NCAA volleyball Final Four previews

Semifinals: Gophers vs. Texas, 6 p.m. Thursday; Nebraska vs. Kansas, 8:30 p.m. Thursday • Championship: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.

Where: CenturyLink Center, Omaha • TV: ESPN2 • Live stats: www.gophersports.com

Record: 30-4 (18-2 Big Ten/first place)

Coach: Hugh McCutcheon (fourth season, 105-31)

NCAA tournament history/best finish: 20 appearances, 43-19 record, runner-up in 2004

Players to watch: Senior outside hitter Daly Santana is ranked 14th in the nation in kills per set (4.50) and leads the Gophers with 66 kills in the tournament. Freshman setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson is averaging 13.54 assists per set in NCAA tournament play and has 1,449 this season, fifth in the nation.

Preview: The Gophers, the tournament's No. 2 seed, are the highest seeded team remaining in the field. They are hitting a tournament-high .368 and have lost only one set through the first four rounds.

Coach: Jerritt Elliott (15th season, 378-87)

NCAA tournament history/best finish: 32 appearances, 83-29, champions in 1988 and 2012

Players to watch: Senior outside hitter Amy Neal, the Big 12 player of the year, leads the Longhorns with 4.22 kills per set and has a team-high 49 service aces. Junior middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu was named the most outstanding player of the Austin Regional, with 28 kills and a .469 hitting percentage, and has a team-high 1.21 blocks per set this season.

Preview: The third-seeded Longhorns are playing in the NCAA semifinals for the fourth consecutive season and the seventh time in the past eight years.

Record: 30-4 (17-3 Big Ten/second place)

NCAA tournament history/best finish: 34 appearances, 96-30, champions in 1995, 2000, 2006

Players to watch: Junior outside hitter Kadie Rolfzen leads the Huskers with 3.34 kills and 2.86 digs per set and has 16 double-doubles this season. Junior libero Justine Wong-Orantes, the Big Ten defensive player of the year, averages 4.53 digs per set and ranks fourth in program history with 1,374 career digs.

Preview: The tournament's No. 4 seed, the Huskers are on a 14-match win streak. They will have a home-state advantage; their past two Final Four matches in Omaha drew more than 17,000 each, and this week's matches are sellouts.

Record: 30-2 (14-2 Big 12 /second place)

Coach: Ray Bechard (18th season, 325-228)

Players to watch: Sophomore setter Ainise Havili was named Big 12 setter of the year and averages 12.23 assists per set, second-most in the nation. Sophomore hitter Kelsie Payne is hitting .379 and leads the Big 12 with 4.35 kills per set.

Preview: The Jayhawks' upset of top-seeded USC in the regional finals put them in the Final Four for the first time in program history. The tournament's ninth seed has a daunting 0-86-1 record against Nebraska, a team it has not played since 2010

.