MCVL, U.S.A. -- The Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League announced today that it will expand its membership again. Franklin College, located in Franklin, Ind., will become the 11th member of the MCVL for the 2027 season.
"We're thrilled to join the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League and to provide our men's volleyball program with a competitive, well-aligned conference home," said Lance Marshall, Franklin's Director of Athletics. "The MCVL is filled with institutions that value excellence, growth, and the student-athlete experience, and we're excited for the opportunity to compete, build rivalries, and continue elevating Franklin College men's volleyball."
Franklin becomes the seventh school to be added by the MCVL in the 2020s. Mount Union joined in 2020; Baldwin Wallace, Wabash, and Wittenberg in 2021; Calvin in 2023; and Spalding in 2024. Adrian, Mount St. Joseph, Olivet and Trine all joined prior to that and remain members of the league. "We look forward to a long association with Franklin," said Chuck Yrigoyen, Commissioner of the league. "The MCVL has seen great growth in recent years. That growth and the league's increased competitive stature in Division III men's volleyball make us a rising star in the sport."
The MCVL had 14 members in 2016 and 2017, but next winter will be the largest membership number since those two years. Competitive balance has been a major story in the history of the league, especially over the last few years. Four different MCVL schools have won or shared regular-season and/or tournament championships the last four years.
"First, we want to thank the coaches and administrators for accepting us into the MCVL," Franklin coach Dillon Taylor said. "We are thrilled that our athletes will have the opportunity to compete in an elite conference with other schools from the Midwest. When we founded our program, this was a big step in the process, so we are thrilled to make that a reality next season." The men's volleyball team is in just its second year as a varsity sport.
Franklin College was founded in 1834 and is one of the five-oldest colleges/universities in Indiana. The campus is located just 20 miles south of Indianapolis. The Grizzlies have a very solid athletic program in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, which is the school's multi-sport affiliation. The MCVL is a single-sport conference with its membership from the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (Adrian, Calvin, Olivet and Trine), the Ohio Athletic Conference (Baldwin Wallace and Mount Union), the North Coast Athletic Conference (Wabash and Wittenberg), the Heartland (Mount St. Joseph), and the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Spalding).