Historically,
California-based universities have dominated the men's volleyball national championship;
Loyola Chicago,
Penn State, Ohio State,
BYU, and Hawaii are the only non-California universities to have won the National Collegiate championship;
Lewis also won the championship tournament, but had their victory vacated due to NCAA rules violations. Only seven non-California universities have participated in the National Collegiate championship match (Loyola, BYU, Penn State, Ohio State,
IPFW, Hawaii, and
Lewis), although other universities such as
Princeton and
Ball State have participated in the final four. Only five finals have involved two non-California schools: the 2003 final, when Lewis defeated BYU but had its win vacated; the 2015 final, in which Loyola defeated Lewis; the 2016 and 2017 finals, when Ohio State defeated BYU; and the 2021 final, when Hawaii defeated BYU. Hawaii, UCLA, Southern California, Penn State, Stanford, and Long Beach State are the only schools in Division I to have won an NCAA national championship in both men and women's volleyball. In addition, Stanford (1996–97) and Penn State (2007–08) are the only universities whose men and women's volleyball programs won the national championship in the same academic year.
2011 • May 5, 2011 –
UC Santa Barbara def. Southern California, 29–27, 24–26, 25–15, 25–18; Ohio State def. Penn St., 25–18, 24–26, 25–22, 25-23 • May 7, 2011 – Ohio State def. UC Santa Barbara, 20–25, 25–20, 25–19, 22–25, 15-9
2012 • April 29, 2012 – Selections • May 3, 2012 –
Semifinals (6 p.m./8 p.m. PT) at
Galen Center, Los Angeles, California: #1 seed UC Irvine defeated #4 seed Penn State 3-1 (18-25, 25–18, 25–15, 25–19); #2 seed Southern California defeated #3 seed Lewis 3-1 (25-18, 25–12, 18–25, 27–25) • May 5, 2012 –
National Championship (7 p.m. PT) at Galen Center, Los Angeles, California: UC Irvine defeated Southern California 3-0 (25-22, 34–32, 26–24); 9,612 attended (record)
2013 • April 28, 2013 – Selections • May 2, 2013 –
Semifinals (6 p.m./8 p.m. PT) at
Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, NCAA.com: No. 2-seed UC Irvine defeated No. 3-seed Loyola-Chicago 3–0; No. 1-seed BYU defeated No. 4-seed Penn State 3–0 • May 4, 2013 –
National Championship (6 p.m. PT) at Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, ESPNU: UC Irvine defeated BYU 3-0 ( 25–23, 25–22, 26–24) • May 4, 2013 – Game Notes: UC Irvine head coach David Kniffin became just the second coach in NCAA men's volleyball history to win a national title in his first season; 6,295 attended the title game • May 4, 2013 – All-Tournament Team: Connor Hughes, who had 11 kills in the title game for UC Irvine (Most Outstanding Player); Chris Austin, UC Irvine; Michael Brinkley, UC Irvine Collin Mehring, UC Irvine; Kevin Tillie, UC Irvine; Ben Patch, BYU; Taylor Sander, BYU
2014 • The semifinals and finals 2014 tournament were held in the
Gentile Arena in
Chicago on the campus of
Loyola University Chicago. Two quarterfinal "play-in" matches were held at the Gentile Arena two days prior to the national semifinals, as the 2014 tournament expanded to six teams for the first time ever. A second at-large was added to the field, and the champions of the newly eligible
Conference Carolinas men's volleyball division got an automatic qualification. The six teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the teams in previous tournaments, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the Final Four, and the third seed facing the sixth seed and the fourth seed facing the fifth seed in the quarterfinals. • Apr. 29: Quarterfinals (#3 vs. #6 seed; #4 vs. #5 seed) • May 1: Semifinals (#1 vs. #4-#5 winner; #2 vs. #3-#6 winner) • May 3: NCAA Championship
2015 • The semifinals and finals of the 2015 tournament were held in the
Maples Pavilion on the campus of
Stanford University. Two quarterfinal "play-in" matches were held at the Maples Pavilion two days prior to the national semifinals. The six teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the four teams in previous tournaments; the top two seeds received byes into the Final Four, while the third seed faced the sixth seed and the fourth seed faced the fifth seed in the quarterfinals. • May 5: Quarterfinals (#3 vs. #6 seed; #4 vs. #5 seed) • May 7: Semifinals (#1 vs. #4-#5 winner; #2 vs. #3-#6 winner) • May 9: NCAA Championship
2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 ==Broadcasters==