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It will be another month before it is known whether there will be a Big West men’s volleyball season in 2021.
The Big West announced it will likely wait until late-January to decide if men’s volleyball and the rest of its spring sports will have a conference season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Five Big West schools were ranked in the top seven of the men’s volleyball national media poll and national coaches poll at the time the pandemic abruptly ended the 2020 season. In the Big West’s first two seasons of sponsoring men’s volleyball, conference member Long Beach State has won back-to-back national championships.
The delayed verdict about an upcoming men’s volleyball conference season comes as the Big West opted to cancel women’s volleyball and all other fall sports. The conference had initially planned to move the fall sports to the spring for this school year.
“The board unanimously agreed that the resources and protocols needed to safely and equitably conduct fall, winter and spring sports seasons concurrently was not in line with those priorities nor in the best interests of our student-athletes and coaches,” Big West Commissioner Dan Butterly said in a statement.
The Big West stated it is using the current men’s basketball and women’s basketball seasons as a guide to determine if it can have spring sports like men’s volleyball in 2021.
Three games involving Big West men’s basketball teams have been canceled this month due to coronavirus. In addition, two games featuring Big West women’s basketball teams have been canceled during that same time span.
The conference stated it will continue to monitor all of its medical and safety protocols with men’s and women’s basketball. It also may make adjustments and additional actions as needed based on the latest medical and scientific data related to the pandemic.