When speaking in regards to the third version of the First Level Collegiate Problem, Glen Lietzke typically makes use of the phrase “fired up.”
Lietzke, head of Austin Junior Volleyball, spearheaded bringing the event to Austin, Texas, initially, within the hope of bringing again some gamers from the Lone Star State who had gone on to play collegiately. Now, he mentioned, it’s about bringing the most effective groups.
The First Level Collegiate Problem achieved that this season in a giant manner. The 2024 contributors for the occasion, which will likely be Friday and Saturday at Austin Conference Middle, are top-ranked UCLA of the MPSF, No. 4 Ohio State of the MIVA, No. 7 Penn State of the EIVA, No. 8 Stanford and No. 13 USC of the MPSF, and No. 14 Ball State of the MIVA. It’s one of many strongest fields ever for a pre-conference males’s NCAA event.
UCLA is the reigning nationwide champion and returns virtually its whole lineup. Penn State was a nationwide semifinalist final season.
All six groups are ranked in the latest AVCA ballot, and all however Ball State are undefeated. The Cardinals are a “mere” 6-2 with each losses to No. 9 BYU.
“The one area that is perhaps stronger is the ultimate 4,” Lietzke mentioned. “We’re excited.”
The matches start at 1:30 p.m. Central on Friday with USC (4-0) going through Ball State, adopted at 4 p.m. by UCLA (4-0) in opposition to Ohio State (4-0) after which at 6:30 by Penn State (4-0) vs. Stanford (4-0).
On Saturday, Ohio State and USC open the motion at 1:30, adopted by Ball State vs. Ohio State at 4 and the occasion concludes at 6:30 with Penn State going through UCLA.
Penn State, by the way, was one in every of solely two groups to defeat the Bruins throughout its nationwide championship season in 2023.
“I feel it’s compelling in a spot like Texas, which hasn’t essentially been the highest state in highschool or youth boys volleyball,” mentioned Wade Garard, CEO of First Level. “You see soccer households and basketball households, they usually expertise the athleticism stay, and it’s simply hanging.”
Lietzke mentioned he’s anticipating every part in regards to the 2024 First Level event to be greater and higher than ever. FloSports will broadcast the occasion. The matches will likely be performed on the identical Terra-Flex ground that was utilized in Tampa for the 2023 girls’s remaining 4. Replay know-how will likely be supplied by echo.
By way of crowds, Lietzke hopes for sellouts, which might imply upwards of three,000 individuals. Most of the followers who come to the matches are collaborating in a big girls and boys membership event additionally within the conference heart.
Experiencing a high-level males’s match stay is vital to rising the recognition of the game, Garard mentioned.
“The athleticism you expertise once you watch males’s volleyball stay, it’s exhausting to convey on TV,” he mentioned. “It hooks individuals, and also you’re a fan ceaselessly once you see it performed stay on the highest ranges.
“I’m all the time struck when somebody is experiencing their first high-level faculty or professional males’s volleyball match. They simply are blown away. You might see it of their faces.”
The enlargement of the event, Lietzke mentioned, is instantly tied to the expansion of boys and males’s volleyball nationwide. Groups proceed to be added in any respect ranges.
Lietzke doesn’t should look far for proof. He can level to his personal membership in addition to the boys membership event that runs concurrently with the First Level Collegiate Problem.
“In two years, the boys event – partially due, I feel, to First Level – has gone from 51 groups to 139 groups this 12 months,” he mentioned. “Boys volleyball is blowing up. We (Austin Juniors) went from, in two years, 4 or 5 groups to 12 groups.”
First Level Volleyball has raised greater than $4 million to spur the expansion of boys and males’s volleyball. The group has been instrumental in including groups on the collegiate degree — Maryland Japanese Shore and Northern Kentucky will be part of the Division I ranks subsequent season due to grants from First Level and its donors — and serving to boys volleyball get sanctioned at the highschool degree in a number of states.
UCLA coach John Speraw, chairman of First Level, sees the expansion of the Collegiate Problem as proof of the muse’s work.
“It speaks to the expansion and the alternatives for boys in America to play our sport and have a chance to make use of that sport to additional their training,” he mentioned. “It’s an incredible expertise for all of us. … I couldn’t be extra happy with the place this sport is and the work that (First Level Volleyball) has executed.”
