NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament

NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament
Sport College indoor volleyball
Founded 1970
No. of teams 7 (as of 2018)
Country United States
Most recent
champion(s)
Long Beach State (2nd title)
TV partner(s) ESPNU
Official website NCAA.com

The NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament, officially titled the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship, is an annual competition that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in American college men's volleyball. It had been the only NCAA championship in the sport from 1970 until 2012, when the NCAA launched a Division III championship.

In the past, schools from the Pacific Coast region have dominated this sport, in particular UCLA with coach Al Scates leading the program to 19 NCAA titles (more than any other coach). However, in recent years Midwestern teams have made their presence know in men's volleyball, winning 5 of the last 7 national championships. Ohio State leads the Midwest in national championships, with 3 total national championships.

Competition structure

Before the 2011–12 school year (2012 championship), men's volleyball did not have an official divisional structure; even now, that structure is truncated. The National Collegiate Championship remains as the NCAA's top-level championship, but Division III members now have their own championship event.

With the introduction of an official Division III championship, schools in that division are no longer eligible for the National Collegiate Championship. The last exception was Rutgers–Newark, whose men's volleyball program had been a grandfathered scholarship program, and could compete for the National Collegiate Championship through 2014. Rutgers–Newark completed a transition to Division III men's volleyball at the end of that season, and joined the D-III Continental Volleyball Conference effective with the 2015 season.

There are three general regions for men's volleyball: "West", "Midwest", and "East". Four "major conferences", defined here as leagues that include full members of Division I, represent these regions. The three "traditional" major conferences are the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA), and Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA). In the 2018 season, the ranks of "major" conferences expanded to include the Big West Conference, the first Division I all-sports conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball. The other conference that sponsors men's volleyball at the National Collegiate level is Conference Carolinas, a Division II league that was the first ever to sponsor men's volleyball as a scholarship sport. Conference Carolinas has had an automatic berth in the National Collegiate championship since the 2014 season, and the Big West received an automatic berth upon the creation of its men's volleyball league. Members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a separate athletics governing body whose members are primarily smaller institutions, regularly play matches against NCAA teams.

Because of the historic lack of an official divisional structure in men's volleyball, all four major conferences have members that normally compete in Division II. Before the creation of the Division III national championship, the EIVA had several Division III members, but all of those schools now compete in D-III men's volleyball. Barring any further changes in conference membership or men's volleyball sponsorship, the Big West will become the first men's volleyball conference to consist entirely of D-I members in the 2021 season, the first after current Big West men's volleyball affiliate UC San Diego starts its transition to Division I and becomes a full Big West member.

Through the 2013 tournament, each of the three major conferences (MPSF, MIVA and EIVA) received an automatic bid to the Final Four, with one additional at-large bid. The remaining bid was an at-large bid that could be awarded to any team in Division I or II (including Rutgers–Newark). Generally, the best team not receiving an automatic bid (usually from one of the three major conferences) received the at-large bid.

Beginning with the 2014 championship, the field expanded to six teams, with the two new teams being the champion of Conference Carolinas and one extra at-large entry. The new format featured two quarterfinal matches involving the four lowest-seeded teams in the field, with the winners joining the two top seeds in the semifinals. Originally, the quarterfinals were to be played at campus sites, with the Final Four at a separate predetermined site, but it was decided instead to have the entire championship tournament at one site.

With the Big West Conference adding men's volleyball for the 2018 season and qualifying for an automatic tournament berth, the championship now involves seven teams. The bottom two tournament seeds contest a "play-in" match; from that point, the tournament format is identical to the one used from 2014 to 2017.[1]

Division I participation

The Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions men's volleyball team are honored in June 2008 at the White House for United States President George W. Bush for the side's winning the 2008 national championship.

