FAQ

How many teams make the NCAA Division-III volleyball tournament?
In 2011, 64 teams. There were 63 teams in 2010 and 62 teams in 2009.

How do teams qualify for the NCAA tournament?
The NCAA selects teams via Pool A, Pool B and Pool C bids.

What’s a Pool A bid?
Those are the automatic qualifiers from conferences with seven or more full NCAA members. Not all conferences award Pool A bids in the same way, although the vast majority are given to conference tournament winners. These are the conferences that will receive Pool A bids (42 total) in 2011:
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
American Southwest Conference
Capital Athletic Conference
Centennial Conference
City University of New York Athletic Conference
College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin
Colonial States Athletic Conference
Commonwealth Coast Conference
Commonwealth Conference
Empire 8
Freedom Conference
Great Northeast Athletic Conference
Great South Athletic Conference
Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Landmark Conference
Little East Conference
Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Midwest Conference
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
New England Collegiate Conference
New England Small College Athletic Conference
New England Women’s and Men’s Athletics Conference
New Jersey Athletic Conference
North Atlantic Conference
North Coast Athletic Conference
North Eastern Athletic Conference
Northern Athletics Conference
Northwest Conference
Ohio Athletic Conference
Old Dominion Athletic Conference
Presidents’ Athletic Conference
Skyline Conference
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
State University of New York Athletic Conference
University Athletic Association
Upper Midwest Conference
USA South Athletic Conference
Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
There were 42 Poll A bids in 2010 and 40 Pool A bids in 2009

What’s a Pool B bid?
Pool B bids are awarded to independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification (Pool A).

What’s a Pool C bid?
Pool C is reserved for institutions from automatic-qualifier (Pool A) conferences that are not their conference’s automatic qualifier and the remaining teams in Pool B.

Exactly how many Pool A, Pool B and Pool C bids are awarded?
In 2011 there will be 42 Pool A bids, two Pool B bids and 20 Pool C bids.
In 2010 there were 42 Pool A bids, two Pool B bids and 19 Pool C bids.
In 2009 there were 40 Pool A bids, 3 Pool B bids and 19 Pool C bids.

How is the NCAA D-III volleyball tournament structured?
In 2011, the 64 selected teams will play in eight regional tournaments (Nov. 11-13) held on D-III campuses. With 64 teams, all eight regionals will have eight teams. The winners of the eight regional tournaments play in the final tournament (Nov. 18-20) at a predetermined site. In 2011 the championship will be at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Missouri, hosted by Washington University and the St. Louis Sports Commission. The 2012 final tournament will be held Nov. 15-17 at DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich., hosted by Hope College.

How are regional tournament hosts determined?
The NCAA selects hosts based on bids submitted by schools. The NCAA considers, in no particular order: regional rankings, geographic locations, submitted budgets, available lodging accomodations, quality and seating capacity of the playing facilities among many other criteria.

What are regional rankings?
NCAA Division-III volleyball is broken down into eight geographic regions (Central, Midwest, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, New England, New York, South, West). Each of those regions has an advisory committee (with different people making them up each year), consisting of head coaches and/or athletic administrators, that helps the NCAA create a ranking for each region. The regional rankings are based on teams’ in-region records, opponent’s winning percentages, head-to-head results and opponent’s opponent’s winning percentages among other factors. Besides the three published regional rankings, the NCAA creates another one after all conference tournaments are completed. The last rankings have traditionally not been available to the public.

What’s the difference between regional rankings and regular Top 25 rankings?
In short, regional rankings are the rankings that matter. The NCAA publishes three regional rankings – one each week – at the end of the season. Those regional rankings help create the official order for the purposes of selection to the NCAA tournament. Top 25 polls have no bearing on NCAA selections.

In what order are Pool A, Pool B and Pool C bids awarded?
Pool A teams are the first in the NCAA tournament. Then the NCAA selects the Pool B teams. After Pool A and Pool B teams are taken away, every other team, regardless of region or whether they are from Pool B or Pool C conferences, is up for consideration. The basis for selection is the final, unpublished regional rankings list. The NCAA begins the Pool C process by selecting the best team in the nation of the ones that didn’t earn a Pool A or a Pool B bid. Eight teams – one team from each region – are up for selection consideration in each round.
Example: The No. 2-ranked team from each region are up for Pool C selection. Say the No. 2 team from Central Region is selected. Then the No. 2 teams from the previous selection round are still up for consideration against the No. 3 team from the Central. Repeat that process until all 64 slots are full, and that’s how the NCAA arrives at the final 64 teams, which are then grouped into the eight regionals based primarily on geographic location and competitive balance.

Where can I get a harder-to-comprehend version of this information?
The NCAA publishes Handbooks for each sport in each division, detailing how champions are determined. The 2011 NCAA Division-III Volleyball Handbook can be found here.

The 2010 NCAA Division-III Volleyball Handbook can be found here.
The 2009 NCAA Division-III Volleyball Handbook can be found here.

-Ricky Nelson