Category: MPSF

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

It’s such a big night in men’s volleyball that Off the Block is coming out with a special midweek top five matches to follow tonight.

Six of the top 10 teams will play tonight, including two matches between nationally ranked teams. No. 6 Hawai’i traveling to No. 4 BYU and No. 5 UCLA closing out Pauley Pavilion against No. 5 UC Irvine highlight tonight’s matches. However, there are also two intriguing non-conference matches as No. 2 Ohio State takes its 17 match winning streak to the West Coast and Cal Baptist looks to pull off its second upset of a top 10 team in less than a week.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

The madness of March has surprisingly hit men’s volleyball.

One day after No. 2 BYU lost to an unranked team and No. 6 Long Beach State lost on its home court, the two teams will look to salvage the weekend to avoid a significant drop in the polls. In addition, tonight features several interesting non-conference matches as a Hall of Fame coach attempts to get a milestone win and No. 3 Stanford returns to the court after a 14-day layoff.

Check out the top five matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

It’s the biggest week of March Madness for men’s basketball but men’s volleyball is in the doldrums tonight.

With most teams having a full or partial bye week, four of the top 10 teams are in action tonight and there is one match between two ranked teams in the media poll. However, tonight also features several intriguing individual match-ups as some of the blockers in the nation will go up against the best offensive players in the nation.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

One of the biggest non-conference weeks of the season will come to a close tonight.

Following Penn State and Lewis defeating two top 10 ranked MPSF teams in the Active Ankle Challenge, the EIVA and MIVA teams will each play another nationally ranked West Coast team tonight. Not to be overlooked in conference play, though, is a match between two of most efficient offensive teams in the nation as No. 1 USC and No. 7 UC Irvine play each other.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

No. 10 Hawai’i to play tonight after tsunami warning canceled

Email, RSS Follow
Email

The No. 10 Hawai’i men’s volleyball team’s home match tonight will not be postponed after a tsunami warning for the state ended earlier today.

Hawai’i will open its two-match weekend home series against Pacific at its initially scheduled time of 7 p.m. Friday in Honolulu, the school’s Director of Media Relations Derek Inouchi stated via e-mail earlier today.

A tsunami warning was issued for Hawaii along with a mass statewide evacuation of the coastal area after a tsunami killed hundreds of people in Japan. The tsunami resulted from a 8.9 earthquake near Japan’s east coast.
Continue reading “No. 10 Hawai’i to play tonight after tsunami warning canceled”

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

It’s Spring Break and the Midwest and East Coast men’s volleyball teams are fleeing to the warm weather of California.

With about five EIVA and MIVA teams playing against California teams this week, Mid-March is typically when teams will schedule non-conference road trips coinciding with its Spring Break. Highlighting this week of non-conference play is the four-team Active Ankle Challenge at Long Beach State, which opens with the only match tonight between teams ranked in the top 10. In addition, No. 8 UCLA tonight plays its final non-conference match at Pauley Pavillion before the stadium later this year for renovations.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

Q&A with UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin

Email, RSS Follow
Email

Coach Rick McLaughlin and his UC Santa Barbara team main goal entering this season was to make the MPSF Tournament — it was a lofty goal given the program’s recent history.

The No. 6 Gauchos had missed the eight-team conference tournament for the last five years — the third longest active streak in the MPSF. With six conference matches remaining, though, UC Santa Barbara (11-8, 9-7 MPSF) is in sixth place in the MPSF and poised to qualify for its first postseason tournament since 2006.

In addition, UC Santa Barbara has been ranked as high as No. 3 this season. It is also the only team in the nation to have two players, Jeff Menzel and Cullen Irons, ranked in the nation’s top 20 for kills per game average.

Off the Block conducted an interview with McLaughlin earlier this week to discuss the chances of UC Santa Barbara making the postseason and possibility of making a run deep in the conference tournament.
Continue reading “Q&A with UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin”

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

Two of the three men’s volleyball conferences will have two of their top teams playing each other tonight.

No. 1 USC finishing its weekend series against No. 2 BYU in the MPSF still highlights all the matches today. The other match, though, that is for sole possession of first place is in the Midwest as No. 4 Ohio State and No. 10 Loyola play with both teams vying to become the first team to go undefeated in MIVA play since 1998.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Email, RSS Follow
Email

The men’s volleyball spotlight is once again focused brightly on Southern California tonight.

No. 1 USC and No. 2 BYU opening their two-match weekend series in Los Angeles highlights tonight’s schedule. Not to be overlooked, though, are two other matches in Southern California tonight between teams in top 10 national rankings, including No. 3 Stanford playing No. 7 UC Irvine.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”

Posted on

Q&A with USC coach Bill Ferguson

Email, RSS Follow
Email

USC head coach Bill Ferguson could not have picked a better match to honor two former All-American Trojans.

On the same night the Trojans will retire the jerseys of Dusty Dvorak and Celso Kalache, No. 1 USC will play the finale of its two-match weekend series against No. 2 BYU — the first time this season the top two teams in the nation rankings will face each other.

Dvorak’s and Kalache’s jerseys will be retired in a post-match ceremony Saturday. Prior to this ceremony, the Trojans and Cougars will play the opener of their two-match series Friday night. USC enters this weekend series with the best record in the nation and has been No. 1 in the coaches and media poll since the preseason.

Off the Block conducted an interview earlier this week with Ferguson to discuss his team’s success in the first half of the season and the upcoming match between No. 1 and No. 2.
Continue reading “Q&A with USC coach Bill Ferguson”