# 2018 NCAA men's volleyball tournament

The 2018 NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Tournament was the 49th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I and Division II men's collegiate indoor volleyball. The single-elimination tournament began on April 26 with a play-in match, with the remainder of the tournament hosted by UCLA from May 1–5 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Long Beach State became the Champions for the second time in school history with a 5-set victory over UCLA.

## Qualification

With the addition of the Big West Conference, which began sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2018 season, to the ranks of automatic qualifying conferences, the tournament expanded from six teams to seven.
Since the 2015 season, the first after the completion of the transition of the last Division III institution competing at the National Collegiate level, Rutgers–Newark, to Division III volleyball, only NCAA men's volleyball programs from Division I and Division II have been eligible for this tournament. Five automatic bids are given to the five conference postseason tournament winners. The two remaining teams are given at-large bids by the NCAA men's volleyball tournament Committee.

### Bids

| School | Conference | Record | Berth |
| Long Beach State | Big West | 26–1 | Tournament |
| King | Conference Carolinas | 23–5 | Tournament |
| Harvard | EIVA | 13–13 | Tournament |
| Ohio State | MIVA | 23–5 | Tournament |
| BYU | MPSF | 22–6 | Tournament |
| UC Irvine | Big West | 21–9 | At-Large |
| UCLA | MPSF | 24–7 | At-Large |

## Tournament bracket

* The seven teams were seeded according to the same methods used to seed the teams in previous tournaments. As in recent tournaments, the top two seeds will receive byes into the semifinals.
* The bottom two seeds contested a "play-in" match on April 26 at the 6 seed's home court.
* Two quarterfinal matches were held at Pauley Pavilion on the campus of UCLA on May 1. (#4 vs. play-in winner; #3 vs. #5 seed)
* The semifinals were held at Pauley Pavilion on May 3. (#1 vs. #4–play-in winner; #2 vs. #3–#5 winner)
* The 2018 NCAA Championship match was held at Pauley Pavilion on May 5.

### Schedule and results

| Time | Matchup | Score | Attendance | Broadcasters |
| Opening Round – Thursday, April 26 |||||
| 7:00 pm | No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 7 King | 3-0 (25–13, 25–23, 25–18) | 1,023 | Charlie Danis & Hanna Williford (BTN+) |
| Quarterfinals – Tuesday, May 1 |||||
| 8:00 pm | No. 4 UC Irvine vs. No. 6 Ohio State | 2–3 (19–25, 25–22, 23–25, 25–22, 14–16) | 1,691 | Darren Preston & Denny Cline (P12+ UCLA) |
| 11:05 pm | No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 5 Harvard | 3–1 (23–25, 25–21, 25–11, 25–21) | 1,691 | Darren Preston & Denny Cline (P12+ UCLA) |
| Semifinals – Thursday, May 3 |||||
| 8:00 pm | No. 1 Long Beach State vs. No. 6 Ohio State | 3–1 (25–22, 25–23, 25–27, 32–30) | 4,249 | Lincoln Rose (NCAA.com) |
| 10:30 pm | No. 2 BYU vs. No. 3 UCLA | 1–3 (22–25, 26–24, 27–29, 19–25) | 4,249 | Lincoln Rose (NCAA.com) |
| National Championship – Saturday, May 5 |||||
| 7:00 pm | No. 1 Long Beach State vs. No. 3 UCLA | 3–2 (25–19, 23–25, 20–25, 26–24, 15–12) | 7,248 | Paul Sunderland and Kevin Barnett (ESPN2) |
| Game times are ET. Rankings denote tournament seeding. |||||
| Opening Round Thursday, April 26, 2018 St. John Arena; Columbus, OH BTN+ | Opening Round Thursday, April 26, 2018 St. John Arena; Columbus, OH BTN+ | Opening Round Thursday, April 26, 2018 St. John Arena; Columbus, OH BTN+ | Quarterfinals Tuesday, May 1, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA P12+ UCLA | Quarterfinals Tuesday, May 1, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA P12+ UCLA | Quarterfinals Tuesday, May 1, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA P12+ UCLA | Semifinals Thursday, May 3, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA NCAA.com | Semifinals Thursday, May 3, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA NCAA.com | Semifinals Thursday, May 3, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA NCAA.com | National Championship Saturday, May 5, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA ESPN2 | National Championship Saturday, May 5, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA ESPN2 | National Championship Saturday, May 5, 2018 Pauley Pavilion; Los Angeles, CA ESPN2 |
| | | | | | | 1 | Long Beach State | 3 | | | |
| | | | | | | 6 | Ohio State | 1 | | | |
| | | | 4 | UC Irvine | 2 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Ohio State | 3 | 6 | Ohio State | 3 | | | | | | |
| 7 | King | 0 | | | | | | | 1 | Long Beach State | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | | 3 | UCLA | 2 |
| | | | | | | 2 | BYU | 1 | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | UCLA | 3 | | | |
| | | | 3 | UCLA | 3 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | Harvard | 1 | | | | | | |

## All-Tournament Team

* TJ DeFalco – Long Beach State
* Kyle Ensing – Long Beach State
* Daenan Gyimah – UCLA
* Jake Hanes – Ohio State
* Micah Maʻa – UCLA
* Nicolas Szerszeń – Ohio State
* Josh Tuaniga – Long Beach State (Most Outstanding Player)