Mount Mercy men’s volleyball ready for big week with NAIA national tournament in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — The last time Austin Filer stepped foot in the Alliant Energy PowerHouse, he came out as a champion.

Now the men’s volleyball coach at Mount Mercy University, Filer led the Cedar Rapids Xavier girls’ volleyball team to a state title at the arena in 2020.

That success — he also won a state title in 2022 with Xavier at Xtream Arena — has followed him to Mount Mercy. Now, in his third season with the men’s volleyball program, he has led the Mustangs into the NAIA national tournament for the first time.

The Mustangs will host the NAIA tournament, starting Tuesday and running through Saturday. The Mustangs, coming off their best season as a program, received a host bid.

“I thought it was a great idea due to the city's experience hosting national championships,” Filer said of hosting the tournament.

Hosting championships can not only be a great thing for the city economically, but for the exposure of the host school.

“Mount Mercy values partnering with the community, and from a recruiting standpoint this helps the team a lot moving forward,” Mustangs athletics director Paul Gavin said.

Filer also held a previous stint as an assistant with the women’s volleyball team at Mount Mercy, reaching the national tournament for the first time in 2015.

“My goal was always to stay at Mount Mercy, and I have always loved men's volleyball,” Filer said.

The Mustangs ended the regular season ranked 14th in the nation with a 24-8 record. They beat four Top 10 teams.

“It has been a rocky road,” Filer said. “The highs have been high, and the lows have been low. Consistency has been the biggest issue.”

Part of that can be attributed to playing in the toughest conference in the NAIA, which at one point had six teams ranked nationally. This includes two other Heart of America Conference teams that earned an invite to the national tournament — Grand View and William Penn.

The Mustangs received the ninth seed in the 12-team field and will play in Pool A with top-seeded The Master’s (21-1) and eighth-seeded Jamestown (21-1).

“The Master’s is far and away the best and most talented team in the country,” Filer said. “We want to be really aggressive, stay confident and hopefully have some home-court advantage.”

The Mustangs will play The Master’s at 7 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday night, the Mustangs will play Jamestown, again at 7 p.m.

The winner of the pool will advance to the semifinals on Friday.

Men’s volleyball has become a growing sport not only in participation, but in popularity among sports fans.

“We hope the community gets behind it and that there is a good turnout,” Gavin said.

Other Iowa teams in the NAIA men’s volleyball tournament

Coming off a Heart of America Conference championship, Grand View has become a national tournament regular and will compete as the third seed in Pool C. Its first match is set for Tuesday at 10 a.m. against 11th seeded Westcliff.

William Penn has reached the national tournament for the second time in three years. This time around, the Statesmen will be looking to earn their first national tournament victory. They will compete in Pool D as the fifth seed and open play Wednesday against Reinhardt at 4 p.m.

Comments: ben.lamparek@thegazette.com