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The process of deciding where the NCAA Tournament will be played in the upcoming seasons is entering the final stages.
The NCAA men’s volleyball committee approved about 15 bids to remain in consideration to host one of the annual NCAA Tournaments from 2023 to 2026, committee chairman Lenny Kaplan recently informed Off the Block.
All of the approved bids will now advance to the Division I Competition Oversight Committee for final consideration.
Kaplan said the five-person men’s volleyball committee made several recommendations for sites to host the event. With the review process still not finalized, though, the chairman declined to reveal any of the sites still under consideration.
Division I-II men’s volleyball is among the 86 sports across all NCAA divisions that will have the locations of their upcoming NCAA Tournaments unveiled in October.
The NCAA in recent years has opted to determine four years worth NCAA Tournament sites during one selection process.
The selection of men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament sites have been evenly split between West Coast and non-West Coast locations during the last two four-year cycles. MPSF or Big West schools have played host to two NCAA Tournaments in both of the recent cycles, while a MIVA school and EIVA school have been each awarded one bid per cycle.
In the current four-year cycle, Long Beach State played host to the event in 2019 and George Mason was slated to be the host in 2020 before the season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio State will be the site of the NCAA Tournament next season and UCLA will play host to the tournament in 2022.
The Division I-II men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament is comprised of seven teams with the semifinals and finals taking place during the first week in May.
The four-round tournament features a play-in match and two opening-round matches before the semifinals and finals. In addition, the opening-round matches have taken place at the site of the NCAA Tournament semifinals and finals since the event expanded from four teams in 2014.
Sites wanting to host this NCAA Tournament were advised to have capacity for both opening round matches along with the semifinals and finals, according to a document the NCAA provided potential bidders.