Continental Volleyball Conference


The Continental Volleyball Conference is an intercollegiate men's volleyball conference associated with the NCAA's Division III.

History

On April 4, 2011 Gary Williams, Associate Athletic Director of Carthage College announced in Milwaukee the formation of the Continental Volleyball Conference. The league was established as a direct result of the launch of the NCAA Men's Division III Volleyball Championship in the next school year of 2011–12, with the inaugural tournament to take place in April 2012.
With the continued growth of Division III men's volleyball, the CVC announced in March 2014 that it would split into two leagues after the 2014 season. The league's six Eastern members retained the CVC name and branding, while the six Midwestern members, plus two other Midwestern schools that had been announced as incoming CVC members, formed a new men's volleyball conference that was later unveiled as the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. When the split was announced, the eastern members also added Rutgers–Newark, a Division III school which had previously played at the National Collegiate level as a "grandfathered" scholarship-granting program, for the 2015 season.
The conference added the newly launched men's volleyball program of Alvernia as its eighth member for the 2017 season.
Further membership changes were announced in 2016. First, on October 12, the Middle Atlantic Conferences, whose Commonwealth Conference was the all-sports home of charter CVC member Stevenson and new CVC member Alvernia, announced that its Middle Atlantic Conference would begin sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2018 season, leading to the departure of those schools from the CVC. Within a week of this development, the CVC announced that Kean, Neumann, and Southern Virginia would
become new members for the 2018 season, and that Thiel would leave after that same season. Then, on November 21, Ramapo was announced as an incoming member for the 2018 season.
Thiel did not initially announce its future men's volleyball affiliation, but would eventually be revealed as a new affiliate member of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference effective with the 2018–19 school year.
While Thiel left after the 2018 season, the CVC added three new members for the 2019 season, all of which launched new varsity programs at that time. First, in October 2017, Randolph–Macon College was announced as an incoming member. Then, in December of that year, the CVC announced that Elizabethtown College and Immaculata University would also join.
On July 1, 2018 the New Jersey Athletic Conference announced they would add men's volleyball as a sponsored sport. Kean and Rutgers–Newark maintain dual membership in the CVC and NJAC starting in 2018–19. Ramapo College left the CVC and returned to the Skyline Conference; Rampo maintains dual affiliation for men's volleyball in the NJAC and Skyline.
Inaugural member, Cairn departed the conference for the 2019–20 academic year after the university's all-sport conference, the Colonial States Athletic Conference, announced the addition of men's volleyball as a conference sport.

Member schools

Current members

The league currently has 9 full members.
Note that because NCAA men's volleyball is a spring sport, the year of joining is the calendar year before the first season of competition.
InstitutionLocationNicknameFoundedTypeEnrollmentJoinedPrimary
conference
Eastern Mennonite UniversityHarrisonburg, VirginiaRoyals1917Private1,5892011ODAC
Elizabethtown CollegeElizabethtown, PennsylvaniaBlue Jays1899Private1,6362018Landmark
Immaculata UniversityMalvern, PennsylvaniaMighty Macs1920Private2,0002018AEC
Juniata CollegeHuntingdon, PennsylvaniaEagles1876Private1,5932011Landmark
Kean UniversityUnion, New JerseyCougars1855Private16,6332017NJAC
Marymount UniversityArlington, VirginiaSaints1950Private3,6332013CAC
Neumann UniversityAston, PennsylvaniaKnights1965Private2,3372017AEC
Randolph–Macon CollegeAshland, VirginiaYellow Jackets1830Private1,1462018ODAC
Rutgers University–NewarkNewark, New JerseyScarlet Raiders1936Public12,0112014NJAC
Southern Virginia UniversityBuena Vista, VirginiaKnights1867Private1,1062017CAC

Former members

School names and nicknames reflect those in use during the final season each school was a CVC member.
InstitutionLocationNicknameTypeJoinedLeftCurrent
volleyball conference
Alvernia UniversityReading, PennsylvaniaCrusadersPrivate20162017MAC
Cairn UniversityLanghorne, PennsylvaniaCrimson EaglesPrivate20112019CSAC
Carthage CollegeKenosha, WisconsinRedmenPrivate20112014CCIW
Dominican UniversityRiver Forest, IllinoisStarsPrivate20132014NACC
Fontbonne UniversitySt. Louis, MissouriGriffinsPrivate20112014MCVL
Lakeland CollegeSheboygan, WisconsinMuskiesPrivate20132014NACC
Delhi Township, OhioLionsPrivate20112014MCVL
Milwaukee, WisconsinRaidersPrivate20112014NACC
Ramapo CollegeMahwah, New JerseyRoadrunnersPublic20172019NJAC, Skyline
Stevenson UniversityOwings Mills, MarylandMustangsPrivate20112017MAC
Thiel CollegeGreenville, PennsylvaniaTomcatsPrivate20112018AMCC
Santa Cruz, CaliforniaBanana SlugsPublic20112013Independent

In addition to the above schools, two other institutions that were adding men's volleyball for the 2014–15 school year —Benedictine University in Illinois and Loras College in Iowa—had been announced as new CVC members. They never officially joined the CVC, instead uniting with the six Midwestern CVC schools in the MCVL.

Membership timeline

As noted previously, the year of joining is the calendar year before the first season of competition.

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bar:2 color:red from:2011 till:end text:Eastern Mennonite
bar:3 color:red from:2011 till:end text:Juniata
bar:4 color:red from:2011 till:2013 text:UC Santa Cruz
bar:5 color:red from:2011 till:2014 text:Carthage
bar:6 color:red from:2011 till:2014 text:Dominican
bar:7 color:red from:2011 till:2014 text:Fontbonne
bar:8 color:red from:2011 till:2014 text:Lakeland
bar:9 color:red from:2011 till:2012 text:Mount St. Joseph
bar:9 color:red from:2013 till:2014
bar:10 color:red from:2011 till:2014 text:MSOE
bar:11 color:red from:2011 till:2017 text:Stevenson
bar:12 color:red from:2011 till:2018 text:Thiel
bar:13 color:red from:2013 till:end text:Marymount
bar:14 color:red from:2014 till:end text:Rutgers–Newark
bar:15 color:red from:2016 till:2017 text:Alvernia
bar:16 color:red from:2017 till:end text:Kean
bar:17 color:red from:2017 till:end text:Neumann
bar:18 color:red from:2017 till:2019 text:Ramapo
bar:19 color:red from:2017 till:end text:Southern Virginia
bar:20 color:red from:2018 till:end text:Elizabethtown
bar:21 color:red from:2018 till:end text:Immaculata
bar:22 color:red from:2018 till:end text:Randolph–Macon
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Conference Tournament Champions