NEW 8 volleyball
competitions began during the 1986-1987 regular season, but the Conference
did not begin tournament play until 1987-1988. MIT was declared the first
Conference champion based on regular season round robin play. The Engineers
repeated the following year defeating Smith to win the tournament at home.
Smith College took the 1988-1989 championship, defeating the Engineers at
Wellesley. MIT regained the NEW 8 crown from Smith at Babson in 1989-1990,
and repeated in 1990-1991 at Smith with a win over Mount Holyoke in the
final. Wellesley captured the 1991-1992 crown at Babson College. Brandeis
was supposed to host the championship, but construction of Brandeis' new
facility caused a switch in the site of the tourney. Wheaton captured the
title in 1992-1993 at MIT with a straight set win over Wellesley, and Wheaton
repeated in 1993-1994 upsetting MIT at WPI. A "three-peat" was achieved
in 1994-1995 as Wheaton breezed through the tournament with three, 3-0 wins,
the last coming over Smith in the final at Mount Holyoke. The year 1995-1996
saw Clark University replace Brandeis as the eighth member of the conference.
That same year was when Wellesley began their title run by winning the last
three championships under the NEW 8 Conference umbrella. Their first came
at Wheaton with a 3-0 win against Smith. In 1996-1997 at Clark they defeated
the Pioneers again for the title, this time by a match result of 3-1. Mount
Holyoke was the host in 1997-1998 and Wellesley continued their dominance
with a 3-0 win over MIT. In 1998-1999 the conference began sponsorship of
men's sports and changed the name of the conference to the New England Women's
and Men's Athletic Conference. The first championship was hosted by Babson
and was won by Wellesley 3-0 over Springfield as they completed an undefeated
season. Wellesley continued to dominate the volleyball championship beating
Springfield 3-1 at Wheaton in 1999-2000. Starting with the 2000-2001 seasons,
the NEWMAC named the winner of the regular season as the conference champion
and used the post season tournament to determine the automatic qualifier
into the NCAA tournament. Wellesley was undefeated during the regular season
becoming NEWMAC champion and successfully defeated Springfield 3-0 at home
to advance to the NCAA tournament. In 2001-2002 Springfield was able to
defeat Wellesley during the regular season, their first conference loss
since 1994, to garner NEWMAC champion honors. However, Wellesley prevailed
in the tournament defeating Springfield on their home court 3-1 to advance
to the NCAA tournament where they eventually finished 4th in Division III.
In 2002, Wellesley earned the top seed for the conference tournament and
won its fifth consecutive NEWMAC title with a dramatic five-game win over
second-seeded MIT, batlling back from an 11-6 deficit to win the final game
16-14. Springfield College dominated in 2003, earning a number one seed
in New England entering NCAA play, and winning the NEWMAC regular season
and tournament championship.
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