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Another NCAA Division I school from the Northeast is adding men’s volleyball.
Fairleigh Dickinson announced Wednesday that it received a $200,000 grant from First Point Volleyball to start a men’s volleyball program beginning in the 2022 season.
Fairleigh Dickinson is a private university with a 2,500 student enrollment located in Teaneck, New Jersey. The school’s athletics department is a member of the Northeast Conference, which includes fellow schools with men’s volleyball programs Saint Francis, St. Francis Brooklyn and Sacred Heart.
“I would like to thank [Fairleigh Dickinson] President Chris Capuano and the Board of Trustees for their leadership and belief in our strategic vision. Additionally, today would not be possible without the support from the First Point Volleyball Foundation,” Bradford Hurlbut said in a statement. “”We look forward to competing against our NEC peers who sponsor men’s volleyball.”
This is the second NEC school to add a men’s volleyball program in recent years. St. Francis Brooklyn played its inaugural season in 2020 and is slated to join the EIVA in 2022.
Hurlbut also said Fairleigh Dickinson will submit an application to join the EIVA.
The EIVA is the oldest college men’s volleyball conference on the East Coast and has one of the five automatic bids to the seven-team NCAA Tournament. The conference in 2022 is already slated to have nine teams, including the three NEC schools and the five other NCAA Division I programs.
Men’s volleyball is the first varsity sport that Fairleigh Dickson has added since starting a women’s golf team in 2006.
Along with unveiling its sponsorship of the sport, Fairleigh Dickinson announced Wednesday it will immediately begin a nationwide search for the program’s inaugural head coach.
Fairleigh Dickinson is the ninth school in recent years to receive a grant from First Point Volleyball to start a NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball program. The organization has awarded grants to St. Francis Brooklyn and seven historically black colleges and universities.