Nebraska state volleyball 2026: dates, sites and how teams qualify

The NSAA state volleyball championships are Nov. 4-7 in Lincoln, and the road there starts Monday. District and sub-district play opens Oct. 26, the C1, C2, D1 and D2 district finals are Saturday, Oct. 31, and eight teams in each of the six classes will be left standing for state. Every class seeds the postseason the same way: NSAA wildcard point averages.

Dates, sites and rules are from the NSAA volleyball manual (revised Oct. 16) and NSAA's 2026 state schedule (revised Oct. 20). Standings are NSAA wildcard points through Tuesday, Oct. 20. NSAA has not posted brackets or Class A, B, C1 and C2 assignments yet.

Key dates

District and sub-district seeding uses matches through Tuesday, Oct. 20, and NSAA's calendar says the seeding is released Thursday, Oct. 22 (manual, p. 3). Class B districts are Oct. 27, 29 and 31. D1 and D2 sub-districts are Oct. 26-27. The C1, C2, D1 and D2 district finals are all Saturday, Oct. 31.

Seeding cutoffs move as the postseason goes. Out-of-state records count through Oct. 20 for sub-district and district seeding, Oct. 27 for district final seeding and Oct. 30 for state seeding (manual, p. 15). NSAA confirms state pairings on the Sunday before the tournament, which is Nov. 1 (manual, p. 24).

State tournament schedule

All first-round and semifinal matches are at Pinnacle Bank Arena, on two courts. Class B, C1 and A play first-round matches Wednesday, Nov. 4, starting at 9 a.m. D2, D1 and C2 play first-round matches Thursday, Nov. 5. All six classes play semifinals Friday, Nov. 6.

Saturday's championships are at the Devaney Sports Center: D1 at 9 a.m., D2 at 11, C1 at 1 p.m., C2 at 3, A at 5 and B at 7. Third-place matches for C1, C2, D1 and D2 are at Lincoln Northwest. NSAA's schedule doesn't list a third-place match for Class A or B.

How teams qualify

Classes A and B: Each class splits into seven districts, seeded serpentine by wildcard points. The higher seed hosts. The seven district winners go to state, plus one wildcard team, for eight (manual, pp. 15-16, 23).

Classes C1 and C2: Teams are grouped into four geographic regions, which become 10 sub-districts. The 10 sub-district winners and the six non-winners with the best wildcard averages make a 16-team district final bracket, seeded 1 vs. 16 down to 8 vs. 9. The higher seed hosts, and the eight winners go to state (manual, pp. 16, 22).

Classes D1 and D2: There are 12 sub-districts per class. The 12 winners and four at-large teams make the 16-team district final bracket, and the eight winners go to state (manual, pp. 16, 22). NSAA has posted the D1 and D2 sub-district assignments. Several sites are still listed as blank.

At state, the eight teams in each class are seeded on wildcard average through the district finals. The matchups are No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 4 vs. No. 5, No. 2 vs. No. 7 and No. 3 vs. No. 6 (manual, p. 24).

How wildcard points work

A win is worth 50, 47, 44 or 41 points, depending on whether the opponent is a first, second, third or fourth division team. A loss is worth 39, 36, 33 or 30 (manual, p. 14). A first division team has won at least 75% of its matches, the second division is 50% to under 75%, the third is 25% to under 50%, and the fourth is under 25%.

Bonus points come on top of that. Class A teams get 2 bonus points against other Class A schools. Every team gets 2, 3, 4 or 5 for playing schools one to four classes above it. The average is total points divided by matches played. Ties go to head-to-head, then most first-division opponents, then opponents' winning percentage, then a coin flip.

Who's on top

Through Oct. 20, NSAA's point leaders are Elkhorn North in A (25-3, 46.571), Norris in B (33-1, 46.324), Concordia Omaha in C1 (32-2, 46.765), Thayer Central in C2 (25-3, 45.750), Amherst in D1 (23-4, 46.296) and St. Mary's in D2 (25-4, 45.793). Bloomfield (26-0) in D1 is the only unbeaten team on NSAA's six points pages.

Class-by-class breakdowns: Class A, Class B, Class C1, Class C2, Class D1 and Class D2.

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