College athletics teams rarely venture outside their divisions when solidifying schedules for the next year. Championship selection criteria usually penalize teams for playing lower divisions, club teams or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) teams.

But in NCAA men's volleyball, where just 81 teams exist across the three divisions, filling the schedule is sometimes more important than who you play.

The University of La Verne knows first-hand the challenges of filling a schedule. As one of just two Division III programs in Division I-dominated California, head coach Jack Coberly said, "Every year is an adventure; most of the time, the schedule is out of my hands."

La Verne has independent status because its regular conference, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, does not sponsor men's volleyball. The school's budget limits many trips east where most Division III teams are. This year, La Verne plays NAIA California Baptist University and Hope International University, along with in-state Division III University of California, Santa Cruz, Division II Mercyhurst College, and Division I teams from both the West and East Coasts.

'Character-builders'

It's a smorgasbord of a schedule that requires flexibility, a willingness to take some tough losses and the ability to sometimes play three consecutive matches.

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is the Division I men's volleyball conference in the west region and a pipeline for many of La Verne's matches. Powerhouses such as the University of Hawaii, Manoa, the University of Southern California and Pepperdine University battle week in and week out in the MPSF.

"Most MPSF teams are committed to keeping us going by giving us matches. They're under no obligation except the largess of their hearts," Coberly said. "The dynamic of playing a tough schedule and being resilient and bouncing back after losses builds character."

In the first week of January, the squad played five matches in seven days. "We're subject to their schedules and try to coordinate with East teams coming to play MPSF teams," Coberly said.

Such goodwill, while appreciated by La Verne, is by no means cause for submission. In early January, the squad downed in-state Division I programs Long Beach State University and the University of the Pacific (California).

For La Verne, beating Division I teams does not produce nearly the euphoria one would imagine, at least not in recent years. "Division I used to view us as a laughable match. Then, in the last few years, we've beaten some of them. Now there's a little more respect," Coberly said.

With that respect, he said, comes a refined mentality where "we really have to start thinking of ourselves as a Division I program or we can't play at the level we do."

UC Santa Cruz has adopted a similar approach. Head coach Jay Hosack said, "It used to be that Division I would schedule us so their 'B' teams could get some playing time. Now we take some games here and there."

Hosack's squad has a slightly different situation from La Verne. UC Santa Cruz is located in northern California, and outside of scheduling matches with Stanford and Pacific (California), it cannot get teams visiting those schools to stay an extra night and play on its court.

"We travel south five or six times to play," Hosack said. To fill those open home dates, he schedules several club teams to play, which he said are "all very strong teams."

Parity across affiliations

The fact that UC Santa Cruz can find comparable skill levels among the three divisions, club level and the NAIA level is a direct result of the limited number of opportunities that exist for men to play collegiately.

There are 22 Division I, 17 Division II and 42 Division III programs for an estimated 1,100 student-athletes. On the high-school level, though, more than 35,000 boys play. With Divisions I and II allowed to offer a maximum of just 4.5 scholarships per men's volleyball team, a talent bottleneck results, and some mid- to high-level volleyball players join Division III programs or club teams. Some talent ventures to the NAIA, where teams do not have a cap on scholarships.

Hosack's squad recently lost to California Baptist. "There are so many good players on that team; they have such a deep bench," he said, adding, "They're as good as any of the Division I teams."

California Baptist coach Wayne White said he can offer eight tuition scholarships, which makes him competitive with NCAA schools. He also seeks out international players. From his perspective, White said he attracts talent to his program because he can offer the best of both worlds.

In addition to giving scholarships, he said, "We play the best teams in the NCAA and we get a chance to win a national (NAIA) championship."

With only one other NAIA team in California, White said he makes the scheduling of NCAA teams his first priority. In just four short years, the program has had its share of wins over top Division I teams.

The parity between some NCAA and NAIA teams shows that two criteria will attract athletes regardless of the perceived level of play: scholarships and the opportunity to play.

Ball State University's Joel Walton said that it has been his experience that the scholarship limitations create a somewhat level playing field among some of the teams in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA), which is made up of Divisions I and II programs.

"With some schools, the only difference (between Divisions I and II) is the size of the school. Lewis University plays at a high level, so does Quincy University. (The similarity in scholarships) makes teams like that very competitive with us," Walton said.

They're competitive with other programs outside the conference, too. On February 1, Division II Lewis surprised Stanford University, ranked No. 2 in Division I, with a 30-24, 32-30, 20-30, 32-34, 15-11 victory.

Walton said some kids he would like to have signed have gone to other teams in the conference because of scholarship limitations.

Additionally, he said when scholarship and opportunity levels are equal, the Division II status of a competitive program can be an advantage over a Division I program when it comes to recruiting.

"Division II recruiting rules allow for open tryouts. A kid can walk up and practice with a team and then make the team. That's an advantage Division I teams don't have," Walton said.

UC Santa Cruz's Hosack said that if a player isn't concerned with scholarship money and wants to play top teams, a program such as his can be attractive.

And La Verne's Coberly said, "We don't get kids who only want to play Division I. But one thing we do well is we find talent and develop it. We can say to a kid 'OK, so you weren't invited to walk on at Southern California, but you can come here and play them.' "

Schedule relief granted

Despite the competition for recruits, a Division I program usually will prevail in obtaining a top player. The selling point is the possibility of winning an NCAA championship. Even though NCAA men's volleyball is national collegiate, only Divisions I and II teams have ever been invited. Currently, the MPSF, MIVA and the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) champions get bids. The NCAA Men's Volleyball Committee awards one at-large bid.

Division III programs aren't holding their collective breath for that bid. Instead, they aim for participation in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Molten Men's Division III Invitational Championship, and they hope that one day, they will have an NCAA championship to call their own.

The EIVA recently submitted a proposal at the NCAA Convention asking for a departure from the requirement that at least 50 institutions sponsor a sport for a championship to be created. The EIVA's proposal sought to reduce that number to at least 40 institutions to pave the way for a Division III Men's Volleyball Championship and Division III Men's Volleyball Committee. The proposal was defeated but will likely reappear.

In the meantime, to address the fact that more Divisions II and III teams are garnering big wins and that Division I teams are scheduling outside the division to fill playing dates and sustain the sport, the committee adjusted championship selection criteria to de-emphasize strength of schedule and distribute weight to other factors.

"We now use all three criteria; one doesn't outweigh the other," said Dick Falls, senior associate athletics director at Ball State and chair of the committee.

He said having a criterion that over-emphasized strength of schedule was a disservice to the entirety of NCAA men's volleyball.

"That didn't grasp the national collegiate concept. It was fairer to everyone involved to change it," he said.

Keeping with that theme of fairness and access to the championship, Falls said he would eventually like to see a bracket expansion from four to six teams. The top two seeds would have a bye.

"With three at-large bids instead of one, there's a possibility some of those other teams can make it," Falls said.

Until that time, La Verne, which won the Molten Invitational in 1999, will strive to win more Molten titles. And it will enjoy the unique opportunities presented through scheduling despite the inevitable challenges.

"I think it's a nice crossover. The Divisions I and II coaches have been fantastic. There's a real sense of community and camaraderie here," Coberly said. "Without them, we wouldn't have a program."