Big Ten Announces Discover Volleyball Challenge – University of Nebraska

The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network announced Wednesday they are launching a newly created In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Partnering with Discover, the official credit card of the Big Ten Conference, the inaugural Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge will debut during the 2025 regular season conference schedule starting Oct. 1, encompassing all 18 Big Ten Volleyball programs.  

Select conference matches played during the month of October will count toward the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge. Each team will play five designated challenge matches throughout the month, with the winner determined by the highest win total across the five games.

Nebraska’s five matches include: at Penn State (Oct. 3), Washington (Oct. 10), at Michigan State (Oct. 17), Northwestern (Oct. 24) and at Wisconsin (Oct. 31). 

Format Overview:

All weekday matches in the month of October (weeks 2-6 of the conference schedule) will count toward the Challenge.

1. Weekday is defined as Wednesday through Friday
2. Start date – Wednesday, October 1
3. End date – Friday, October 31

Tiebreak Procedures:

Two Teams Tied

1. Head-to-head results (Challenge matches only).
2. If a tie still exists, winning percentage against common opponent/(s) (Challenge matches only).
3. If a tie still exists, highest percentage of total sets won during Challenge matches (total sets won/total sets played). 
4. If a tie still exists, highest percentage of total points won during Challenge matches (total points won/total points played).
5. If a tie still exists, the team with the highest ranking in the latest published NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI will be declared the winter.

Three or More Teams Tied

1. Head-to-head results among the group (Challenge matches only).
2. If a tie still exists, winning percentage against common opponent/(s) (Challenge matches only).
3. If a tie still exists, highest percentage of total sets won during Challenge matches among the group (total sets won/total sets played).
4. If a tie still exists, highest percentage of total points won during Challenge matches among the group (total points won/total points played).
5. If a tie still exists, the team with the highest ranking among the group in the latest published NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI will be declared the winter.