Volleyball Lists

The greatest men’s college team and player are revealed.

Editor’s Note: With this particular all-time list we solicited input from a variety of different men’s coaches and members of the volleyball community. As comes with the territory in winning 19 NCAA titles, UCLA turned out to be a common theme in compiling this list.

Greatest Men’s College Team

1982 UCLA Bruins

This UCLA squad went a perfect 29-0 (one of 3 UCLA teams to go unbeaten - and the only ones in NCAA history to ever achieve that feat) and featured four future Olympians in Karch Kiraly (more on him later), Ricci Luyties, Doug Partie and Dave Saunders, who won a total of seven Olympic gold medals between them.

"Practices were so competitive and intense," said legendary UCLA coach Al Scates. "Everybody wanted to win every drill. We kept score of every drill all year. We’d condition them for 45 minutes a day without the ball doing 300 push-ups and 300 sit-ups and dives and rolls and jumps and get them exhausted before we got the balls out. They got in such great shape they’d be ready to go for two and a half hours of practice afterward."

Kiraly, in his senior season, set in a 6-2 formation with Luyties, who was in his sophomore season. The three-time Olympic gold medalist points to Scates’ use of role players in key situations as a catalyst that helped drive the team to the title.

"Mark Kinnison was an outside hitter who was not one of the household names of UCLA volleyball," said Kiraly. "But he was one of the players Al knew when they could be good and when they could be great. Al would pull a rabbit out of his hat and see who would make an impact at crunch time. It’s a tribute to guys like Mark Kinnison and Wally Martin (who stepped into the other setter’s position when Luyties underwent knee surgery after the last regular-season match and then returned to play in the NCAA semifinals). Al always knew the right guy to bring in."

UCLA swept host Penn State for the title that year with Kiraly earning championship most outstanding player honors. Saunders, Partie and Dave Mochalski were named to the all-tournament team. Mochalski was a transfer from Ball State.

"I redshirted a guy that year (Steve Gulnac; 3-time NCAA all-tournament selection) who should be a UCLA Hall of Famer so Dave could play," said Scates. "We had a lot of talent on that ‘82 team."

Other Teams of Note (In order by year)

• 1977 USC (Championship most outstanding player Celso Kalache was part of this standout squad that also featured Dusty Dvorak and Bob Yoder)
• 1979 UCLA (former championship MOP Joe Mica came off the bench for this team that became first unbeaten in NCAA men’s history)
• 1980 USC (another loaded team with Dvorak, Tim Hovland, Steve Timmons and Pat Powers)
• 1984 UCLA (holds NCAA record for wins - 38-0 - that can never be broken)
• 1985 Pepperdine (Jeff Stork, Bob Ctvrtlik and Troy Tanner were among many notable players on this 25-2 team)
• 1995 UCLA (31-1 squad featured recent Olympians in Stein Metzger, Jeff Nygaard, Kevin Wong and Erik Sullivan, as well as decorated men’s coach John Speraw)
• 1999 BYU (Cougars went 30-1 and featured standouts like Ossie Antonetti and Olympic gold medalist Ryan Millar)
• 2008 Penn State (Nittany Lions, behind co-player of the year Matt Anderson, lost just 1 match. Majority of starters back for current 2009 season.)

Greatest All-Time Men’s College Player

Karch Kiraly

UCLA

Whenever one of these all-time lists comes about, one name pops up with frequency - and with just cause.

"Karch (Kiraly) is the best indoor player ever, hands down," said Scates.

With this particular list, there was little in the way of discussion. While players like Lutyies, Partie, Jeff Nygaard (UCLA), Hovland, Dvorak, Bryan Ivie (USC), etc., all have impressive collegiate resumes, this was a swift and unanimous choice among observers.

Kiraly played on UCLA teams that won three NCAA championships (1979, 1981, 1982) and played for the 1980 NCAA championship against USC at Ball State. Kiraly was named the championship most outstanding player in 1981 and 1982.

"He’s the best player that has ever played in college, for sure," said Scates.

In recent years, Kiraly, who went on to set the all-time beach wins and earnings records, has been named Volleyball’s Most Influential Name and Volleyball’s All-Time Best AVP Men’s Player. He can now add Greatest All-Time Men’s College Player to that list.