About two months ago, after Penn State lost a set to Iowa (after having won 141 consecutive regular season sets starting in 2007), I compiled the table below (updated through 2024), to provide some context. How many sets did Final Four teams typically lose? The table answers that question (results include NCAA Tournament results), and not surprisingly, the answer overwhelmingly is “not very many.” [Updated 12-22-2025 — answer is still “not very many”].

One thing stands out: Perfection is very hard to achieve. Only five NCAA Champions (UPDATED through 2024) have dropped fewer than 10 sets in their Championship season (Penn State with a 114-2 record in 2008, Long Beach State at 108-8 in 1998, and USC at 105-8 in 2003 lead the way; Kentucky qualified with a limited Covid abbreviated season). The most lost sets by a Final Four team? Wisconsin in 2013 (94-53) followed by Michigan in 2012 (94-52), with a tie between Minnesota in 2003 (85-49) and Tennessee in 2005 (70-49).

Which brings us to 2009’s Elite Eight. Were Michigan, Minnesota, and California (Penn State’s opponent in this afternoon’s Regional Final) — make it to the Final Four, each of them would rank among the top six teams for most losses in a season (and that’s before taking the results of today’s matches into account). Nebraska would rank 12th and Florida State would be tied for 13th or 14th (depending on whether Nebraska beats Texas). An historical oddity: Oddly, if Minnesota’s team makes it this year, Minnesota will have two other teams in the top ten for most sets lost (this year’s team ranks #5, with 37 sets lost, and the 2004 team ranks 9th, with 34 sets lost).

There are many possible explainations for the potentially higher-than-typical number of sets dropped by this year’s Elite Eight teams compared to previous years — most obviously, this is the Elite Eight, not the Final Four. We lean towards another reason: parity. There’s alot of talk that talent is more widely distributed now among more NCAA Women’s Volleyball programs than ever before, and that these talented athletes now benefit from better coaching. If so, then it makes sense that top teams would drop more sets throughout the season.

Regardless of the reasons, here’s the table. A quick note: it’s a sortable table, meaning you can click on the buttons at the top of each column and resort that column (for example, list wins in descending or ascending order). Finally, we know this table is predictive of nothing, we simply were curious. And though we’ve tried to be careful, there may be errors. If you find any, please let us know.

