Top college men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Photo courtesy of Princeton athletics.

The 2019 college men’s volleyball season could not wait for New Year’s Day — it’s already arrived with days left in 2018.

Check out all the matches to follow today featuring NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball teams and how to follow the matches live.

No. 6 Pepperdine (0-0, 0-0 MPSF) vs. Princeton (0-0, 0-0 EIVA)
Match vitals: 5 p.m. in Malibu, California
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
What to know: The college men’s volleyball season begins with a non-conference match-up between two teams that have NCAA Tournament aspirations as No. 6 Pepperdine plays host to Princeton. The Waves were in contention for a NCAA Tournament at-large bid late into the 2018 regular season but were upset in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals. Among the starters returning from that team includes All-American outside attacker David Wieczorek. Despite missing the first month of the season with an injury, Wieczorek finished in the nation’s top five averaging both 4.00 kills per game and 0.57 aces per game. Along with being the 2018 MPSF Player of the Year, he was a finalist for the Karch Kiraly Award and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Server of the Year. Princeton for the first time in its program history is the preseason favorite to win the EIVA. Princeton after reaching the conference tournament finals last season narrowly edged out George Mason and Penn State for the top spot in the EIVA Preseason Coaches Poll released earlier this month. George Huhmann, who plays a hybrid opposite and middle attacker position, highlights the Tigers’ returning starters. The First-Team All-EIVA selection led the conference with a 3.69 kills per game average, including having a at least 20 kills in five matches last season. Defensively, he also had an EIVA-best 101 bocks and added 1.03 digs per game average. This is the second consecutive season that the Tigers and Waves have played each other. Pepperdine swept the meeting last season to remain undefeated in the five-match series history. That 2018 match was the first meeting between the two teams since the 1998 NCAA Tournament semifinals, which was the last time Princeton reached the NCAA Tournament.

<

Exhibition matches

No. 9 Loyola (0-0, 0-0 MIVA) vs. North Central (0-0)
Match vitals: 3 p.m. in Chicago
Follow live: Live stats, In-Match tweets

No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (0-0, 0-0 Big West) vs. McMaster (6-2)
Match vitals: 4 p.m. in Long Beach, California
Follow live: Live stats

No. 1 Long Beach State (0-0, 0-0 Big West) vs. Alberta (11-1)
Match vitals: 7 p.m. in Long Beach California
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets