Big West announces future conference tournaments for three sports
Dec. 9—The path to the postseason just got a whole lot easier for Cal State Bakersfield.
Following its fall meeting this week, the Big West Conference Board of Directors officially approved and announced Friday the addition of conference tournaments for women's volleyball, baseball and softball, meaning that all 19 sports sponsored by the conference will feature postseason play, possibly as soon as 2025.
As a result, schools that do not finish in first place by the end of the regular season will still have a good chance to qualify for the nationwide NCAA postseason.
"Expanding opportunities for our student-athletes to compete for Big West and NCAA championships is a positive step in improving the overall student-athlete experience in The Big West," said Commissioner Dan Butterly in the conference's press release.
Volleyball is furthest along in the implementation process and will host its first tournament next November at Long Beach State, featuring the top six teams (out of 11). Softball will take one season longer, with a top-six, double-elimination format specified for May 2025 but no other details provided.
Baseball could have to wait longer than that, as the press release simply says its championship could begin "as early as 2025."
Regardless of the exact logistics, the implications could be significant for CSUB's teams, which are still growing into their Big West membership after officially joining in 2020. Under the new rules, an above-average squad like the 2021 CSUB volleyball team, which finished fourth at 11-9 in conference (18-11 overall), could have an opportunity to dethrone perennial power Hawaii and reach the NCAA Tournament.
"It keeps teams engaged, all the way down to the end of the schedule," CSUB Director of Athletics Kyle Conder told The Californian Friday. "I think this is something that we've seen in other sports, like men's and women's soccer, where they're competing for that postseason opportunity all the way down to that final game or match."
Conder added that conference tournaments could help CSUB to harness community support for high-stakes games.
The 10 CSUB teams that have already had the chance to compete in Big West tournaments (two years each of men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, and beach volleyball) have combined for four total victories in those tournaments.
One area of uncertainty is where baseball and softball tournaments will be conducted. While some Big West postseason events, like the basketball tournaments in Henderson, Nev., take place in one location, others, like the soccer playoffs, are played at a variety of conference members' campuses based on who earns home-field advantage.
Conder suggested that "hosting criteria" still need to be created.
"But whether you're talking about a host site for the regular season champion," he said, "or a host site where maybe we can create some enthusiasm in a specific community and everybody knows it's just 'the road to (that location),' we just want to have the best championship experience for our conference, for Cal State Bakersfield, for our student athletes."
As recently as this summer, CSUB Senior Associate Athletics Director Cindy Goodmon, then the interim AD, had expressed support for more postseason opportunities: "For us, we think it would be beneficial to have a conference tournament in volleyball and softball," she told The Californian in May.
Now, with Conder as permanent AD less than a year later, CSUB will hope to reap those benefits.
Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.
