MPSF Continues to Win Early On

With Grand Canyon remaining undefeated at the Asics Invitational, the MPSF is now 11-0 to start the season. It doesn't hurt that they are playing on home courts.

Jan 07, 2024

A focused and determined start to 2024 for the Lopes. | GCU Athletics

No breaks today for the six teams in action. We will get our first glimpse of the NEC this season with both Daemen & Merrimack taking the court. The NEC is entering its second men's volleyball season as a conference, which is crucial for potentially receiving an automatic qualification (AQ) to the national tournament in future years.

Back in August, the NEC requested an AQ for the 2024 tournament from the NCAA. Sadly, their request was rejected since they had not yet completed the required two seasons of sponsoring the sport.1 I would imagine that after this season, they will request that AQ again, and this time, the odds will be much more in their favor.

Yesterday, we had the thrilling conclusion to the Asics Invitational as host UCSB took on Grand Canyon. In this battle of undefeated teams, GCU came out on top with a 3-1 victory. With that loss, UCSB joins Hawaii as the only home teams to lose so far in this early season. This is a small sample size, but through 21 non-neutral court matches this season, 19 have been won by the home team (90.5%). There is no way this number will stay this high, but home-court advantage can't be ignored.

Similar to last year, the MPSF is off to a hot start. As a conference, they are now 11-0, which includes three wins against the Big West and two against the MIVA. Since 6 of the 7 MPSF teams are in the AVCA top 20, it is not that surprising that they are performing this well. Scheduling also matters, as 10 of those 11 wins have come on home courts. Even though it is early, non-conference play could have big implications come April when teams are vying for the coveted two at-large spots in the national tournament.

Current Conference Records

Big West: 6-5
ConfCarolinas: 0-2
ECC: 0-0
EIVA: 3-5
IVA: 0-2
MIVA: 6-4
MPSF: 11-0
NEC: 0-0
SIAC: 0-8

Match Recaps

Asics Invitational

George Mason (58%) def. CSU Northridge (42%)
3-1 (24-26, 25-18, 32-30, 25-22)

UC San Diego (64%) def. NJIT (36%)
3-2 (33-35, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 15-10)

Peter Selcho (UCSD) was a brick wall last night with 12 blocks.

Grand Canyon (56%) def. UC Santa Barbara (44%)
3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-20)

Poll Results:

Non-conference

Purdue Fort Wayne (63%) def. North Greenville (37%)
3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-23)

Penn State (87%) def. Lewis (13%)
3-2 (25-18, 22-25, 29-27, 29-31, 15-13)

Someone get some ice for John Kerr’s (PSU) shoulder. The Opposite had a career-high 31 kills on 60 attacks!

BYU (63%) def. Ball State (37%)
3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-16)

Southern California (99%) def. Morehouse (1%)
3-0 (25-9, 25-14, 25-12)

Match Projections

Non-conference

Harvard (62%) vs Merrimack (38%)

Loyola Chicago (54%) vs Stanford (46%)

Daemen (13%) vs Ohio State (87%)

The other stated requirement is fielding at least 6 teams, which they do meet.