The number of Division I schools sponsoring men's volleyball has fluctuated between 20 and 24 teams since 1986.[2] No traditional D-I conferences sponsored men's volleyball until the Big West Conference added the sport for the 2018 season. Of the other three major conferences, the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) are volleyball-specific conferences, while the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a multi-sport conference of schools whose primary conferences do not sponsor its ten sports. In addition to the 22 D-I schools, 23 Division II schools competed in D-I volleyball in the most recent 2018 men's volleyball season:

  • Charleston (WV) competes in the EIVA.
  • Lindenwood, Lewis, McKendree, and Quincy compete in the MIVA.
  • Concordia–Irvine, currently transitioning from the NAIA to NCAA Division II, joined MPSF men's volleyball in the 2018 season. It replaced California Baptist, which dropped the sport after the 2017 season.
  • UC San Diego competes as a single-sport Big West member. The school will add women's water polo to its Big West membership in the 2019–20 school year and become a full Big West member in 2020–21.
  • Conference Carolinas, the first all-sports conference in either Division I or II to sponsor men's volleyball, currently has 9 competing teams.
  • Seven schools compete as men's volleyball independents. Three of these are campuses of the University of Puerto Rico. The other four are Alderson Broaddus, which began play in 2016; established D-II program Coker; Lincoln Memorial, which started play in the 2017 season; and Queens (NC), which started play in 2018.

Division II does not have a separate national championship, and neither Division I nor II has a sufficient number of teams to sponsor a national championship without the other.

Two D-II schools, Daemen and Urbana, added men's volleyball for the 2019 season. Neither has announced a conference affiliation for that sport. Two other schools that do not currently sponsor varsity men's volleyball have announced they will add the sport at the National Collegiate level for the 2020 season—D-I member St. Francis Brooklyn and D-II member Lander.

Current D-III men's volleyball school Benedictine will start a transition to Division II (and thus the National Collegiate division) immediately after the 2019 season.

