The NCAA menâs volleyball committee selected the seven teams that will participate on the 2018 National Collegiate Menâs Championships hosted by UCLA May 3 and 5th.
Five teams will participate in the play-in rounds April 26 hosted by Ohio State and May 1 at UCLA.
Five teams received automatic selections by winning their conference: Long Beach of the Big West (No. 1 RPI ranking), BYU of the MPSF (No. 2 RPI ranking), Ohio State of the MIVA (No. 7 RPI ranking), Harvard of the EIVA (No. 22 RPI ranking), and King of the Conference Carolinas (No. 13 RPI ranking).
The two at-large bids went to MPSF runner-up UCLA and Big West semifinalist UC Irvine.
In the first round, Ohio State (23-5) will host King University (23-5) at 7 p.m. ET.
The winner will face UC Irvine (21-9) in a quarterfinal at 5 p.m. PT at UCLA May 1. The second quarterfinal will pit UCLA against Harvard at 7:30 p.m. PT.
The national semifinals will feature top seeded Long Beach State (26-1) against the UC Irvine vs Ohio State/King winner, scheduled for 5 p.m PT. Second seeded BYU (22-6) will meet the winner of UCLA vs Harvard at 7:30 p.m. PT May 3.
The national finals will be held at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion at 7:00 p.m. PT.
The committee passed over Hawaiâi, who defeated UC Irvine 25-16, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18 Thursday in the Big West semifinals. Hawaiâi is ranked fifth in last weekâs RPI.
This year’s at-large selection is a joke! How can Hawaii be passed on after being the ONLY team to beat LBSU last week? Also, runners-up in the Big West reg season and 2-1 record vs Irvine this year and a win over UCLA and we’re kept out? Who is running the selection committee and what conferences do they represent? You guys even mention that smart money would be on Hawaii, so what do you think happened that they would be snubbed so badly? I can’t seem to figure it out, oh well. Suck for the seniors who end their careers like this.
Hawaii also beat UC Irvine… Twice… Im a MIVA person and even I think that Hawaii should have been in over UC Irvine.
Perhaps it should be an 8-team tourney with 3 at-large births if the EIVA continues to send 13-13 teams like Harvard this year to this “championship” tourney lol. Seems only fair when two 23-5 teams have to play-in for a chance at the semis. This may be a new format but should we rethink the EIVA’s auto-bid? I mean, c’mon…13-13. Really?
-signed pissed off UH fan. lol, jk but forreal
Seems strange that the committee would place 2 MPSF teams in the same bracket and 2 Big West teams in the other bracket. That isnât the way a championship tourney is supposed to be. I do think Hawaii should have got an at-large bid over UCI.
Hawaii deserves to be there! What a joke.
The fact that Ohio State has to play an extra match over UC Irvine and Harvard totally confounds me.