SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Summit League officials announced Wednesday their scheduling plans for the sports of volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer, who each had their regular seasons pushed to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These updated schedules will allow for student-athletes from these sports to compete in a meaningful league schedule in the spring while focusing on the health and safety of all those involved.
The regular seasons in volleyball and women’s soccer will precede a Summit League Championship event in those sports, which will feature the top four teams from the regular season competing for a chance to earn the league’s automatic bid to the subsequent NCAA Championship.
The Summit League Volleyball Championship is slated for The Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and will be held April 2-3, while the Women’s Soccer Championship will be held at Caniglia Field in Omaha, Neb., on April 15-17.
“We are excited to be able to provide these championship experiences for our student-athletes and lock in these dates,” Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple said. “We also appreciate the efforts that were made by the folks that run these two venues to step up in these unprecedented times and make them available for these championship competitions.”
The Joint Council also approved a motion from the men’s soccer coaches to give the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship to the regular-season champion in their sport. A Summit League Men’s Soccer Championship will resume in fall of 2021 to determine the league’s automatic bid.
These plans are subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Volleyball
– 16-match regular season beginning Sunday, Jan. 31 and going through Saturday, March 27.
– The league’s nine members will play a double-round robin format with each team receiving one bye during the spring season. Teams will play the same opponent twice at one site.- A four-team Championship will take place April 2-3 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
– South Dakota, the 2019 regular-season champion, will retain the right to host the 2021 Championship.
Women’s Soccer
– 16-match regular season beginning Friday, Feb. 12 and going through Sunday, April 11.
– The league’s nine members will play a double-round robin format with each team receiving one bye during the spring season. Teams will play the same opponent twice at one site.
– A four-team Championship will take place April 15-17 at Caniglia Field in Omaha, Neb.
– Denver, the 2019 regular-season champion, will retain the right to host the 2021 Championship.
Men’s Soccer
– 10-match regular season starting Saturday, Feb. 13 and going through Saturday, April 10.
– The league’s six men’s soccer members will play a double-round robin format during the spring season with a match at each respective school’s travel partner to open and close the season. In between, teams will play the same opponent twice at one site with three bye weeks and a make-up week built into the schedule.
– The Joint Council agreed to grant the league’s automatic bid to the regular-season champion and forego a Championship in the spring.
– Western Illinois, the 2019 regular-season co-champion, will retain the right to the 2021 Championship.