Added Penn State coach Mark Pavlik: “I feel we’re simply seeing the tip of the iceberg, particularly on the lads’s facet, however the girls’s facet, too. I feel we’re able the place the Summer season (Olympic) Video games roll round, and if the U.S. groups can do what all of us imagine they’ll do, I feel you’re going to see much more of a resurgence in a following of the sport by people who find themselves type of common sports activities followers. I feel there’s a wave that’s poised to develop this recreation over the following 10 to fifteen years, and I feel it’s going to be fascinating to look at and to see how issues develop.
“With the lads’s recreation, we’ve had that physicality degree, however I feel over the following 5, six, seven years we’re going to see an increasing number of groups get greater and higher guys on the court docket. And I don’t imply simply the highest 15 groups. I feel there’s going to be sufficient guys taking part in the sport that everyone’s going to have a chance to develop a few of their very own gamers’ physicality.”
Loads of that will likely be on show in Austin. Apart from the defending nationwide champion Bruins — who characteristic Bedford, Texas, native and Austin Junior Volleyball product Merrick McHenry — crowds can have the prospect to see arguably the most effective participant within the nation, Ohio State’s Jacob Pasteur, who has competed on the nationwide group for Speraw, additionally the USA Olympic coach.
USC guarantees to be an fascinating squad, that includes fab freshmen Wes Smith (MB), Jakobi Lange (OH), Jack Ebertin (OH), Brad Pan (libero), and switch Josh Friedman (S). They have been rated the No. 1 recruiting class by VolleyballMag, with Smith rated because the No. 1 total participant.
The 6-foot-10 Smith hasn’t upset, hitting .500 and averaging 1.14 blocks per set by way of the Trojans’ first 4 matches.
Penn State graduated its core of super-seniors however returns grad reverse Johnny Kerr, who was AVCA nationwide participant of the week after a 31-kill efficiency in a win over Lewis two weeks in the past.
Coincidentally, Kerr gained the identical award final 12 months when filling in for injured Cal Fisher as he amassed a mixed 35 kills over wins in opposition to Stanford at Pepperdine … on the First Level Collegiate Problem.
And Stanford, amongst its proficient veteran squad, options fifth-year setter Nathan Lietzke, Glen’s son. That is Stanford’s third journey to the event in as a few years, however final 12 months Lietzke fell ailing throughout his homecoming and couldn’t play.
His father famous that the First Level Collegiate Problem is greater than a showcase. These matches depend, and the six groups will get an opportunity to see how they stand as they vie for the nationwide championship over the approaching months.
Garard expects that the First Level occasion will proceed to develop in stature and recognition as the game does.
“I feel you’re seeing the expansion at each hs and faculty and membership, and it’s throughout,” Garard mentioned. “It’s not simply sure states anymore. There’s a brand new vitality that wasn’t all the time there earlier than. … Now I feel you go to any cul-de-sac or any airport, and it’s not bizarre to see a males’s volleyball group.”
Busy Friday on faucet
There are six matches Thursday and loads of different NCAA males’s motion across the nation Friday with a 17-match slate that features a handful of different ranked groups.
On Friday, second Lengthy Seaside State (3-0), which opened its East Coast journey with a sweep at Merrimack (0-1) on Wednesday, goes to NJIT the place it performs No. 17 George Mason and the house group performs Lindenwood.
Fifth-ranked Grand Canyon goes to No, 18 UC San Diego, BYU performs at No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, No. 10 Pepperdine is house for McKendree, No. 11 Loyola Chicago performs host to Kentucky State, No. 12 Lewis entertains Merrimack, and No. 16 Princeton is at No. 18 CSUN.
Wish to watch an NCAA males’s volleyball match? If it’s being proven, we’ve acquired the viewing hyperlink within the VolleyballMag TV & Streaming Listings.
In Lengthy Seaside’s victory at Merrimack in North Andover, Massachusetts, it hit .545. Nathan Harlan led with eight kills as eight Seaside gamers had two or extra kills. Additionally Wednesday, No. 6 UC Irvine (3-1) swept visiting McKendree (0-1) by hitting .412. Hilir Henno had 11 kills and Maxim Grigoriev. had 10.
