The NCAA men's volleyball tournament, officially titled the NCAA national collegiate men's volleyball championship, is an annual competition that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in American college men's volleyball. It had been the only NCAA championship in the sport from 1970 until 2012, when the NCAA launched a Division III championship.
Unlike most NCAA sports, men's volleyball uses a modified version of the National Collegiate championship format, which means Division I and Division II teams compete against each other in the same tournament.
In the past, schools from the Pacific Coast region have dominated this sport, in particular UCLA with coach Al Scates leading the program to 19 NCAA titles (more than any other coach).
Before the 2011–12 school year (2012 championship), men's volleyball did not have an official divisional structure; even now, that structure is truncated. The National Collegiate Championship remains as the NCAA's top-level championship, but Division III members now have their own championship event.
With the introduction of an official Division III championship, schools in that division are no longer eligible for the National Collegiate Championship. The last exception was Rutgers–Newark, whose men's volleyball program had been a grandfathered scholarship program, and could compete for the National Collegiate Championship through 2014. Rutgers–Newark completed a transition to Division III men's volleyball at the end of that season, and joined the D-III Continental Volleyball Conference effective with the 2015 season.
There are three general regions for men's volleyball: "West", "Midwest", and "East". As of the current 2024 NCAA men's volleyball season, five "major conferences", defined here as leagues that include full members of Division I, represent these regions. The three "traditional" major conferences are the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA), and Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA). In the 2018 season, the ranks of "major" conferences expanded to include the Big West Conference, the first Division I all-sports conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball. The Northeast Conference (NEC) became the second D-I all-sports conference to sponsor men's volleyball in the 2023 season.
As of the 2024 season, three Division II conferences sponsor men's volleyball at the National Collegiate level. Conference Carolinas (CC) was the first NCAA conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball as a scholarship sport, having launched its men's volleyball league in the 2012 season. The 2021 season was to have been the first for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), with six men's volleyball members, but the conference chose not to compete in that season due to COVID-19 issues. CC has had an automatic berth in the National Collegiate championship since the 2014 season, and the Big West received an automatic berth upon the creation of its men's volleyball league. The SIAC received its first automatic berth in the 2024 season. With the NEC having lost three of its original eight men's volleyball members, it will not receive its first automatic bid until 2028, two years after its men's volleyball membership returns to seven. The East Coast Conference began sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2024 season, but started play with only four members, two short of the number needed to eventually receive an automatic berth. Further expansion is likely in the future. In addition to the impending NEC automatic bid, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will add the sport in the 2026 season with seven members (one from the MIVA, five independents, and one new program), putting it in position for an automatic bid in 2028. The MIVA will remain at nine members with the addition of Northern Kentucky for the 2026 season.
Members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a separate athletics governing body whose members are primarily smaller institutions, regularly play matches against NCAA teams.
Because of the historic lack of an official divisional structure in men's volleyball, four of the five major conferences have members that normally compete in Division II. Before the creation of the Division III national championship, the EIVA had several Division III members, but all of those schools now compete in D-III men's volleyball. The Big West became the first men's volleyball conference to consist entirely of D-I members in the 2021 season; this immediately followed UC San Diego, previously a Big West affiliate in men's volleyball (as well as women's water polo), starting its transition to Division I and fully joining the Big West. The NEC initially announced that it would launch its men's volleyball league in the 2023 season with five full D-I members and transitional D-I member Merrimack, but later announced that it would add Daemen and D'Youville, D-II members that had previously played as National Collegiate independents, as associate members effective with its first season in 2023.
Through the 2013 tournament, each of the three major conferences of that day (MPSF, MIVA and EIVA) received an automatic bid to the Final Four, with one additional at-large bid. The remaining bid was an at-large bid that could be awarded to any team in Division I or II (including Rutgers–Newark). Generally, the best team not receiving an automatic bid (usually from one of the three major conferences) received the at-large bid.
