2012 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament

The 2012 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament started on November 29, 2012, and ended on December 15 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky with Texas winning the national championship. The NCAA selection show was televised on Sunday, November 25, 2012.

2012 NCAA women's Division I volleyball tournament
2012 Division I Championship
Champions	Texas (2nd NCAA (3rd national) title)
Runner-up	Oregon (1st title match)
Semifinalists	Michigan (1st Final Four) Penn State (10th Final Four)
Winning coach	Jerritt Elliott (1st title)
Most outstanding player	Bailey Webster (Texas)
Final Four All-Tournament Team	Hannah Allison (Texas) Haley Eckerman (Texas) Sha'Dare McNeal (Texas) Alaina Bergsma (Oregon) Liz Brenner (Oregon) Lexi Erwin (Michigan)

With its appearance in the Final Four, Michigan became the second unseeded team to make it that far since seeding began in 1997 (and in 2000 in its current method).

Texas won their second NCAA volleyball championship in school history, defeating first-time finalist Oregon (winner over Penn State in its semi-final) in a three-set final match sweep.

Qualifying teams

The champions of the NCAA's 31 conferences qualify automatically. Twenty-two conferences hold tournaments, while the other nine award their automatic bid on the basis of being the league's regular-season champion. Those that do not hold tournaments are the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big West, Big Ten, Ivy League, Mountain West, Pac-12, Southeastern and West Coast Conferences. The other 33 bids are apportioned on an at-large basis. Only the top 16 teams overall are seeded.

Records

Purdue Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type RPI Record Binghamton America East Automatic 250 13-17 Bowling Green Mid-American Automatic 53 21-10 Colorado State Mountain West Automatic 34 21-7 Creighton Missouri Valley Automatic 26 28-3 East Tennessee State Atlantic Sun Automatic 134 23-12 9 Florida State Atlantic Coast Automatic 8 27-3 Hofstra Colonial Automatic 152 21-13 16 Kentucky Southeastern At-Large 19 20-10 Liberty Big South Automatic 124 25-7 Marquette Big East At-Large 33 27-6 8 Minnesota Big Ten At-Large 9 24-7 Notre Dame Big East At-Large 38 20-9 Ohio State Big Ten At-Large 25 22-10 1 Penn State Big Ten Automatic 2 29-2 Purdue Big Ten At-Large 29 21-10 Yale Ivy League Automatic 66 18-5

Nebraska Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type RPI Record Arizona State Pac-12 At-Large 42 20-13 12 BYU West Coast Automatic 11 26-3 Central Arkansas Southland Automatic 49 30-4 Dayton Atlantic 10 Automatic 20 26-4 Hawaii Big West Automatic 17 26-2 Kansas State Big 12 At-Large 23 21-8 Maryland-Eastern Shore Mid-Eastern Athletic Automatic 158 28-5 4 Nebraska Big Ten At-Large 5 23-6 New Mexico State Western Athletic Automatic 91 22-10 Northern Colorado Big Sky Automatic 65 24-10 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley At-Large 44 24-9 Oklahoma Big 12 At-Large 27 21-10 5 Oregon Pac-12 At-Large 10 25-4 Pepperdine West Coast At-Large 35 20-11 Santa Clara West Coast At-Large 45 20-11 13 Washington Pac-12 At-Large 16 23-6

Texas Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type RPI Record Arkansas Southeastern At-Large 30 22-9 Cleveland State Horizon Automatic 71 23-6 Colgate Patriot Automatic 176 17-13 College of Charleston Southern Automatic 48 26-7 Fairfield Metro Atlantic Automatic 145 22-8 14 Florida Southeastern Automatic 12 25-4 11 Kansas Big 12 At-Large 7 25-6 Miami (FL) Atlantic Coast At-Large 22 25-5 NC State Atlantic Coast At-Large 43 22-9 San Diego State Mountain West At-Large 41 23-7 St. Mary's West Coast At-Large 32 17-10 3 Texas Big 12 Automatic 3 23-4 Texas A&M Southeastern At-Large 15 24-5 Tulsa Conference USA Automatic 47 26-9 6 USC Pac-12 At-Large 13 27-5 Wichita State Missouri Valley At-Large 40 22-9

California Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type RPI Record Belmont Ohio Valley Automatic 167 18-16 California Pac-12 At-Large 39 15-15 15 Iowa State Big 12 At-Large 18 20-7 IPFW Summit Automatic 57 25-6 Jackson State Southwestern Athletic Automatic 252 24-11 LIU-Brooklyn Northeast Automatic 127 25-7 10 Louisville Big East Automatic 4 29-3 Loyola Marymount West Coast At-Large 46 18-12 Michigan Big Ten At-Large 31 23-11 Michigan State Big Ten At-Large 36 23-9 North Carolina Atlantic Coast At-Large 14 25-5 San Diego West Coast At-Large 24 21-6 2 Stanford Pac-12 Automatic 1 27-3 Tennessee Southeastern At-Large 21 22-7 7 UCLA Pac-12 At-Large 6 22-7 Western Kentucky Sun Belt Automatic 28 32-3

All together, the Big Ten and Pac-12 got six at-large bids in addition to their automatic, the West Coast Conference got five, the Big 12 and the Southeastern four, the Atlantic Coast three, the Big East and Missouri Valley two, and the Mountain West received one at-large bid. The other 22 conferences only got their automatic qualifiers in.

Bracket

The first two rounds were held on campus sites (the home court of the seeded team). Regional semifinals and finals were held at pre-determined sites. In 2012, those sites were hosted by Purdue, Nebraska, Texas, and California, all of whom made the tournament. Unlike the NCAA basketball tournament, where teams cannot be placed into regionals that they host, the selectors in the volleyball tournament were required to place qualifying teams in their 'home' regionals, in order to reduce travel costs.

Purdue Regional

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional finals
	1	Penn State	3
		Binghamton	0
						1	Penn State	3
	University Park, PA
							Bowling Green	0
		Yale	2
		Bowling Green	3
											1	Penn State	3
											16	Kentucky	0
		Ohio State	3
		Notre Dame	0
							Ohio State	1
	Lexington, KY
						16	Kentucky	3
	16	Kentucky	3
		East Tennessee State	0
																1	Penn State	3
																8	Minnesota	1
	9	Florida State	3
		Hofstra	0
						9	Florida State	2
	Tallahassee, FL
							Purdue	3
		Colorado State	0
		Purdue	3
												Purdue	1
											8	Minnesota	3
		Creighton	3
		Marquette	0
							Creighton	1
	Minneapolis, MN
						8	Minnesota	3
	8	Minnesota	3
		Liberty	0

Nebraska Regional

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional finals
	5	Oregon	3
		Northern Colorado	0
						5	Oregon	3
	Eugene, OR
							Dayton	0
		Pepperdine	2
		Dayton	3
											5	Oregon	3
											12	BYU	1
		Oklahoma	3
		Arizona State	2
							Oklahoma	0
	Provo, UT
						12	BYU	3
	12	BYU	3
		New Mexico State	0
																5	Oregon	3
																4	Nebraska	1
	13	Washington	3
		Central Arkansas	0
						13	Washington	3
	Seattle, WA
							Hawaii	2
		Santa Clara	0
		Hawaii	3
											13	Washington	0
											4	Nebraska	3
		Kansas State	0
		Northern Iowa	3
							Northern Iowa	0
	Lincoln, NE
						4	Nebraska	3
	4	Nebraska	3
		Maryland-Eastern Shore	0

