Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
| File:Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association logo.gif | |
| Commissioner | Ivan Marquez |
|---|---|
| Sports fielded |
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| Region | Northeast |
| Official website | eivavolleyball.com |
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.
The EIVA Tournament champion receives one of four automatic bids to the NCAA National Collegiate Volleyball Championship. The other three automatic bids go to the two other traditional major volleyball conferences, the MIVA (Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) and the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), plus Conference Carolinas, a NCAA Division II conference that is the only all-sports conference in either Division I or II that sponsors men's volleyball. 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 a committee of coaches from these leagues. Since 2014, the NCAA tournament has involved six teams, specifically the four conference champions and two at-large entries.
Penn State has won every conference championship for the past 17 years, with the exception of 1998 when Princeton captured the title. 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 2016 season (2015–16 school year), the EIVA consists of eight schools: the University of Charleston (in West Virginia; not to be confused with the College of Charleston in South Carolina), George Mason University, Harvard University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU), Princeton University, Sacred Heart University, and Saint Francis University (in Pennsylvania; not to be confused with St. Francis College in Brooklyn, which like the Pennsylvania school is an all-sports member of the Northeast Conference). The top four teams compete for the EIVA championship. The winner represents the conference in the NCAA Div. I/II national championships.
Previously, from 2005-2006 to 2010-2011, the conference was divided into two divisions. The higher division was named 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 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.
Members
The EIVA has eight member teams, seven from the NCAA's Division I. The University of Charleston of Division II joins the conference for competition in 2016 after spending the 2015 season as an independent.[1]
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.[2] 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 allowed to do so in any sport. As part of its D-III transition, it stopped awarding scholarships to new athletes in the 2011 season.
Conference arenas
| School | Facility | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| George Mason | Recreation Athletic Complex | 1,550 |
| Harvard | Malkin Athletic Center | 1,000 |
| NJIT | Estelle & Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center | 1,000 |
| PSU | Rec Hall | 6,469 |
| Princeton | Dillon Gym | 1,500 |
| Sacred Heart | Pitt Center | 2,000 |
| Saint Francis | DeGol Arena | 3,500 |
Former Members
- Concordia College (New York) - dropped program in 2003
- East Stroudsburg University - dropped program
- Juniata College - left EIVA in 2011 due to NCAA Div. III national championship
- New York University - left EIVA in 2011 due to NCAA Div. III national championship
- University of New Haven - dropped program after 2008 season
- Queens College - dropped program
- Rutgers–Newark – completed transition to D-III volleyball in 2014
- Springfield College - left EIVA in 2011 due to NCAA Div. III national championship
- Vassar College - moved to NECVA
- SUNY New Paltz - left EIVA in 1999
References
- ^ "EIVA votes to add Charleston to conference beginning in 2016". Off the Block. February 20, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- ^ "Transitioning Scarlet Raiders Join CVC" (Press release). Rutgers–Newark Athletics. March 13, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014.