Episode 290 of Viral Volley Media’s, College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20 for Week 2 of the 2026 Collegiate Men’s Volleyball season is coming in HOT!

This week we acknowledge two content creators covering the men’s side, then go to the “Elephant in the Room,” which discusses our coaching panelists’ results from last week’s play. From there we venture into the “Eye-Catching Matches” of the week followed by “The Panel’s Picks,” highlighting any other matches around Men’s Volleyball in any conference, at any level.

Of course, the guys have their say in CVW Ballers of the Week with the top performers while finishing with “Whatcha Watchin’” for Week 3!

#ncaamvb #ncaamvolleyball #ncaavolleyball

In this week’s episode we catch up on A LOT of news from the last 6 months with special guest, Men’s Volleyball Influencer, Joe McCurdy and George Mason Head Coach, Jay Hosack.

Firstly, we honor and remember Glen Lietzke, who passed away on Christmas morning. Glen was a generous supporter of volleyball who impacted thousands by his love and support of the game. 

From there we hit on the news of announced retirements, program discontinuations, movements and “resurrections.” With all the growth we also delve into the addition of the GLVC Conference and the expansion of the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship to 12 teams for 2026!

To close out the episode we discuss the first 2026 AVCA Preseason Poll, then have the panelists make bold predictions for 2026. 

As always, thanks for listening in! Apologies for a “basic format” episode! I’m on travel

With the unexpected retirement of Long Beach St.'s 22-year, Hall of Fame, Head Coach Alan Knipe, Beach did not have to look far or too long to find who would succeed Al. New Head Coach Nick MacRae has been in Long Beach his entire life, and with the 49ers/Beach for 14 years!

Nick takes some time to discuss his experience at Long Beach St., his relationship with Alan, how he plans to continue the winning ways of the beach in the near and distant future!

The Gauchos were on a mission to start 2025-- to get back into the Big West Women's Volleyball Championship-- which they have done. They're running one of the best 2-setter offenses in the land with potent attackers all-around. OH Eva Travis and MB Layanna Green talk about the season so far and what Gauchos potential could be in this year's championship.

The Mustangs had a strong and talented group of athletes coming back for 2025, and with that the goal of playing in their 3rd Big West Championship! Talking about their Cal Poly team with the No. 2 seed of the Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship are Kendall Beshear and Ally Elif Hurriyet.

Be sure to jump into ESPN+ November 26th-29th to watch the action! Rob Espero and former Long Beach St. standout, USC Beach National Champion, and pro beach volleyball athlete Hailey Harward are on the call!

In 2025, UC Davis has completed their first-ever conference championship and made Head Coach Dan Connors the winningest coach in Aggie volleyball history. They've got a solid core of athletes at each position who have been competing together for years! Talking about their team with the No. 1 seed of the Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship are Mia Starr and Ally Chandler.

Long Beach St.'s Elise Agi and Madi Maxwell discuss the 2025 season and their path to the 2025 Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship.

Episode 287 features 2025 AVCA Fall Pairs Champions from Long Beach St., Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah. The San Diego County products have been the work-horses for the Beach and have been almost unstoppable their entire first three years at Long Beach St.!

We discuss the start of their partnership-- proof that nobody can "ghost" Taylor-- even Malia, their natural success together, winning outside of collegiate beach ball and their road to the 2025 AVCA Pairs Championship! 

The "Salty Guys" of College Volleyball Weekly Men's Top 20 are BACK! Heaps of news has come about since the last ball drop in the Natty match in May so the band got together to talk about SOME (yes, we've got to do a part 2) of the news that has hit D1-2 Men's Volleyball!

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:30 AVCA Hall of Famer: Alan Knipe, Long Beach St.

00:06:00 2025 NCAA D1-2 Coaching Changes

00:34:20 NCAA Tournament Expansion

00:46:00 MPSF & Big West Previews: Others in the Making?

This summer the USA Men’s U21 team had an extremely talent roster that literally could have run far deeper than the 24 athletes who made the “official” roster– and it was composed of some recently graduated and a lot of current NCAA D1-2 players! What’s that mean you ask? We’ve got a young crew getting ready to take on the world as potential senior national and Olympic team players!

In this episode, Head Coach of the history-making USA Men’s U21 team jumps on College Volleyball Weekly Men’s Top 20 to talk about this talented group of guys that he, Donan Cruz, Matt Pollock and Donovan Martinez had the honor of training through the Men’s U21 World Championship in China and receiving the USA’s first-ever medal in the U21 World Championship!

From there, we discuss the expansion of the NCAA Men’s D1-2 Men’s Volleyball Championship to12 teams– which we are all EXCITED FOR! John also takes time to discuss the importance of the Championship’s growth, as well as the recent news that in the last 10 years boys’ participation has grown over 76%!

We close out the episode talking about John’s UCLA team, the expansion of the MPSF and what competition could look likein 2026!