The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association ( EIVA ) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball . Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States .
56-697: The EIVA Tournament champion receives one of six automatic bids to the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship . The other five automatic bids go to the two other traditional major volleyball conferences, the MIVA ( Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association ) and the MPSF ( Mountain Pacific Sports Federation ); the Big West Conference , which in the 2017–18 school year became
112-504: A Division I championship can be organized. However, a separate D-I rule provision states that existing National Collegiate or D-I championships in Olympic sports are exempt from minimum sponsorship requirements. †Vacated due to NCAA violations Source: as of end of 2024 Tournament 31 teams have appeared in the NCAA tournament in at least one year starting with 1970, when
168-453: A National Collegiate independent, closed entirely. Thirteen additional schools, most of them either current Division II members or transitioning to D-II, have either added National Collegiate programs for the 2025 season or will do so in the near future. Division II does not have a separate national championship, although a D-II rule change that took effect in 2024–25 will allow that division to launch its own men's volleyball championship in
224-518: A committee of coaches from these leagues. The tournament expanded to six teams in 2014 when Conference Carolinas was given its automatic bid, seven in 2018 with the addition of the Big West champion, and eight in 2024 with the addition of the SIAC champion. The current lineup consists of the six conference champions and two at-large entries. Penn State won every conference championship from 1991 through 2017, with
280-460: A feature unique to D-III, the total number of required sports varies with each school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or less must sponsor five men's and five women's sports; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six for each sex/gender. Institutions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender (single-sex schools, plus a few historically all-female schools that are now coeducational) need only meet
336-486: A general policy. One exception was made in 2012, when RIT successfully argued for a one-time opportunity for colleges with a D-I men's team to add a women's team. Since no more colleges would be allowed to move individual sports to D-I, the five non-scholarship programs (led by RIT and Union) petitioned to be allowed to offer scholarships in the interests of competitive equity. D-III membership voted in January 2022 to extend
392-551: A scholarship sport, having launched its men's volleyball league in the 2012 season. The 2021 season was to have been the first for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), with six men's volleyball members, but the conference chose not to compete in that season due to COVID-19 issues. CC has had an automatic berth in the National Collegiate championship since the 2014 season, and
448-561: A separate predetermined site, but it was decided instead to have the entire championship tournament at one site. With the Big West Conference adding men's volleyball for the 2018 season and qualifying for an automatic tournament berth, the championship expanded to seven teams. The bottom two tournament seeds contested a "play-in" match; from that point, the tournament format was identical to the one used from 2014 to 2017. The championship expanded to eight teams for 2024, coinciding with
504-501: Is designed to create more LGBTQ inclusion in D-III athletics within the NCAA . The program has facilitators from more than 40 colleges across the country, including Smith College , Agnes Scott College , and more. The group publicly condemned laws trying to limit transgender people in sports in 2021. A member of the program – Rhea Debussy who is a transgender rights activist – publicly left
560-532: Is the NCAA's largest division with around 450 member institutions, which are 80% private and 20% public. The median undergraduate enrollment of D-III schools is about 2,750, although the range is from 418 to over 38,000. Approximately 40% of all NCAA student-athletes compete in D-III. D-III institutions must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, with each playing season represented by each gender. Teams in which men and women compete together are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes. In
616-415: Is to benefit athletic programs. D-III schools "shall not award financial aid to any student on the basis of athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance". Financial aid given to athletes must be awarded under the same procedures as for the general student body, and the proportion of total financial aid given to athletes "shall be closely equivalent to the percentage of student-athletes within
SECTION 10
#1732855897082672-436: The Big West Conference , the first Division I all-sports conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball. The Northeast Conference (NEC) became the second D-I all-sports conference to sponsor men's volleyball in the 2023 season. As of the 2024 season, three Division II conferences sponsor men's volleyball at the National Collegiate level. Conference Carolinas (CC) was the first NCAA conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball as
728-460: The 2006 season. The two lower divisions were merged into one division at that time. On April 28, 2012, Uvaldo Acosta (George Mason), Tom Hay (Springfield College), Ivan Marquez (Concordia [NY]), Bill Odeneal (SUNY New Paltz), Bob Sweeney (East Stroudsburg), and Tom Tait (Penn State) were inducted into the EIVA's inaugural Hall of Fame class during the 2012 EIVA Championship match at Penn State. As of
784-543: The 2011 season. NCAA men%27s volleyball tournament The NCAA men's volleyball tournament , officially titled the NCAA national collegiate men's volleyball championship , is an annual competition that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in American college men's volleyball . It had been the only NCAA championship in the sport from 1970 until 2012, when
