May 6, 2004

By Ray Dise
Special to CollegeSports.com from CVU.com

In the 35-year history of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship there have been only 21 schools that have made it to the concluding quartet, with 17 of those schools having been there multiple times. This year's championship four, held in Honolulu, HI, contains the flavor of champions recent and of a decade ago.

Of the four schools (Brigham Young, Long Beach State, Penn State and Lewis) that qualified for this year's semifinals, each has won at least one NCAA National Championship trophy. BYU has the most championships of the group with two (1999 and 2001).

No. 9 and defending-National Champion Lewis joins No. 1 Brigham Young as representatives of the recent champions with the Flyers winning in 2003 and the Cougars in 2001. Brigham Young was the runner-up last year. No. 2 Long Beach State won its title in 1991 and No. 7 Penn State won in 1994.

The Nittany Lions are making their 19th appearance in the NCAA semifinals, the most of the four teams present but second overall behind UCLA's 23 appearances. Long Beach State has the next most appearances with six, but has not been since 1999. Brigham Young and Lewis are each making their fourth appearance.

The No. 1 Cougars have the best winning percentage of the four teams having won five out of six matches (.833) in their previous three trips with second place finish to go along with their two titles. Up until last year's championship match, BYU had never lost in the NCAA championships.

The 49ers have a .688 winning percentage (11-5) in their previous five trips and have never finished worse than second. Long Beach has four second-place finishes at the NCAA championships.

Lewis is 2-2 in previous appearances with its one title and two third-place finishes.

Penn State holds the record for most third-place finishes with 13 to go along with a pair of second-place and fourth-place finishes. The Nittany Lions are 10-19 (.345) in NCAA Championship competition.

In addition to the record for the most appearances, UCLA holds the records for most wins (49), best winning percentage (.891), and most titles (18). The Bruins have never finished in third- or fourth-place.

Southern Cal holds the record for most second-place finishes with six in 11 visits to the NCAA Semifinals.

Ball State and Ohio State share a record that will never be broken, unless the third-place match is revived. The Cardinals and Buckeyes have each finished in fourth-place five times. The playing of the third-place match ended in 1996 and since then, third place has been awarded to the two semifinalists that do not advance to the championship match.

Of the 21 schools that have competed for the NCAA Men's Volleyball title, 10 have won a national title. Six teams (Lewis, San Diego State, Hawaii, Stanford, Penn State and Long Beach State) have won one, one team (Brigham Young) has won two, two teams (Southern Cal and Pepperdine) have one four, and UCLA is the tenth team. By comparison, there have been 170 teams compete for the NCAA Division I Women Volleyball title with only nine teams claiming the title.

Hawaii's men's title in 2002 has been vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions and that decision is under appeal.