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Two more top-10 ranked teams will play upcoming home matches in near empty arenas.
Both No. 8/9 Pepperdine and No. 10/8 Penn State announced Wednesday that it will close its home matches to the public for the next three weeks because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that there are 938 confirmed cases of the coronavirus throughout the United States and 29 deaths because of the virus. That number has continued to increase in recent days.
The Waves will limit home attendance at all sporting events for the rest of the month to only players, coaches, essential personnel and media. Each student-athlete and coach, though, will be permitted to invite two family members to attend a match.
Pepperdine has four remaining home matches this month, including facing No. 2/2 Hawai’i. This non-conference match has been moved up from Tuesday to Monday.
Attendance for all Penn State home sporting events until April 3 will be limited to only essential personnel, coaches, players, family members, media and potential recruits.
The Nittany Lions, which are undefeated in EIVA play, have two home matches slated to take place during the attendance restrictions. The team will play a conference match against in-state rival Saint Francis on March 20 and a non-conference match versus Purdue Fort Wayne on March 21.
Pepperdine is the fifth NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball team in California to announce this week home attendance restrictions.
Penn State is the second EIVA team to bar fans from matches. In addition, Harvard announced Wednesday that it has canceled the remainder of its season and will not compete in the EIVA Tournament.