840-412: The 2011–12 school year (2012 championship), men's volleyball did not have an official divisional structure; even now, that structure is truncated. The National Collegiate Championship remains as the NCAA's top-level championship, but Division III members now have their own championship event. With the introduction of an official Division III championship, schools in that division are no longer eligible for
896-456: The 2014 championship, the field expanded to six teams, with the two new teams being the champion of Conference Carolinas and one extra at-large entry. The new format featured two quarterfinal matches involving the four lowest-seeded teams in the field, with the winners joining the two top seeds in the semifinals. Originally, the quarterfinals were to be played at campus sites, with the Final Four at
952-460: The 2022 departure of St. Francis College (known athletically as St. Francis Brooklyn, from its New York City location) and Saint Francis University (in Pennsylvania). This temporarily left the EIVA with six members, the minimum needed to maintain its automatic NCAA tournament berth. Previously, from 2005-2006 to 2010-2011, the conference was divided into two divisions. The higher division was named
1008-493: The 2023 season with six full conference members and two D-II members as single-sport associates. The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) and Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) are volleyball-specific conferences, while the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a multi-sport conference of schools whose primary conferences do not sponsor its ten sports. In addition to
1064-541: The 2024 season, but started play with only four members, two short of the number needed to eventually receive an automatic berth. Further expansion is likely in the future. In addition to the impending NEC automatic bid, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will add the sport in the 2026 season with seven members (one from the MIVA, five independents, and one new program), putting it in position for an automatic bid in 2028. The MIVA will remain at nine members with
1120-463: The 2024–25 school year, the EIVA has seven member teams, six from the NCAA 's Division I . The University of Charleston of Division II joined the conference for competition in 2016 after spending the 2015 season as an independent. The most recent changes in membership were the 2022 departure of Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, and Saint Francis (PA) for the NEC, followed in 2024 by Sacred Heart's return to
1176-467: The 29 D-I schools, 33 Division II schools competed in D-I volleyball during the 2024 season: Four Division II schools launched National Collegiate men's volleyball programs for the 2024 season. Two schools that played National Collegiate men's volleyball in 2023 did not return for 2024. Full NEC member St. Francis Brooklyn shut down its entire athletic program, and Alderson Broaddus, a D-II member that played as
SECTION 20
#17328558970821232-568: The Big West Conference added the sport for the 2018 season. The Big West became the first NCAA men's volleyball league to consist entirely of D-I members when UC San Diego, which was one of the six charter members of Big West men's volleyball, began a transition to D-I upon joining the Big West full-time in July 2020. Of the other four major conferences, the only all-sports league is the Northeast Conference (NEC), which started men's volleyball play in
1288-420: The Big West received an automatic berth upon the creation of its men's volleyball league. The SIAC received its first automatic berth in the 2024 season. With the NEC having lost three of its original eight men's volleyball members, it will not receive its first automatic bid until 2028, two years after its men's volleyball membership returns to seven. The East Coast Conference began sponsoring men's volleyball in
1344-414: The Big West. The NEC initially announced that it would launch its men's volleyball league in the 2023 season with five full D-I members and transitional D-I member Merrimack, but later announced that it would add Daemen and D'Youville, D-II members that had previously played as National Collegiate independents, as associate members effective with its first season in 2023. Through the 2013 tournament, each of
1400-674: The College of Charleston in South Carolina), George Mason University, Harvard University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), Princeton University, and Sacred Heart University. All are Division I members except for D-II Charleston. The top four teams compete for the EIVA championship. The winner represents the conference in the NCAA Div. I/II national championships. The most recent change to
1456-556: The EIVA membership was the return of Sacred Heart for the spring 2025 season after a two-year absence. The Pioneers had left the EIVA after the 2022 season to join the new men's volleyball league of its then-current primary home of the Northeast Conference (NEC), but returned to the EIVA when it left the NEC to join the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference . The establishment of NEC men's volleyball also led to
1512-723: The EIVA. Through the 2014 season, Division III Rutgers–Newark had been the EIVA's eighth member but spent its final years in the EIVA transitioning to Division III men's volleyball and left for the D-III Continental Volleyball Conference in 2015. Because Rutgers–Newark traditionally competed in the former University Division in men's volleyball before the NCAA created its current three-division setup in 1972, it had been allowed to award scholarships in that sport, making it one of only seven D-III schools then allowed to do so in any sport. As part of its D-III transition, it stopped awarding scholarships to new athletes in
1568-484: The NCAA does not split into divisions. Teams in these sports are not counted as playing in a different division from the rest of the athletic program. D-III members cannot award scholarships in these sports. In 2003, concerned about the disparity of some D-III athletic programs and the focus on national championships, the D-III Presidents' Council, led by Middlebury College President John McCardell , proposed ending
