Belhaven to Leave ASC

Belhaven along with the USA South Conference announced yesterday that the Blazers will be switching conferences from the ASC next year. Belhaven was previously an NAIA school before joining DIII and the ASC in 2015.

The move will take the ASC down to 9 volleyball teams and will mark the second year in a row where the conference has lost a member (Louisiana College moved back to NAIA this year). The USA South is currently at 19 members that play volleyball but will lose Averett next season to the ODAC. The USA South Conference is split into two divisions with Belhaven moving to the West. With Averett leaving the East, it means the most teams will now be in the West Division (10 versus 9).

Belhaven was always a poor fit with the ASC because of location. Sul Ross State, another ASC member, was 900 miles from Belhaven and when the conference dropped their division play it meant these schools would have to play twice. Although I doubt any conference likes to lose a member school, especially in these trying times, I think this move makes a ton of sense for both conferences and to Belhaven. I also hope this allows the ASC volleyball programs a little more flexibility with scheduling as they found themselves severely strained to get conference play in this past season while still freeing up weekends for tournaments.

One interesting note is the number of teams Region X can regionally rank. The region currently ranks 7 teams and would need 38 total teams in the region to rank 8. St Thomas should become a full member in 2022 so they will replace Belhaven in the region count. Unfortunately, we still need UC Santa Cruz and Mills College to be added in to get to 38 teams. Another interesting note is that each of the four volleyball conferences in Region X will now have the same number of teams (9).

On a personal note, I just wanted to thank Coach Dee for always helping with the site when called upon. I wish him, his team and the school nothing but success in the future!

Update: Well, dang. Ricky just clued me in that Belhaven is looking for a new volleyball head coach. Best of luck to Coach Dee in his future endeavors.