The 2026 NCAA men's volleyball tournament was the 55th edition of the NCAA men's volleyball tournament, an annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I and Division II men's collegiate indoor volleyball. The single-elimination tournament was competed with a brand new format featuring an expanded 12-team field. The regional weekend took place at four host schools that were awarded seeds 1–4. The semifinals and championship occurred on the second weekend at the previously announced tournament host.
The expansion of the tournament established a new format similar to the women's game. The 7 conference champions and 5 at-large teams participated, a total of 12 teams. The tournament took place over two separate weekends. In the first weekend, seeds 1–4 hosted regions of 3 teams. The top seed in each region had a bye to the region final while two other teams played a regional first round match, with the winners moving on to play the host in the region final. The four region winners then moved on to play during the second weekend. The tournament semifinals and championship occurred on the second weekend on May 9, 2026 and May 11, 2026 at the Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA.
Notably, Saint Francis University made their first and only appearance in the Division I/II men's volleyball tournament, as they will move down to Division III following the conclusion of the 2026 academic year. Both the Big West and the MPSF received three total bids, the MIVA received two total, while the rest had only their tournament champion.
During set five of the game between UCLA and UC Irvine, the potential UCLA match point was overturned in favor of UC Irvine, ultimately leading to UC Irvine winning the match three points later. The overturned call sparked controversy, and led to UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond to request a formal review of the call by the NCAA. The win by UC Irvine also marked the first time since 1993, the year of the formation of the MPSF conference, that no team from the conference would make an appearance in the conference semifinals. Additionally, this marked the first time a No. 1 seed failed to reach the semifinals, as well as the first time UCLA missed the semifinals in 32 appearances.
With UC Irvine's win over Ball State, it marked just the third time in NCAA men's volleyball history the finals matchup would only include Big West teams, the other two being 2019 and 2022, both of which were between Hawai'i and Long Beach State. It also marked the eighth consecutive finals match with at least one Big West team represented, dating back to the conference's inception in 2018. With Hawai'i's win over Long Beach State in the semifinals, it also ended a 14-year trend in which the previous national champion won back-to-back. Finally, prior to this year, UC Irvine had been undefeated in NCAA Championship games.
Bids The selection show aired live on April 26, 2026 at 4 p.m. ET on NCAA.com. During the show the 12–team field was announced and the dates for the regional tournaments were revealed. School Conference Record Berth Source Long Beach State Big West 24–4 Tournament champion Belmont Abbey Conference Carolinas 20–5 Tournament champion Penn State EIVA 22–7 Tournament champion Ball State MIVA 25–4 Tournament champion UCLA MPSF 29–1 Tournament champion Saint Francis NEC 18–11 Tournament champion Fort Valley State SIAC 14–12 Tournament champion Hawai'i Big West 27–5 At-large Loyola Chicago MIVA 20–8 At-large Pepperdine MPSF 23–6 At-large UC Irvine Big West 18–8 At-large USC MPSF 19–7 At-large
Bracket
Schedule and results All times Eastern.. All matches except the championship will be streamed on ESPN+. The championship was televised on ESPN2.
MatchTimeMatchupLocationScoreAttendanceBroadcastersReferees Regional Round – Friday, May 1 1 7:00 p.m. Pepperdine vs. Fort Valley State Riverview Health ArenaNoblesville, IndianaBall State regional 3–0(25–16, 25–18, 25–17) 130 Mick Tridow & Tucker Bitting 2 9:00 p.m. UC Irvine vs. Penn State Pauley PavilionLos Angeles, CaliforniaUCLA regional 3–2(25–18, 27–29, 19–25, 25–17, 15–13) 610 Bryan Fenley & Victoria Dennis 3 10:00 p.m. Loyola Chicago vs. Saint Francis LBS Financial Credit Union PyramidLong Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach State regional 3–0(30–28, 29–27, 25–20) 345 Matt Brown & Andreas Koch 4 11:00 p.m. USC vs. Belmont Abbey Stan Sheriff CenterHonolulu, HawaiiHawai'i regional 3–0(25–18, 25–20, 25–21) 6,620 Tiff Wells & James Anastasiades Regional Finals – Saturday, May 2 5 6:00 p.m. Ball State vs. Pepperdine Riverview Health ArenaBall State Regional 3–2(25–23, 23–25, 25–22, 19–25, 16–14) 1,252 Greg Rakestraw & Tucker Bitting 6 8:00 p.m. UCLA vs. UC Irvine Pauley PavilionUCLA regional 2–3(23–25, 25–19, 23–25, 25–19, 14–16) 1,673 Bryan Fenley & Graham Metzker Tony Garrvett, Chris Han, Rachel Jensen, & Lara Janjie 7 9:00 p.m. Long Beach State vs. Loyola Chicago LBS Financial Credit Union PyramidLong Beach State regional 3–0(25–21, 25–21, 25–19) 1,716 Matt Brown & Andreas Koch8 10:00 p.m. Hawai'i vs. USC Stan Sheriff CenterHawai'i regional 3–1(25–22, 24–26, 25–23, 32–30) 10,300 Howard Dashefsky & Ryan Tsuji Semifinals – Saturday, May 9 9 6:30 p.m. UC Irvine vs. Ball StatePauley Pavilion 3–1(25–19, 23–25, 27–25, 25–19)9,409Bryan Fenley & Harry Kaseff Serigo Gonzalez, Chad Zimmerman, Dan Swensen, & Robert Owen 10 9:30 p.m. Hawai'i vs. Long Beach State 3–1(25–15, 18–25, 25–21, 25–22) Kryatian Krzyzak, Serigo Gonzalez, Chad Zimmerman, & Dan Swensen National Championship – Monday, May 11 11 7:00 p.m. UC Irvine vs. Hawai'i Pauley Pavilion 1–3(25–15, 18–25, 18–25, 20–25) 8,414 Anne Marie Anderson & Kevin Barnett Notes
All Tournament Team Patrick Rogers, Ball State Skyler Varga, Long Beach State Trevor Clark, UC Irvine Andrej Jokanovic, UC Irvine Trend Rosenthal, Hawai'i Kristian Titriyski, Hawai'i Louis Sakanoko, Hawai'i (Most Outstanding Player)
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