Year	Bracket/ Recap	Video	NCAA Finish	Team	Conf.	W	L	Sets Won	Sets Lost
2024	2024 Bracket DigNittany Recap NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	35	02	105	30
2024			Finals	Louisville	ACC	30	06	95	32
2024	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap	Full Video	Semi	Nebraska	B1G	33	03	102	20
2024			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	33	02	102	15
2023	2023 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Texas	Big 12	28	04	86	28
2023			Finals	Nebraska	B1G	33	02	99	22
2023			Semi	Wisconsin	B1G	30	04	96	23
2023			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	29	05	92	24
2022	2022 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Texas	Big 12	28	01	86	14
2022			Finals	Louisville	ACC	31	03	97	23
2022			Semi	San Diego	WCC	31	02	95	22
2022			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	31	04	98	28
2021	2021 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Wisconsin	B1G	31	03	97	25
2021			Finals	Nebraska	B1G	26	08	83	35
2021			Semi	Louisville	ACC	32	01	98	15
2021			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	30	04	96	31
2020	2020 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Kentucky	SEC	24	01	74	09
2020			Finals	Texas	Big 12	27	02	84	18
2020			Semi	Washington	Pac 12	20	04	65	30
2020			Semi	Wisconsin	B1G	18	01	54	08
2019	2019 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 12	30	04	93	27
2019			Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	27	07	88	28
2019			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	27	06	84	34
2019			Semi	Baylor	Big 12	29	02	88	16
2018	2018 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 12	34	01	104	17
2018			Finals	Nebraska	B1G	29	07	97	36
2018			Semi	BYU	WCC	31	02	93	14
2018			Semi	Illinois	B1G	32	04	100	32
2017	2017 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	B1G	32	04	101	24
2017			Finals	Florida	SEC	30	02	92	24
2017	NCAA Recap Talking Head Recap	Full Video	Semi	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	33	02	101	22
2017			Semi	Stanford	Pac 12	30	04	99	23
2016	2016 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 12	27	07	89	37
2016			Finals	Texas	Big 12	28	04	88	32
2016			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	29	05	95	31
2016			Semi	Nebraska	B1G	31	03	96	21
2015	2015 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	B1G	32	04	102	27
2015			Finals	Texas	Big 12	30	03	91	23
2015			Semi	Kansas	Big 12	27	03	85	30
2015			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	30	05	97	32
2014	2014 Recap DigNittany Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	36	03	112	15
2014			Finals	BYU	WCC	30	05	95	26
2014	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap		Semi	Stanford	Pac 12	33	02	101	27
2014			Semi	Texas	Big 12	27	03	84	21
2013	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	34	02	106	21
2013			Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	28	10	94	53
2013	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap	Set 1 Set 2 Set 3	Semi	Washington	Pac 12	30	03	91	28
2013			Semi	Texas	Big 12	27	03	83	30
2012	Texas Recap 2012 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Texas	Big 12	31	04	98	23
2012			Finals	Oregon	Pac 12	30	05	96	29
2012			Semi	Michigan	B1G	27	12	94	52
2012	NCAA Recap ESPN Recap		Semi	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	33	03	104	21
2011	NCAA Recap 2011 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	UCLA	Pac 12	30	06	97	31
2011			Finals	Illlinois	B1G	32	05	100	43
2011			Semi	Florida State	ACC	28	07	90	39
2011			Semi	USC	Pac 12	29	05	91	25
2010	Penn State Recap 2010 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	32	05	103	20
2010			Finals	Cal-Berkeley	Pac 12	30	04	95	23
2010	Penn State Recap	Set 1 Set 2 Set 3	Semi	Texas	Big 12	28	06	89	34
2010			Semi	USC	Pac 12	29	05	91	36
2009	2009 Bracket Penn State Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	38	00	114	08
2009			Finals	Texas	Big 12	29	02	91	13
2009	Penn State Recap	Video Highlights	Semi	Hawaii	WAC	32	03	100	17
2009			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	28	09	88	41
2008	Penn State Recap 2008 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	38	00	114	02
2008			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	31	04	95	23
2008	Penn State Recap	Full Video	Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	31	03	97	21
2008			Semi	Texas	Big 12	29	04	94	24
2007	Penn State Recap 2007 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	34	02	104	18
2007			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	32	03	101	24
2007			Semi	Cal-Berkeley	Pac 10	26	08	87	36
2007			Semi	USC	Pac 10	29	05	91	35
2006	2006 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	Big 12	33	01	101	14
2006			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	30	04	92	19
2006			Semi	UCLA	Pac 10	33	04	104	24
2006			Semi	Washington	Pac 10	29	05	92	26
2005	2005 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Washington	Pac 10	32	01	98	10
2005			Finals	Nebraska	Big 12	33	02	101	15
2005			Semi	Tennessee	SEC	19	12	70	49
2005			Semi	Santa Clara	WCC	27	05	88	30
2004	2004 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 10	30	06	98	35
2004			Finals	Minnesota	B1G	33	05	105	34
2004			Semi	Washington	Pac 10	28	03	89	23
2004			Semi	USC	Pac 10	23	06	76	32
2003	2003 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	USC	Pac 10	35	00	105	08
2003			Finals	Florida	SEC	36	02	109	08
2003			Semi	Hawaii	WAC	36	02	109	16
2003			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	26	11	85	49
2002	2002 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	USC	Pac 10	31	01	95	12
2002			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	32	05	102	27
2002			Semi	Hawaii	WAC	34	02	102	12
2002			Semi	Florida	SEC	34	03	105	17
2001	2001 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 10	33	02	101	21
2001			Finals	Long Beach State	Big West	33	01	99	07
2001			Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	31	02	94	14
2001			Semi	Arizona	Pac 10	25	05	79	25
2000	2000 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	Big 12	34	00	102	13
2000			Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	33	04	105	21
2000			Semi	Hawaii	WAC	31	02	95	16
2000			Semi	USC	Pac 10	29	03	87	20
1999	1999 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	36	01	110	15
1999			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	31	03	95	18
1999			Semi	Pacific	Big West	32	03	109	19
1999			Semi	Long Beach State	Big West	31	04	95	23
1998	1998 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Long Beach State	Big West	36	00	108	08
1998			Finals	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	34	01	104	06
1998			Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	32	02	99	16
1998			Semi	Florida	SEC	35	03	107	24