Top college men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

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


No. 5/7 Pepperdine (1-0, 0-0 MPSF) vs. No. 8/6 Loyola (2-1, 0-0 MIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Chicago
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
What to know: This will not only be the first time in 13 years that No. 5/7 Pepperdine and No. 8/6 Loyola play each other. It will be the first time in more than a decade that the Waves have played a road non-conference match against a nationally ranked team. Pepperdine will begin its rare Midwest road trip against Loyola in a match-up of two top-10 nationally ranked teams. Pepperdine opened its season rallying from a two-game deficit at home to beat McKendree in five games last week. All-MPSF outside attacker David Wieczorek coming off the bench midway through the second game led the Waves with 19 kills on a .581 attack percentage. In addition, middle attacker Mitchell Penning added 14 kills and a team-high five blocks against McKendree. Penning ended last season among the MPSF leaders with a 0.95 blocks per game average and had a .394 attack percentage. The Ramblers are attempting to beat a top-five nationally ranked team for the second time in the opening two weeks of the season. Loyola upset No. 4/4 BYU in four games on Saturday for its second consecutive victory. Freshman setter Ian Cowen in the upset guided the Ramblers to a .333 attack percentage and had a match-high 11 digs. Cowen also was selected as the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Freshman of the Week. Along with Cowen in the starting lineup, Loyola All-American middle attacker Jeff Jendryk has a combined 20 kills and a .459 attack percentage through the first three matches of the season. Jendryk finished last season as a finalist for the Ryan Millar Award and was among the nation’s leaders with 101 blocks and a .431 attack percentage.

No. 1/1 Ohio State (3-0, 0-0 MIVA) vs. No. 10/10 Stanford (3-0, 0-0 MPSF)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Palo Alto, California
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
What to know: No. 10/10 Stanford will finally get its shot at No. 1/1 Ohio State — just one year later than it would have prefered. The Cardinal a season removed from narrowly missing the final at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament will open a two-match home series against the defending national champion Buckeyes. Despite losing multiple All-Americans from last year’s team, Stanford went undefeated at the Asics/South Coast Inn-vitational last weekend and lost only one game in the season-opening tournament. Freshman setter Paul Bischoff, who is replacing graduated All-American setter and 2016 Lloy Ball Award winner James Shaw, guided the Cardinal offense to more than a .350 attack percentage in the two matches he started last week. Outside attackers Gabriel Vega and Jordan Ewert also both finished the non-conference tournament averaging more than 4.00 kills per game. Ohio State enters this road series after beating No. 2/2 UCLA in four games on Saturday and sweeping No. 11 George Mason on Tuesday. The Buckeyes were also the unanimous No. 1 ranked team in the latest AVCA National Coaches Poll and Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Media Poll. Ohio State All-American outside attacker Nicolas Szerszen through three matches this season is third in the MIVA with a 4.00 kills per game average. The 2016 AVCA National Player of the Year also has at least 15 kills and a .500 attack percentage in the last two matches. This will be the first meeting between Stanford and Ohio State since 2012. The Buckeyes are 1-9 all-time against the Cardinal with their only victory occurring in the inaugural meeting in 1981.


No. 14 Penn State (1-1, 0-0 EIVA) vs. No. 15 Ball State (3-1, 0-0 MIVA)
Match vitals:
7:30 p.m. in Muncie, Indiana
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets
What to know: Two of the nation’s top freshmen pin-hitters from the opening week of the season will face each other as No. 15 Ball State plays host to No. 14 Penn State. Opposite Calvin Mende had a match-high 25 kills on a .525 attack percentage to help Penn State beat USC in five games last week. The 6-foot-11 redshirt freshman also added five blocks in the non-conference victory. Ball State outside attacker Matt Szews enters the weekend leading the MIVA with a 4.15 kills per game average. The 2016 Wisconsin Player of the Year in high school has led the Cardinals in kills during all of their matches so far this season. In addition, Szews had a match-high 16 kills while hitting .387 in a home sweep against St. Francis on Thursday. Along with Szews, all-conference middle attacker Matt Walsh led all players with three blocks while adding six kills and zero attack errors versus the Red Flash. It was the third time in the first four matches of the season that Walsh had at least a .500 attack percentage. This will be the 85th all-time meeting between Ball State and Penn State — one of the oldest non-conference rivalries in college men’s volleyball. With the exception of one season, the two teams have played each other every year since 1982.

Concordia-Irvine (4-3) vs. McKendree (0-5, 0-0 MIVA)
Match vitals:
Noon in Provo, Utah
Follow live: Live stats

North Greenville (0-2, 0-0 ConfCarolinas) vs. Sacred Heart (0-0, 0-0 EIVA)
Match vitals:
2 p.m. in Fairfield, Connecticut
Follow live: Live stats

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Barton (0-0, 0-0 ConfCarolinas) vs. Alderson Broaddus (0-0)
Match vitals:
6 p.m. in Wilson, North Carolina
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets

Emmanuel (0-0, 0-0 ConfCarolinas) vs. Southern Virginia (0-0)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Buena Vista, Virginia
Follow live: Live stats, Online video

Lees-McRae (0-0, 0-0 ConfCarolinas) vs. Lincoln Memorial (0-1)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Banner Elk, North Carolina
Follow live: Live stats, Online video

King (1-0, 0-0 ConfCarolinas) vs. Charleston (0-1, 0-1 EIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Bristol, Tennessee
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets

Fort Wayne (0-4, 0-0 MIVA) vs. St. Francis (2-2, 0-0 EIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Follow live: Live stats, Radio feed, In-match tweets

No. 9/9 Lewis (1-1, 0-0 MIVA) vs. Harvard (0-0, 0-0 EIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Romeoville, Illinois
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets

Lindenwood (0-3, 0-0 MIVA) vs. Grand View (0-0)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in St. Charles, Missouri
Follow live: Live stats

No. 4/4 BYU (2-1, 0-0 MPSF) vs. Concordia-Irvine (4-3)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Provo, Utah
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets

No. 3/3 Long Beach State (3-1, 0-1 MPSF) vs. Cal Baptist (2-2, 1-0 MPSF)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Riverside, California
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets

No. 12 UC Santa Barbara (3-1, 0-1 MPSF) vs. UC San Diego (0-2, 0-1 MPSF)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Santa Barbara, California
Follow live: Live stats, Online video, In-match tweets

No. 6/5 Hawai’i (4-0, 0-0 MPSF) vs. Grand Canyon (1-2, 0-0 MIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Honolulu
Follow live: Live stats, Radio feed, In-match tweets