The NCAA men’s volleyball tournament begins with tomorrow’s quarter-finals

The GIST: Even if there are no upsets when the national championship takes the court tomorrow, this year’s tourney is already a testament to the sport’s rising parity. Case in point: Hawaii — who’s ranked fifth nationally and appeared in the last four national title games — failed to make the bracket. There’s chaos in the air, so witness it all unfold on the NCAA.com livestream.

No. 1–seed UCLA Bruins vs. No. 8 Fort Valley State Wildcats, 2 p.m. ET: UCLA is the reigning national champ, a longtime powerhouse, and the nation’s No. 2 team. But the Division II (DII) Wildcats have already made history as the first HBCU to compete for the natty — could more history be in store?

No. 4 UC Irvine Anteaters vs. No. 5 Penn State Nittany Lions, 4:30 p.m. ET: The Anteaters join UCLA as one of the teams needing at-large bids to make the bracket, but UC Irvine is far from an underdog. Leading the nation in kills per set, their berth to the semifinals hinges on whether Penn State can contain their vicious attack at the net.

No. 2 Long Beach State Beach vs. No. 7 Belmont Abbey Crusaders, 8 p.m. ET: The Crusaders are the bracket’s other DII team, and they have their work cut out for them against the Beach: LBS tops the national rankings, has lost only two games this season, and hosts the natty in their bizarre, pyramid-shaped home stadium.

No. 3 Grand Canyon Antelopes vs. No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes, 10:30 p.m. ET: The ’Lopes are riding high after upsetting UCLA 3-2 in the MPSF Championship for their first conference tournament title. That momentum could be hard to challenge, but the Buckeyes, who’ve won seven of their last eight, have a running start of their own.