The NCAA Division III men's volleyball tournament is a championship event officially sanctioned by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), the main governing body for U.S. college sports. Open only to schools in

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

of the NCAA, a group of schools that are not allowed to award

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

s, the championship was established in 2012. The tournament would be followed as the newest NCAA championship event by a single all-divisions championship in women's beach volleyball which began in 2016.

History

The idea of a Division III championship was first floated by several figures in the

Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association 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 ...

in the late 1980s, but was long dormant because of NCAA participation rules—50 schools must sponsor a sport before a national championship tournament can be officially sanctioned. The main impetus for growth in Division III volleyball had been an unofficial D-III championship tournament known as the Molten Invitational, started in 1997. In 2010, the required number of programs was reached, leading to the creation of the D-III championship.

Format

The Division III championship began in 2012 with nine teams and has steadily expanded with the growth of D-III men's volleyball. The most recent expansion came for the 2019 season, with the field going from 12 to 14 teams. This differs from the top-level

NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship The NCAA men's volleyball tournament, officially titled the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship, is an annual competition that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in American college men ...

, which involved four teams through the 2013 tournament and expanded to six teams for 2014 and seven for 2018. Like the National Collegiate Championship, the Division III championship is a knockout tournament, with best-of-5-set matches. The current tournament format features six first-round matches, with the winners joining the top two seeds in the quarterfinals. The tournament was not held in 2020 due to

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, and with a significant number of schools opting out of competition in 2021 due to the still-ongoing pandemic, that year's field was reduced to 12 teams from the intended 14.

Champions

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Footnotes

References

{{National Collegiate Athletic Association Volleyball, Men's Volleyball, Men, Div III Men Div III College men's volleyball in the United States Volleyball competitions in the United States

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Recurring sporting events established in 2012

History

Format

Champions

Footnotes

See also

References