Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship Tournament

The Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship Tournament was a championship event for NCAA Division III men's volleyball, founded in 1997 and operating through 2011. While the NCAA has sponsored an annual national championship for men's volleyball since 1970 (NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship), programs from all three divisions competed for just four berths in the yearly tournament. Through 2011, no Division III program had earned a berth or been selected to participate in the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship. Molten is the official volleyball of the NCAA championships.

Molten Div. III Tournament logo

The Molten Championship was discontinued after its 2011 edition when the NCAA announced it would start an official Division III championship in 2012.

Tournament results edit

Year Champion Runner-Up Third place Fourth place Score Venue
2011 Nazareth[1] Springfield Carthage Baruch 3-1 Nazareth
2010 Springfield[2] UC Santa Cruz Carthage Nazareth 3-1 Carthage
2009 Juniata Stevens UC Santa Cruz Ramapo ? Ramapo
2008 Springfield Vassar UC Santa Cruz Juniata ? Springfield
2007 Juniata Carthage Springfield Stevens ? Juniata
2006 Juniata UC Santa Cruz Stevens Rivier ? Stevens
2005 Juniata Carthage Stevens Medaille ? Stevens
2004 Juniata Medaille UC Santa Cruz Eastern Mennonite ? Eastern Mennonite
2003 Springfield Juniata La Verne Stevens 3-1 Juniata
2002 Springfield La Verne NYU Lehman 3-2 NYU
2001 Springfield D'Youville Clarke Vassar 3-1 Springfield
2000 UC San Diego NYU D'Youville Stevens 3-0 Stevens
1999 La Verne D'Youville Clarke Juniata ? Clarke
1998 Juniata La Verne Springfield Eastern Mennonite ? Springfield
1997 Springfield New Jersey Tech Juniata College UC San Diego ? Juniata

Tournament Final Match Appearances edit

  • 7 appearances: Juniata (1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
  • 6 appearances: Springfield (1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010)
  • 3 appearances: La Verne (1998, 1999, 2002)
  • 2 appearances:
    • Carthage (2005, 2007)
    • D'Youville (1999, 2001);
    • UC Santa Cruz (2006, 2010)
  • 1 appearance:
    • Nazareth (2011)
    • New Jersey Tech (1997)
    • NYU (2000)
    • Stevens (2009)
    • UC San Diego (2000)
    • Vassar (2008)
    • Medaille (2004)

Tournament Titles edit

  • 6 titles:
    • Juniata (1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
    • Springfield (1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010)
  • 1 title:
    • Nazareth (2011)
    • La Verne (1999)
    • UC San Diego (2000)

Tournament Appearances edit

  • 10 appearances: Juniata (1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
  • 8 appearances: Springfield (1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010)
  • 6 appearances: Stevens (2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
  • 5 appearances: UC Santa Cruz (2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010)
  • 4 appearances:

La Verne (1998, 1999, 2002, 2003)

Carthage (2005, 2007, 2010, 2011)

  • 3 appearances:

D'Youville (1999, 2000, 2001)

  • 2 appearances:

Clarke (1999, 2001)

Eastern Mennonite (1998, 2004)

Medaille (2004, 2005)

Nazareth (2010, 2011)

NYU (2000, 2002)

UC San Diego (1997, 2000)

Vassar (2001, 2008)

  • 1 appearance:

Lehman (2002)

New Jersey Tech (1997)

Ramapo (2009)

Rivier (2006)

Championship Committee edit

In its final season, the Molten Division III Men’s Invitational Volleyball Championship committee consisted of:

Kathy DeBoer (AVCA executive director)
Doug Beal (USA Volleyball chief executive officer)
Ivan Marquez (EIVA Commissioner/EIVA representative)
Bob Newcomb (UC Irvine/at-large representative)
John Speraw (UC Irvine/AVCA board of directors men’s representative)
Jerry Matacotta (NECVA)
Stuart Robinson (SUNY New Paltz athletics director/NECVA)
Dan Harris (Milwaukee School of Engineering athletics director/Midwest-West representative).

See also edit

Notes edit

External links edit