College - Off the Block

April 9, 2011September 19, 2011

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

It’s the aftermath tonight following a day featuring some of the biggest upsets of the season.

After two of the top three ranked teams lost Friday, all five of the top ranked teams will be in action tonight. Highlighting the night is No. 1 USC and No. 3 Stanford both looking for wins after being upset. Outside of the MPSF, an in-state rivalry will be renewed tonight in Muncie, Ind., as Ball State looks to clinch the No. 3 seed in the MIVA Tournament.

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April 8, 2011September 19, 2011

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

All the conference regular season titles have been won, but everything else still remains unsettled two weeks away from the postseason tournaments.

Six of the top 10 nationally ranked teams will play matches tonight that could have a significant implications on the seeding for the conference tournaments. Both No. 3 Stanford and No. 7 Hawai’i play nationally ranked teams as they try to position themselves to have home matches in the first round of the MPSF Tournament. In addition, Ball State looks to break a 10-year old curse and maintain the No. 3 seed for the MIVA Tournament.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
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April 7, 2011September 19, 2011

Q&A with UC Irvine coach John Speraw

Regardless of UC Irvine’s seed in the conference tournament, coach John Speraw already knows one thing: his team is capable of winning the MPSF championship.

No. 4 UC Irvine is 11-4 in the last two months and is on a four match winning streak, including a road victory against No. 5 Long Beach State on Wednesday. In addition, the Anteaters (16-11, 12-8 MPSF) clinched a spot in the eight-team conference tournament and are in fourth place in the MPSF.
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April 5, 2011August 13, 2014

My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

No new men’s volleyball teams moved into the top 10 media poll this week but there was a significant amount of movement as five teams changed spots in the rankings.

UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UCLA, Hawai’i and UC Santa Barbara all changed rankings. The most interesting change in this week’s poll, though, was the ranking of the 49ers. Long Beach State made the biggest jump, climbing two spots to No. 5, despite losing both its matches to No. 2 BYU last week.

Check out this week’s top 10 men’s volleyball media poll and my ballot with explanations on why ranked each team where I did.
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April 4, 2011August 13, 2014

Men’s volleyball bracketology

With the men’s volleyball Final Four one month away, Off the Block each week for the rest of the season will release its projected NCAA Tournament bracket.

The men’s volleyball NCAA Tournament is comprised of four teams. Automatic bids are awarded to the winners of the EIVA, MIVA and MPSF conference tournaments, and the NCAA Men’s Volleyball National Committee chooses one team for an at-large bid.
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April 4, 2011August 13, 2014

The top 5 men’s volleyball stories of the week

It’s your top five men’s volleyball story list, but with a twist.

Every Sunday during the men’s volleyball season Off the Block will post the top five best men’s volleyball stories of the week from around the nation. The list, though, is based more on how well the reporter wrote and covered the story rather than just what happened on the court.
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April 2, 2011September 19, 2011

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

Multiple conference titles could be clinched tonight.

No. 1 USC, No. 9 Penn State and Mount Olive can all clinch conference regular season title with victories today. Along with these teams, No. 6 Ohio State has a chance to become the first time in more than 10 years to finish the MIVA undefeated.

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
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April 1, 2011September 19, 2011

Top 5 men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight

It’s April fools day, but there are no jokes on the men’s volleyball schedule tonight.

All but one of the top 10 teams play tonight, including two matches between nationally ranked teams as No. 1 USC travels to No. 3 Stanford and No. 2 BYU closes out its home series against No. 7 Long Beach State. In addition, No. 6 Ohio State will attempt to recover from a disastrous West Coast road trip by accomplishing a feat that has not been achieved in more than 40 years

Check out the top five men’s volleyball matches to follow tonight.
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March 31, 2011September 23, 2011

Pepperdine men’s volleyball ineligible for MPSF Tournament

For the first time in its program history, Pepperdine will not make the men’s volleyball MPSF Tournament.

The Pepperdine athletics department announced Thursday that its men’s volleyball team and two other spring sports would be ineligible for the postseason this year because the department improperly administered financial aid to players on the team.
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March 29, 2011September 23, 2011

My men’s volleyball media poll ballot

The bottom of the top 10 media poll remains a revolving door and weekly struggle for this voter.

With all the upsets and top 10 teams losing this week, there were about four teams — Loyola, UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State and Hawai’i — all vying for the final three spots in the poll. This was without a doubt one of the more difficult voting ballots to compile this entire season as I spent a significant amount of time looking at multiple factors and stats to create a ranking that made sense.

Check out this week’s top 10 men’s volleyball media poll and my ballot with explanations on why ranked each team where I did.
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