Conference tournaments are not the institution in college volleyball that they are in college basketball. Some conferences use them to hand out their automatic bids, but others, including some very prominent conferences, don't. Here's a quick rundown.
Only six of the nine America East schools sponsor volleyball, though they also add Big East member Providence to form a seven-team league. Its top four teams have a mini-tournament, 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3.
Much more misleadingly named than the Big Ten or the Big 12, this conference has 17 full members. Twelve of them sponsor volleyball, and the top six qualify for the A-10 conference tournament. 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5 while the top two teams get a bye.
The ACC's basketball tournaments are well-known for producing classic matchups, but despite all 12 conference members sponsoring volleyball, there's no tournament in the ACC.
The top six of the ten teams in the A-Sun Conference qualify for their tournament, and it uses the same format as the A-10 tournament.
Only nine of the ten Big 12 members (uhh…yeah) sponsor volleyball. Oklahoma State has found time and money to sponsor women's equestrian, but not volleyball. The mind boggles. There's no conference tournament among the nine that play it.
Over in the 14-team Big East, it's pretty simple. The top eight teams make the conference tournament, where 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, and so on, in a direct bracket. Winner take all.
All 11 Big Sky members sponsor volleyball. The top six in the regular season advance to the conference tournament, where the top two receive a first-round bye.
Ten of the Big South's 12 member institutions sponsor volleyball. The top eight play in an eight team direct bracket to determine their automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.
When your entire season carries the weight of a postseason tournament, and it's pretty entrenched who's a tournament-caliber team and who isn't, there's really no need for a conference tournament. And there isn't one in the Big Ten.
Does Hawaii need more matches against squishy competition to bloat their record? No. No, they do not. No conference tourney in the Big West.
All nine schools in the Colonial Athletic Association have volleyball programs. The top six at year's end square off in the CAA tournament, with the top two getting first-round byes.
100 percent volleyball participation from the twelve member institutions in Conference USA. The top eight qualify for the conference tournament, which is a simple direct bracket.
The top six teams in the nine-team Horizon League make their conference tournament. Same format as most leagues with a six-team tournament, with the top two getting byes, but the Horizon League website specifies that #1 plays the lowest remaining seed (rather than the 4/5 winner) and #2 plays the highest remaining seed (rather than the 3/6 winner). Might be like that for the others, too, I don't know.
The Ivy League does not conduct postseason tournaments in any sport. They are the only current league that does not do so for men's or women's basketball, but as you can see they have plenty of peers in the case of women's volleyball.
The "No my A key isn't sticking" MAAC conducts a quick, simple conference tournament. Despite all 10 member schools fielding the sport, their tournament involves just four of them, playing three matches to decide the league's automatic bid.
The 10-team MAC sends just two schools home without playing in the conference tournament. Theirs is an 8-team direct bracket.
The MEAC is actually pretty robust for volleyball. They have 13 teams in their conference, and they all sponsor volleyball. The 13 are split into North and South divisions, and the top four teams from each division make the tournament. #1 North plays #4 South, #1 South plays #4 North, and the two 2's and 3's similarly match up. No byes — it's an eight-team direct bracket.
The Missouri Valley Conference, easily the strongest mid-major on a yearly basis for college volleyball (the West Coast Conference is having a stellar year this year, but it probably won't run over to next year), invites their top six of ten teams to a conference tournament. You know the format by now — byes for the top two.
All nine Mountain West schools play volleyball. Which means they've all got an equal chance at the beginning of the year to get the automatic bid; there's no conference tournament.
Nine of the Northeast Conference's 12 schools sponsor volleyball, but only four figure into their conference tournament. It's a simple two-day, three-match direct 'bracket.'
Eight OVC teams (all 12 play volleyball) make the conference tournament. The conference is set up into divisions like the MEAC, and their tournament is organized the same way.
There's no postseason tournament in the Pac-12, and I think that's a real shame. I suppose the same facts apply as I said for the Big Ten above, but really, for both conferences, having a team be flame-tested by bettering all the others in the league in a tournament? What better way to prep someone for a run at the national championship?
There's eight teams in the Patriot League, so they could in theory invite all of them to their conference tournament (there are leagues that do that for basketball). But instead, they have a quickie tournament with the top four.
Another large school to excoriate for not offering volleyball, as Vanderbilt indeed does not. But they don't miss out on a conference tournament — there isn't one in the SEC.
The Southern Conference is divided into North and South divisions, and their eight-team tournament is organized just like the MEAC's.
In the Southland Conference, the top eight teams from ten overall qualify. It's a simple direct bracket tournament. 
This is gonna sound mildly racist, but are there any sports the SWAC is actually anything close to good at? Their likely champion Jackson State is the only team in the league over .500, and their RPI is in the 200's. They're also inevitably in one of the 'play-in' games in the NCAA basketball tournament. Anyway, theirs is an eight-team tournament, matching teams up in relative strength from the East and West divisions like the other leagues that have multiple divisions.
It's just a four-team mini-tourney in the Summit League. Blink and you'd miss it.
How sunny! The Sun Belt has 11 teams split into two divisions, but they actually just take the top eight at-large for an 8-team direct bracket. It wouldn't matter how they fielded their tournament, anyway; it's Western Kentucky's world, the other teams are just living in it.
Despite being one of volleyball's better conferences, there's no postseason tournament in the WCC.
Lastly, the ten-team WAC. Its top eight teams qualify for a simple direct bracket tournament.
So of the 31 conferences, that's 22 with conference tournaments and 9 without. In the conferences that don't have them, regular season play runs right up until a few days before Selection Sunday, but it's hard to say what's the cause and what's the effect. These teams do tend to play longer schedules (including various preseason invitationals), so they may feel they need that time to fit in suitable regular season conference play.
I like conference tournaments, but I can see why some people don't. They do put a disproportionate emphasis on two or three days as opposed to the entire season, and there's no NIT to fall back on in volleyball. So one bad day really can ruin a season. But it is exciting as a fan, isn't it? I know I'd go to one of these events if I lived near one.
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