The Big Ten announced Thursday it will hold its first women’s volleyball conference tournament in November 2026 at the Fishers Event Center outside of Indianapolis.
The Big Ten has fielded conference championships in all of its 28 sports except women’s volleyball, which crowned only a regular-season champion. But that will change in the upcoming season as the conference looks to capitalize on and promote the growth of the sport.
“We look forward to bringing the nation’s top talent together for an entire week of exhilarating competition culminating in the crowning of the inaugural Big Ten volleyball tournament champion,” Commissioner Tony Petitti said in a release.
The 15-team tournament will be played Nov. 20-25 at the home of the Indy Ignite — a professional women’s volleyball team — in Fishers, Ind., about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis. The stadium, which opened in 2024, holds 7,500 fans.
The tournament will consist of three first-round matches and four second-round matches, followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals. One day off will be built into the schedule. The championship match is set for Nov. 25.
“It’s really important to keep showcasing how great our sport is,” Illinois coach Chris Tamas said ahead of the announcement.
Tamas, who is entering his 10th season in Champaign, said the creation of a Big Ten Tournament has been a topic of conversation among coaches for five or six years. The addition of four West Coast teams in conference expansion two seasons ago helped push the idea to the forefront.
Big Ten teams now will play 17 regular-season conference matches — facing each opponent once — rather than 20 matches with three double-play opponents, as was the case in 2025. Tamas thinks that increases the fairness of the regular season and also eases some travel.
He said the changes create a different dynamic for the regular season, with nonconference play toward the beginning of the schedule needing to be adjusted with more matches. He said playing each conference team only once in the regular season means scouting and in-game adjustments will be key.
Tamas also said there’s excitement about the opportunity a conference tournament presents, particularly for teams that may have battled injuries during the season but can regroup late for a run.
The SEC reinstated its conference tournament for the first time in 20 years in 2025. Kentucky, the conference champion, had nine days between its SEC championship match and its NCAA Tournament first-round match.
“The addition of the tournament allows us to crown that true champion and allows teams that may have been banged up or injured along the way to come back in and have some life heading into hopefully the NCAA Tournament,” Tamas said.
The Big Ten said it has led Division I attendance rankings in women’s volleyball every season since 2007 and had six matches last season that earned an audience of more than 500,000 on three networks.
Nine Big Ten teams made the NCAA Tournament and six finished in the AVCA Top 25 last season. The conference has had at least one team play in the NCAA championship match in six of the last 10 seasons, though Texas A&M beat Kentucky in an all-SEC 2025 final.
Nebraska finished the 2025 regular season 30-0 and 20-0 in the Big Ten to claim the conference title before losing to Texas A&M in an NCAA regional final.
Tamas, whose team finished 13-16 and 8-12 in conference play last season, said the top-to-bottom competitiveness of the conference should be a big draw for the tournament. And he loves that it’s within driving distance of Champaign.
“For any volleyball fan that’s out there, not just for U. of I., it’s a great opportunity to see some really great matches over the course of a week,” he said.
The Big Ten Tournament is the second major volleyball event the conference announced this spring. On March 30, the Big Ten and SEC announced a doubleheader crossover at Wrigley Field, the first time a volleyball match will be played at the home of the Chicago Cubs.
Nebraska will play Missouri, and Penn State will play Kentucky in that Sept. 6 event. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement that the event “reflects the extraordinary momentum of the sport.”
Nebraska set a single-game NCAA attendance record in 2023 when 92,003 fans attended a match against Omaha at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.
Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley said in a statement that it’s “an incredibly exciting time” for Big Ten volleyball.
“I am truly proud to be part of a conference that continues to push boundaries, set new standards and lead with innovation and purpose,” she said. “The introduction of the first Big Ten volleyball tournament marks a significant milestone, and it is a testament to the vision and growth of this league. Most importantly, it provides our student-athletes with an even greater platform — putting them center stage and showcasing their talent, dedication and passion at the highest level.”
