The Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) is an intercollegiate men's volleyball conference associated with the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...

History

The MCVL was founded in March 2014 by an amicable split of the

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 ...

(CVC), which itself had only been created in 2011. The CVC's six

Midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

schools, which had previously formed a CVC division, wished to create a more geographically compact league. The two groups agreed that the CVC's eastern teams would retain the CVC name and branding. Since the CVC retained six members, that group also retained its automatic berth in the Division III national championship. It was also agreed that two Midwestern schools that were adding the sport for 2014–15 (2015 season) and had been announced as incoming CVC members,

Benedictine University Benedictine University is a Private university, private Catholic Colleges in the United States, Catholic university with campuses in Lisle, Illinois, and Mesa, Arizona, United States. It was founded in 1887 by the Benedictine monks of St. Proco ...

and

Loras College Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. Loras offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

, would instead join the new Midwestern league. The next month, the new league was unveiled as the MCVL. In September 2014, two Illinois schools that were adding volleyball in the 2015–16 school year (2016 season),

Greenville College Greenville University is a private university in Greenville, Illinois, United States. It is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church. Established as Greenville College in 1892, the institution was renamed Greenville University in 2017. History ...

(now Greenville University) and

North Central College North Central College is a private college in Naperville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has 73 undergraduate majors of study, 17 minors, 25 graduate programs, and 4 certificate programs offered by four undergradu ...

, were accepted as the league's 9th and 10th members. Three months later, four additional schools—

Adrian College Adrian College is a Private college, private United Methodist Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Adrian, Michigan. The college offers bachelor's degrees in 92 academic majors and programs. The 100 acre (0.40&nbs ...

, Marian University of Wisconsin,

Olivet College The University of Olivet, formerly known as Olivet College, is a private Christian college in Olivet, Michigan, United States. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin Coll ...

, and

Wittenberg University Wittenberg University (officially Wittenberg College) is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students drawn from 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical ...

—were announced as new members for 2015–16. The MCVL was not eligible for an automatic berth in the Division III national championship in its first two seasons (2015 and 2016); during that time, its teams were eligible for at-large berths. In January 2017, the

Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), formerly the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC), is an intercollegiate athletic conference. It participates in the NCAA's Division III and began its first season in the fall of 2006. The N ...

(NACC), the all-sports home of five MCVL members—charter members Benedictine, Dominican University of Illinois, Lakeland College of Wisconsin (now Lakeland University) and the

Milwaukee School of Engineering The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) is a private university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, the university has a primary focus on undergraduate engineering education with additional programs in business, mathem ...

(MSOE), plus 2015 arrival Marian—announced that it would begin sponsoring men's volleyball in the 2018 season. This followed previous announcements that NACC members

Aurora University Aurora University (AU) is a private university in Aurora, Illinois, United States. Established in 1893 as a seminary of the Advent Christian Church, the university has been independent since 1971. Approximately 6,200 students are enrolled in t ...

and

Concordia University Wisconsin Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) is a private Lutheran university in Mequon, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the Concordia University System operated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). The university is organized into ...

would launch varsity men's volleyball in that season, giving the NACC seven men's volleyball schools and an automatic berth in the Division III national championship. As a result, the MCVL initially dropped to nine members for the 2018 season. Before that season, the MCVL returned to 10 members with the addition of Augustana College of Illinois, which was set to begin sponsoring varsity men's volleyball in the 2018 season. Augustana had intended to begin varsity play as an independent with a view toward eventually gaining MCVL membership, but was immediately accepted into the league. Although the MCVL made no official announcement that Augustana would join, it included that school in its 2018 schedule. After the 2018 season, the MCVL lost one member and gained another. Wittenberg left to become a single-sport affiliate in the

Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of New York and Pennsylvani ...

, while

Trine University Trine University is a private university in Angola, Indiana, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, with education centers in Detroit, Phoenix and Reston, Virginia. It was founded in 1884 and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. History "Tri-S ...

resurrected a varsity program that last played in 2002 and joined the MCVL. The MCVL lost half of its 2019 membership when the

College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. CCIW schools have accounted for 50 national championships in ...