Beginning with the 2014 championship, the field expanded to six teams, with the two new teams being the champion of Conference Carolinas and one extra at-large entry. The new format featured two quarterfinal matches involving the four lowest-seeded teams in the field, with the winners joining the two top seeds in the semifinals. Originally, the quarterfinals were to be played at campus sites, with the Final Four at a separate predetermined site, but it was decided instead to have the entire championship tournament at one site.
With the Big West Conference adding men's volleyball for the 2018 season and qualifying for an automatic tournament berth, the championship expanded to seven teams. The bottom two tournament seeds contested a "play-in" match; from that point, the tournament format was identical to the one used from 2014 to 2017.[1]
The championship expanded to eight teams for 2024, coinciding with the SIAC receiving an automatic bid for the first time. All teams will play at a single site in a pure knockout format.[2]
From 1986 to 2021, the number of Division I schools sponsoring men's volleyball fluctuated between 20 and 24 teams.[3] Since that time, the number of such teams has moderately increased, with 26 in 2022 and 29 in each season from 2023 to 2025, with three more D-I schools adding the sport in 2026.
The three newest such schools all started play as D-I members in the 2023 season, during which all were transitioning from D-II to D-I. Merrimack, which started its D-I transition in 2020, added a new team in the 2023 season. The other two, Lindenwood and Queens (NC), already sponsored the sport at the National Collegiate level, and started transitions from D-II to D-I in July 2022.
No traditional D-I conferences sponsored men's volleyball until the Big West Conference added the sport for the 2018 season. The Big West became the first NCAA men's volleyball league to consist entirely of D-I members when UC San Diego, which was one of the six charter members of Big West men's volleyball, began a transition to D-I upon joining the Big West full-time in July 2020. Of the other four major conferences, the only all-sports league is the Northeast Conference (NEC), which started men's volleyball play in the 2023 season with six full conference members and two D-II members as single-sport associates. The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) are volleyball-specific conferences, while the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a multi-sport conference of schools whose primary conferences do not sponsor its ten sports. In addition to the 29 D-I schools, 33 Division II schools competed in D-I volleyball during the 2024 season:
Charleston (WV) competes in the EIVA.
Lewis, McKendree, and Quincy compete in the MIVA. While all three schools' primary home of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) will add men's volleyball in the 2026 season, Quincy is the only one that will compete in the GLVC's first season.[4]
Concordia–Irvine has been an MPSF men's volleyball member since the 2018 season.
Daemen and D'Youville, which had previously competed as men's volleyball independents, became single-sport NEC members for the conference's first men's volleyball season in 2023.[5]
Conference Carolinas, the first all-sports conference in either Division I or II to sponsor men's volleyball, currently has 8 competing teams.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was to start men's volleyball competition in 2021 with 6 newly launched teams, making those schools the first historically black institutions to sponsor varsity men's volleyball.[6] The SIAC chose not to compete in 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns, delaying the launch of men's volleyball to the 2022 season. During the 2021–22 offseason, the SIAC men's volleyball roster lost one of its intended 6 members when Paine left the NCAA, but kept its membership at 6 with the addition of men's volleyball by incoming SIAC member Edward Waters.
Eight D-II schools competed as men's volleyball independents. Three of these are campuses of the University of Puerto Rico. The remaining independents began sponsoring the sport in 2017 or later: Lincoln Memorial (2017), Thomas More (2019 as an NAIA member), Tusculum (2020), Maryville (MO; 2022), and Missouri S&T (2023). Maryville and Missouri S&T, also full GLVC members, will become charter GLVC men's volleyball members in the 2026 season, with Thomas More becoming a GLVC associate.[4]
Four Division II schools launched National Collegiate men's volleyball programs for the 2024 season.
