College Volleyball Scholarships and Recruiting
How to Get a Volleyball Scholarship?
Earning a volleyball scholarship has a lot do with finding the right college volleyball program. There are hundreds of colleges that offer scholarships so the chances are good that there is a school looking for a player like you, but you have to be proactive, volleyball coaches do not have the resources to scout and find volleyball players. Learn more about how to communicate with coaches the right way and get the opportunities you deserve.
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Getting College Coaches to Watch You Play
Volleyball coaches use large tournaments to go out and watch the players they have already been in contact with. Lots of players ask coaches to come to their games, but few succeed. Set yourself apart from the competition with this strategy.
How the College Volleyball Recruiting Process Works
College Volleyball Recruiting Tips
Success in the volleyball recruiting process relies heavily on gaining the right exposure. Athletes who play club volleyball assume that coaches are watching them at their tournaments, but the reality is that there are too many players at each tournament for coaches to be able to focus on any one person. If you want the opportunities you deserve, here are the steps you need to take.
Making Sure You Meet the Academic Eligibility Requirements
Volleyball coaches want to keep their team GPA high. The only way to show them that you can help them toward this goal is to be well above these basic standards.
How Good do You Have to be?
How tall do you have to be to play college volleyball?
These are the general guidelines for what coaches look for in volleyball players at each position. You will find players that don’t meet these standards at every level, but these are the averages.
Women’s Volleyball. Female Volleyball Scholarships.
| NCAA DI | NCAA DII | NCAA DIII | NAIA | |
| Libero/Defensive Specialist | 5’5″+ | 5’3″+ | 5’2″+ | 5’2″+ |
| Middle Hitter | 6’1″+ | 5’10″+ | 5’10″+ | 5’9″+ |
| Outside Hitter/Right Side | 6’+ | 5’11″+ | 5’9″+ | 5’8″+ |
| Setter | 5’10″+ | 5’9″+ | 5’6″+ | 5’4″+ |
NCAA DI
- All-American
- All-Region
- All-State
- All-League/District
- Club team experience at the national level
NCAA DII
- All-State
- All-League/District
- Club team experience at the national/regional level.
NCAA DIII/NAIA
- All-League/District
- Club team experience.
Men’s Volleyball. Male Volleyball Scholarships
| NCAA DI | NCAA DII | NCAA DIII | |
| Libero/Defensive Specialist | 6’+ | 5’8″+ | 5’8″+ |
| Middle Hitter | 6’6″+ | 6’5″+ | 6’3″+ |
| Outside Hitter/Right Side | 6’4″+ | 6’3″+ | 6’1″+ |
| Setter | 6’3″+ | 6’0″+ | 6’0″+ |
NCAA DI
- All-American
- All-Region
- All-State
- All-League/District
- Club team experience at the national level
How Many Volleyball Scholarships are Available at Each Level?
Volleyball Scholarships for High School Students.
Volleyball can offer some of the best scholarship opportunities if you know where to look. Each division level and school has a different amount of scholarships to offer.
Not all colleges that are eligible to offer scholarships will choose to do so. For example, Ivy League schools choose not to offer athletic scholarships.
Men’s volleyball is an equivalency sport which means all scholarships are not full scholarships. For example, in NCAA DI, men’s volleyball coaches can divide the value of the 4.5 scholarships available to them between as many players as they see fit.
Women’s volleyball is a head count sport in NCAA DI only, which means all scholarships in NCAA DI are full scholarships.
Women’s Volleyball
NCAA DI: 12
NCAA DII: 8
NAIA: 8
Men’s Volleyball
NCAA DI: 4.5
NCAA DII: 4.5
Number of Programs by Division Level
Men’s Volleyball
NCAA DI: 21
NCAA DII: 23
*NCAA DIII: 83
NAIA 32
CCCAA 15
Total 174
Women’s Volleyball
NCAA DI: 330
NCAA DII: 300
*NCAA DIII: 434
NAIA: 219
NJCAA: 330
Total: 1,613
*NCAA Division III schools do not offer athletic scholarships, but do offer other forms of financial aid.
IMPORTANT: NCSA College Recruiting provides a college search tool where you can explore volleyball scholarships by state. What are you waiting for? Start your search today!
What Are the Top Programs in Each Division?
Here is a list of the best Volleyball Colleges.
On any given year, different programs can make a run at a conference or national championship. The following programs have consistently finished near the top and are home to some of the top recruits at their division level.
Women’s Volleyball
What Are the Top Women’s Volleyball Colleges in each Division Programs in Each Division?
The best College Volleyball Teams.
NCAA DI: Nebraska, Stanford, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas, UCLA, Florida, Penn State, Washington, San Diego, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina
NCAA DII: Concordia-St. Paul, Tampa, Nebraska-Kearney, Minnesota Duluth, Wayne State, Palm Beach Atlantic, Western Washington, Lewis, Angelo State, Ferris State, Winona State, Grand Valley State, Southwest Minnesota State, Winona State, Washburn
NCAA DIII: Calvin, Emory, Northwestern-St. Paul, Tufts, Stevens, MIT, Mary Washington, Juniata, Wisconsin-Whitewater, Texas-Dallas, Cal Lutheran, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Gustavus Adolphus, Washington U. in St. Louis, Southwestern Texas
NAIA: Eastern Oregon, Park, Missouri Baptist, Indiana Wesleyan, Carroll, Hastings, Westmont, Grand View, Ottawa, Lindsey Wilson, Georgetown, Viterbo, Oklahoma City, Webber International, Lourdes.
Men’s Volleyball
What Are the Top Men’s Volleyball Colleges/Programs in Each Division?
NCAA DIII: SUNY New Paltz, Rutgers-Newark, Springfield, Carthage, Stevenson, UC Santa Cruz, Kean, Vassar, Nazareth, NYU, Wentworth, MSOE, MIT, Endicott, Mount St. Joseph.
Beach Volleyball Scholarships
From it’s humble beginnings as “Sand Volleyball”, an NCAA emerging sport, Beach Volleyball is now the fastest growing NCAA and NAIA Intercollegiate sport. There are 88 Beach Volleyball programs available at 4 year colleges. This number is expected to increase exponentially over the next few years. Beach Volleyball is also the fastest growing, high school female sport, in the USA.
The NCAA offers 6 scholarships per team at the D1 level and 5 at D2. These are equivalency scholarships which means that the Beach Volleyball coach can divide the scholarships between a larger number of athletes. NOTE: If a college does not offer Indoor Women’s Volleyball as a sport then the scholarship limit for Beach Volleyball increases to 8.
The number of scholarships offered by the NAIA varies by college. Click here for more information and Beach Volleyball Scholarship Recruiting tips.
IMPORTANT: NAIA Rule Changes. You must now register with the NAIA Clearinghouse.
Attending a college volleyball summer camp could be the best recruiting move you ever make.
Find opportunities for athletic scholarships and get connected to college coaches.