Off the Block

Category: Division I-II

  • Conference tournament men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

    The madness of April is officially upon us.

    Nine of the 10 conference tournament quarterfinal matches in the EIVA, MIVA and MPSF will be played tonight with the winners advancing to the semifinals while the losers’ seasons will likely be finished. These postseason matches to also feature eight of the top 10 ranked teams, including No. 2 BYU and No. 3 Stanford who are battling for the lone at-large bid to the Final Four.

    Check out the conference tournament matches to follow tonight.
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  • 2011 All-EIVA teams released

    For the fourth consecutive season, a Penn State men’s volleyball player was the named the EIVA Player of the Year.

    Outside attacker Joe Sunder was named the Uvaldo Acosta EIVA Player of the Year on Thursday after leading the conference and being third in the nation with a 4.63 kills per game average.

    Sunder was also one of six Penn State players named an All-EIVA team, which were released along with the player of the year award.
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  • Conference tournament men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

    Consider tonight to be the appetizer for the men’s volleyball postseason.

    IPFW and Lewis open the postseason as the lone conference tournament match scheduled tonight. The rest the EIVA, MIVA, and MPSF Tournament quarterfinal matches will be played Saturday.
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  • 2011 All-MIVA teams released

    The MIVA announced its all-conference teams and individual awards Thursday.

    Check out what players and coaches made the 2011 All-MIVA teams.
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  • 2011 All-MPSF men’s volleyball teams released

    USC’s domination of the MPSF in the regular season continued with the conference awards.

    All six USC starters received All-MPSF accolades and outside attacker Murphy Troy was named the MPSF Player of the Year as the MPSF announced its all-conference awards Thursday.
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  • Penn State coach Pavlik says NCAA Tournament expansion would be good thing

    NCAA Tournament expansion would happen if it was up to one national award winning coach.

    Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said earlier this week that he would like for the men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament to expand from four to eight teams in the upcoming seasons.

    “I think that we have enough good teams that it wouldn’t harm the integrity of the NCAA championship,” Pavlik said at his weekly news conference Monday. “I think overall you’d see some surprises in an eight-team tournament.”
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  • Aguillard, Nelson, Tavana named finalists for Blocker of the Year

    A nationwide voting committee selected Long Beach State middle attacker Antwain Aguillard, Ball State middle attacker Anders Nelson and BYU middle attacker Futi Tavana as finalists for the Off the Block Blocker of the Year.

    The Off the Block Blocker of the Year award is given to the nation’s best front-row defensive men’s volleyball player during the regular season. To be eligible for this award, a player must be on the active roster of a Division I-II men’s volleyball team.
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  • Initial look at the EIVA, MIVA and MPSF quarterfinal matches

    After four months of the regular season, the NCAA men’s volleyball postseason is final upon us.

    The EIVA, MIVA and MPSF will all begin their conference tournaments Friday and Saturday. Here is the initial look and the historical information you need to know about every conference tournament quarterfinals match before you fill out your bracket.
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  • Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

    It is the final day of the regular season and there is a sense of calmness to the brackets.

    Unlike other seasons when teams were still battling to get into the postseason, all the teams in this year’s conference tournaments are known. However, there are a couple of matches tonight that will determine where teams are seeded and could play a vital role in any potential upsets in the conference tournaments.

    Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
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  • Live chat: No. 7 Penn State vs. Ball State

    Off the Block will be in Muncie, Ind., tonight to give live coverage to the No. 7 Penn State versus Ball State non-conference match.

    Penn State enters tonight on a six match winning streak and will likely need to win if it wants remain in consideration for the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Ball State clinched the No. 3 seed for its conference tournament next week and is looking to snap a 10 match losing streak to the Nittany Lions.
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