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March 28, 2024

The BIC is the official AVCA newsletter for men and boys volleyball. If there is a specific topic or news you would like shared in a future issue, please contact Brad Wilson at bradley.wilson@avca.org.

The 2nd Annual American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Boys, Men’s & Beach Volleyball Officials Appreciation Week has begun and will conclude April 7, 2024.  This period is set aside to make sure our officials know they are part of the sport. As coaches, you are the leaders; student-athletes, parents, and fans will follow your example to ensure we treat our officials in a manner befitting their role in helping boys, men’s and beach volleyball become one of the United States most popular sports.  For full info and links, visit the AVCA Officiations Appreciation Week website.

Bridgewater College and Director of Athletics Curt Kendall are pleased to announce the addition of men’s volleyball as the institution’s 25th intercollegiate sport. The new team will begin competition in the 2025-26 academic year, following the hiring of the program’s first head coach.

The decision coincides with the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)’s announcement that men’s volleyball will become the league’s 26th sponsored sport beginning in the 2024-25 season.  Read the full press release.

IU East Athletics is pleased to announce the addition of men’s volleyball as its 17th sport for the 2024-25 season.

The search for the first men’s volleyball coach is currently underway.  Read the full press release.

Tickets for the 2024 Men’s NCAA National Collegiate Championship are now on sale! 

Vanguard (Calif.) remains at No. 1 in the latest edition of the 2024 NAIA Men’s Volleyball Coaches’ Top 15 Rating. William Penn (Iowa) made the jump into the Top 5. This week, Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) and Missouri Baptist rejoined the Top 15. MBU is on a five-game win streak, while the BenU Redawks recently captured two wins over previously ranked No. 14 Westcliff (Calif.) since the last rating.  Updated on March 20

The latest USA Today/AVCA Boys High School Super 25 and Regional Rankings are updated weekly and determined by AVCA member coaches.  Regions are determined by the AVCA.

Mark Pavlik spent time during his weekly media availability talking about potential rule changes and the state of the men’s game. Coaches across the nation are involved in talks to change the substitution rules and potentially adopt the double contact rule recently announced for the women’s game. For right now, though, a Big Ten men’s volleyball conference is just an idea — albeit an exciting one.

“If we get a Big Ten men’s volleyball league going, that conference is going to be brutal,” Pavlik said. “But it would be fun to watch.”  Read the full article from Onward State.

Off the Block Weekly National Award recipients

National Setter of the Week: Jose Gallardo, Fort Valley State
National Opposite of the Week: Jon Diedrich, Purdue Fort Wayne
Co-National Outside Attacker of the Week: Luke Benson, BYU

Co-National Outside Attacker of the Week: Kyle Hobus, CSUN
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Cole Young, Ohio State
National Libero of the Week: Peyton Blain, Saint Francis

To keep up with men’s college volleyball news, bookmark Off the Block’s homepage, FrogJump, a site dedicated to Men’s NCAA Division III volleyball, and Volleyballmag.com’s men’s page.

• VolleyballMag.com: BYU beats Pepperdine; GCU, Hawai’i, Belmont Abbey Win
• VolleyballMag.com: Ohio State gets big men’s victory at Ball St
• FrogJump: Analytics T100 Update

The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Presidents Council approved a new addition to the conference’s slate of sponsored sports. Men’s volleyball will become the league’s 26th offering when competition begins in the 2024-25 academic year.

The ODAC features seven core members that will have competing teams by the time play begins in January 2025.  Read the full press release.

Volleyball has always been a popular sport with girls across the country. But interest in the boy’s game in Michigan has slowly been growing, and the MSU men’s volleyball club helps foster that interest.

The Michigan High School Boy’s Volleyball Conference has been exponentially growing since its start in 2018. Just four schools offered the sport to male students, but now, there are 59 schools in nine divisions spread across the state.

Check out this interesting article about both the growth of the MSU men’s club team and Michigan boys high school volleyball.

Master Coaches recently conducted an interview with Director of Operations for League One – Tom Hogan. Included in the conversation were direct information concerning an overview of League One’s organizational structure, league financing, 3-5 years goals for financial viability, first season franchises, competition and practice sites, League One’s strategy, rosters, and much more.

Tune in Wednesday on Facebook or at volleyballmastercoaches.com. Coaches can also listen to our new podcast series on iTunes.

The AVCA is constantly updating its NCAA, NAIA, and Two-Year College program lists as new programs get announced:

• NCAA National Collegiate
• NCAA Division III
• NAIA
• Two-Year Colleges
• NCVF: Men’s College Club Team Listing

Did we miss one? Contact bradley.wilson@avca.org and let us know. Programs are also visible on the AVCA’s map:

The AVCA Boys All-America Watch List features high school senior athletes. The list serves as the starting point for the Boys’ High School Senior All-America selection process.

An AVCA High Riser is a non-senior high school male athlete that has showcased themselves already as an up-and-coming top athlete in the sport.

The Oregon Schools Activities Association recently recognized boys volleyball as am emerging activity. This week at Crook County High school, the boys team had tryouts for its new club sport.  Check out this video from the Central Oregon Daily News.

Atlanta News First recently profiled the recent growth of boys volleyball in Georgia.  Watch it here.

For months, the word on the street was that Kamehameha star Kainoa Wade was set on reclassifying to graduate early and join the Hawaii men’s volleyball team one year ahead of schedule.  On Wednesday night, he confirmed that is his intent.  His plan is to graduate from the Kapalama Campus in December and enroll at UH Manoa in January to play for his father, Charlie Wade, starting in the 2025 season instead of 2026.  Read the full article here.

To join the Men’s Collegiate Beach Volleyball Alliance an active member coach of the AVCA must complete the registration information. The nominating coach serves as the official representative for all men’s collegiate beach activities at the college.

If you are interested in starting men’s collegiate beach volleyball at your college and need support please email Becca Just. We are happy to help!

We’re thrilled to announce exciting changes to our mentoring program that will enhance your coaching journey even further! Beginning with the upcoming cycle, we’re transitioning from a one-to-one mentoring model to a trio-based structure, designed to maximize collaborative learning and support among coaches. The AVCA Match Point Mentoring Program is designed exclusively for volleyball coaches at all levels of expertise. Our program centers on creating mentoring trios where these coaches serve as both mentors and mentees to create a collaborative learning experience.  Applications are due by April 30.  Questions should be directed to Becca Just.

As a part of the AVCA’s previously announced partnership expansion with Volleyball World, AVCA members can begin taking advantage of their 1-year exclusive access to VBTV’s Video on Demand (VOD) content! VBTV’s VOD content includes full indoor and beach matches available right after the match ends, highlights, original series, interviews, and more. Click here for instructions to access your free subscription! Not a member and want to take advantage of this amazing benefit? Join the AVCA by March 24, 2024, to be included.

USA Volleyball has announced the coaches and support staff for 2024 U.S. boys and men’s age group national teams.  The Men’s Collegiate National Team will train in Anaheim, California, alongside members of the U.S. Men’s National Team.  The U19 NORCECA team will be led by Charlie Sullivan, John Hawks will lead the U21 NORCECA team, and Theo Edwards will be the head coach of the Men’s Collegiate National Team.  See the full staff lists here.

Albany, New York is the host for the VLA East Division Cup hosted at Impact Athletic Center on April 6 & 7.  Teams, seeds, and pools will be finalized on April 1.  Stream the event.  Register for the event.