The Continental Volleyball Conference will be well - represented in the first NCAA Division III men’s volleyball championship with two conference teams making the field of nine. UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (17-6, 7-1 CVC) received the conference automatic bid, while the Carthage College Red Men (27-5, 7-1 CVC) received one of three at-large bids in the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship when the nine-team field was announced on Sunday night, April 15.

The Championship opens on Saturday, April 21 with a 7 p.m. (all times EDT) play-in match between Baruch College (23-14) and Elms College (25-10). That winner advances to play Springfield (30-5) in a 12:30 p.m. quarterfinal contest on April 27. All four quarterfinal matches will be played on Friday, April 27. On the same side of the bracket, Kean University (25-10) takes on Hunter College (25-8) at 2:30 p.m.

Both CVC teams are on the same side of the bracket, as UC Santa Cruz faces Rivier College (26-8) at 5:30 p.m. Carthage will have a rematch against Nazareth College (27-8) in a 7:30 p.m., EDT quarterfinal match on Friday, April 27 at Springfield College's Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass.

The championship continues with two semifinal matches on Saturday, April 28 at 4 and 6 p.m. and the championship match on Sunday, April 29 at 4 p.m.

UC Santa Cruz won the title match of the Continental Volleyball Conference Tournament on Saturday, April 14, 3-0, over Carthage at Thiel College's Beeghly Gymnasium in Greenville, Pa. The Banana Slugs' winning set scores over the Red Men were 25-18, 25-23 and 29-27. With the win, UC-Santa Cruz gains the league's automatic qualifier to the national championship.

Springfield College was selected to host the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in 2012 at Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass., and the Stevens Institute of Technology will host the 2013 championship at its Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. Both Springfield and Stevens hosted the Molten Championship three times since that tournament was formed in 1997 to give Division III men's volleyball sponsors a post-season experience. Division III formally adopted the NCAA men's volleyball championship as the association's 89th championship at the 2011 convention. The NCAA has sponsored a National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship (all divisions) since 1970, but sponsorship of men's volleyball in Division III recently eclipsed the 50 institutions required for a single division to conduct its own championship.

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