NEAC Accepts Four Associate Members For Men’s Volleyball
GANSEVOORT, N.Y. – The North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) announced the acceptance of four associate members for competition in men's volleyball starting in 2014-15, the conference office announced Thursday morning. Men's volleyball at Wells was added in the 2011-12 athletic season and enters its third season at the varsity level in the spring of 2014.
In 2012-13, Wells competed against five other schools – Lancaster Bible College, SUNY Institute of Technology, Keuka College, Gallaudet University and Cazenovia College. Medaille College, Hilbert College, Penn St.-Altoona and D'Youville College will join the NEAC men's volleyball ranks in 2014-15 with a potential 10th team from Wilson College joining the league in 2015-16.
"We are very excited to bring the men's volleyball programs of these four institutions to the NEAC," stated NEAC Commissioner Candice Murray upon the announcement. Murray went on to add that, in addition to increasing the level of competition in conference play, the increase in teams brings the conference "one step closer" to gaining an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Tournament.
The NCAA requires that a conference have a minimum of seven teams competing in a sport for two years prior to granting them an automatic qualifying bid to the national tournament. With the addition of the four associate members in 2014-15, the NEAC would next be eligible for the NCAA tournament in 2016-17.
Men's Volleyball officially became a NEAC sport in 2012-13 after a five-year hiatus of sponsorship – the sport was discontinued as an officially-sponsored sport following the 2006-07 season due to membership turnover.
In 2013, Wells missed qualifying for the four team NEAC postseason tournament by a single game, sporting a 2-3 record. Freshmen Derek Nipps (Turnersville, N.J.) and J.J. Podczasy (Macungie, Pa.) were each selected to the North Eastern Athletic Conference Second Team All-Conference for their efforts with the second year program, who racked up eight victories against 19 losses (8-19) in overall play.
The Wells men's volleyball opens their season in late January. A full schedule will be released closer to the start of the season. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Wells College athletic department by "liking" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress) and subscribing to our Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/WellsExpress).
