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BYU once again is on pace to end the year leading the nation in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball home attendance.
The Cougars halfway through the season lead the nation averaging 2,794 people in attendance per home match — one of two teams averaging more than 2,000 people in home attendance.
BYU had at least 2,000 people attend all but one of its 12 home matches this season. In addition, BYU holds the record for biggest single-match attendance so far this year with a sold-out 5,038 people in attendance for its four-game win against then-No. 1 UC Irvine in January.
This is the second consecutive year that the BYU led the country in home attendance average. The team ended last season with a nation-best 3,192 home attendance average.
Hawai’i midway into its season is second in the nation for home attendance average with 2,516 people.
Six MPSF schools top the nation’s home attendance average rankings, including Pepperdine coming in third place with a 999 average and the defending-NCAA championship UC Irvine at fourth place with 884. Lewis leads all MIVA schools with a 735 home attendance average, while Penn State leads the EIVA with a 733 home attendance average.
Sixteen of the nation’s 35 returning Division I-II men’s volleyball teams are also on pace to surpass their home attendance average from last season. Of these schools Pepperdine and Cal Baptist have made the biggest improvements — both increasing attendance by more than 400 people per home match.
In addition, NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball teams’ home attendance averages midway through of the year are faring well compared to women’s volleyball teams’ final home attendance figures from the 2012 season.
Women’s volleyball has a higher overall attendance total among Division I-II schools with both a men’s and women’s volleyball team. However, a majority of schools — 21 of 38 schools — have a higher home attendance average for men’s volleyball than women’s volleyball during this school year.
The NCAA men’s volleyball season started in early January and will conclude with the Final Four in May at UCLA.
NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball home attendance averages — Feb. 25
1. BYU — 2,794
2. Hawai’i — 2,516
3. Pepperdine — 999
4. UC Irvine — 884
5. Long Beach State — 878
6. Cal Baptist — 748
7. Lewis — 735
8. Penn State — 733
9. USC — 685
10. UCLA — 652
11. Cal State Northridge — 623
12. Ohio State — 590
13. Ball State — 586
14. Stanford — 523
15. Loyola — 382
16. IPFW — 373
17. UC San Diego — 358
18. UC Santa Barbara — 349
19. Lindenwood — 320
20. Lees-McRae — 308
21. Mount Olive — 265
22. NJIT — 263
23. Harvard — 229
24. George Mason — 210
25. Quincy — 203
26. Barton — 180
27. Pfeiffer — 160
28. Pacific — 159
29. Sacred Heart — 157
30. Belmont Abbey — 146
31. Grand Canyon — 143
32. Limestone — 141
33. Erskine — 129
34. Coker — 125
35. St. Francis — 110
36. Princeton — 105
37. King — 104
38. Rutgers-Newark — 99