The NCAA News - News and FeaturesMarch 2, 1998
I volleyball committee asks for experimentation with formats
Experimental game formats headlined discussions during the Division I Women's Volleyball Committee meeting February 9-12 in Phoenix.
The committee will ask member institutions to try three experimental formats that were developed in cooperation with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.
The three formats are a 14-minute game format, a 50-point game and a game/set format.
The committee is interested in determining if there is a different format that would increase excitement for players, fans and coaches and control the length of the matches.
Member institutions will experiment with the formats, then return surveys to district advisory committee chairs. Survey results will be reviewed next fall, before discussion of the formats during the AVCA convention next December.
Other highlights
Division I Women's Volleyball Committee
February 9-12/Phoenix
The ratings percentage index will be revised for next year, eliminating the penalty for competing against a non-Division I institution. However, results will be reviewed by the committee as part of the overall won-lost record.
Voted to require teams to wear numbered practice jerseys during open practices at the Division I championship finals.
Revised match times for the first and second rounds of the championship. Thursday matches must start between 5 and 6 p.m. and the second match 45 minutes after completion of the first match. Friday matches must start between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. and the second match 45 minutes after. Saturday matches must start between 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday matches must start between 2 and 4 p.m. Host teams will be required to play the second match unless television coverage necessitates a change. Twenty hours must be allocated between the start of the last first-round match and the beginning of the second round.
All Division I conferences will receive automatic qualifications if the championship bracket is expanded to 64 teams, as was recently proposed by the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet. If the bracket remains at 54 teams, then there will be play-in matches, in which the Mid-Eastern Conference will play the Northeast Conference and the Mid-Continent Conference with play the Southwestern Conference. The Patriot League also would gain automatic-qualification privileges.
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