Champions

NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship[3]
Year Site
(Host)
Host Arena Final Third Place Final / Other participants
Winner Score Runner-up Third Place Score Fourth Place
1970
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (241) 1 3–0 Long Beach State UC Santa Barbara 2–0 Ball State
1971
Details
UCLA (291) 2 3–2 UC Santa Barbara Ball State 2–0 Springfield
1972
Details
Muncie, Indiana
(Ball State)
Irving Gymnasium UCLA (27–7) 3 3–2 San Diego State Ball State 2–0 UC Santa Barbara
1973
Details
San Diego
(San Diego State)
Peterson Gym San Diego State (21–5) 3–1 Long Beach State Ball State 2–0 Army
1974
Details
Santa Barbara, California
(UCSB)
Robertson Gymnasium UCLA (30–5) 4 3–2 UC Santa Barbara Ball State 2–1 Springfield
1975
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (278) 5 3–1 UC Santa Barbara Ohio State 2–0 Yale
1976
Details
Muncie, Indiana
(Ball State)
Irving Gymnasium UCLA (152) 6 3–0 Pepperdine Ohio State 2–0 Springfield
1977
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion USC (181) 1 3–1 Ohio State Pepperdine 2–0 Rutgers–Newark
1978
Details
Columbus, Ohio
(Ohio State)
St. John Arena Pepperdine (21–4) 1 3–2 UCLA Ohio State 2–0 Rutgers–Newark
1979
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (30–0) 7 3–1 USC Rutgers–Newark 3–2 Ball State
1980
Details
Muncie, Indiana
(Ball State)
Irving Gymnasium USC (22–6) 2 3–1 UCLA Ohio State 3–0 Rutgers–Newark
1981
Details
Santa Barbara, California
(UCSB)
UCSB Events Center UCLA (32–3) 8 3–2 USC Penn State 3–1 Ohio State
1982
Details
University Park, Pennsylvania
(Penn State)
Rec Hall UCLA (29–0) 9 3–0 Penn State USC 2–1 Ohio State
1983
Details
Columbus, Ohio
(Ohio State)
St. John Arena UCLA (27–4) 10 3–0 Pepperdine Ohio State 3–1 Penn State
1984
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (38–0) 11 3–1 Pepperdine George Mason 3–0 Ball State
1985
Details
Pepperdine (25–2) 2 3–2 USC George Mason 3–0 Ball State
1986
Details
University Park, Pennsylvania
(Penn State)
Rec Hall Pepperdine (22–7) 3 3–2 USC Penn State 3–0 Ohio State
1987
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (28–3) 12 3–0 USC Penn State 3–0 Ohio State
1988
Details
Fort Wayne, Indiana
(IPFW)
ACWMC USC (34–4) 3 3–2 UC Santa Barbara Ball State 3–1 George Mason
1989
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (29–5) 13 3–1 Stanford Penn State 3–0 Ball State
1990
Details
Fairfax, Virginia
(George Mason)
Patriot Center USC (26–7) 4 3–1 Long Beach State Ball State 3–1 Rutgers–Newark
1991
Details
Honolulu, HI
(Hawaii)
Neal S. Blaisdell Center Long Beach State (31–4) 1 3–1 USC IPFW 3–1 Penn State
1992
Details
Muncie, Indiana
(Ball State)
John E. Worthen Arena Pepperdine (24–4) 4 3–0 Stanford Penn State 3–0 IPFW
1993
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (24–3) 14 3–0 Cal State Northridge Penn State 3–2 Ohio State
1994
Details
Fort Wayne, Indiana
(IPFW)
ACWMC Penn State (26–3) 1 3–2 UCLA Ball State 3–0 IPFW
1995
Details
Springfield, Massachusetts
(Springfield)
Springfield Civic Center UCLA (31–1) 15 3–0 Penn State Ball State 3–1 Hawaii
1996
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UCLA (26–5) 16 3–2 Hawaii Lewis and Penn State
1997
Details
Columbus, Ohio
(Ohio State)
St. John Arena Stanford (27–4) 1 3–2 UCLA Ball State and Penn State
1998
Details
Honolulu, HI
(Hawaii)
Stan Sheriff Center UCLA (28–4) 17 3–0 Pepperdine Lewis and Princeton
1999
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion BYU (30–1) 1 3–0 Long Beach State IPFW and Penn State
2000
Details
Fort Wayne, Indiana
(IPFW)
ACWMC UCLA (29–5) 18 3–0 Ohio State Penn State and Pepperdine
2001
Details
Long Beach, California
(Long Beach State)
The Pyramid BYU (23–4) 2 3–0 UCLA Ohio State and Penn State
2002
Details
University Park, Pennsylvania
(Penn State)
Rec Hall Hawaii (24–8)† 3–1 Pepperdine Ball State and Penn State
2003
Details
Long Beach, California
(Long Beach State)
The Pyramid Lewis (29–6)† 3–2 BYU Penn State and Pepperdine
2004
Details
Honolulu, HI
(Hawaii)
Stan Sheriff Center BYU (29–4) 3 3–2 Long Beach State Lewis and Penn State
2005
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion Pepperdine (25–2) 5 3–2 UCLA Ohio State and Penn State
2006
Details
University Park, Pennsylvania
(Penn State)
Rec Hall UCLA (26–12) 19 3–0 Penn State UC Irvine and IPFW
2007
Details
Columbus, Ohio
(Ohio State)
St. John Arena UC Irvine (29–5) 1 3–1 IPFW Penn State and Pepperdine
2008
Details
Irvine, California
(UC Irvine)
Bren Events Center Penn State (30–1) 2 3–1 Pepperdine Long Beach State and Ohio State
2009
Details
Provo, Utah
(BYU)
Smith Fieldhouse UC Irvine (27–5) 3–2 USC (21–11) Ohio State and Penn State
2010
Details
Stanford, California
(Stanford)
Maples Pavilion Stanford (24–6) 2 3–0 Penn State (24–8) Cal State Northridge and Ohio State
2011
Details
University Park, Pennsylvania
(Penn State)
Rec Hall Ohio State (26–6) 3–2 UC Santa Barbara (18–15) Penn State and USC
2012
Details
Los Angeles
(USC)
Galen Center UC Irvine (26–5) 3 3–0 USC (24–6) Lewis and Penn State
2013
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion UC Irvine[4] (25–7) 4 3–0 BYU (26–5) Loyola Chicago and Penn State
2014
Details
Chicago
(Loyola Chicago)
Gentile Arena Loyola Chicago (29-1) 1 3-1 Stanford (24-9) 3rd–BYU and Penn State
5th–Lewis and Erskine
2015
Details
Stanford, California
(Stanford)
Maples Pavilion Loyola Chicago[5] (28-2) 2 3-2 Lewis (27-4) 3rd–UC Irvine and Penn State
5th–Hawaii and Pfeiffer
2016
Details
University Park, Pennsylvania
(Penn State)
Rec Hall Ohio State (31-2) 2 3-0 BYU (27-4) 3rd–UCLA and Long Beach State
5th–Erskine and George Mason
2017
Details
Columbus, Ohio
(Ohio State)
St. John Arena Ohio State (32–2) 3 3-0 BYU (26-5) 3rd–Hawaii and Long Beach State
5th–Barton and Penn State
2018
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion Long Beach State (28-1) 2 3-2 UCLA (26-8) 3rd-UC Irvine, BYU 5th-Ohio St., Harvard
2019
Details
Long Beach, California
(Long Beach State)
The Pyramid
2020
Details
Fairfax, Virginia
(George Mason)
EagleBank Arena
2021
Details
Columbus, Ohio
(Ohio State)
Covelli Arena
2022
Details
Los Angeles
(UCLA)
Pauley Pavilion

