC Automatic 30-2 Michigan Big Ten At-large 16-14 Milwaukee Horizon Automatic 20-13 Missouri Big 12 At-large 25-7 4 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley Automatic 32-2 Northwestern Big Ten At-large 17-15 Oral Roberts Mid-Continent Automatic 22-10 Penn Ivy League Automatic 22-4 12 Penn State Big Ten At-large 24-7 South Florida Conference USA Automatic 29-6 Temple Atlantic 10 Automatic 26-6 UCF Atlantic Sun Automatic 22-12 13 Washington State Pac-10 At-large 21-7

Central Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Alabama A&M SWAC Automatic 24-7 American Patriot Automatic 26-7 Arizona State Pac-10 At-large 14-11 Cincinnati Conference USA At-large 23-8 Colorado State Mountain West At-large 22-9 Duke ACC At-large 24-9 6 Hawaii WAC Automatic 30-1 Miami (FL) Big East At-large 25-5 3 Nebraska Big 12 Automatic 27-1 11 North Carolina ACC At-large 30-3 South Carolina SEC At-large 21-6 Tennessee-Martin Ohio Valley Automatic 24-5 Washington Pac-10 At-large 19-10 Western Kentucky Sun Belt Automatic 33-4 Winthrop Big South Automatic 28-10 14 Wisconsin Big Ten At-large 23-8

Pacific Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record 10 Arizona Pac-10 At-large 17-11 Ball State MAC Automatic 25-7 Florida A&M MEAC Automatic 23-6 Georgia Tech ACC Automatic 32-5 Indiana Big Ten At-large 20-12 Louisville Conference USA At-large 27-5 7 Minnesota Big Ten Automatic 30-5 Nevada WAC At-large 22-9 New Hampshire America East Automatic 23-10 15 Ohio State Big Ten At-large 19-10 Pacific Big West At-large 18-12 Robert Morris Northeast Automatic 27-11 Sacramento State Big Sky Automatic 24-10 2 Stanford Pac-10 At-large 27-4 Texas Big 12 At-large 22-8 Texas-Arlington Southland Automatic 26-6

West Regional (Santa Barbara)

	First round December 5-7					Second round December 7-8					Regional semifinals December 12-13					Regional finals December 13-14
	1	Southern California	3
		San Diego	0
						1	Southern California	3
	Los Angeles, CA
							Texas A&M	0
	Utah		0
	Texas A&M		3
											1	Southern California	3
												Michigan State	0
	Michigan State		3
	George Mason		0
							Michigan State	3
	Notre Dame, IN
						16	Notre Dame	0
		College of Charleston	1
	16	Notre Dame	3
																1	Southern California	3
																9	Pepperdine	0
	9	Pepperdine	3
		Cal Poly	0
						9	Pepperdine	3
	Malibu, CA
							UCLA	1
	UCLA		3
	Long Beach State		0
											9	Pepperdine	3
											8	UCSB	1
	Santa Clara		1
	California		3
							California	0
	Santa Barbara, CA
						8	UCSB	3
		Fresno State	1
	8	UCSB	3

East Regional (Gainesville)

	First round December 5-7					Second round December 7-8					Regional semifinals December 12-13					Regional finals December 13-14
	5	Florida	3
		Central Florida	0
						5	Florida	3
	Gainesville, FL
							South Florida	1
	Florida State		0
	South Florida		3
											5	Florida	3
												Temple	0
	Temple		3
	Manhattan		1
							Temple	3
	University Park, PA
						12	Penn State	1
		Pennsylvania	0
	12	Penn State	3
																5	Florida	3
																13	Washington State	1
	13	Washington State	3
		Oral Roberts	0
						13	Washington State	3
	Manhattan, KS
							Kansas State	1
	Michigan		0
	Kansas State		3
											13	Washington State	3
											4	Northern Iowa	0
	Missouri		3
	Northwestern		1
							Missouri	2
	Cedar Falls, IA
						4	Northern Iowa	3
		UW–Milwaukee	1
	4	Northern Iowa	3

