For the first time ever, Big Ten volleyball will have its own conference tournament. The league added the conference tournament to the end of the 2026 season, according to a release from the Big Ten on Thursday.
The inaugural conference tournament will take place Nov. 20-25 at the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Indiana — home of Major League Volleyball’s Indy Ignite. The top 15 of 18 teams in the Big Ten regular-season standings will make the post-season conference tournament.
The conference schedule will be reduced from 20 Big Ten matches to 17 — one against each team in the conference — with the addition of the tournament.
The Big Ten is the second power conference to add a volleyball league tournament. The Southeastern Conference reintroduced the tournament in 2025 after it wasn’t held from 2006-2024.
Indiana volleyball completed the 2025 season with a 25-8 overall record and a 14-6 mark in conference competition. Its season ended with a trip to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. The Hoosiers only lost four players during the offseason and brought in two transfers and three freshmen recruits to add depth to the returning roster.
Indiana started its spring schedule with a match against the University of Kentucky — the 2025 national champion runner up — on April 10. The Hoosiers and Wildcats played four sets, but Indiana lost all of them.
The Hoosiers continue their spring schedule against Purdue at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Fishers Event Center. Indiana will take on Purdue before an MLV match against Indy Ignite and Dallas Pulse at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana volleyball offseason.
