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The NCAA hit the repeat button for championship host sites.
George Mason, Long Beach State, Ohio State and UCLA were once again selected Thursday to be the host sites for the annual Division I-II men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament semifinals and finals from 2023 to 2026.
This is the second consecutive selection cycle that these four schools were chosen to host the men’s volleyball championships. The NCAA in recent years has used a single selection process to determine hosts for four years.
George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia will host the 2023 NCAA Tournament — the first year in the four-year cycle.
The Patriots were slated to host the 2020 NCAA Tournament but that tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Similar to its plans for the canceled tournament, the 2023 NCAA Tournament will be played at the nearby EagleBank Arena, which has a larger seating capacity than the men’s volleyball team’s home arena.
“We are excited to get another chance to host the championships in Fairfax,” George Mason coach Jay Hosack said. “Our university put in many hours to prepare for 2020, and it was unfortunately not a great year for anyone. Now, we get another opportunity. A huge thank you to the NCAA for giving us another chance, and for our administration for resubmitting a bid to host. We are looking forward to 2023.”
The NCAA Tournament will return to the West Coast in 2024 with Long Beach State playing host to the event.
Long Beach State on its home court won the 2019 NCAA Tournament to complete a national championship repeat.
Ohio State earned the 2025 bid for the NCAA Tournament. This will be the fourth time since 2006 that the Buckeyes will have the event, including playing host to the tournament in 2021.
UCLA will close out the four-year selection cycle with the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Bruins also have the 2022 NCAA Tournament from a previous selection cycle, and similar to Ohio State, it will host two NCAA Tournaments in a five year span.
Along with Division I-II men’s volleyball, the NCAA on Thursday announced the championship sites for 86 other sports across all the NCAA divisions.
Stevenson, Lorars, the Old Dominion Athletics Conference in Virginia and Springfield were awarded the bids to play host to the men’s volleyball Division III NCAA Tournament from 2023-26.