By accepting all six of its qualifying teams, the NCAA Women's Volleyball tournament committee put a lot of pressure on the Big Ten, and once again the conference didn't disappoint.

For the third straight season, the Big Ten went undefeated in the first round of the NCAA tournament. They were the only conference with as many teams to do so, as both the Big 12, who qualified eight teams, and the Pac-10, who qualified six, each saw teams eliminated in the first round.

The conference will be well represented in the regional brackets with Wisconsin and Ohio State each advancing to the Sweet 16.

"I'm really happy with the way the Big Ten performed this weekend," Wisconsin coach Pete Waite said. "It once again validates the strength of this conference."

Waite's Badgers represent the best hope to get the conference its second national championship (Penn State, 1999). After defeating Wisconsin/Milwaukee and Michigan State in their first two matches, Wisconsin draws No. 11 seed Texas A&M in the regional semifinals Friday in Palo Alto, Calif. Should the Badgers advance past the Aggies, they will be looking at the winner of the match between regional host Stanford, the No. 3 seed in the tournament and No. 14 seed Utah.

The Badgers are feeling a bit of a sense of urgency this season. They will be losing two of the most productive players in the history of the program in setter Lizzy Fitzgerald and middle blocker Sherisa Livingston, the Badger's all-time kills leader.

"I think our players always play with a sense of urgency," Waite said. "But we're losing some great players, and I think part of what fuels them this season is the opportunity to play together longer."

The Buckeyes draw a daunting regional semifinal opponent in Southern California. The Trojans are seeded No. 4 in the nation after finishing the season 24-3. They blew past Duke and Liberty in the first and second rounds, sweeping both teams, and winning five of their six games by double digits. The Buckeyes also dominated both of their first round opponents.

Minnesota was close to joining Ohio State and Wisconsin in the round of 16. They lost a deuce game to Northern Iowa in game five 17-15. Golden Gopher coach Mike Hebert expects his young team to take a lot from their NCAA tournament.

"I think we were playing the best volleyball we played all year at the end of the season," Hebert said. "I'm really impressed by the way we played down the stretch. We just never had an easy game, and we played all of those games on par with out opponents. I'm really excited about this team next season.

Saying Goodbye

A number of Big Ten teams will be losing their cornerstones this off-season. The Badgers losses of Livingston and Fitzgerald will clearly be costly, but Minnesota, Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa and Illinois will have big shoes to fill next season as well.

In All-Big Ten players Lindsey Berg and Stephanie Hagen, the Golden Gophers lose the only two experienced players they had this season, and the other four teams will be losing a lot of offense in outside hitters Katie Schumacher, Erin Hartley, Anne Botica, Sara Meyermann and Shadia Haddad respectively. Even so the strong young teams in the conference, such as Ohio State, Michigan, the Golden Gophers, Michigan State and Illinois should make some national noise, and perennial powers Penn State and Wisconsin should still have the talent to compete with the country's best.

"This league is losing a lot of genuine superstars," Hebert said. "But I think with the good young teams in the league the pendulum is going to be swinging upward again for the Big Ten.