MVB Selected as At-Large Team; Hosts NCAA Championship
The UCLA men's volleyball team earned an at-large bid to the seven-team NCAA Men's Collegiate Volleyball Championship, which will he hosted by the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom May 1-7. The Bruins will play their first match in the championship on May 3 at 5 p.m.
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship kicks off on Sunday, May 1 at 5 p.m. PT when Princeton (15-12), the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tournament champ, challenges North Greenville (20-5), the winner of the Conference Carolinas tournament in Opening Match 1. All matches in this year's Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Tournament will be played in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
On May 3, UCLA (21-4), which captured the regular season Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, will square off against Pepperdine (19-9), the winner of the MPSF Tournament, in Opening Round Match 2 at 5 p.m. PT. Hawai'i (24-5), the defending NCAA champions, advanced by winning the Big West Tournament championship on its home court Saturday night and will battle the winner of the Princeton/North Greenville match in Opening Round Match 3 at 7:30 p.m. PT.
The national semifinals will take place on May 5. Top-seeded Long Beach State (20-5), the regular season Big West Conference champ, enters the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection, and will play the winner of the UCLA / Pepperdine contest in one semifinal beginning at 5 p.m. In the other national semifinal, No. 2 seed Ball State (23-3) will go against the winner of the Hawai'i vs. Princeton/North Greenville battle at 7:30 p.m. PT. Those matches will be streamed by ncaa.com.
The NCAA Men's Collegiate National Championship match is set for a 5 p.m. start on Saturday May 7 and will be televised by ESPN2.
UCLA last played in the NCAA Men's volleyball championship event in 2018 when it lost in the National Championship contest to Long Beach State at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. This is the 16th time that UCLA has hosted the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship. The Bruins have captured 19 titles overall in the sport, with the last coming after a 3-0 win at Penn State in 2006.
The Bruins own a 21-4 record this season under 10th-year head coach John Speraw. Coach Speraw (UCLA '95) won three NCAA titles as the head coach (2012, 2009, 2007) while at UC Irvine. He also earned three titles as an assistant coach while at UCLA (1996, 1998, 2000) and two more as a player at UCLA (1993, 1995). UCLA compiled a record of 4-1 versus the teams in this year's field (1-0 v. Princeton; 0-0 v. Ball State, 1-1 v. Long Beach State, 2-0 v. Pepperdine, 0-0 v. North Greenville, 0-0 vs. Hawai'i). The Bruins head into the 2022 tournament after finishing first in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season race and losing to Stanford in the MPSF semifinals held at UCLA.
NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship tickets for matches played in Pauley Pavilion are available at:
https://ucla.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3AMULTI%3AVB21%3A4050%3A&linkID=ucla-multi&shopperContext=&pc=&caller=&appCode=&groupCode=MVBNCAA&cgc=&dataAccId=930&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_ucla-multi
NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship
All matches played at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
all times Pacific
May 1 – Opening Round Match 1 (UCLA live stream)
North Greenville vs. Princeton – 5 p.m. PT
May 3 – Opening Round Matches 2 & 3
UCLA vs. Pepperdine – 5 p.m. PT (UCLA live stream)
Hawai'i vs. Princeton/North Greenville winner – 7:30 p.m. PT (UCLA live stream)
May 5 – Semifinals (stream on ncaa.com)
No. 1 seed Long Beach State vs. winner of UCLA v. Pepperdine match – 5 p.m.
No. 2 seed Ball State vs. Hawai'i vs. winner of Princeton / North Greenville match – 7:30 p.m.
May 7 – Championship (TV: ESPN2) 5 p.m.