MPSF to play conference semifinals, finals on back-to-back nights

There will be a short turnaround between matches for the two teams that reach the MPSF Tournament championship match next season.

The MPSF coaches at its annual fall meeting voted to play the 2015 conference tournament semifinals and championship match on back-to-back nights, according to the meeting’s minutes published on the MPSF website.

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This modified scheduling format will be a change from recent seasons when teams had one day off between the semifinals and title match. The semifinal matches will now be played on Thursday, April and the championship match on Friday, May 1.

All three of the conference tournament matches will continue to take place on the home court of the team that wins the MPSF regular season championship.

The new MPSF Tournament schedule was developed after the NCAA Tournament selection committee opted to move up its date of unveiling the tournament field from Sunday, May 3 to Saturday, May 2. In addition, the move to a Selection Saturday will now give teams an additional day to travel and prepare for the NCAA Tournament.

The MPSF will be the only conference without a day off between its conference tournament semifinals and championship match. Both the EIVA and MIVA will have one-day off during their conference tournaments before playing their championships.

The winner of the MPSF Tournament will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the six-team NCAA Tournament, which will be played at Stanford next season.