1624-581: The NCAA launched a Division III championship . Unlike most NCAA sports, men's volleyball uses a modified version of the National Collegiate championship format, which means Division I and Division II teams compete against each other in the same tournament. In the past, schools from the Pacific Coast region have dominated this sport, in particular UCLA with coach Al Scates leading the program to 19 NCAA titles (more than any other coach). Before
1680-583: The National Collegiate Championship. The last exception was Rutgers–Newark, whose men's volleyball program had been a grandfathered scholarship program, and could compete for the National Collegiate Championship through 2014. Rutgers–Newark completed a transition to Division III men's volleyball at the end of that season, and joined the D-III Continental Volleyball Conference effective with the 2015 season. There are three general regions for men's volleyball: "West", "Midwest", and "East". As of
1736-400: The National Collegiate championship; Lewis also won the championship tournament, but had their victory vacated due to NCAA rules violations. Only seven non-California universities have participated in the National Collegiate championship match (Loyola, BYU, Penn State, Ohio State, IPFW , Hawaii, and Lewis ), although other universities such as Princeton and Ball State have participated in
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association - Misplaced Pages Continue
1792-399: The SIAC receiving an automatic bid for the first time. All teams will play at a single site in a pure knockout format. From 1986 to 2021, the number of Division I schools sponsoring men's volleyball fluctuated between 20 and 24 teams. Since that time, the number of such teams has moderately increased, with 26 in 2022 and 29 in each season from 2023 to 2025, with three more D-I schools adding
1848-663: The Tait Division and the lower division was named the Hay Division. The conference used a system of promotion and relegation whereby the last place team from the Tait Division went to the Hay for the following season and the highest ranked Hay Division team moved to the Tait. Prior to that, there was a second lower division (equal to Hay) named the Sweeney Division, but this was eliminated for
1904-557: The addition of Northern Kentucky for the 2026 season. Members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), a separate athletics governing body whose members are primarily smaller institutions, regularly play matches against NCAA teams. Because of the historic lack of an official divisional structure in men's volleyball, four of the five major conferences have members that normally compete in Division II. Before
1960-436: The athletic scholarship exemptions for D-I programs, eliminating redshirting, and limiting the length of the traditional and non-traditional seasons. At the January 2004 NCAA convention, an amendment allowed the exemption for grandfathered D-I athletic scholarships to remain in place, but the rest of the reforms passed. D-III announced the creation of a LGBTQ inclusion program in 2019. Named as their LGBTQ OneTeam Program, it
2016-511: The creation of the Division III national championship, the EIVA had several Division III members, but all of those schools now compete in D-III men's volleyball. The Big West became the first men's volleyball conference to consist entirely of D-I members in the 2021 season; this immediately followed UC San Diego, previously a Big West affiliate in men's volleyball (as well as women's water polo), starting its transition to Division I and fully joining
2072-527: The current 2024 NCAA men's volleyball season, five "major conferences", defined here as leagues that include full members of Division I, represent these regions. The three "traditional" major conferences are the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA), and Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA). In the 2018 season, the ranks of "major" conferences expanded to include
2128-572: The exception of 1998 when Princeton captured the title and 2016 when George Mason won the title. Harvard and Princeton emerged on top in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The Nittany Lions are the only conference team to win the NCAA national championships , having captured the title in 1994 and 2008. As of the upcoming 2025 season (2024–25 school year), the EIVA consists of seven schools: the University of Charleston (in West Virginia; not to be confused with
2184-594: The final four. Only five finals have involved two non-California schools: the 2003 final, when Lewis defeated BYU but had its win vacated; the 2015 final, in which Loyola defeated Lewis; the 2016 and 2017 finals, when Ohio State defeated BYU; and the 2021 final, when Hawaii defeated BYU. Hawaii, UCLA, Southern California, Penn State, Stanford, and Long Beach State are the only schools in Division I to have won an NCAA national championship in both men and women's volleyball. In addition, Stanford (1996–97) and Penn State (2007–08) are
2240-468: The first Division I all-sports conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball; and two Division II conferences in Conference Carolinas and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). Before the 2014 tournament, the EIVA, MIVA, and MPSF received three of the four bids to the NCAA tournament, with the remaining entry being an at-large bid that was chosen from one of the three leagues by
2296-402: The grandfather clause to allow all ten colleges to offer athletic scholarships, effective immediately. Football and basketball may not be D-I programs at D-III institutions, because their revenue-enhancing potential would give them an unfair advantage over other D-III schools. In 1992, several D-I schools playing D-III football were forced to bring their football programs into D-I, following
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association - Misplaced Pages Continue
2352-429: The near future should it so desire. Before 2024–25, a D-II championship in a men's sport could not be sponsored unless at least 50 schools in that division sponsored a sport; that number has now been reduced to 35. Should a D-II championship be established, Division I would not have a sufficient number of teams to sponsor its own national championship. Currently, a men's sport must be sponsored by at least 50 schools before
