College men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Photo by Jonathan Bates

Check out all the college men’s volleyball matches to follow today and how to follow the matches live.

No. 2/2 BYU (16-2, 16-2 MPSF) vs. No. 6/7 UCLA (13-4, 13-4 MPSF)
Match vitals:
5 p.m. in Los Angeles
Follow live: Live video, Live stats, In-match tweets
What to know: No. 6/7 UCLA in the opening weeks of the season pulled off an upset against No. 2/2 BYU and will now need to achieve the feat again to help its chances at a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. UCLA enters this home two-match series to close out its regular season narrowly trailing Pepperdine for the final at-large bid, according to the latest Off the Block projections. A win against the Cougars, though, would give the Bruins a significant boost in the historically critical selection committee criteria category of record versus teams under NCAA Tournament consideration. UCLA has won eight of its last nine matches, including sweeping a two-match road series against Grand Canyon last week. Opposite Kevin Kobrine in these wins had a combined 22 kills on a .629 attack percentage and was named the National Player of the Week. Along with Korbine, freshman middle attacker Merrick McHenry is eighth in the nation hitting .440 and has double-digit kills in seven of the last nine matches. BYU has dropped two sets during its current 11-match winning streak. Outside attacker Davide Garidini is among the national leaders with both a 3.18 kills per game average and a .340 attack percentage. The outside attacker in the season-opening loss to UCLA, which was played without All-American setter Wil Stanley, was limited to six kills and zero attack percentage. Stanley returned for the following match and helped the offense hit .406 in a sweep against the Bruins. All-American opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez in that victory had a match-high 12 kills and zero errors on a .800 attack percentage, while Gardini added 11 kills and hit .368.

No. 6/5 Long Beach State (3-3, 3-3 Big West) vs. No. 12 UC San Diego (3-7, 3-3 Big West)
Match vitals:
4 p.m. in La Jolla, California
Follow live: Live video, Live stats, In-match tweets
What to know: The two teams did not play last year as the scheduled matches were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Long Beach State has dominated this series, but there is a discrepancy on what the all-time series record is according to each school’s record books. Long Beach State lists their all-time record versus UC San Diego as 69-5, while UC San Diego lists their all-time record versus Long Beach State as 4-71. The last time the Tritons took a match from the Beach was March 15, 2012. In addition, the last time UC San Diego took a set from Long Beach State was Jan. 26, 2013 (13 straight sweeps). Seven of the teams’ combined 10 losses this season have come to top-ranked Hawai’i. The preseason preparation for these teams were quite the contrast. Long Beach State was not able to get into the gym until three weeks before the season, at which time UC San Diego was opening their season with non-conference matches against Hawai’i. UC San Diego won both of its matches last weekend versus CSUN, including a #CincoSets win on Saturday when senior outside attacker Kyle McCauley had a season-best 22 kills. UC San Diego has been without the services of fellow senior outside attacker Wyatt Harrison for all but one match this season. Filling that void has been sophomore Ryan Ka who is second on the team with a 3.00 kills per game average. On the other side of the net is Long Beach State – the only team who has gone the distance with Hawai’i this year. The Beach ranks No. 4 nationally averaging 2.75 blocks per game, led senior middle attacker Simon Andersen’s 1.423 blocks per game average (third nationally). Senior Ryan Poole has started the last couple of matches at setter after freshman setter Aidan Knipe went down with an injury. The offensive attack has been led by sophomore outside attacker Spencer Olivier averaging 3.88 kills per game (No. 12 nationally).

No. 1/1 Hawai’i (11-0, 6-0 Big West) vs. CSUN (1-5, 1-5 Big West)
Match vitals:
4 p.m. in Northridge, California
Follow live: Live video, Live radio, Live stats, In-match tweets

No. 8/8 Penn State (17-3, 14-2 EIVA) vs. Charleston (4-10, 4-10 EIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Charleston, West Virginia
Follow live: Live video, Live stats, In-match tweets

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No. 9 Grand Canyon (4-10, 4-10 MPSF) vs. USC (5-10, 5-10 MPSF)
Match vitals:
5 p.m. in Los Angeles, California
Follow live: Live video, Live stats, In-match tweets

Alderson Broaddus (4-6) vs. Tusculum (2-11)
Match vitals:
2 p.m. in Greeneville, Tennessee
Follow live: Live video, Live stats

Saint Francis (5-18, 4-12 EIVA) vs. Sacred Heart (1-17, 0-14 EIVA)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Fairfield, Connecticut
Follow live: Live video, Live stats

Queens (13-10) vs. Limestone (10-9)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Gaffney, South Carolina
Follow live: Live video, Live stats

Cancelled matches
No. 10/10 NJIT vs. No. 14 George Mason

NCAA Division III National Matches of the Day

No. 3 SUNY New Paltz (6-3) vs. No. 15 Nazareth (5-5)
Match vitals:
4 p.m. in Elmira, New York
Follow live: Live video, Live stats

No. 4 Vassar (6-3) vs. No. 7 St. John Fisher (7-5)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in Elmira, New York
Follow live: Live video, Live stats

Mount Union (20-2) vs. Mt. St. Joseph (12-4)
Match vitals:
4 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri
Follow live: Live video, Live stats

Fontbonne (17-2) vs. Trine (11-5)
Match vitals:
7 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri
Follow live: Live video, Live stats