Full D-II members Dominican (NY), Roberts Wesleyan,[7] and St. Thomas Aquinas (STAC)[8] added programs for the 2024 season. All are playing in the new men's volleyball league of the East Coast Conference, full-time home to Roberts Wesleyan and STAC. The new programs were joined in ECC men's volleyball by American International, which already sponsored the sport.[9] Another D-II member, Alliance, had announced it would add men's volleyball and play in the ECC,[10] but closed before the start of the 2023–24 school year.[11]
Thomas More, an NAIA men's volleyball school which started a transition to D-II in 2022–23, fully aligned with the NCAA for the 2024 season.[12]
Two schools that played National Collegiate men's volleyball in 2023 did not return for 2024. Full NEC member St. Francis Brooklyn shut down its entire athletic program,[13] and Alderson Broaddus, a D-II member that played as a National Collegiate independent, closed entirely.[14]
Thirteen additional schools, most of them either current Division II members or transitioning to D-II, have either added National Collegiate programs for the 2025 season or will do so in the near future.
Full D-II members Barry,[15] Catawba,[16] LeMoyne–Owen,[17] and Rockhurst[18] added men's volleyball in the 2025 season. Another full D-II member, Southwest Baptist, will add the sport in the 2026 season.[19] LeMoyne–Owen is playing in its full-time home of the SIAC. Rockhurst is playing as an independent in 2025 before its primary home of the GLVC starts its men's volleyball league in the 2026 season. Southwest Baptist is also a full GLVC member and will start GLVC play upon the team's launch.
Menlo,[20] Roosevelt, and Vanguard, all also NAIA men's volleyball schools, started transitions from the NAIA to D-II in 2023–24 and intend to fully align with the NCAA for the 2025 season. Menlo and Vanguard joined the MPSF,[21] while Roosevelt is initially playing as an independent before joining GLVC men's volleyball in the 2026 season.[4]
D-I members Manhattan,[22] Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES),[23] and Northern Kentucky[24] will add men's volleyball in the 2026 season. UMES will become the first Division I historically black institution to sponsor men's volleyball. Manhattan and UMES will play in the Northeast Conference, and Northern Kentucky will play in the MIVA.[25]
Three other NAIA men's volleyball schools, Jamestown,[26] Jessup,[27] and UC Merced,[28] started transitions to D-II in 2024–25 and plan to align fully with the NCAA for the 2026 season.
Division II does not have a separate national championship, although a D-II rule change that took effect in 2024–25 will allow that division to launch its own men's volleyball championship in the near future should it so desire. Before 2024–25, a D-II championship in a men's sport could not be sponsored unless at least 50 schools in that division sponsored a sport; that number has now been reduced to 35.[29] Should a D-II championship be established, Division I would not have a sufficient number of teams to sponsor its own national championship. Currently, a men's sport must be sponsored by at least 50 schools before a Division I championship can be organized.[30] However, a separate D-I rule provision states that existing National Collegiate or D-I championships in Olympic sports are exempt from minimum sponsorship requirements.[31]
Champions
NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship[32]
school indicates schools belonging to Division II, school indicates schools belonging to Division III. (Men's championship is for both Division I and II.)
school indicates a school that no longer exists, but whose athletic program still exists.
school indicates a school that no longer sponsors men's volleyball.
School indicates they have won at least one championship.
31 teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament in at least one year starting with 1970, when the tournament shifted to its current bracket format. The results for all years are shown in this table below.[35]
The code in each cell represents how far the team made it in the respective tournament:
Historically, California-based universities have dominated the men's volleyball national championship; Loyola Chicago, Penn State, Ohio State, BYU, and Hawaii are the only non-California universities to have won the National Collegiate championship; Lewis also won the championship tournament, but had their victory vacated due to NCAA rules violations. Only seven non-California universities have participated in the National Collegiate championship match (Loyola, BYU, Penn State, Ohio State, IPFW, Hawaii, and Lewis), although other universities such as Princeton and Ball State have participated in the final four. Only five finals have involved two non-California schools: the 2003 final, when Lewis defeated BYU but had its win vacated; the 2015 final, in which Loyola defeated Lewis; the 2016 and 2017 finals, when Ohio State defeated BYU; and the 2021 final, when Hawaii defeated BYU.
