| # | School and Nickname | Conference | Location | 2016
W-L |
| 1 | Calvin Knights | MIAA | Grand Rapids, Michigan | 23-0 |
| 2 | Cal Lutheran Regals | SCIAC | Thousand Oaks, California | 21-4 |
| 3 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas | SCIAC | Claremont, California | 19-2 |
| 4 | Texas-Dallas Comets | ASC | Dallas, Texas | 23-1 |
| 5 | Southwestern Pirates | SCAC | Georgetown, Texas | 27-2 |
| 6 | Colorado College Tigers | SCAC | Colorado Springs, Colorado | 24-4 |
| 7 | Wittenberg Tigers | NCAC | Springfield, Ohio | 16-5 |
| 8 | Emory Eagles | UAA | Atlanta, Georgia | 23-5 |
| 9 | Juniata Eagles | Landmark | Huntingdon, Pennsylvania | 20-6 |
| 10 | Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles | WIAC | La Crosse, Wisconsin | 20-3 |
| 11 | Hope Flying Dutch | MIAA | Holland, Michigan | 21-4 |
| 12 | Mary Washington Eagles | CAC | Fredericksburg, Virginia | 25-2 |
| 13 | Eastern Eagles | MAC | St. Davids, Pennsylvania | 23-5 |
| 14 | Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks | WIAC | Whitewater, Wisconsin | 21-6 |
| 15 | Washington-St. Louis Bears | UAA | St. Louis, Missouri | 18-9 |
There are 433 DIII women’s volleyball programs, spread all across the USA, and each school has some great volleyball being played there. Here’s the top 15 teams from the most recent AVCA poll, dated October 25, 2016. I have modified these ratings by adding the Nickname, Conference, and Location for clarification and edification. To see the AVCA poll intact, with all 25 teams, first-place votes, adjusted ranking points, and other neat info, go to the AVCA website:
https://www.avca.org/polls/diii-women/10-25-2016.html.
Also, here’s a full analysis of the DIII conferences in this rating along with their full conference names and the number of teams each conference has in the rating. The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) has the most teams in the poll (three) with Southwestern, Colorado College, and Trinity.
| Conference Abbreviation | Full Name of Conference | Teams in Poll |
| ASC | American Southwest Conference | 1 |
| CAC | Capital Athletic Conference | 1 |
| Landmark | Landmark Conference | 1 |
| MAC | Middle Atlantic Conferences | 1 |
| MIAA | Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association | 2 |
| NCAC | North Coast Athletic Conference | 1 |
| SCAC | Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference | 2 |
| SCIAC | Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | 2 |
| UAA | United Athletic Association | 2 |
| WIAC | Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference | 2 |
What is NCAA Division III, or DIII? Well, straight from the NCAA website we read the following explanation: “Division III institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Division III athletics features student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability and athletic departments are staffed and funded like any other department in the university. Division III athletics departments place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators. The student-athlete’s experience is of paramount concern. Division III athletics encourages participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities available to students, placing primary emphasis on regional in-season and conference competition.”
We are closing in on the DIII Women’s National Volleyball Championship, which is only three weeks away. This event will occur from 11/17/2016 through 11/19/2016 on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, b’gosh!
LET’S GROW VOLLEYBALL!
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