The States of Men's Volleyball
In 2024, matches are spread all around the country, but there are some clear hotspots for the Men's Volleyball world. Get ready for some maps!
Today, I want to zoom out a little bit. Okay, I want to zoom out quite a bit and look at the entire country. Specifically, I want to examine where Men's Volleyball is happening this season. As I mentioned at the beginning of the season, there are 878 regular season matches scheduled this year. But where are these matches being played? If only I had a database of all the matches and the latitude and longitude of all the gyms those matches are played in. Oh wait, I do have all that information!
Maps on Maps on Maps
Let's start in the middle of the ocean. Hawaii will host the most regular season matches of any location this year with 22. We already know that they will be hosting the Big West Tournament this season too, so they will get some bonus matches this year.
Looking at the continent, Southern California is unsurprisingly dense in matches. With tons of programs in a small area, it is a fantastic location for Men's Volleyball. Not to mention, Long Beach will host the National Tournament this year. That means even more matches in the post-season.
The east side of the country has some great distribution. The matches may be a little farther apart, but the spread of those programs is inspiring. If the entire country looked like the Carolinas, I would not complain.
In terms of states, California will host the most matches by far. They have 151 matches scheduled, more than double the next closest (New York: 71). In total, Men's Volleyball will be played in 25 states this year!1 That is great for the sport, and I can't wait for that number to increase in the years to come as more states sponsor the sport at the high school level. Shout out to the First Point Volleyball Foundation and their amazing work!
Match Recaps
Non-conference
Hawai'i (99%) def. Emmanuel (1%)
3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-16)
UC Irvine (72%) def. Saint Francis (28%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22)
Erskine (66%) def. Tusculum (34%)
3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-22)
Concordia (32%) def. Long Island (68%)
3-0 (29-27, 25-18, 25-20)
Stevens2 (9%) def. Sacred Heart (91%)
3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-19)
Match Projections
Non-conference
UC San Diego (16%) vs Ball State (84%)
Lees-McRae (2%) vs Penn State (98%)
Regis College (62%) vs American International (38%)
Harvard (25%) vs Southern California (75%)
Kentucky State (10%) vs Thomas More (90%)
UCLA (87%) vs Lewis (13%)
BYU (52%) vs Loyola Chicago (48%)
Something Random
In case you were wondering, AI still has no idea how many panels are on a volleyball.
AL, AZ, CA, CT, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, & WV.
Stevens is the #1 ranked program in D-III. The model doesn’t know this so I wouldn’t call this an upset.
Cool visuals! Hopefully Men's Volleyball will spread to those grey states! More growth of men's volleyball is coming, the middle school programs at the club level are ever growing!
If you throw NAIA Men's Volleyball in the mix that adds several more states and a lot more matches. I believe the NAIA has over 60 teams playing Men's VB this year.