(CCIW) added men's volleyball for the 2020 season. Augustana, Carthage, Greenville, Loras, and North Central, along with new programs at North Park and Millikin, began CCIW conference play in 2020. Greenville and Loras were accepted into the CCIW as associate members. This temporarily left the MCVL in danger of eventually losing its automatic bid to the NCAA championship, but the league restored its membership to the six needed to maintain its automatic bid by adding the

University of Mount Union The University of Mount Union is a private liberal arts university in Alliance, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until 2019. It had an enrollment of 2,100 students as of 2023. History ...

, which had spent its inaugural men's volleyball season of 2019 as an independent, for the 2020 season. Three schools became members in advance of the 2021 season. Wittenberg returned to the MCVL after a two-year absence, and the league added the new varsity programs of

Baldwin Wallace University Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio, United States. Established in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin, it merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace ...

and

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832, by a group of Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, the institution was originally named "The Wabash Teachers Seminary an ...

. The league's most recent expansion took place after the 2023 season with the arrival of

Calvin University Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reforme ...

, which started a new varsity men's volleyball program. When the MCVL announced Calvin's arrival, it announced a two-year moratorium on the addition of any further members. Fontbonne announced in March 2024 that it would close after the 2024–25 school year, and later announced it would not field a men's volleyball team in the 2025 season. With the departure of Fontbonne, and the moratorium on new members set to expire after the 2025 season, the MCVL announced that

Spalding University Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. History Spalding University traces its origins to "Nazareth Academy", one of the oldest educational institu ...

would join the conference for the school's first season of varsity men's volleyball in 2026.

Current members

The league was founded with eight members. Six joined for the 2016 season, five left after the 2017 season, and one joined for the 2018 season. The 2019 season saw the conference membership remain at 10, with one departing member replaced by a new school. After the 2019 season five teams left and Mount Union was added, dropping the league to six members for the 2020 season. The league returned to nine members for the 2021 season with the return of Wittenberg and the addition of new programs at Baldwin Wallace and Wabash, and returned to 10 for the 2024 season with the addition of another new program at Calvin. The impending closure of Fontbonne dropped the membership to nine members for 2025, and the addition of Spalding will again return the membership to 10 in 2026. All current, former, and future conference members are private institutions. The conference formed Eastern and Western Divisions for the 2017 season, but reverted to a single-table format following the departure of the five NACC members. Note that because NCAA men's volleyball is a spring sport, the year of joining is the calendar year before the first year of competition, and the year of departure for former members coincides with the final season of MCVL competition.

Future member

Former members

School names and nicknames reflect those used in the final season of MCVL membership.

Championship history

Membership timeline

As noted previously, the year of joining is the calendar year before the first season of competition. DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2014 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:o left:0 bottom:50 top:0 Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:pink from:2014 till:2017 text:

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

(2014–2017) bar:2 color:pink from:2014 till:2019 text:

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

(2014–2019) bar:3 color:pink from:2014 till:2017 text: Dominican (2014–2017) bar:4 color:green from:2014 till:2024 text: Fontbonne (2014–2024) bar:5 color:pink from:2014 till:2017 text: Lakeland (2014–2017) bar:6 color:pink from:2014 till:2019 text: Loras (2014–2019) bar:7 color:green from:2014 till:end text: Mount St. Joseph (2014–present) bar:8 color:pink from:2014 till:2017 text:

MSOE The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) is a private university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, the university has a primary focus on undergraduate engineering education with additional programs in business, mathem ...

(2014–2017) bar:9 color:green from:2015 till:end text:

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

(2015–present) bar:10 color:pink from:2015 till:2019 text: Greenville (2015–2019) bar:11 color:pink from:2015 till:2017 text: Marian (2015–2017) bar:12 color:pink from:2015 till:2019 text: North Central (2015–2019) bar:13 color:green from:2015 till:end text: Olivet (2015–present) bar:14 color:green from:2015 till:2018 text:

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

(2015–2018) bar:14 color:green from:2020 till:end text: (2020-present) bar:15 color:pink from:2017 till:2019 text: Augustana (2017–2019) bar:16 color:green from:2018 till:end text: Trine (2018–present) bar:17 color:green from:2019 till:end text: Mount Union (2019–present) bar:18 color:green from:2020 till:end text: Baldwin Wallace (2020–present) bar:19 color:green from:2020 till:end text: Wabash (2020–present) bar:20 color:green from:2023 till:end text:

Calvin Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvin T ...

(2023–present) bar:21 color:green from:2025 till:end text: Spalding (2025–future) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2014

References

{{Reflist NCAA Division III conferences