Proposal for 3-class volleyball in North Dakota gaining steam, acknowledged by NDHSAA board

FARGO — The dominoes are beginning to fall as a result of North Dakota’s new three-class basketball system which will go into effect this season.

After the change was

approved in February,

the North Dakota High School Activities Association anticipated stakeholders of other sports wanting to follow suit.

Volleyball appears to be first on that list, as the NDHSAA board unanimously approved the acknowledgment of a three-class proposal for the sport at its June 6 meeting.

Ahead of going to the board for consideration, the draft proposal needed at least 60% of support from member schools. That threshold was reached in the days prior to the board meeting.

“The board a couple of nights prior to the meeting received the notification that there were 60 percent of volleyball schools supporting it,” said NDHSAA executive director Matthew Fetsch.

Fetsch noted that the proposal is in its earliest stages and any change would not take effect until the 2024-25 school year.

“It really hasn’t been looked at or vetted yet, but it’s something the board and whatever committees they assign to it will work with throughout the summer and into next fall, and then report back to member schools on what it will look like,” Fetsch said.

The activities association split volleyball into two classes beginning with the 1988-89 school year, five seasons after the NDHSAA sanctioned the sport.

Framework for the proposal is in line with that of three-class basketball, with the largest division — Class AA — comprising schools with enrollments of 650 students or higher. The middle class — Class A — would consist of schools with enrollments of 162 1/2 to 649, while Class B would be made up of schools with enrollments below 162 1/2.

Also in line with the basketball framework are the conditions that public and non-public schools located within a Class AA school district with 100-399 students will be placed in Class A, while public and non-public schools located within a Class AA school district with 400 or more students will be placed in the highest class.

For a minimum of two seasons, teams may choose to participate in a division higher than their enrollment.

Two seasons after the three-class proposal goes into effect, teams will change divisions after their enrollment has been in a different division range for two consecutive years.

Lastly, a reclassification committee will review any petitions from teams to move to a lower class than their enrollment places them — along with a success factor criteria — beginning with the 2025-26 school year.

Class AA would adopt the same format currently in place for Class A, with an East and West region with the top four teams from each advancing to the state tournament.

The new Class A would consist of four regions, with the winner of each region tournament advancing to the state tournament with state qualifying matches between region runner-ups and third-place teams to determine the remaining four state participants.

Lastly, the proposed Class B would be made up of eight districts, with the top four teams from each district qualifying for four region tournaments. The four region tournament winners will advance to state with region runner-ups and third-place teams playing in state-qualifying matches to determine the last four in.

The state tournaments would be played in a combined format with tentative dates set for Nov. 1-3, 2024, at a site to be determined.

More information on the proposal will be presented to the NDHSAA board this fall. Fetsch said this was something the activities association had been expecting.

“I don’t think it’s any surprise,” Fetsch said. “I think many of the previous three-class basketball proposals included volleyball. This past one that was approved did not. But I don’t think anyone is surprised by it.”