Volleyball!?!

Although the spring semester hasn’t started and schools are not back in session, we do have volleyball on the horizon. Kind of ironic as the Covid numbers are the worst they have been since the pandemic has started, but we do have three of the four West Region conferences moving forward with their volleyball plans. So, let’s talk some volleyball!

I’ll start with the SCIAC since their plans are the easiest to discuss; they have cancelled all volleyball competitions. With Los Angeles and the surrounding counties getting hit hard this makes sense. Most of the SCIAC schools (could be all?) are still online. Most (could be all?) have not had a volleyball practice since 2019. So, easy to discuss, but there are some rabbit holes here. Let’s say we are back to whatever the new normal is this fall and volleyball is in full force. Will the SCIAC teams be at a disadvantage? You would have to think so. I imagine that the incoming class of freshmen would be the only players on these teams to have seriously played/practice volleyball in some time. So, the vast majority of the SCIAC teams will be reliant on the dedication and ingenuity of their current players to get their touches for over a year on their own. Further, the team bonding that goes on constantly during normal times will have taken a hit since the in-person contact has been limited. In the grand scheme of life, none of this matters, but still interesting to pounder.

One other note for this part of the country is that I don’t believe UC Santa Cruz or Mills College (both now part of the C2C Conference) have plans to play volleyball in the spring. It’s possible they could get some non-conference matches in but that would be about it.

I believe the ASC has had their schedule out the longest. I’m seeing non-conference matches starting in 10-days (Jarvis Christin at Letourneau) with conference starting in early February. The ASC has two divisions and this year they will only be playing within division. So, UT-Dallas, for instance, will have matches against LeTourneau, Belhaven, ETBU and Louisiana College. The plan is to play back-to-back matches on game days against the same team. There will be both a home series and an away series so in the case of UT-Dallas (and the aforementioned teams) they will have 16 conference (inter-division) matches. The other division is doing the same format…sort of. This division has an extra team and consists of UMHB, Concordia, McMurry, Hardin-Simmons, Howard Payne and Sul Ross State. They will also play back-to-back matches on the same day and will also play home and away series but instead of 20 matches that this would require, they will only be playing 18. It appears that every team will have one competitor that they only play once. Here are the matchups that get only one series:

• Sul Ross State only plays UMHB (at UMHB)

• Concordia only plays McMurry (at McMurry)

• Howard Payne only plays Hardin-Simmons (at HSU)

The regular season will end on April 3^rd and the ASC will hold a tournament on April 9^th and 10^th. The top 2 teams from each division will qualify and there will be an additional 2 wild card teams. The 2 division winners will gain a bye into the semifinals. The tournament will be hosted by the West Division regular season champion.

One extra bonus note regarding the ASC is that remember that this is the last season Louisiana College plays at the DIII level. This means that the East Division will have 4 teams while the West Division has 6 teams starting in the fall. Looking back through the ASC volleyball history and when the conference drops to 10 teams, they usually go to a one division format. This will need to be voted on by the conference coaches.

The NWC is the last conference to finalize their plans as they had to workaround the issue that their conference is split between both Oregon and Washington and both states have their own Covid rules. The Washington schools (Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, Whitman and Whitworth) will play between February 5^th and March 13^th. and mimic what the ASC is doing. There will be back-to-back matches on the same day and each school will play a home and an away series. (Editor’s Note: Corrected based on additional input.) Each school will play two matches at a site on back-to-back days. That means each Washington school will play 12 matches. The Oregon schools are George Fox, Lewis & Clark, Linfield, Pacific and Willamette. If you are good with math then you realize that gives them one extra school. The Oregon schools will be starting later (February 25^th/26^th) and will go until April 2^nd. These schools will also be playing a home and an away series but only one match per day will be played. This means these school will only be playing 8 matches in total during the regular season.

One kind of an amazing note for the NWC is that they will be playing a NWC Tournament this year! Remember that the NWC is the only conference in DIII that does not normally play a tournament. The goal for the NWC Tournament is to combine the Oregon and Washington teams and give them a trophy to shoot for during the season. The tournament is schedule for April 9^th and 10^th.

The SCAC had intended to be at 10 teams but with Johnson & Wales dropping sports last year and ceasing to exist this year they will be at 9 teams (from 4 different states). Due to the number of teams, the SCAC will not be playing a home and an away series. Luck of the draw seems to have determined who gets to host these matches. Logically, you would think each school would host either 4 or 5 matches but that’s not always the case as Southwestern will only host 3 dates. The schedule will run from February 12^th to April 10^th and each date will typically consist of a back-to-back match. This means that each team will play 16 conference matches. There are some exceptions as it appears Austin College and Trinity will play 3-times although one of those matches could just be a non-conference matchup. Another interesting exception is that the big three – Colorado College, Southwestern and Trinity – will not play each other back-to-back but instead will play over two days. I guarantee there is a story here.

The SCAC Tournament will be April 16^th and 17^th and will be hosted at Trinity. No indication of a bracket just yet but I would assume it would follow what they’ve done the last few years. This means the top 6 teams will qualify with the top two teams gaining a bye into the semifinals.

I guess my final word on all of this is that the planning is in place but this virus has proven to be a nightmare to guard against. With the hospitalization and death numbers where they are at it wouldn’t surprise me to see these plans altered or even cancelled. All anyone can do is plan, hope for the best and continue to monitor the situation as the season progresses.