†Vacated due to NCAA violations

Team titles

UCLA
Pepperdine
USC
UC Irvine
BYU
Penn State
Stanford
Loyola
Ohio State
⇙ Hawaii
Lewis
Long
Beach
State
San
Diego
State
Schools with national championships
– 19 championships, – 5 championships, – 4 championships, – 3 championships, – 2 championships, – 1 championship
School # Year won
UCLA 19 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006
Pepperdine 5 1978, 1985, 1986, 1992, 2005
Southern California 4 1977, 1980, 1988, 1990
UC Irvine 4 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013
Ohio State 3 2011, 2016, 2017
BYU 3 1999, 2001, 2004
Penn State 2 1994, 2008
Stanford 2 1997, 2010
Loyola Chicago 2 2014, 2015
Vacated 2 2002, 2003
Long Beach State 2 1991, 2018
San Diego State 1 1973

Past tournaments

Historically, California-based universities have dominated the men's volleyball national championship; Loyola Chicago, Penn State, Ohio State and BYU are the only non-California universities to have won the National Collegiate championship; Hawaii and Lewis also won the championship tournament, but had their victories vacated due to NCAA rules violations. Only seven non-California universities have participated in the National Collegiate championship match (Loyola, BYU, Penn State, Ohio State, IPFW, Hawaii, and Lewis), although other universities such as Princeton and Ball State have participated in the final four. Only four finals have involved two non-California schools: the 2003 final, when Lewis defeated BYU but had its win vacated; the 2015 final, in which Loyola defeated Lewis; and the 2016 and 2017 finals, when Ohio State defeated BYU.

UCLA, Southern California, Penn State, Stanford, and Long Beach State are the only schools in Division I to have won an NCAA national championship in both men and women's volleyball. (But for Hawaii's vacated 2002 title, it would have matched this feat with 3 NCAA and 1 AIAW women's national championships.) In addition, Stanford (1996–97) and Penn State (2007–08) are the only universities whose men and women's volleyball programs won the national championship in the same academic year. The 2016 championship tournament took place from May 3–7 at Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State.

2011

  • May 5, 2011 – UC Santa Barbara def. Southern California, 29-27, 24-26, 25-15, 25-18; Ohio State def. Penn St., 25-18, 24-26, 25-22, 25-23
  • May 7, 2011 – Ohio State def. UC Santa Barbara, 20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 15-9
Semi-Finals
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Rec Hall, University Park, Pennsylvania
Championship
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Rec Hall, University Park, Pennsylvania
              
1 Southern California (1) 27 26 15 18
4 UC Santa Barbara (3) 29 24 25 25
4 UC Santa Barbara (2) 25 20 19 25 9
3 Ohio State (3) 20 25 25 22 15
2 Penn State (1) 18 26 22 23
3 Ohio State (3) 25 24 25 25

2012

  • April 29, 2012 – Selections
  • May 3, 2012 – Semifinals (6 p.m./8 p.m. PT) at Galen Center, Los Angeles, California: #1 seed UC Irvine defeated #4 seed Penn State 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-19); #2 seed Southern California defeated #3 seed Lewis 3-1 (25-18, 25-12, 18-25, 27-25)
  • May 5, 2012 – Championship (7 p.m. PT) at Galen Center, Los Angeles, California: UC Irvine defeated Southern California 3-0 (25-22, 34-32, 26-24); 9,612 attended (record)
Semi-Finals
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Galen Center, Los Angeles, CA
Championship
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Galen Center, Los Angeles, CA
              
1 UC Irvine (3) 18 25 25 25
4 Penn State (1) 25 18 15 19
1 UC Irvine (3) 25 34 26
2 Southern California (0) 22 32 24
2 Southern California (3) 25 25 18 27
3 Lewis (1) 18 12 25 25

