UAAP Volleyball Championship


The University Athletic Association of the Philippines volleyball tournament is divided into four divisions, namely men's, women's, boys' and girls'. Volleyball is a mandatory sport in the women's division. The UAAP volleyball tournament was formerly held in the first semester of the school year. Then in Season 69, the UAAP Board decided that it be moved to the second semester. This decision was made so that the games can be televised to improve its popularity.

Tournament format

The tournament begins with a double round robin eliminations, where a team meets its opponent twice in a season. A semi-finals round composed of the top four teams follows, after which the top two teams meet in a best-of-three series Finals.
In the semi-Finals, the top four teams based on team standings from the elimination round battle for a Finals slot. The two top seeds have a twice-to-beat advantage, that is they must be beaten twice in order to be eliminated. The lower seeds, on the other hand, are eliminated when they are defeated once. The surviving teams face off in a best-of-three Finals, where the team which notches two wins wins the championship.
If a team wins all of the games in the elimination round, the step ladder format is used, where the unbeaten team has a bye to the Finals. The third and fourth seed will figure in a knockout game; the winner of that game will face the second seed which has a twice-to-beat advantage. The surviving team meets the first seed team in the Finals. From 2012 to 2015, the first seed team holds a thrice-to-beat advantage for sweeping the elimination round. Starting 2016, all volleyball Finals series will be a best-of-three affair, but the rest of the regular and step ladder semi-Finals formats will remain in place.

List of volleyball champions

Early years

The UAAP founded by FEU, NU, UP and UST in 1938.

First expansion

Adamson, MCU, UM and UE added; only Adamson and UE were retained.

Second expansion

Ateneo was accepted as a member in 1978.
SeasonYearMen'sWomen's
411978–79
421979–80
431980–81
441981–82
451982–83
461983–84
471984–85
481985–86

Third expansion

La Salle was accepted as a member in 1986.
SeasonYearMen'sWomen's
491986–87
501987–88
511988–89
521989–90
531990–91
541991–92
551992–93

Final Four era

Current tournament format introduced. Tournaments for juniors' division are added on the second year of implementation of Final Four.

Number of championships by school

; Note

Statistics (Final Four Era)

Most valuable players

Rookie of the Year

Individual awards

Men's Division

Women's Division

Boys' Division

Girls' Division

Final Four

The Final Four for Volleyball was instituted in Season 56, the year, the UAAP declared that there will be a Final Four in all mandatory sports. In 2004, there was no Final Four since the DLSU Lady Spikers swept the eliminations and were awarded the championship outright, becoming the only volleyball varsity team in the UAAP to win the championship outright with a 14-0 eliminations sweep record. In 2007, following the loss of the UE Red Warriors to the DLSU Green Archers in the Finals series of the UAAP Season 70 basketball tournament despite UE's elimination round sweep, the UAAP Final Four format was modified for elimination sweep cases.
The stepladder format was introduced beginning 2008 for all UAAP sports. Until 2015, in the earlier stepladder format, the no. 1 seed team was automatically qualified to a Finals berth with a thrice-to-beat incentive. The other three teams in the top four rankings underwent play-off games to determine which will qualify for a Finals berth. Starting 2016, the thrice-to-beat incentive was removed, reverting back to a best-of-three championship series for all sporting events in the UAAP. Other Final Four rules still remain in place.
The UST men's volleyball team's 14-0 perfect elimination round record in 2009) was the first to be recorded in UAAP history, but they played based on the regular Final Four format, becoming the only UAAP varsity team to achieve a perfect 17-0 season sweep record. As of 2020, the UST Growling Tigers, DLSU Lady Spikers and the ADMU Blue Eagles and Lady Eagles achieved the 14-0 elimination sweeps record in the UAAP Volleyball Final Four era. DLSU holds the most season-long elimination sweeps within the 2008–present form of the Final Four era for a single team, and currently has the longest ongoing appearance in the Final Four of UAAP volleyball.
ADMU emerged as the league's lowest seeded volleyball team to win the championship and became the first overall volleyball varsity team to both win the championship and achieve a perfect 16-0 season sweeps record by 2015. As of, ADMU also remains the only UAAP team to achieve both the 14-0 elimination round and 16-0 season sweeps records for both men's and women's volleyball teams by 2017.
The volleyball tournaments in Junior's division started in Season 57. The number of schools participating in the girls' division increased to six in Season 76 when Adamson University fielded a team. In Season 77, the number of schools participating in the boys' and girls' divisions increased to seven each as FEU fielded a team in both divisions.
Below are rankings per division per team in the Final Four era:

Men's division

Women's division

Boys' division

Girls' division