Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association

Last updated
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association logo.svg
FormerlyEastern Collegiate Volleyball League (ECVL)
Association NCAA
Founded1971
CommissionerRuss Yurk
Sports fielded
  • Volleyball
    • men's: 1
    • women's: 0
No. of teams6 (7 in 2024–25)
Region Northeast
Official website www.eivavolleyball.com/%20eivavolleyball.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.

Contents

The EIVA Tournament champion receives one of six automatic bids to the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship. The other five automatic bids go to the two other traditional major volleyball conferences, the MIVA (Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) and the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation); the Big West Conference, which in the 2017–18 school year became the first Division I all-sports conference ever to sponsor men's volleyball; and two Division II conferences in Conference Carolinas and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). 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. The tournament expanded to six teams in 2014 when Conference Carolinas was given its automatic bid, seven in 2018 with the addition of the Big West champion, and eight in 2024 with the addition of the SIAC champion. The current lineup consists of the six conference champions and two at-large entries.

Penn State won every conference championship from 1991 through 2017, with the exception of 1998 when Princeton captured the title and 2016 when George Mason won the title. [1] Harvard and Princeton emerged on top in 2018 and 2019, respectively. 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 most recent 2024 season (2023–24 school year), the EIVA consists of six 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) and Princeton University. All are Division I members except for D-II Charleston. The top four teams compete for the EIVA championship. The winner represents the conference in the NCAA Div. I/II national championships.

The most recent change to the EIVA membership came after the 2022 season. Sacred Heart University, St. Francis College (known athletically as St. Francis Brooklyn, from its New York City location), and Saint Francis University (in Pennsylvania) left to join the new men's volleyball league of their full-time home of the Northeast Conference (NEC). This left the EIVA with six members, the minimum needed to maintain its automatic NCAA tournament berth. [2]

The next membership change will be Sacred Heart's return to the EIVA for the spring 2025 season after a two-season absence. The Pioneers' return coincides with the school's departure from the NEC to join the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. [3]

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. [4]

Members

As of the 2023–24 school year, the EIVA has six member teams, five from the NCAA's Division I. The University of Charleston of Division II joined the conference for competition in 2016 after spending the 2015 season as an independent. [5] The most recent change in membership was the departure of the three NEC members for their conference's new men's volleyball league; one of the three, St. Francis Brooklyn, had joined the EIVA only a year earlier. [6] This will be followed in July 2024 by Sacred Heart's return to the EIVA.

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. [7] 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 then 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.

SchoolLocationTeam nicknamePrimary conferenceJoined EIVA [lower-alpha 1]
University of Charleston Charleston, West Virginia Golden Eagles Mountain East
(Division II)		2016
George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia Patriots Atlantic 10 (A-10) 1977
Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts [lower-alpha 2] Crimson Ivy League 1982
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Newark, New Jersey Highlanders America East 1977
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) University Park, Pennsylvania Nittany Lions Big Ten 1972
Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey Tigers Ivy League 1977
  1. ↑ First season of EIVA competition, which takes place in the calendar year after a school formally joins.
  2. ↑ Although most of Harvard's athletic facilities and its athletic administration are in Boston, the volleyball arena is in Cambridge, which also hosts Harvard's overall administration and undergraduate campus.

Future member

SchoolLocationTeam nicknamePrimary conferenceJoining EIVA
Sacred Heart University Fairfield, Connecticut Pioneers MAAC (from July 2024)2024 [lower-alpha 1]
  1. ↑ Sacred Heart had been an EIVA member from 1993 to 2022.

Conference arenas

Future member in gray.

SchoolFacilityCapacity
Charleston H. Bernard Wehrle Sr. Athletic Arena Archived 2017-02-04 at the Wayback Machine 1,551
George Mason Recreation Athletic Complex 1,550
Harvard Malkin Athletic Center 1,000
NJIT Wellness and Events Center (WEC)3,500
Penn State Rec Hall 6,469
Princeton Dillon Gym Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine 1,500
Sacred Heart William H. Pitt Center 2,000

Former members

SchoolLocationTeam nicknameJoined EIVA [lower-alpha 1] Left EIVACurrent men's
volleyball conference
Concordia College Bronxville, New York Clippers 2003— [lower-alpha 2]
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania Warriors 2008— [lower-alpha 3]
Juniata College Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Eagles 2011 Continental Volleyball Conference (D-III)
University of New Haven West Haven, Connecticut Chargers 2008— [lower-alpha 3]
State University of New York at New Paltz (New Paltz) New Paltz, New York Hawks 1999 United Volleyball Conference (D-III)
New York University (NYU) New York, New York Violets 2011 United Volleyball Conference (D-III)
Queens College, City University of New York Queens, New York Knights — [lower-alpha 3]
Sacred Heart University [lower-alpha 4] Fairfield, Connecticut Pioneers 19932022 Northeast Conference
(MAAC in 2024)
Rutgers University–Newark Newark, New Jersey Scarlet Raiders 2014 Continental Volleyball Conference (D-III)
St. Francis College (St. Francis Brooklyn) Brooklyn, New York Terriers 20222022— [lower-alpha 5]
Saint Francis University Loretto, Pennsylvania Red Flash 19772022 Northeast Conference
Southampton College Southampton, New York — [lower-alpha 6]
Springfield College Springfield, Massachusetts Pride 19772011 Division III independent
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, New York Brewers United Volleyball Conference (D-III)
  1. ↑ First season of EIVA competition, which takes place in the calendar year after a school formally joins.
  2. ↑ Dropped men's volleyball in 2003; closed in 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 No longer sponsors men's volleyball.
  4. ↑ Sacred Heart will return to the EIVA in July 2024.
  5. ↑ Athletic program discontinued in 2023.
  6. ↑ Southampton College closed in 2005; it has since become a campus of Stony Brook University.

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References

  1. ↑ "EIVA All-Time Champions". Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  2. ↑ "Northeast Conference Announces Men's Volleyball as 25th Championship Sport" (Press release). Northeast Conference. September 30, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Sacred Heart returning to EIVA family in 2025" (Press release). Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  4. ↑ "EIVA Inaugural Hall of Fame Inductees". Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "EIVA votes to add Charleston to conference beginning in 2016". Off the Block. February 20, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  6. ↑ "St. Francis College Brooklyn Men's Volleyball Accepted into EIVA" (Press release). St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers. May 6, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Transitioning Scarlet Raiders Join CVC" (Press release). Rutgers–Newark Athletics. March 13, 2014. Archived from the original on September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
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