2408-501: The only universities whose men and women's volleyball programs won the national championship in the same academic year. NCAA Division III NCAA Division III ( D-III ) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their student-athletes. The NCAA's first split
2464-399: The organization's requirements for "all-sports" status. Ten D-III schools currently field Division I programs in one or two sports, one maximum for each gender. These schools are allowed to offer athletic scholarships only for their D-I men's and women's sports. Five of them are schools that traditionally competed at the highest level of a particular men's sport prior to the institution of
2520-579: The passage of the "Dayton Rule" (named after the University of Dayton , whose success in D-III football was seen as threatening the "ethos" of Division III sports). This led directly to the creation of the Pioneer Football League , a non-scholarship football-only Division I FCS conference. In addition to the D-III schools with teams that play as D-I members, many other D-III schools have teams that compete alongside D-I and D-II members in sports that
2576-489: The same in 2014. Hartwick College , which had been grandfathered in men's soccer and women's water polo, moved its men's soccer program to D-III in 2018 and dropped women's water polo entirely. The other five schools chose to field D-I programs in one sport for men and/or one sport for women after the original grandfather clause went into effect, so they were not grandfathered and thus were not allowed to offer athletic scholarships. Academic-based and need-based financial aid
2632-468: The same treatment, a full scholarship. Another aspect that distinguishes D-III from the other NCAA divisions is that D-III institutions are specifically banned from using the National Letter of Intent , or any other pre-enrollment form that is not executed by other prospective students at the school. The NCAA provides for one exception—a standard, nonbinding celebratory signing form that may be signed by
2688-474: The sponsorship requirements for that sex. There are minimum contest rules and participant minimums for each sport. D-III athletic programs are non-revenue-generating, extracurricular programs that are staffed and funded like any other university department. They feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability. Student-athletes cannot redshirt as freshmen, and schools may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose
2744-472: The sport in 2026. The three newest such schools all started play as D-I members in the 2023 season, during which all were transitioning from D-II to D-I. Merrimack, which started its D-I transition in 2020, added a new team in the 2023 season. The other two, Lindenwood and Queens (NC), already sponsored the sport at the National Collegiate level, and started transitions from D-II to D-I in July 2022. No traditional D-I conferences sponsored men's volleyball until
2800-487: The student body". The ban on scholarships is strictly enforced. As an example of how seriously the NCAA takes this rule, in 2005 MacMurray College became only the fifth school slapped with a " death penalty " after its men's tennis program gave grants to foreign-born players. The two service academies that are D-III members, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard , do not violate the athletic scholarship ban because all students, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive
2856-432: The student upon his or her acceptance of enrollment. However, this form cannot be signed at the campus of that college, and staff members of that college cannot be present at the signing. An "all-sports conference" is defined here as one that sponsors both men's and women's basketball. While the NCAA has a much more detailed definition of the term, every NCAA conference (regardless of division) that sponsors basketball meets
SECTION 50
#17328558970822912-755: The three division classifications in 1973, a decade before the NCAA governed women's sports. These five colleges (plus three others that later chose to return their D-I programs to D-III) were granted a waiver (a.k.a. a grandfather clause ) in 1983 to continue offering scholarships, a waiver that was reaffirmed in 2004. Presumably due to Title IX considerations, grandfathered schools are also allowed to field one women's sport in D-I, and all five schools choose to do so. Three formerly grandfathered schools moved completely to D-III. The State University of New York at Oneonta , which had been grandfathered in men's soccer, moved totally to D-II in 2006. Rutgers University–Newark , which had been grandfathered in men's volleyball, did
2968-411: The three major conferences of that day (MPSF, MIVA and EIVA) received an automatic bid to the Final Four, with one additional at-large bid. The remaining bid was an at-large bid that could be awarded to any team in Division I or II (including Rutgers–Newark). Generally, the best team not receiving an automatic bid (usually from one of the three major conferences) received the at-large bid. Beginning with
3024-428: The tournament shifted to its current bracket format. The results for all years are shown in this table below. The code in each cell represents how far the team made it in the respective tournament: Historically, California -based universities have dominated the men's volleyball national championship; Loyola Chicago , Penn State , Ohio State, BYU , and Hawaii are the only non-California universities to have won
3080-499: Was into two divisions, the University and College Divisions, in 1956, the College Division was formed for smaller schools that did not have the resources of the major athletic programs across the country. The College Division split again in 1973 when the NCAA went to its current naming convention: Division I , Division II , and Division III. D-III schools are not allowed to offer athletic scholarships, while D-II schools can. D-III
3136-414: Was still available, as is the case for all of D-III. In addition, Lawrence University was formerly a non-grandfathered program in fencing, but the NCAA no longer conducts a separate D-I fencing championship. Lawrence continues to field a fencing team, but that team is now considered D-III (see below ). In August 2011, the NCAA decided to no longer allow individual programs to move to another division as
#81918