The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship between Penn State and Louisville averaged 1.3 million viewers on ABC, representing the third-largest college volleyball audience on record. Emanating from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., the Nittany Lions secured a four-set victory that peaked with 1.9 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The tournament was down 23% from the record-setting 1.69 million viewers that the final between Texas and Nebraska averaged last year when the National Championship Game started airing on ABC.
The game action was called live by play-by-play announcer Courtney Lyle with analysts Holly McPeak and Katie George, and sideline reporter Madison Fitzpatrick. Studio coverage took place from the arena with Christine Williamson and Emily Ehman providing viewers pregame and postgame highlights and analysis. Semifinal coverage on ESPN one week earlier averaged 1.1 million viewers, representative of a 4% year-over-year increase. The Penn State-Nebraska matchup averaged 1.2 million viewers on ESPN, marking the most-watched NCAA volleyball semifinal on record. Louisville advanced with a win over Pittsburgh that averaged 1 million viewers, and both semifinal games peaked with an audience of 1.4 million.