2026 NCAA men's volleyball tournament
Football tournament season
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The 2026 NCAA men's volleyball tournament will be the 55th edition of the NCAA men's volleyball tournament, an annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I and Division II men's collegiate indoor volleyball. The single-elimination tournament will be competed with a new format featuring an expanded 12-team field. Regional weekend will take place at 4 host schools that have been awarded seeds 1–4. The semifinals and championship will occur on the second weekend at the previously announced tournament host.[1]
| |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 11 |
The expansion of the tournament establishes a new format similar to the women's game. 7 conference champions and 5 at-large teams will participate, a total of 12 teams. The tournament will take place over two separate weekends. On the first weekend seeds 1–4 will host regions of 3 teams. The top seed in each region will have a bye to the region final while two other teams will play a regional first round match, with the winners moving on the play the host in the region final.[2] The four region winners will move on to play during the second weekend. The tournament semifinals and championship will occur on the second weekend on May 9, 2026 and May 11, 2026 at the Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA.[3]
Notably, Saint Francis University will make their first and only appearance in the Division I/II men's volleyball tournament, as they will move down to Division III following the conclusion of the 2026 academic year. Both the Big West and the MPSF received three total bids, the MIVA received two total, while the rest had only their tournament champion.
During set five of the game between UCLA and UC Irvine, the potential UCLA match point was overturned in favor of UC Irvine, ultimately leading to UC Irvine winning the match three points later.[4] The overturned call sparked controversy, and led to UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond to request a formal review of the call by the NCAA.[5] The win by UC Irvine also marked the first time since 1993, when the MPSF conference began, that no team would make an appearance in the conference semifinals.
With UC Irvine's win over Ball State, it marked the third time in NCAA men's volleyball history the finals matchup would only include Big West teams, the other two being 2019 and 2022, both of which were between Hawai'i and Long Beach State. It also marked the eighth consecutive finals match with at least one Big West team represented, dating back to the conference's inception in 2018.[6] With Hawai'i's win over Long Beach State in the semifinals, it also ends a 14-year trend in which the previous national champion won back-to-back.
Bids
The selection show aired live on April 26, 2026 at 4 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. During the show the 12–team field was announced and the dates for the regional tournaments were revealed.[7]
| School | Conference | Record | Berth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Beach State | Big West | 24–4 | Tournament Champions | [8] |
| Belmont Abbey | Conference Carolinas | 20–5 | Tournament Champions | [9] |
| Penn State | EIVA | 22–7 | Tournament Champions | [10] |
| Ball State | MIVA | 25–4 | Tournament Champions | [11] |
| UCLA | MPSF | 29–1 | Tournament Champions | [12] |
| Saint Francis | NEC | 18–11 | Tournament Champions | [13] |
| Fort Valley State | SIAC | 14–12 | Tournament Champions | [14] |
| Hawai'i | Big West | 27–5 | At–Large | [15] |
| Loyola Chicago | MIVA | 20–8 | At–Large | |
| Pepperdine | MPSF | 23–6 | At–Large | |
| UC Irvine | Big West | 18–8 | At–Large | |
| USC | MPSF | 19–7 | At–Large |
Bracket
| Regional Round Friday, May 1 ESPN+ | Regional Final Saturday, May 2 ESPN+ | Semifinals Saturday, May 9 ESPN+ | National Championship Monday, May 11 ESPN2, ESPN+ | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | UCLA | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| UC Irvine | 3 | UC Irvine | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Penn State | 2 | UC Irvine | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Ball State | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Ball State | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| Pepperdine | 3 | Pepperdine | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fort Valley State | 0 | UC Irvine | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Hawai'i | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Hawai'i | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| USC | 3 | USC | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Belmont Abbey | 0 | 2 | Hawai'i | 3 | |||||||||||||||
| 3 | Long Beach State | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Long Beach State | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| Loyola Chicago | 3 | Loyola Chicago | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Saint Francis | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Schedule And Results
All times Eastern..[16]
All matches except the championship will be streamed on ESPN+. The championship will be televised on ESPN2 and simulcast live on ESPN+.
| Match | Time | Matchup | Location | Score | Attendance | Broadcasters | Referees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Round – Friday, May 1 | |||||||
| 1 | 7:00 p.m. | Pepperdine vs. Fort Valley State | Riverview Health Arena[a] Noblesville, Indiana Ball State regional |
3–0 (25–16, 25–18, 25–17) |
130 | Mick Tridow
Tucker Bitting |
|
| 2 | 9:00 p.m. | UC Irvine vs. Penn State | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California UCLA regional |
3–2 (25–18, 27–29, 19–25, 25–17, 15–13) |
610 | Bryan Fenley
Victoria Dennis |
|
| 3 | 10:00 p.m. | Loyola Chicago vs. Saint Francis | LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid Long Beach, California Long Beach State regional |
3–0 (30–28, 29–27, 25–20) |
345 | Matt Brown
Andreas Koch |
|
| 4 | 11:00 p.m. | USC vs. Belmont Abbey | Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, Hawaii Hawai'i regional |
3–0 (25–18, 25–20, 25–21) |
6620 | Tiff Wells
James Anastasiades |
|
| Regional Finals – Saturday, May 2 | |||||||
| 5 | 6:00 p.m. | Ball State vs. Pepperdine | Riverview Health Arena Ball State Regional |
3–2 (25–23, 23–25, 25–22, 19–25, 16–14) |
1,252 | Greg Rakestraw
Tucker Bitting |
|
| 6 | 8:00 p.m. | UCLA vs. UC Irvine | Pauley Pavilion UCLA regional |
2–3 (23–25, 25–19, 23–25, 25–19, 14–16) |
1,673 | Bryan Fenley
Graham Metzker |
|
| 7 | 9:00 p.m. | Long Beach State vs. Loyola Chicago | LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid Long Beach State regional |
3–0 (25–21, 25–21, 25–19) |
1,716 | Matt Brown
Andreas Koch |
|
| 8 | 10:00 p.m. | Hawai'i vs. USC | Stan Sheriff Center Hawai'i regional |
3–1 (25–22, 24–26, 25–23, 32–30) |
10,300 | Howard Dashefsky
Ryan Tsuji |
|
| Semifinals – Saturday, May 9 | |||||||
| 9 | 6:30 p.m. | UC Irvine vs. Ball State | Pauley Pavilion | 3–1 (25–19, 23–25, 27–25, 25–19) |
9,409 | ||
| 10 | 9:30 p.m. | Hawai'i vs. Long Beach State | 3–1 (25–15, 18–25, 25–21, 25–22) |
||||
| National Championship – Monday, May 11 | |||||||
| 11 | 7:00 p.m. | UC Irvine vs. Hawai'i | Pauley Pavilion | ||||
- Notes
- The Ball State regional is unable to be held at Worthen Arena due to commencement ceremonies being held there at the same time.
All Tournament Team
- To be filled in when announced during the tournament's conclusion.