NYU Men's Volleyball to Join New Conference
The New York University men's volleyball team will be leaving the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) to join the newly formed United Volleyball Conference (UVC) beginning in the 2012 season.
The UVC, a conference that consists of 12 NCAA Division III institutions, begins play this season, but the Violets will remain in the EIVA this year before playing in the UVC next season.
As it readies for its inaugural season, the UVC has already been recognized by the NCAA as an officially sanctioned single-sport conference, an important move as the Division III membership prepares to adopt men's volleyball as a Division III Championship sport next week at the annual convention.
Approval by the membership would give Division III men's volleyball an NCAA Tournament effective 2012, the same season NYU joins the UVC. Currently, teams across all three NCAA divisions compete for one Championship.
“New York University has enjoyed our long association with the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association,” said Director of Athletics, Intramurals & Recreation Christopher Bledsoe. “But as we prepare for the initial NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in 2012, NYU has decided that we should position ourselves with a conference affiliation that provides both a competitive game schedule and automatic qualification to the Division III Championship.”
The other 11 members of the UVC are Bard College, D'Youville College, Elmira College, Hilbert College, Medaille College, Nazareth College, Penn State Behrend College, Stevens Institute of Technology, SUNY Institute of Technology, SUNY New Paltz, and Vassar College.
Ten of the member schools will begin play in the UVC in 2011; in addition to NYU, Penn State Behrend also will not be joining until 2012, as it recently added the sport and will play its first varsity season then.