The Divisions I, II and III Women's Volleyball Committees made several recommendations regarding scoring formats and championship bracket issues at their recent meetings.

The Division I committee, meeting February 5-8 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, recommended a scoring format for the 2001 championship that features a best three-out-of-five format that uses rally scoring to 30 points in games one through four and to 15 in the deciding fifth game. All games still must be decided by two points.

With the new format, the committee sees the increased potential for captivating more players and fans, and a higher level of intensity from start to finish. Also, the change would provide a consistent format across all levels of play (that is, juniors, NCAA men's and international competition).

The committee emphasized that, in addition to the scoring format change, effective institutional marketing and promotions would play a critical role in the growth of the sport, as would finding new ways to bring the championship to a larger audience.

The television audience that viewed the 2000 championship certainly was larger, as ratings were twice what they were in 1999. The championship game was aired live and was viewed by 344,000 households for an audience of roughly 2.5 million viewers. That ranked third among all televised fall NCAA championships for 2000.

In other championship issues, the committee voted to prevent teams from having to play at a particular first-round site in back-to-back years in an effort to reduce hardship on the part of student-athletes having to travel great distances for early round play in consecutive years.

In other action, the committee:

Reviewed and maintained the current criteria used to select teams for the championship

Discussed the possibility of establishing predetermined regional sites to increase exposure and attendance.

Discussed possible monikers for the championship since the term "Final Four" can be used only for the Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships.

Recommended committee member Lisa Love, associate athletics director at the University of Southern California, as chair to replace Brenda Weare.

Divisions II and III

The committee spent considerable time reviewing and discussing the success in moving the championship back to a campus site. The 2000 event produced a Division II volleyball championship attendance record. The committee also received positive feedback from participating student-athletes with regard to the improved championship atmosphere. In the future, the committee will attempt to rotate the finals site as much as possible as long as the criteria are relatively equal.

A comparison of results against current top-10 regionally ranked teams within respective region.

Significant losses in the region to teams with current overall records below .500.

In Division III, the committee is seeking a bracket expansion from 48 to 64 teams for the championship. The recommendation came during the committee's February 5-9 meeting in Indianapolis.

The proposed expansion would increase the number of teams in the championship from each of the eight regional sites by two. The committee feels the expansion would ensure access for other teams displaced in the selection process by automatic qualifiers. If approved, the plan would likely take effect for the 2003 championship.

Regarding automatic qualifiers, the committee will forward a recommendation to the Division III Championships Committee to increase the total number of automatic-qualifying conferences from 33 to 34. Also, the committee will recommend to the Division III Championships Committee that members of qualifying conferences (Pool A) that decline automatic qualification be placed in Pool C for selection consideration.

NAGWS gives approval to rally-scoring format

The new format, already used for NCAA men's volleyball, calls for a best three-out-of-five format that uses rally scoring to 30 points in games one through four and to 15 in the deciding game. All games still must be won by two points.

The use of rally scoring for the 2001 NCAA Divisions I, II and III Women's Volleyball Championships must be approved by the division-specific championships committees at their summer meetings.

Other significant rules changes set to take effect for the 2001 season include allowing the let serve, one toss per serve in eight seconds with no re-serve and no serving between games. Both teams' lineup sheets must be turned in immediately after the timed warm-up period. Also, the international pursuit rule was passed as an experimental rule. The rule allows for a ball that has passed completely beyond the centerline outside the antenna to be retrieved if it is returned to that team's playing area outside the antenna.