UC Irvine in NCAA men’s volleyball Final Four
UC Irvine will play in the NCAA men’s volleyball Final Four this week after receiving the event’s at-large bid.
The other teams in the Final Four will be Brigham Young, which won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title this weekend; Loyola Chicago, which won the automatic bid from the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.; and Penn State, which earned the automatic bid from the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.
The semifinals and finals will be at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Thursday and Saturday.
In the last national rankings, BYU was first, Long Beach State was second, UC Irvine third, UCLA fourth and Pepperdine fifth. Loyola Chicago is ranked 12th and Penn State 14th. In the MPSF tournament at BYU over the weekend, the Cougars beat Long Beach State in the finals.
Irvine beat the MPSF runner-up 49ers twice in the regular season before losing to Long Beach State in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
UC Irvine will play Loyola Chicago in one semifinal on Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific time and BYU will face Penn State at 8 p.m. in the other. The finals will be Saturday at 6 p.m. and broadcast by ESPNU.
Loyola Chicago won its only national championship in men’s basketball 50 years ago.
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