1/17/2026
Some week one observations and comments:
Buffalo State has been on fire in week one of the 2026 Men’s D3 Volleyball season. After posting expected wins against Russell Sage and new program Hartwick College, the Bengals knocked off Misericordia and Hobart on Saturday, two teams in the top 25 in the country. 6’3″ sophomore Drew Bowman has been orchestrating the attack and leads the team with 95 assists. Gavin Wilczewski, Kaden Strong, and Kieran Egan have led the offense and Brady Bowman has anchored the D with a team leading 22 digs and .945 receive percentage. Kaden Strong also leads the team with 12 total blocks. Head Coach Dan Miranda starts his 4th year with the Bengals and has been improving every season.
Freshman Nathen Toth of MIT was outstanding for the Engineers in their opening matches. The 6’3″ first year OH has such a strong resume including being a two-time Illinois state champion, AVCA All-American, VolleyMag First Team All-American, AAU All-American, IHSA State Finals MVP, JVA All-National Team and a member of the National Honor Society. If his first two matches are any indication of his expertise, MIT will have the next 4 years of outstanding achievements.
Really tough start for #21 Rutgers as they need a reverse sweep to avoid a loss to Arcadia after fending off 3 match points. #29 MIT took 4 sets to dispose of the Scarlet Raiders in Newark but it really wasn’t that close. Expect RUN to drop from their preseason rank of 21.
Misericordia is off to a rough start at 0-2. The Cougars introduced 6’8″ D1 Merrimack transfer Chris U’Glay but he had a challenging D3 inauguration week. Chris carried the workload of sets on the attack but thus far on the season has a negative hit percentage. We know the Cougars and Chris will get back on track soon. Expect to see Misericordia in the 30 range for the first computer ranking after week 2.
Nice start for Carthage at 2-0 including a very strong performance against Benedictine. Carthage plays MSOE on Tuesday which should be a really interesting match. Heise, Monahan, and Bartz have led the attack, all hitting over .300. Losing Owen Otto could have been devastating but the Firebirds depth is so strong. Not sure if you noticed the attendance at Tarble for the Benedictine match… 566!!!
The little details really matter when putting together a strong team. Kudos to Head Coach Bez Arslani of Kean who worked his entire roster on the floor during their opening match with Cairn. Every player had stats and contributed in some way to their sweep. Just love seeing that.
Nice start for Elizabethtown as a surge of sophomores are starting to shine along seniors Dustin Hagen and Logan Smith. Second year players Max Sears (leads team in blocks), Brayden Ambruster (leads team in kills), Patrick Neyer (leads team in assists), and freshman middle Indi Singh have all stepped up. The Blue Jays may be much higher in the CVC than expected. Etown currently leads the country in blocks per set at 3.6.
Cal Lutheran has been one of the most impressive squads so far this season, notching 6 straight wins without losing a set before succumbing to #2 NYU. The Kingsmen appear destined for a top 5 slot.
UCSC has started 3-0 and hosts NYU tomorrow. The Slug Slam tournament has gone very well so far with wins over Concordia Wisconsin and Vassar. The Slugs started the season with a statement win over D2 Menlo in 5 sets. UCSC will take a short break after Sunday’s match before traveling to Ohio for matches with Mount Union, Misericordia, and Baldwin Wallace.
#1 Springfield dropped their first match of the season against D2 Concordia Irvine. CUI played the #1 D1 team in the country UCLA on the 11th and the #1 D3 team in the country Springfield on the 16th. The Pride held their own against CUI, pushing them to 20, 19, and 22 in the sweep. Their exhibition match against D2 Vanguard resulted in a 3-1 loss. Evan Costley, Dylan Mulvaney, Nathan Goh, and Brendan Cutter all played well in the scrimmage. Coach Sullivan trying to set the tone with a much higher level of competition early in the season.
#2 NYU and Emerson Evans looked solid as they downed Cal Lutheran in 4 sets. The Violets are 2-0 heading into their match with UCSC tomorrow.
Bridgewater picked up its first program win today against Bethany. Congrats to the team and to Head Coach Colton Frey.
Wentworth looks very strong after 3 straight wins to start the season. D1 Merrimack, Nichols and D2 American International have all fallen against the Leopards this week. The core of Moughan, Dubcak, Foxwell, Zegowitz, Bell, Popp, Zuniga, and Biggs have all made contributions. Wentworth looks like top 5 material.
Defending Champions Southern Virginia cruised past Mount Aloysius and Randolph as expected. SVU has not packed their schedule with top flight and ranked opponents this season, possibly expecting the effect of their massive graduation class. It may take a bit of time for this group to gel. They do play Loras and Wittenberg in the Springfield Ohio Showcase in February, Messiah 2/21, and host SJF and Juniata in early March and Stevens in late March.
Stay tuned… more to be added through 2AM