GSAC loses automatic bid

The Great South Athletic Conference is not listed among the approved Pool A conferences for the 2016 NCAA Division III Championship. The NCAA’s number of approved automatic-qualifying conferences will be reduced from 44 in 2015 to 43 in 2016, according to the Championship Committee’s teleconference report.

The GSAC – a recently fluid league comprised of volleyball programs from California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin – had all seven of its teams vie for the conference tournament title in Georgia last season, when first-year GSAC member UC Santa Cruz secured an automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA postseason.

In related news, the first link above also mentions preliminary discussions about possibly eliminating Pool B berths in the future.

-Ricky Nelson