NCAA announces S101 volleyball tourney groupings, updates

The NCAA has announced the groupings for the upcoming Season 101 volleyball tournament, set to begin on January 23, 2026, adopting a new format first used in recent basketball events. The draw was conducted by Tournament Commissioner Mike Tavera with coaches present at Colegio de San Juan de Letran on January 16.

The ten member schools are divided into two groups. Group A consists of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Mapua University, San Sebastian College-Recoletos, Jose Rizal University, and University of Perpetual Help System-Dalta. Group B is composed of Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Arellano University, Lyceum of the Philippines University, San Beda University, and Emilio Aguinaldo College.

The new tournament format replaces the traditional full round-robin. Teams will now play each team in their own group twice and each team from the other group once. The top three teams from each group will automatically advance to the cross-over quarterfinals.

The fourth and fifth-ranked teams from each group will compete in a play-in round for the final quarterfinal spots. The first and second seeds will have a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals, while the semifinals and finals will be best-of-three series.

Additionally, Commissioner Tavera confirmed that a video challenge system will be implemented during the elimination round of Season 101.