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One week remains in the regular season and the weekend offered little clarity to some conference tournament races.
Check out the five things to take away from this weekend in college men’s volleyball.
1. Complete log-jam in MPSF playoff race — Six teams are separated by one match for the final five spots in the MPSF Tournament entering the final week of the regular season. No. 5 UC Santa Barbara and No. 6 UC Irvine are in a tie for fourth place, while No. 10 Hawai’i, No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 9 UCLA are one-match back and in a three-way tie for sixth place. In addition, No. 8 USC finished its regular season and is currently in ninth place but can move into the postseason if the teams ahead of it in the standings lose this upcoming week.
2. Hawai’i sweep series vs. BYU — Hawai’i kept its playoff hopes alive as it won both matches against first-place BYU in their weekend series. The Rainbow Warriors rallied from a two-game deficit to defeat the Cougars in five games in the series opener Friday and then swept BYU on Saturday, including winning the first-game in overtime 37-35. With these two victories, Hawai’i finished its home season at 10-4 and moved from ninth place and into a tie for sixth place.
3. MIVA teams clinch right to host postseason matches — Lewis, Ball State and IPFW all clinched a top-four seed for the upcoming MIVA Tournament and a home match for the quarterfinals. This is the first time since 2007 that IPFW will play host to postseason match. In addition, Ohio State failed to finish in the top four of the MIVA standings for the first time since 1962.
4. Penn State in control of EIVA — Penn State picked up road victories against Harvard and Sacred Heart during the weekend to expand its first-place lead in the EIVA. The Nittany Lions now need to win one of its remaining three conference matches to clinch the EIVA regular season championship and home court throughout the conference tournament.
5. Pacific goes out with win — Pacific playing in the program’s final home match before the university dissolves the team swept Cal Baptist on Saturday. Following the match, the entire student section stormed the court in celebration, while the Pacific players mobbed longtime coach Joe Wortmann.