Central Regional (Lincoln)

	First round December 5-7					Second round December 7-8					Regional semifinals December 12-13					Regional finals December 13-14
	3	Nebraska	3
		Tennessee-Martin	0
						3	Nebraska	3
	Lincoln, NE
							Arizona State	0
	Arizona State		3
	Cincinnati		2
											3	Nebraska	3
												Miami (FL)	0
	Miami (FL)		3
	Duke		0
							Miami (FL)	3
	Madison, WI
						14	Wisconsin	1
		Alabama A&M	0
	14	Wisconsin	3
																3	Nebraska	1
																6	Hawaiʻi	3
	11	North Carolina	3
		Winthrop	0
						11	North Carolina	3
	Chapel Hill, NC
							South Carolina	1
	American		1
	South Carolina		3
											11	North Carolina	0
											6	Hawaiʻi	3
	Washington		3
	Colorado State		1
							Washington	0
	Honolulu, HI
						6	Hawaiʻi	3
		Western Kentucky	0
	6	Hawaiʻi	3

Pacific Regional (Stanford)

	First round December 5-7					Second round December 7-8					Regional semifinals December 12-13					Regional finals December 13-14
	7	Minnesota	3
		New Hampshire	1
						7	Minnesota	3
	Minneapolis, MN
							Georgia Tech	1
	Florida A&M		0
	Georgia Tech		3
											7	Minnesota	1
											10	Arizona	3
	Texas		3
	Indiana		2
							Texas	2
	Tucson, AZ
						10	Arizona	3
		Texas-Arlington	0
	10	Arizona	3
																10	Arizona	0
																2	Stanford	3
	15	Ohio State	3
		Robert Morris	0
						15	Ohio State	3
	Columbus, OH
							Louisville	0
	Ball State		0
	Louisville		3
											15	Ohio State	0
											2	Stanford	3
	Pacific		3
	Nevada		2
							Pacific	1
	Stanford, CA
						2	Stanford	3
		Sacramento State	0
	2	Stanford	3

Final Four – New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana

	National Semifinals December 19					National Championship December 21
	1	Southern California	3
	5	Florida	1
						1	Southern California	3
						2	Stanford	1
	3	Hawaii	0
	2	Stanford	3

National Semifinals

Southern California vs. Florida

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4
USC	24	30	30	30
FLA	30	25	26	24

When Florida took the first set, it was the first time in 6 NCAA Semifinal appearances that a Florida team was able to win a single set. However, the rest didn't go their way as USC won the next three to advance to the national championship. In the deciding fourth set, USC took the 16-8 lead before Florida came back to cut the lead to 19-17, but the Gators were unable to take the lead before USC won the fourth set, 30-24 and the match.

Stanford vs. Hawaiʻi

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
STAN	30	30	30
HAW	25	27	24

Stanford got a chance to defend their 2001 NCAA title after dismantling Hawaiʻi, 3-0. The 3-0 loss was only Hawaiʻi's second loss of the season, with their other loss coming to Stanford in a 3-0 sweep in the preseason. Ogonna Nnamani led Stanford with 15 kills, while Hawaiʻi was led by Kim Willoughby who had 22 kills.

National Championship: Southern California vs. Stanford

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4
USC	30	23	30	30
STAN	27	30	24	26

USC dethroned defending NCAA national champion Stanford in a 3-1 match to finish the season 31-1, with their only loss coming to Stanford. In set one, USC had 22 kills while Stanford had just 8, leading them to a 30-27 victory. In set two, Stanford came back to take 9 of the first 12 points en route to the easy 30-23.

USC sprinted to the 19-10 lead in set 3, before the Cardinal cut the advantage at 20-17. USC's offense proved to be too much, as they won it 30-24. In set 4, USC cruised out to an early 6-1 lead and then 17-11. The lead soon disappeared, with Stanford tying it up at 19, before USC pulled away again to win the fourth set 30-26 and take home the national title. It was USC's first national championship since 1981, the first year that NCAA started to sponsor women's volleyball.