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Jonathan Bates | Associate Editor
Home court just does not provide as much of an advantage this season compared to recent years.
The winning percentage for home teams this year is at lowest point during a four-year span of data compiled by Off the Block.
Teams are performing 2.19 percent worse this year at home than in the previous five years.
There are several caveats when comparing this season to any other season. The sample size is limited with because of the abbreviated non-conference schedules and regular season — nine of the 43 schools have played 10 or fewer matches. Second, there are very few non-conference matches. In addition, several conferences have unbalanced schedules because of match cancellations and the overall changes of scheduling during a pandemic.
Of the 43 NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball teams that have played matches this year, the average winning percentage at home is .612. Of the 44 current NCAA Division I-II teams (excluding D’Youville who played in Division III until this year), the average home winning percentage for the five year period of 2016-2020 was .633.
Another way of comparing home court advantage this year to the previous five years is to look at how many teams have a better road record than home record.
Teams with better road records than home records is happening 0.4 percent more this year than in the previous five years.
This year, six of the 43 teams have better road records than home records. Of the 206 available data points from the last five years (i.e., seasons comparing home and road records), teams had better road records 28 times.
Four of the six teams with better road records than home records this year come from the EIVA – NJIT, George Mason, Charleston and Sacred Heart. The host institution for the 2021 ConfCarolinas Tournament, King, also has a better road record than home record.
Hawai’i, the host of the 2021 Big West Tournament, has the same winning percentage at home as on the road, while BYU has a slightly better home record than road record.