2013

  • April 28, 2013 – Selections
  • May 2, 2013 – Semifinals (6 p.m./8 p.m. PT) at Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, NCAA.com: No. 2-seed UC Irvine defeated No. 3-seed Loyola-Chicago 3–0; No. 1-seed BYU defeated No. 4-seed Penn State 3–0
  • May 4, 2013 – National Championship (6 p.m. PT) at Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, ESPNU: UC Irvine defeated BYU 3-0 ( 25-23, 25-22, 26-24)
  • May 4, 2013 – Game Notes: UC Irvine head coach David Kniffin became just the second coach in NCAA men's volleyball history to win a national title in his first season; 6,295 attended the title game
  • May 4, 2013 – All-Tournament Team: Connor Hughes, who had 11 kills in the title game for UC Irvine (Most Outstanding Player); Chris Austin, UC Irvine; Michael Brinkley, UC Irvine Collin Mehring, UC Irvine; Kevin Tillie, UC Irvine; Ben Patch, BYU; Taylor Sander, BYU
Semi-Finals
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
Championship
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
              
1 Brigham Young (3) 25 25 25
4 Penn State (0) 21 16 22
1 Brigham Young (0) 23 22 24
2 UC Irvine (3) 25 25 26
2 UC Irvine (3) 26 25 29
3 Loyola University Chicago (0) 24 18 27

2014

  • The semifinals and finals 2014 tournament were held in the Gentile Arena in Chicago on the campus of Loyola University Chicago. Two quarterfinal "play-in" matches were held at the Gentile Arena two days prior to the national semifinals, as the 2014 tournament expanded to six teams for the first time ever. A second at-large was added to the field, and the champions of the newly-eligible Conference Carolinas men's volleyball division got an automatic qualification. The six teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the teams in previous tournaments, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the Final Four, and the third seed facing the sixth seed and the fourth seed facing the fifth seed in the quarterfinals.[6]
  • Apr. 29: Quarterfinals (#3 vs. #6 seed; #4 vs. #5 seed)
  • May 1: Semifinals (#1 vs. #4-#5 winner; #2 vs. #3-#6 winner)
  • May 3: NCAA Championship
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Gentile Arena, Chicago
Semifinals
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Gentile Arena, Chicago
Championship
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Gentile Arena, Chicago
1 Loyola (Chicago) (3) 25 22 25 18 15
4 Lewis (1) 25 25 23 19 5 Penn State (2) 20 25 21 25 11
5 Penn State (3) 27 19 25 25 1 Loyola (Chicago) (3) 25 19 25 25
3 Stanford (1) 17 25 19 15
2 BYU (2) 18 25 25 27 12
3 Stanford (3) 25 25 25 3 Stanford (3) 25 21 22 29 15
6 Erskine (0) 14 16 16

2015

  • The semifinals and finals of the 2015 tournament were held in the Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University. Two quarterfinal "play-in" matches were held at the Maples Pavilion two days prior to the national semifinals. The six teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the four teams in previous tournaments; the top two seeds received byes into the Final Four, while the third seed faced the sixth seed and the fourth seed faced the fifth seed in the quarterfinals.
  • May 5: Quarterfinals (#3 vs. #6 seed; #4 vs. #5 seed)
  • May 7: Semifinals (#1 vs. #4-#5 winner; #2 vs. #3-#6 winner)
  • May 9: NCAA Championship
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California
Semifinals
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California
Championship
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Maples Pavilion, Stanford, California
1 Lewis (3) 25 22 25 25
4 Hawaii (1) 22 20 25 25 5 Penn State (1) 20 25 16 20
5 Penn State (3) 25 25 17 27 1 Lewis (2) 25 23 15 27 21
3 Loyola (Chicago) (3) 21 25 25 25 23
2 UC Irvine (0) 22 19 17
3 Loyola (Chicago) (3) 25 33 25 3 Loyola (Chicago) (3) 25 25 25
6 Pfeiffer (0) 20 31 15

2016

See also

Notes

  1. Johnson, Derek (October 11, 2017). "A Few Key Changes Coming to the 2018 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament". VolleyMob. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  2. Athletic Business, Gender Equity – Boys' and Mens' Volleyball Participation Continues to Lag, April 2009
  3. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_volleyball_champs_records/2012/d1/2012d1mvbchamp.pdf
  4. UC Irvine defeats BYU in three sets to claim consecutive national title, NCAA.com, May 5, 2013
  5. Loyola repeats as men's NCAA volleyball national champions, Chicago Tribune, May 10, 2015
  6. NCAA Tourney to have 2 play-in matches starting in 2014, Off the Block, October 23, 2013
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