2018 NCAA men's volleyball tournament

The 2018 NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Tournament was the 49th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I and Division II men's collegiate indoor volleyball. The single-elimination tournament began on April 26 with a play-in match, with the remainder of the tournament hosted by UCLA from May 1–5 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Long Beach State became the Champions for the second time in school history with a 5-set victory over UCLA.[1]

2018 NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Tournament
Tournament details
DatesApril 26–May 5, 2018
Teams7
Final positions
ChampionsLong Beach State (2nd title)
Runner-upUCLA
Tournament statistics
Matches played6
Attendance14,211 (2,369 per match)
Most Outstanding PlayerJosh Tuaniga (Long Beach State)
← 2017
2019 →

Qualification

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With the addition of the Big West Conference, which began sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2018 season, to the ranks of automatic qualifying conferences, the tournament expanded from six teams to seven.[2][3]

Since the 2015 season, the first after the completion of the transition of the last Division III institution competing at the National Collegiate level, Rutgers–Newark, to Division III volleyball, only NCAA men's volleyball programs from Division I and Division II have been eligible for this tournament. Five automatic bids are given to the five conference postseason tournament winners. The two remaining teams are given at-large bids by the NCAA men's volleyball tournament Committee.

Bids

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School Conference Record Berth
Long Beach State Big West 26–1 Tournament
King Conference Carolinas 23–5 Tournament
Harvard EIVA 13–13 Tournament
Ohio State MIVA 23–5 Tournament
BYU MPSF 22–6 Tournament
UC Irvine Big West 21–9 At-Large
UCLA MPSF 24–7 At-Large

Tournament bracket

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  • The seven teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the teams in previous tournaments. As in recent tournaments, the top two seeds will receive byes into the semifinals.[4]
  • The bottom two seeds contested a "play-in" match on April 26 at the 6 seed's home court.[3]
  • Two quarterfinal matches were held at Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA on May 1. (#4 vs. play-in winner; #3 vs. #5 seed)
  • The semifinals were held at Pauley Pavilion on May 3. (#1 vs. #4–play-in winner; #2 vs. #3–#5 winner)
  • The 2018 NCAA Championship match was held at Pauley Pavilion on May 5.

Schedule and results

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Time[5] Matchup Score Attendance Broadcasters
Opening Round – Thursday, April 26
7:00 pm No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 7 King 3-0
(25–13, 25–23, 25–18)
1,023 Charlie Danis & Hanna Williford (BTN+)
Quarterfinals – Tuesday, May 1
8:00 pm No. 4 UC Irvine vs. No. 6 Ohio State 2–3
(19–25, 25–22, 23–25, 25–22, 14–16)
1,691 Darren Preston & Denny Cline (P12+ UCLA)
11:05 pm No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 5 Harvard 3–1
(23–25, 25–21, 25–11, 25–21)
Semifinals – Thursday, May 3
8:00 pm No. 1 Long Beach State vs. No. 6 Ohio State 3–1
(25–22, 25–23, 25–27, 32–30)
4,249 Lincoln Rose (NCAA.com)
10:30 pm No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 UCLA 1–3
(22–25, 26–24, 27–29, 19–25)
National Championship – Saturday, May 5
7:00 pm No. 1 Long Beach State vs. No. 3 UCLA 3–2
(25–19, 23–25, 20–25, 26–24, 15–12)
7,248 Paul Sunderland and Kevin Barnett (ESPN2)
Game times are ET. Rankings denote tournament seeding.
Opening Round
Thursday, April 26, 2018
St. John Arena; Columbus, OH
BTN+
Quarterfinals
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA
P12+ UCLA
Semifinals
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA
NCAA.com
National Championship
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA
ESPN2
1 Long Beach State 3
6 Ohio State 1
4 UC Irvine 2
6 Ohio State 3 6 Ohio State 3
7 King 0 1 Long Beach State 3
3 UCLA 2
2 BYU 1
3 UCLA 3
3 UCLA 3
5 Harvard 1

All-Tournament Team

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ No. 3 UCLA Falls Just Short in National Title Match, UCLABruins.com, May 5, 2018
  2. ^ Johnson, Derek (October 11, 2017). "A Few Key Changes Coming to the 2018 NCAA men's volleyball tournament". VolleyMob. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Pavlik Releases 2018 MVB Schedule" (Press release). Penn State Nittany Lions. October 10, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  4. ^ NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee announces championship selections, NCAA.com, April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2018
  5. ^ 2018 NCAA men's volleyball tournament Bracket, Turner Sports, April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2018