1. History
    Membership timeline 

2. Members

3. MIVA in the NCAA tournament

4. References

5. External links

The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. The conference footprint is centered in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Missouri in the west to Ohio in the east. Many of the conference's schools also participate in the similarly named Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association in men's volleyball at the club level.

The MIVA Tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship, which now consists of seven teams playing in a single-elimination format to determine the national champion. The two other pre-2017 major volleyball conferences, the EIVA (Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) and the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), also send their league tournament champions to the tournament, as do Conference Carolinas (since the 2014 season) and the Big West Conference (from the 2018 season forward).

History

On February 4, 1961 the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Conference, the nation's first men's college volleyball league, was started in Lansing, Michigan by representatives of Ball State University, Detroit Institute of Technology, Earlham College, George Williams College, Lansing College, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, and Wittenberg College. The league came about largely through the efforts of Jim Coleman of Wittenberg College and Don Shondell of Ball State University. The league name was later changed to the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA). Over the years, more than forty schools from Divisions I, II, and III, as well as a couple of junior colleges, have participated as members of the MIVA. The current membership is made up of four D-I (including two charter members) and four D-II institutions.^[1]

Three MIVA teams have won the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship, although only two are officially recognized by the NCAA. Lewis' 2003 title was later vacated by the school due to player eligibility issues, and the NCAA no longer recognizes the title. Loyola won the national championship in both 2014 and 2015, and Ohio State won the title in 2011, 2016, and 2017.^[2]

Membership timeline

         id:line     value:pink         id:bg       value:white

  bar:1  color:red from:1961 till:end text:Ball State (1961–present)  bar:2  color:red from:1961 till:end text:Ohio State (1961–present)  bar:3  color:red from:1961 till:1963 text:DIT (1961–1962)  bar:4  color:red from:1961 till:1986 text:Earlham (1961–1985)  bar:5  color:red from:1961 till:1986 text:George Williams (1961–1985)  bar:6  color:red from:1961 till:1963 text:Michigan State (1961–1962, 1967–1970)  bar:6  color:red from:1967 till:1971 text:  bar:7  color:red from:1961 till:1963 text:Wittenberg (1961–1962)  bar:8  color:red from:1962 till:1969 text:Kentucky (1962–1968)  bar:9  color:red from:1962 till:1964 text:Lansing C.C. (1962–1963)  bar:10 color:red from:1962 till:1963 text:Calvin (1962, 1970)  bar:10 color:red from:1970 till:1971 text:  bar:11 color:red from:1962 till:1974 text:Indiana Tech (1962–1973)  bar:12 color:red from:1965 till:1966 text:Louisville (1965)  bar:13 color:red from:1965 till:1970 text:Indiana (1965–1969, 1973–1979)  bar:13 color:red from:1973 till:1980 text:  bar:14 color:red from:1965 till:1971 text:Toledo (1965–1970, 1981–1982)  bar:14 color:red from:1981 till:1983 text:  bar:15 color:red from:1966 till:1967 text:Southern Illinois (1966)  bar:16 color:red from:1967 till:1969 text:Valparaiso (1967–1968)    bar:17 color:red from:1967 till:1971 text:UIC (1967–1970)  bar:18 color:red from:1969 till:1976 text:Purdue (1969–1975, 1982–1986)  bar:18 color:red from:1982 till:1987 text:  bar:19 color:red from:1969 till:1970 text:Cincinnati (1969, 1980–1982)  bar:19 color:red from:1980 till:1983 text:  bar:20 color:red from:1970 till:1971 text:Michigan (1970, 1975, 1982–1986)  bar:20 color:red from:1975 till:1976 text:  bar:20 color:red from:1982 till:1987 text:  bar:21 color:red from:1970 till:1971 text:Anderson (1970)  bar:22 color:red from:1970 till:1986 text:Kellogg C.C. (1970–1985)  bar:23 color:red from:1971 till:1986 text:Bowling Green (1971–1985)  bar:24 color:red from:1978 till:1980 text:Wright State (1978–1979)  bar:25 color:red from:1979 till:1981 text:Wisconsin (1979–1980)  bar:26 color:red from:1981 till:end text:Purdue Fort Wayne (1981–present)  bar:27 color:red from:1983 till:1989 text:Notre Dame (1983–1988)  bar:28 color:red from:1984 till:1985 text:Wooster (1984)  bar:29 color:red from:1986 till:1987 text:Hardin–Simmons (1986)  bar:30 color:red from:1987 till:1991 text:Graceland (1987–1990)  bar:31 color:red from:1991 till:1998 text:UWM (1991–1997)  bar:32 color:red from:1994 till:end text:Lewis (1994–present)  bar:33 color:red from:1994 till:end text:Quincy (1994–present)  bar:34 color:red from:1995 till:1998 text:Thomas More (1995–1997)  bar:35 color:red from:1996 till:end text:Loyola-Chicago (1996–present)  bar:36 color:red from:1997 till:2009 text:Mercyhurst (1997–2008)  bar:37 color:red from:1998 till:2008 text:Clarke (1998–2007)  bar:38 color:red from:2001 till:2006 text:Findlay (2001–2005)  bar:39 color:red from:2005 till:2008 shift:(-110,0) text:Carthage (2005–2007)  bar:40 color:red from:2005 till:2008 shift:(-100,0) text:MSOE (2005–2007)  bar:41 color:red from:2006 till:2008 shift:(-130,0) text:Central State (2006–2007)  bar:42 color:red from:2010 till:2017 shift:(-155,0) text:Grand Canyon (2010–2017)  bar:43 color:red from:2013 till:end shift:(-155,0) text:Lindenwood (2013–present)  bar:44 color:red from:2015 till:end shift:(-160,0) text:McKendree (2015–present)

Members

The MIVA comprises eight teams from the NCAA's Division I and Division II.

The most recent change in MIVA membership was in 2017, when Grand Canyon left the MIVA for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.^[3]

One current MIVA member changed its institutional and athletic identity after the 2018 men's volleyball season. Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), a joint venture between the Indiana University and Purdue University systems, was dissolved at the end of the 2017–18 school year. IPFW's academic programs in health sciences now operate as Indiana University Fort Wayne, and all other academic programs transferred to Purdue as Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW). The athletic program was inherited solely by PFW. Shortly before the split took effect, PFW announced that the athletic program, previously known as the Fort Wayne Mastodons, would become the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons.^[4]

MIVA in the NCAA tournament

Until 2014, the NCAA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship was a Final Four only tournament with the champions of three conferences (EIVA, MIVA, and MPSF) receiving automatic bids and one team getting an at-large bid. In 2014, the tournament expanded to include the champion of the Division II Conference Carolinas and a second at-large team. The tournament expanded to seven teams for 2018 with the addition of the Big West Conference champion.