Texas Regional

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional finals
	3	Texas	3
		Colgate	0
						3	Texas	3
	Austin, TX
							Texas A&M	1
		North Carolina State	1
		Texas A&M	3
											3	Texas	3
											14	Florida	0
		Miami	2
		College of Charleston	3
							College of Charleston	0
	Gainesville, FL
						14	Florida	3
	14	Florida	3
		Tulsa	0
																3	Texas	3
																6	USC	0
	11	Kansas	3
		Cleveland State	1
						11	Kansas	1
	Lawrence, KS
							Wichita State	3
		Wichita State	3
		Arkansas	2
												Wichita State	0
											6	USC	3
		St. Mary's	3
		San Diego State	2
							St. Mary's	0
	Los Angeles, CA
						6	USC	3
	6	USC	3
		Fairfield	0

California Regional

	First round					Second round					Regional semifinals					Regional finals
	7	UCLA	3
		LIU-Brooklyn	0
						7	UCLA	1
	Los Angeles, CA
							Michigan State	3
		Michigan State	3
		San Diego	2
											Michigan State		0
											Michigan		3
		Tennessee	2
		Michigan	3
							Michigan	3
	Louisville, KY
						10	Louisville	1
	10	Louisville	3
		Belmont	1
																	Michigan	3
																2	Stanford	1
	15	Iowa State	3
		IPFW	2
						15	Iowa State	3
	Ames, IA
							North Carolina	2
		California	1
		North Carolina	3
											15	Iowa State	0
											2	Stanford	3
		Western Kentucky	3
		Loyola Marymount	0
							Western Kentucky	0
	Stanford, CA
						2	Stanford	3
	2	Stanford	3
		Jackson State	0

Final Four

	National Semifinals					National Championship
	1	Penn State	1
	5	Oregon	3
						5	Oregon	0
						3	Texas	3
	3	Texas	3
		Michigan	2

Final Four All-Tournament Team:

• Bailey Webster - Texas (Most Outstanding Player)
• Hannah Allison - Texas
• Hayley Eckerman - Texas
• Sha'Dare McNeal - Texas
• Alaina Bergsma - Oregon
• Liz Brenner - Oregon
• Lexi Erwin - Michigan

Record by conference

Conference	# of Bids	Record	Win %	R32	S16	E8	F4	CM	NC
Big Ten	7	19–7*	.731	7	6	4	2	–	–
Pac-12	7	14–7	.667	5	4	3	1	1	–
Big 12	5	10–4	.714	4	2	1	1	1	1
Southeastern	5	5–5	.500	3	2	–	–	–	–
West Coast	6	3–6	.333	2	1	–	–	–	–
Missouri Valley	3	4–3	.571	3	1	–	–	–	–
Atlantic Coast	4	2–4	.333	2	–	–	–	–	–
Atlantic 10	1	1–1	.500	1	–	–	–	–	–
Big East	3	1–3	.250	1	–	–	–	–	–
Big West	1	1–1	.500	1	–	–	–	–	–
Mid-American	1	1–1	.500	1	–	–	–	–	–
Southern	1	1–1	.500	1	–	–	–	–	–
Sun Belt	1	1–1	.500	1	–	–	–	–	–
Mountain West	2	0–2	.000	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other	17	0–17	.000	–	–	–	–	–	–

* Three of the Big Ten's losses were to fellow Big Ten schools (so they are also counted as wins).

The columns R32, S16, E8, F4, CM, and NC respectively stand for the Round of 32, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, Championship Match, and National Champion.

The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Colonial Athletic, Conference USA, Horizon League, Ivy League, Metro Atlantic, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot League, Southland, Southwestern Athletic, Summit League, and Western Athletic Conferences all qualified one team which lost in the first round.

NCAA tournament record

There is one tournament record broken in 2012 that still stands today:

• Services aces, tournament (individual record) – Micha Hancock, Penn State – 22 aces (10 vs. Binghamton, 5 vs. Bowling Green, 2 vs. Kentucky, 5 vs. Minnesota.)

See also

• NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
• AVCA
• AIAW Women's Volleyball Championship