VBelo Daily: April 18, 2026

Last day of the regular season and our first ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Today's report is jam packed!

Legend. (Penn State Athletics)

Number of the Day

1 - Today is a big day. We get the 🎟️1st ticket punched🎟️ to the NCAA tournament over in the SIAC. This is also the last day of the regular season. Many teams have just 1 match left to make the postseason or secure a seed in their conference tournament. With so much on the line today, I hope we get to see some incredible volleyball. Win or lose, these teams have given us an incredibly enjoyable regular season. Thank you!

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Yesterday’s Scores

IVA Semifinals

#1 Lincoln Memorial (81%) def. #4 Tusculum (19%)
3-2 (25-19, 21-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-10)

Are you not entertained?

#3 Catawba (10%) def. #2 Barry (90%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-21)

Underdogs? Challenge accepted! There is something in the water down in Florida!

5th Place Match

#6 UPR-Rio Piedras (37%) def. #5 Merrimack (63%)
3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21)

Huge win for UPR! From what I can tell this is only their second win against a National Collegiate team and the first since 2012!

SIAC Semifinals

#1 Fort Valley State (80%) def. #4 Edward Waters (20%)
3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-8)

Seriously. This is why volleyball is amazing.

#2 Central State (54%) def. #3 Benedict (46%)
3-1 (27-29, 25-15, 25-20, 25-23)

Big West

Long Beach (71%) def. UC Irvine (29%)
3-2 (25-17, 25-21, 24-26, 21-25, 15-9)

Long Beach has locked in the #2 seed and the coveted bye. UC Irvine will be the #3 seed.

Hawai’i (97%) def. CSUN (3%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-16)

Hawaii has secured the top seed in the Big West Tournament, which comes with a bye to the semifinals.

EIVA

NJIT (90%) def. Sacred Heart (10%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-19)

Penn State (78%) def. George Mason (22%)
3-2 (25-16, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-6)

Penn State has secured the #1 seed in the EIVA, which means they will host the conference tournament next week. Every other seed is still up for grabs!

Princeton (40%) def. Harvard (60%)
3-2 (18-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-17, 16-14)

Princeton needed this win to keep their postseason hopes alive.

GLVC

Quincy (44%) def. Southwest Baptist (56%)
3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-19)

Thomas More (46%) def. Jamestown (54%)
3-1 (22-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-20)

Rockhurst (81%) def. Roosevelt (19%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-11)

MPSF

Jessup (93%) def. UC Merced (7%)
3-0 (25-15, 30-28, 25-19)

Vanguard (58%) def. Concordia (42%)
3-2 (12-25, 21-25, 29-27, 25-20, 15-7)

Stanford (93%) def. Menlo (7%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-16)

NEC

Saint Francis (72%) def. Fairleigh Dickinson (28%)
3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-16)

SFU secured the regular season title and the #1 seed in the NEC tournament with this win.

UMES (71%) def. Manhattan (29%)
3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-18)

Long Island (95%) def. D’Youville (5%)
3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-22)

LIU kept their postseason hopes alive with this win.

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Today’s Match Projections

🏆IVA Championship🏆

#3 Catawba (26%) vs #1 Lincoln Memorial (74%)

The model liked the home team to win it all, but Catawba had different plans. LMU is looking for their 8th straight IVA Championship. 8. There are third graders alive right now who have never seen another team win the IVA Tournament!

🏆🎟️SIAC Championship🎟️🏆

#2 Central State (20%) vs #1 Fort Valley State (80%)

I know this is a #1 vs #2 situation, but this tournament has been surprisingly competitive. There have been zero sweeps and two 5-set matches in just 3 matches. This is a picturesque way for the conference tournament to go so far.

Conference Carolinas Semifinals

#4 North Greenville (9%) vs #1 Belmont Abbey (91%)

#3 Lees-McRae (24%) vs #2 Mount Olive (76%)

MIVA Quarterfinals

It. Is. Time. Get comfy because this is going to be fun (even if it goes chalk.)

#5 Ohio State (31%) vs #4 McKendree (69%)

#6 Lewis (26%) vs #3 Lindenwood (74%)

#7 Purdue Fort Wayne (13%) vs #2 Loyola Chicago (87%)

#8 Northern Kentucky (1%) vs #1 Ball State (99%)

Big West

Long Beach (54%) vs UC Irvine (46%)

UC Santa Barbara (51%) vs UC San Diego (49%)

CSUN (3%) vs Hawai’i (97%)

ECC

St. Thomas Aquinas (32%) vs Roberts Wesleyan (68%)

Winner gets the #1 seed. Loser gets #2.

Dominican (62%) vs American International (38%)

Regardless of the outcome, Dominican will be the #3 seed and AIC will be the #4 seed.

EIVA

There are a lot of seeding possibilities going into the final day, which is super exciting. 1 team and 5 seeds will be determined in just 3 matches.

George Mason (21%) vs Penn State (79%)

Sacred Heart (9%) vs NJIT (91%)

Princeton (47%) vs Harvard (53%)

Winner makes the EIVA Tournament. It’s that simple.

GLVC

I missed this yesterday, but Missouri S&T, Maryville, AND Rockhurst all have paths to the #1 seed.

• Maryville will be #1 if they win

• Missouri S&T will be #1 if they win 3-0 or 3-1

• Rockhurst will be #1 if they win AND Missouri S&T wins 3-2

Roosevelt (16%) vs Rockhurst (84%)

Missouri S&T (45%) vs Maryville (55%)

Jamestown (42%) vs Thomas More (58%)

Quincy (58%) vs Southwest Baptist (42%)

MPSF

A committee will ultimately decide, but I can’t imagine UCLA and Pepperdine aren’t the top two seeds. The order may still be up for grabs though. Below that will definitely be interesting.

Menlo (3%) vs Stanford (97%)

Southern California (20%) vs Pepperdine (80%)

BYU (6%) vs UCLA (94%)

NEC

There will be at least two teams, and likely three, that tie for the fourth and final spot in the NEC tournament. So here we go.

• If FDU wins, they get the #2 seed.

• If FDU loses and Manhattan wins, Manhattan will be #2 and FDU will be #3.

• If FDU loses and UMES wins, FDU will be #2 and UMES will be #3.

• The #4 seed is messy and will come down to sets and potentially points. I can tell you that LIU will be rooting for UMES though.

D’Youville (5%) vs Long Island (95%)

Manhattan (26%) vs UMES (74%)

Fairleigh Dickinson (23%) vs Saint Francis (77%)