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More colleges experienced bigger home crowds for men’s volleyball matches than women’s volleyball matches during the recent school year.
Nineteen of the nation’s 35 schools with both a women’s volleyball team and a Division I-II men’s volleyball team had a higher home attendance average for men’s volleyball, according to athletic department attendance numbers collected during the 2011-12 school year.
A big reason for the majority of men’s volleyball teams faring better in attendance average than their female counterparts was because of attendance among MIVA and Independent teams.
Four of the seven MIVA schools — Lewis, Loyola, IPFW and Quincy — had a higher men’s volleyball home attendance averages. In addition, the nation’s only two independent Division I-II men’s volleyball teams Cal Baptist and Lindenwood had better home attendance averages than the women’s volleyball teams at their schools.
The six-team Conference Carolinas, the eight-team EIVA and the 12-team MPSF each had an equal number of schools experience higher or lower attendance in men’s volleyball compared to women’s volleyball.
Despite the majority of schools having higher men’s volleyball attendance averages, women’s volleyball had a higher overall home attendance average among Division I-II schools with both a men’s and women’s volleyball team.
The attendance average difference between men’s and women’s volleyball was within 100 people for most schools. However, there was an attendance gap of more than a 1,000-person average with four schools.
BYU, which led the nation in men’s volleyball home attendnace average, also had one of the biggest attendance gaps between its two volleyball teams. The Cougars men’s volleyball team avearged 3,192 people per home match — a 1,911-person average better than the school’s women’s volleyball team.
Hawai’i had the the largest attendance gap as it averaged 6,814 people per women’s volleyball home match compared to 2,902 people per men’s volleyball home match.
The Penn State women’s volleyball team averaged 3,177 per home match, while the Penn State men’s volleyball averaged an EIVA-best 897 home attendance. In addition, Stanford women’s volleyball had a 2,392 attendance average with the men’s volleyball averaging 826.
Men’s and women’s volleyball home attendance average comparision (2011-12)
MIVA
Ball State men’s volleyball: 426
Ball State women’s volleyball: 700
Grand Canyon men’s volleyball: 152
Grand Canyon women’s volleyball: 227
IPFW men’s volleyball: 482
IPFW women’s volleyball: 391
Lewis men’s volleyball: 706
Lewis women’s volleyball: 368
Loyola men’s volleyball: 493
Loyola women’s volleyball: 276
Ohio State men’s volleyball: 529
Ohio state women’s volleyball: 1,275
Quincy men’s volleyball: 188
Quincy women’s volleyball: 147
EIVA
George Mason men’s volleyball: 301
George Mason women’s volleyball: 251
Harvard men’s volleyball: 160
Harvard women’s volleyball: 154
NJIT men’s volleyball: 194
NJIT women’s volleyball: 278
Penn State men’s volleyball: 897
Penn Sate women’s volleyball: 3,177
Princeton men’s volleyball: 106
Princeton women’s volleyball: 185
Rutgers-Newark men’s volleyball: 88
Rutgers-Newark women’s volleyball: 70
Sacred Heart men’s volleyball: 186
Sacred Heart women’s volleyball: 241
St. Francis men’s volleyball: 159
St. Francis women’s volleyball: 112
MPSF
BYU men’s volleyball: 3,192
BYU women’s volleyball: 1,281
Cal State Northridge men’s volleyball: 572
Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball: 474
Hawai’i men’s volleyball: 2,902
Hawai’i women’s volleyball: 6,814
Long Beach State men’s volleyball: 880
Long Beach State women’s volleyball: 1,086
Pacific men’s volleyball: 243
Pacific women’s volleyball: 796
Pepperdine men’s volleyball: 480
Pepperdine women’s volleyball: 362
Stanford men’s volleyball: 826
Stanford women’s volleyball: 2,392
UC Irvine men’s volleyball: 1,224
UC Irvine women’s volleyball: 303
UC San Diego men’s volleyball: 361
UC San Diego women’s volleyball: 314
UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball: 298
UC Santa Barbara women’s volleyball: 458
UCLA men’s volleyball: 950
UCLA women’s volleyball: 1,260
USC men’s volleyball: 1,555
USC women’s volleyball: 1,476
CONFERENCE CAROLINAS
Barton men’s volleyball: 180
Barton women’s volleyball: 172
King men’s volleyball: 89
King women’s volleyball: 122
Lees-McRae men’s volleyball: 226
Lees-McRae women’s volleyball: 281
Limestone men’s volleyball: 141
Limestone women’s volleyball: 143
Mount Olive men’s volleyball: 250
Mount Olive women’s volleyball: 207
Pfeiffer men’s volleyball: 234
Pfeiffer women’s volleyball: 213
INDEPENDENTS
Lindenwood men’s volleyball: 202
Lindenwood women’s volleyball: 183
Cal Baptist men’s volleyball: 254
Cal Baptist women’s volleyball: 177