July 17, 2008
Eagles Men's Volleyball Joins NECVA

(Nashua, N.H.) – The Daniel Webster College (DWC) Department of Athletics today announced that the men’s volleyball program was recently granted membership in the prestigious Northeast Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) and will begin varsity play in January 2009. The Eagles will compete in the eight-team New England Division which includes Endicott College, Newbury College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Lesley University, Southern Vermont College, MIT, and Elms College.

“As we have worked to resurrect the men’s volleyball program, joining the NECVA has been a high priority,” said Eagles Head Coach Braden Zamore. “The NECVA is not only the premier collegiate volleyball association in the northeast, but is among the elite associations in all of college volleyball. It’s an honor to be granted an opportunity to face off with so many outstanding NECVA members and we look forward to growing into an annual challenger for both the New England division and NECVA championships.”

The Eagles will play a full 18-match schedule, including 14 conference matches, beginning Saturday, January 31 when they host Wentworth and Southern Vermont in a tri-match. The Eagles close the regular season Tuesday, March 24 at Lesley University. The schedule also includes home matches with Lesley, Endicott, MIT, Elms and Newbury. Road and neutral site foes include MIT, Mount Ida, Lasell, Wentmorth, D’Youville, Newbury, Endicott, Elms and Baruch.

Daniel Webster College will field its first varsity volleyball team in 10 years beginning in January 2009. The College sponsored a team from 1997-99 as part of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

ABOUT THE NECVA:
The North East Collegiate Volleyball Association, the largest known single-sport conference in the United States, will be in its 15th year of competition in 2009 as a leading Division III men's volleyball conference. Founded in 1995 as the Metro Conference, it became known as the NECVA in 1998. Currently comprised of 43 colleges and universities stretching from New Hampshire to Virginia, Albertus Magnus College, Daniel Webster and Emerson College joined the conference for the 2009 campaign, while St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) is an associate member.

The league expanded from four to five divisions in 2009: CUNY (8), GNAC (7), Metro (10), New England (8), and Western (9). Each week, coaches from the five divisions nominate athletes and then vote for the divisional Player and Rookie of the Week awards. The conference sports information office then selects the NECVA Player and Rookie honors from each of these five divisional winners.

The NECVA holds an annual 16-team conference tournament in April with the top two schools in each division and six at-large selections earning berths. The NECVA champion receives one of four automatic bids to the Molten Division III Final Four in April.

More information is available at www.necva.org.