2023 NCAA women's volleyball season preview

The GIST: Heavy offseason transfer portal activity means this volleyball season will be less predictable than Scooter Braun’s future. So peep our primer, then grab your knee pads — volleyball’s officially back, baby.

The powerhouses: Top-ranked Texas will try to defend their 2022 title, but the Longhorns have their work cut out for them. Their biggest competition? Basically the whole Big Ten — the sport's most competitive conference — plus last year's runner-up, No. 4 Louisville, led by superstar outside hitter and kill queen Anna DeBeer.

• No. 3 Stanford is another top contender. The Cardinal’s season always starts with intense non-conference foes, and if this year's squad can survive ’em, they'll be in tough form when the Pac-12 goodbye tour begins.

The underdogs: Last year’s breakout squad, No. 13 San Diego, hopes to maintain their national tourney momentum after upsetting top-seeded Stanford to make the 2022 semis. Same vibes for No. 9 Oregon, who ousted powerhouse Nebraska in the second round and will battle the Cardinal for (probably) the last Pac-12 trophy this season.

• This pair faces off in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic at 10:45 p.m. ET tonight, so stay up late to discover which dark horse has the edge.

What to watch: The season always starts with a million invitationals, allowing the nation’s best to test themselves against top non-conference foes — and today’s opening slate is chock-full of spicy matchups.

• If you only have time for one mini-tourney, choose the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge. No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 15 Baylor, TCU, and host No. 7 Minnesota begin battling on the Big Ten Network tonight at 5:30 p.m. ET.

• Want to sneak in another? Then the Road 2 Tampa Bay Invitational is a must-watch, featuring No. 8 Penn State, No. 11 Florida, No. 20 Georgia Tech, and USF in this year’s national championship venue. Time to kill it.