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The NCAA men’s volleyball postseason will get underway with the MIVA Tournament.
The conference tournament quarterfinals will begin Saturday. Check out the matchups and the historical tidbits to know before filling out your MIVA Tournament bracket.
No. 1 seed Ball State (20-9, 13-3 MIVA) vs. No. 8 seed Queens (9-19, 2-14 MIVA)
Match vitals: Saturday in Muncie, Indiana
Season series: Ball State swept Queens twice in March
All-time series: Ball State leads 4-0
MIVA Tournament titles: Ball State (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2022); Queens (none)
NCAA Tournament championships: Ball State (none); Queens (none)
Ball State player to know: Tinaishe Ndavazocheva is in the nation’s top 10 with a 3.97 kills per game average and is in the conference’s top 10 hitting .321.
Queens player to know: Jack Brinkman is among the conference leaders with averaging both 3.04 kills per game and 0.43 aces per game.
Stats to know: Ball State has always advanced to the MIVA Tournament finals in years that there was a conference tournament and it won the regular season title. A No. 8 seed has never won in the MIVA Tournament quarterfinals.
No. 2 seed Loyola (18-9, 12-4 MIVA) vs. No. 7 seed McKendree (6-15, 1-13 MIVA)
Match vitals: 7 p.m. Saturday in Chicago
Season series: Loyola swept McKendree in March, and then a week later McKendree swept Loyola
All-time series: Loyola leads 18-4
MIVA Tournament championships: Loyola (2013, 2014, 2015); McKendree (none)
NCAA Tournament championships: Loyola (2014, 2015); McKendree (none)
Loyola player to know: Parker Van Buren is sixth in the nation with a 4.01 kills per game average and has a career-best .352 attack percentage.
McKendree player to know: Kevin Schuele is in the nation’s top 10 with a 2.21 digs per game average and is among the conference leaders with a 3.13 kills per game.
Stats to know: This is a rematch of the quarterfinals last season when McKendree upset Loyola to become the first No. 7 seed to win a match in the history of the MIVA Tournament. Loyola has never lost in back-to-back seasons in the MIVA Tournament quarterfinals during the rally scoring era.
No. 3 seed Ohio State (18-8, 11-5 MIVA) vs. No. 6 seed Lewis (15-14, 8-8 MIVA)
Match vitals: Saturday in Columbus, Ohio
Season series: Ohio State swept Lewis twice in February
All-time series: Ohio State leads 35-33
MIVA Tournament championships: Ohio State (1969, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987,1993, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023); Lewis (1996, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2019, 2021)
NCAA Tournament championships: Ohio State (2011, 2016, 2017); Lewis (2003)
Ohio State player to know: Jacob Pasteur, who missed multiple conference match last month because of a leg injury, is in the conference’s top 10 with both a 3.47 kills per game average and a .331 attack percentage.
Lewis player to know: Max Roquet is in the nation’s top 20 with a 3.58 kills per game average.
Stats to know: Ohio State is on a 17-match home postseason winning streak with its last home loss coming in 2013. A No.6 seed has won a MIVA Tournament quarterfinal match three times during the 25-point rally scoring era.
No. 4 seed Lindenwood (14-11, 9-7 MIVA) vs. No. 5 Purdue Fort Wayne (14-11, 8-8 MIVA)
Match vitals: Saturday in St. Charles, Missouri
Season series: Purdue Fort Wayne swept Lindenwood in March, and then two weeks later Lindenwood swept Purdue Fort Wayne
All-time series: Purdue Fort Wayne leads 15-10
MIVA Tournament championships: Lindenwood (none); Purdue Fort Wayne (1991, 1992, 1999, 2006, 2007)
NCAA Tournament championships: Lindenwood (none); Purdue Fort Wayne (none)
Lindenwood player to know: Clay Wieter is seventh in the nation with a 0.48 aces per game average and is in the conference’s top 10 with a 3.28 kills per game average.
Purdue Fort Wayne player to know: John Diedrich is in the nation’s top 10 with a 3.82 kills per game average, including having a career-high 37 kills against Ball State in March.
Stats to know: This will be the first time since joining the MIVA in 2013 that Lindenwood will have a home match in the MIVA Tournament. A No. 5 seed has not defeated the No. 4 seed in the MIVA Tournament quarterfinals since 2015 – when Lindenwood upset Purdue Fort Wayne. That also was the last time Lindenwood won a match in the MIVA Tournament.