Hawaii, UCLA, Southern California, Penn State, Stanford, and Long Beach State are the only schools in Division I to have won an NCAA national championship in both men and women's volleyball. In addition, Stanford (1996–97) and Penn State (2007–08) are the only universities whose men and women's volleyball programs won the national championship in the same academic year.
2011
May 5, 2011 – UC Santa Barbara def. Southern California, 29–27, 24–26, 25–15, 25–18; Ohio State def. Penn St., 25–18, 24–26, 25–22, 25-23
May 7, 2011 – Ohio State def. UC Santa Barbara, 20–25, 25–20, 25–19, 22–25, 15-9
May 3, 2012 – Semifinals (6 p.m./8 p.m. PT) at Galen Center, Los Angeles, California: #1 seed UC Irvine defeated #4 seed Penn State 3-1 (18-25, 25–18, 25–15, 25–19); #2 seed Southern California defeated #3 seed Lewis 3-1 (25-18, 25–12, 18–25, 27–25)
May 5, 2012 – National Championship (7 p.m. PT) at Galen Center, Los Angeles, California: UC Irvine defeated Southern California 3-0 (25-22, 34–32, 26–24); 9,612 attended (record)
Semifinals Thursday, May 3, 2012 Galen Center, Los Angeles, CA
National Championship Saturday, May 5, 2012 Galen Center, Los Angeles, CA
May 2, 2013 – Semifinals (6 p.m./8 p.m. PT) at Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, NCAA.com: No. 2-seed UC Irvine defeated No. 3-seed Loyola-Chicago 3–0; No. 1-seed BYU defeated No. 4-seed Penn State 3–0
May 4, 2013 – National Championship (6 p.m. PT) at Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, ESPNU: UC Irvine defeated BYU 3-0 ( 25–23, 25–22, 26–24)
May 4, 2013 – Game Notes: UC Irvine head coach David Kniffin became just the second coach in NCAA men's volleyball history to win a national title in his first season; 6,295 attended the title game
May 4, 2013 – All-Tournament Team: Connor Hughes, who had 11 kills in the title game for UC Irvine (Most Outstanding Player); Chris Austin, UC Irvine; Michael Brinkley, UC Irvine Collin Mehring, UC Irvine; Kevin Tillie, UC Irvine; Ben Patch, BYU; Taylor Sander, BYU
Semifinals Thursday, May 2, 2013 Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
National Championship Saturday, May 4, 2013 Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles
The semifinals and finals 2014 tournament were held in the Gentile Arena in Chicago on the campus of Loyola University Chicago. Two quarterfinal "play-in" matches were held at the Gentile Arena two days prior to the national semifinals, as the 2014 tournament expanded to six teams for the first time ever. A second at-large was added to the field, and the champions of the newly eligible Conference Carolinas men's volleyball division got an automatic qualification. The six teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the teams in previous tournaments, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the Final Four, and the third seed facing the sixth seed and the fourth seed facing the fifth seed in the quarterfinals.[36]
Apr. 29: Quarterfinals (#3 vs. #6 seed; #4 vs. #5 seed)
May 1: Semifinals (#1 vs. #4-#5 winner; #2 vs. #3-#6 winner)
The semifinals and finals of the 2015 tournament were held in the Maples Pavilion on the campus of Stanford University. Two quarterfinal "play-in" matches were held at the Maples Pavilion two days prior to the national semifinals. The six teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the four teams in previous tournaments; the top two seeds received byes into the Final Four, while the third seed faced the sixth seed and the fourth seed faced the fifth seed in the quarterfinals.
May 5: Quarterfinals (#3 vs. #6 seed; #4 vs. #5 seed)
May 7: Semifinals (#1 vs. #4-#5 winner; #2 vs. #3-#6 winner)
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