IRVINE, Calif. - The 30-match 2024 Big West men’s volleyball conference schedule has been unveiled and will again see all six national-caliber teams battle to position themselves for the league’s postseason tournament and ultimately earn a shot at a national title.

Non-conference action commences in early January, with the first Big West contest between UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara on Friday night, Feb. 23, inside the Tritons’ LionTree Arena on North Campus in La Jolla and airing on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. PT. There will be three matches each on Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, to round out play. The schedule largely consists of home-and-home sets for 10 dates per team, with the exception of Hawai’i, which is still either entirely at home (twice in 2024) or on the road (three times) for its league activity.

The venue for the 2024 Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship is to be announced later, but the format remains the same, being held Thursday through Saturday, April 18-20. Some key storylines and matchups to keep track of in the spring include:

• The 2024 season’s top story is whether The Big West can return to the very top of the collegiate men’s volleyball world. Having won four consecutive national crowns through two each by Long Beach State and then Hawai’i from 2018-22 around the COVID-19 pandemic since the conference began its sponsorship of men’s volleyball, UCLA knocked off the Rainbow Warriors in the 2023 title tilt May 6 in Virginia, 3-1.
• Hawai’i and Long Beach State have finished atop The Big West regular-season standings for three successive years, and also faced off in three of the five all-time Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship finals, not to mention splitting their 2019 and 2022 national final matchups. In 2024, the rivals will meet twice inside the Beach’s Walter Pyramid on Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 16. The Warriors and Beach have combined for six Big West regular-season banners over the five years since 2018, having each grabbed a share last spring at 9-1 apiece in league play, as well as four of five conference tournament trophies and four of five national championships.
• Late last July, the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee agreed in principal to the expansion of the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship from seven teams to 12. Funding for the added entrants is being considered as per part of the NCAA Division I budget process, and if approved, the expansion will take effect in 2024. Each of the past five installments since the inception of Big West Men’s Volleyball in 2018 have featured two Big West participants, one automatic and one at-large, among the field. The 2024 edition has been awarded to league member Long Beach State and is to be held next May at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach for the first time since 2019.

All six squads still qualify for The Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, with the top two seeds earning first-round byes and advancing directly into the semifinal round. The opening-night matchups on April 18 will again feature the No. 3 seed against the sixth seed, and the No. 4 seed versus the fifth seed. The winner of the tournament once more grabs The Big West’s automatic berth into the 2024 National Collegiate Championship.

Last year’s Big West final was played in front of 4,064 spectators inside first-time host UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center, as well as a national television audience for the first time on ESPNU. Top seed Hawai’i posted a four-set triumph over third-seeded first-time finalist UC Irvine for a record third tourney trophy. It marked the one and only national collegiate men’s volleyball broadcast across the four ESPN channels for 2023, apart from the national semifinals and final two weeks later.

Select Big West men’s volleyball matches are slated to air live on ESPN+. Please check ESPN listings for upcoming contest schedules and additional information as first serve nears.
   

2024 Big West Men's Volleyball Conference Schedule
Friday, Feb. 23	UC Santa Barbara at UC San Diego
Friday, March 1	UC Irvine at UC San Diego
Sunday, March 3	UC San Diego at UC Irvine
Friday, March 8	UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State
Saturday, March 9	Long Beach State at UC Santa Barbara
Wednesday, March 13	UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine
Thursday, March 14	CSUN at UC San Diego
Friday, March 15	UC Irvine at UC Santa Barbara UC San Diego at CSUN Hawai'i at Long Beach State
Saturday, March 16	Hawai'i at Long Beach State
Friday, March 22	CSUN at Hawai'i
Saturday, March 23	CSUN at Hawai'i
Friday, March 29	UC Irvine at CSUN UC Santa Barbara at Hawai'i UC San Diego at Long Beach State
Saturday, March 30	UC Santa Barbara at Hawai'i CSUN at UC Irvine Long Beach State at UC San Diego
Friday, April 5	CSUN at Long Beach State UC San Diego at UC Santa Barbara Hawai'i at UC Irvine
Saturday, April 6	Long Beach State at CSUN Hawai'i at UC Irvine
Friday, April 12	CSUN at UC Santa Barbara Long Beach State at UC Irvine Hawai'i at UC San Diego
Saturday, April 13	UC Irvine at Long Beach State UC Santa Barbara at CSUN Hawai'i at UC San Diego

* dates subject to change