The Place for College Men's Volleyball
With the men’s volleyball Final Four less than two months away, Off the Block each week for the rest of the season will release its projected NCAA Tournament bracket.
The men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament is comprised of four teams. Automatic bids are awarded to the winners of the EIVA, MIVA and MPSF conference tournaemnts, and the NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Committee chooses one team for an at-large bid.
Continue reading “Men’s volleyball bracketology”
It’s your top five men’s volleyball story list, but with a twist.
Every Sunday during the men’s volleyball season Off the Block will post the top five best men’s volleyball stories of the week from around the nation. The list, though, is based more on how well the reporter wrote and covered the story rather than just what happened on the court.
Continue reading “The top 5 men’s volleyball stories of the week”
The madness of March has surprisingly hit men’s volleyball.
One day after No. 2 BYU lost to an unranked team and No. 6 Long Beach State lost on its home court, the two teams will look to salvage the weekend to avoid a significant drop in the polls. In addition, tonight features several interesting non-conference matches as a Hall of Fame coach attempts to get a milestone win and No. 3 Stanford returns to the court after a 14-day layoff.
Check out the top five matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”
It’s the biggest week of March Madness for men’s basketball but men’s volleyball is in the doldrums tonight.
With most teams having a full or partial bye week, four of the top 10 teams are in action tonight and there is one match between two ranked teams in the media poll. However, tonight also features several intriguing individual match-ups as some of the blockers in the nation will go up against the best offensive players in the nation.
Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”
Weeks featuring a significant amount of non-conference matches can lead to some of the biggest changes in a poll — and last week was no different.
With everything from a top-five team losing to an unranked opponent to UCLA eking out two five-game victories at home against some of the best EIVA and MIVA teams, there was a significant amount of movement in the bottom of my top 10 ballot this week.
Check out this week’s top 10 men’s volleyball media poll and my ballot with explanations on why ranked each team where I did.
Continue reading “My men’s volleyball media poll ballot”
It’s your top five men’s volleyball story list, but with a twist.
Every Sunday during the men’s volleyball season I will post the top five best men’s volleyball stories of the week from around the nation. The list, though, is based more on how well the reporter wrote and covered the story rather than just what happened on the court.
Continue reading “The top 5 men’s volleyball stories of the week”
One of the biggest non-conference weeks of the season will come to a close tonight.
Following Penn State and Lewis defeating two top 10 ranked MPSF teams in the Active Ankle Challenge, the EIVA and MIVA teams will each play another nationally ranked West Coast team tonight. Not to be overlooked in conference play, though, is a match between two of most efficient offensive teams in the nation as No. 1 USC and No. 7 UC Irvine play each other.
Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”
The No. 10 Hawai’i men’s volleyball team’s home match tonight will not be postponed after a tsunami warning for the state ended earlier today.
Hawai’i will open its two-match weekend home series against Pacific at its initially scheduled time of 7 p.m. Friday in Honolulu, the school’s Director of Media Relations Derek Inouchi stated via e-mail earlier today.
A tsunami warning was issued for Hawaii along with a mass statewide evacuation of the coastal area after a tsunami killed hundreds of people in Japan. The tsunami resulted from a 8.9 earthquake near Japan’s east coast.
Continue reading “No. 10 Hawai’i to play tonight after tsunami warning canceled”
It’s Spring Break and the Midwest and East Coast men’s volleyball teams are fleeing to the warm weather of California.
With about five EIVA and MIVA teams playing against California teams this week, Mid-March is typically when teams will schedule non-conference road trips coinciding with its Spring Break. Highlighting this week of non-conference play is the four-team Active Ankle Challenge at Long Beach State, which opens with the only match tonight between teams ranked in the top 10. In addition, No. 8 UCLA tonight plays its final non-conference match at Pauley Pavillion before the stadium later this year for renovations.
Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
Continue reading “Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight”
Coach Rick McLaughlin and his UC Santa Barbara team main goal entering this season was to make the MPSF Tournament — it was a lofty goal given the program’s recent history.
The No. 6 Gauchos had missed the eight-team conference tournament for the last five years — the third longest active streak in the MPSF. With six conference matches remaining, though, UC Santa Barbara (11-8, 9-7 MPSF) is in sixth place in the MPSF and poised to qualify for its first postseason tournament since 2006.
In addition, UC Santa Barbara has been ranked as high as No. 3 this season. It is also the only team in the nation to have two players, Jeff Menzel and Cullen Irons, ranked in the nation’s top 20 for kills per game average.
Off the Block conducted an interview with McLaughlin earlier this week to discuss the chances of UC Santa Barbara making the postseason and possibility of making a run deep in the conference tournament.
Continue reading “Q&A with UC Santa Barbara coach Rick McLaughlin”