Big West adding men’s volleyball in 2018
As expected, it will be interesting to see what happens with the MPSF
From the Big West:
The Big West Conference today announced the creation of a men’s volleyball championship beginning in 2018, becoming the first NCAA Division I conference to sponsor competition in the sport.
In making the announcement, Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell noted that men’s volleyball will become the 18th sport in which the conference conducts an annual championship.
The Big West Board of Directors approved a six-team league consisting of full conference members CSUN, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and Hawai’i. UC San Diego will join the group as an associate member and will give the conference the minimum six teams required for postseason NCAA automatic qualification.
An associate member in the Big West is any institution that participates in three or less conference championships. Other current Big West associate members are CSU Bakersfield in women’s beach volleyball and Sacramento State in men’s soccer and women’s beach volleyball.
Competition for the regular season championship will be contested in a double round-robin format for a total of 10 matches. A six-team, single elimination postseason tournament will be conducted at a campus site one week prior to the NCAA Championship Selections.
“The Big West Conference is thrilled to add a sport that is so popular in our region and is growing on the national level,” said Farrell. “Because the NCAA championship is conducted across Divisions I and II, UC San Diego despite its Division II status in its other sports, is eligible to compete in the Big West in this sport.
“It should be noted that the creation of this championship is the culmination of a year’s worth of work within the conference that has engaged both the sport’s coaches and administrators. UC San Diego’s consideration as a member in men’s volleyball has been discussed throughout that process and has no relation to its current consideration of Division I membership.”
The six programs, which previously have competed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation since 1993, come to the newly formed conference having played a prominent role in men’s volleyball on the national scene.
The schools have produced five NCAA national championships, 12 runner-up finishes and 26 Final Four appearances since 1970. UC Irvine won four national titles over a seven-year period, including 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Since 2008, five of the conference members have made at least one appearance in the NCAA Championship.
http://www.bigwest.org//story.asp?story_id=19222#sthash.wCIUbWcD.dpuf
Cindy, i was going to post about it but you beat me to it.
Conference matches will be cut to 10 from the current 22 and no BYU, UCLA, Stanford or Pepperdine in the Big West VB conference..
Wow! This is wonderful news for Men’s Volleyball. Being a part of the first “real” conference to sponsor the sport is pretty cool. It also makes it easier for the Big West and MPSF teams to make the NCAA tournament (2 auto bids instead of 1). Hopefully this will cause the NCAA to increase the Men’s tournament to 8 teams from 6.
UH may actually get more home matches too, with the conference schedule cut in half the opportunity to schedule out of conference matches is greatly improved.
-Aloha!
1. nope, only the schools currently in the Big West will be competing in the Big West Conference (UCSD as an affiliate)
The MPSF will have BYU, Cal Baptist, Pepperdine, Stanford, UCLA and USC
As mentioned before, inquiring into membership are Grand Canyon (MIVA) and Concordia-Irvine.
2. agree on all points. It also will allow the Outrigger to go back to its high profile with teams from the EIVA and MIVA wanting to come out. Penn State and Ohio state were among those who said if there wasn’t another MPSF team in the Outrigger field, they weren’t participating.
I can see where there is something like a Big West-MPSF Challenge as a tournament.
I know that Hawaii is looking to host the inaugural Big West tourney in 2018.
Great news although I hope we still see the UCLA,, BYU, Pepperdine, USC and Stanford at the SSC ever year and not more east coast teams no one has heard of.
Although I feel bad for Worsley/ Gasman the two nor cal guys on the team, if UH won’t be traveling to Stanford in the near future.
I saw UH posted an ad for an assistant womens volleyball coach a little over a week ago? Did something happen? Did the deal with coach Pesto fall through?
4. doesn’t mean UH can’t go to Stanford for non conference matches. The Big West will only have 10 matches, as will the MPSF since both are six-team leagues (as of now). Plenty of open dates for crossover matches.
besides, you never did have all the teams you mentioned coming to Hawaii in the same year. They brought in King from Conference Carolinas for the RPI. Likely someone like that for the Outrigger in 17.
As for UH posting, they have to do it legally.
Pestolesi still coming but, as mentioned previously, it may be as a volunteer assistant.
did I miss the official announcement that pestolesi will be coming out for the women’s team? darn where have I been.
Question from another forum: Will UH have to pay travel subsidies in the Big West volleyball conference ?
6. no announcement yet. Pestolesi will be the volunteer coach. He and Diane out here later this month. Diane being honored by the UH School of Nursing, one of its 50 distinguished grads for its 50th anniversary.
7. I would think not, only because it wasn’t the initial agreement when UH joined the conference. Any team that joins the conference after UH did does not get the travel subsidy, which is why some schools dropped their interest in joining after being told no subsidy. Such as Sac State and CSU Bakersfield.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=37675
new thread up for Wednesday