The largest tournament field is set in the 56-year history of the men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA announced Sunday that Hawai’i, Pepperdine, Loyola, UC Irvine and USC received the five at-large bids to the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
This is the inaugural season of the 12-team NCAA Tournament format. The expansion from nine to 12 teams resulted in the at-large bids increasing from two to five teams.
USC was the projected last at-large bid to make the NCAA Tournament, according to the Off the Block bracketology. USC despite having a lower RPI and KPI ranking narrowly edged out Lindenwood for the final spot in part because of its better record against teams in the top 10 of the RPI.
Hawai’i after losing to Long Beach State in the Big West Tournament finals received the No. 2 seed. The Rainbow Warriors were the only at-large bid to earn a top-four seed.
UCLA received the No. 1 overall seed – the fourth time in the last five years the Bruins have been the top seed. Long Beach State also garnered the No. 3 seed, while Ball State picked up the No. 4 seed.
All four of the seeded teams will receive a bye to the regional finals and will be the host school for their regional.
UCLA will play the winner of the opening-round match between the EIVA champions Penn State and UC Irvine.
Hawai’i will be a host site in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 22 years. In addition, Hawai’i will play the winner of the opening-round match between USC and the ConfCarolinas champions Belmont Abbey.
Loyola and the NEC champions Saint Francis will play their opening match at Long Beach State. The winner of that match will then face the defending NCAA champions Long Beach State.
Ball State will serve as the only non-West Coast regional site and will play the winner of the opening round match between Pepperdine and the SIAC champions Fort Valley State. All matches at this regional will be played in Noblesville, Indiana – a suburb of Indianapolis located about 30 miles from the Ball State campus.
Each of the four regional winners will advance to the NCAA Tournament finals. Both the NCAA Tournament semifinals and finals will take place at UCLA.