Three quarters of the NCAA Tournament field is set, with six automatic bids earned Saturday during conference championships for the MPSF, SIAC, MIVA, Conference Carolinas, EIVA and Big West. Most notably, Grand Canyon upset UCLA in the MPSF and Long Beach State beat UC Irvine in the Big West,
But both the losing teams should expect to hear their names called Sunday on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. Eastern when two at-large bids will be announced to fill out the eight-team bracket. The NCAA’s National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship begins with quarterfinals April 30 at Long Beach State, with the semifinals May 2 and the final May 4.
MPSF: GCU gets first title
Second-seeded Grand Canyon pulled off the biggest win, defeating national champion and top-seeded UCLA, 25-16, 24-26, 25-17, 19-25, 15-10 to earn the MPSF’s automatic NCAA bid.
UCLA (23-5), which had won 12 matches in a row, defeated Grand Canyon (25-4) in their two regular-season meetings. This is GCU’s first MPSF title. The Lopes got an at-large bid last year.
“The things that we’ve been saying in the last few weeks is the importance of focusing on those little things and making sure that you have each other’s backs and deflecting other teams’ big points and just making sure that we’re taking care of everything on our side of the net,” GCU coach Matt Werle said.
GCU’s Camden Gianni led all players with 16 kills to go with five digs, four total blocks and four aces. Jarrett Anderson added 12 kills, nine digs and two aces. The Antelopes out-served the Bruins, 10 aces to five, and out-hit the Bruins .361-.288.
The Bruins helped the Antelopes’ cause with 23 service errors – 10 more than GCU – and 10 serve-receive errors to GCU’s five.
Zach Rama led UCLA with 14 kills (.550), and Ethan Champlin and Cooper Robinson had 11 each. The Bruins now hope to land one of the two at-large bids.
Big West: Long Beach tops UCI
Top-seeded Long Beach State (25-4) earned its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 25-23, 21-25, 25-16, 25-15 victory over second-seeded UC Irvine (19-10). Coach Alan Knipe’s team is in the tournament for the seventh time in eight years.
Clarke Godbold had 17 kills and a personal-best five aces for the Beach. Sotiris Siapanis finished with 15 kills — hitting a whopping .500 – and 11 digs.
With UCLA’s loss in the MPSF final, Long Beach, which entered the Big West Tournament as the No. 2 team in the AVCA poll, is in line to earn the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, which will be played on its home court at The Pyramid. UCI is all but assured of joining UCLA as an at-large.
MIVA: Ohio State advances
Lindenwood pulled one upset in the semifinals, knocking off top-seeded Ball State. Ohio State made sure there wasn’t a second upset.
The Buckeyes (22-8) dropped the first set 20-25 but then cruised in the final three, 25-17, 25-18 and 25-16, to earn the automatic bid.
Jacob Pasteur led with 18 kills (.394), and Shane Wetzel added 13 (.321). The Buckeyes outhit Lindenwood (16-12) .412-.248. Michael Wright dished out 45 assists.
It was the Buckeyes’ 19th conference championship and second under coach Kevin Burch.
Conference Carolinas: Belmont Abbey wins
Top-seeded Belmont Abbey (21-4) held serve with a 25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 25-17 victory over No. 2 seed North Greenville (14-9) for not only its ninth win in a row, but the Crusaders’ first time back in the NCAA tourney since 2021.
Matthew Staskunas had 16 kills and two aces Belmont Abbey served seven aces and had 19 total blocks, holding North Greenville to .179 hitting, though North Greenville actually had eight more kills.
The victory was No. 51 for coach Derek Sullivan, which ties him for first in program history.
EIVA: Penn State wins again
Penn State (22-6) appears to be getting its act together at the right time. After some ups and downs early in the season, the Nittany Lions have won their past 10 matches, including Saturday’s 24-26, 25-20, 25-22, 25-16 victory over visiting George Mason (18-10).
EIVA player of the year — and tournament MVP — John Kerr had 19 kills and 12 digs to lead Penn State, and Toby Ezeonu had 16 kills on 24 swings with only one attack error for a .625 hitting percentage. He also served up three aces and had a solo block in what was his first EIVA final. He missed last season’s EIVA title match with an injury and Penn State was eliminated in the semifinals the season before.
Michal Kowal added four aces, and setter Michael Schwob, who had 47 assists, had a career-high five aces as the Nittany Lions had 12 aces to George Mason’s three.
It was the 34th conference title for Penn State.
NEC: Daemen upsets SFU
The NEC doesn’t yet have an automatic NCAA bid, and that’s too bad for Daemen. The Wildcats upset top-seeded St. Francis (PA) 25-23, 25-21, 22-2, 25-20.
Daemen lost both of its matches to the Red Flash, both in four sets, during the regular season. Zach Schneider led the Wildcats with 16 kills, and Maverick O’Neil had 13 kills and three blocks.
It is the second year in a row that St. Francis — which went 12-0 in the NEC this regular season — lost in the conference final.
SIAC, ECC
Fort Valley Stateearned the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s first NCAA men’s volleyball automatic bid Saturday when the Wildcats swept Central State 25-21, 25-17, 25-15.
In Saturday’s ECC semifinals, St. Thomas Aquinas beat American International in four sets and then Dominican swept Roberts Wesleyan. STA plays Dominican for the title Sunday, but the fledgling league does not have an automatic bid.
