Now that I have collected all the D3 data, let’s look at the baseline stats we previously looked at for D1! My dataset includes all years from 2013-2023, a total of 399 schools in Division 3, with 29,277 unique players making the court. Overall, there are 4,128 team-years and 65,232 player-years.
Let’s look at how the D3 data compares to the D1 data, beginning with some key trends and data patterns we previously looked at for D1: player height, roster construction, and serving.
D1 vs. D3 Athlete Height
First, we’ll look at the average heights in Division 3! The three most common heights are 5’8, 5’9, and 5’10, each of which make up 12.5%-13% of D3 players. The average height in D3 is 5’8, and 50% of all D3 players are between 5’6 and 5’10.
When we compare this to the data on D1 volleyball players, we can see that on average D3 volleyball players are 2-3 inches shorter than those athletes playing in D1.
For D3 setters, the average height is 5’7, with half of all setters between 5’6 and 5’8. This is 3 inches shorter than the average D1 height of 5’10. For outside hitters, the average height is 5’9, and half of all outside hitters in D3 fall between 5’8 and 5’10. This is 3 inches shorter than the average D1 height of 6’0, but it may be less than a 3-inch gap because D3 hitters may be a bit less likely to round up than D1 hitters (there is no sign of “missing 5’11” hitters in D3). As for opposites, the average height is 5’10, and half of all opposites fall between 5’9 and 5’11. This is 2 inches shorter than the average D1 opposite height 6’0.
The average height of a D3 middle blocker is 5’11, with 50% of all middles falling between 5’10 and 6’0. Middle blockers in D1 are, on average, 6’1, so the average D3 middle blocker is two inches shorter than D1 middles. Last but not least, the average height of a libero in Division 3 is 5’5, with half of all the liberos checking in between 5’3 and 5’6. This is 2 inches shorter than the average height of D1 liberos, 5’7.
All in all, Division 3 players are, on average, 2 to 3 inches shorter than their Division 1 counterparts.
D3 Rosters over Time
When we looked at Division 1 rosters from 2013-2023, we saw that there was a increase of roster sizes over time. In Division 1, the average roster size increased by almost 2 players (from 14 to almost 16 players). In D3, however, roster sizes went up by the same amount, but they had more players to start with. Average roster size of a D3 volleyball team went up from 14.8 to 16.8 players from 2013 to 2023.
In D1, we talked about how much of this increase was driven by the “super seniors” who could play due to covid eligibility, but in D3, it does not seem to be driven by 5th-year seniors. Instead, it appears that D3 coaches have decreased the player attrition, especially the attrition from sophomore to junior, and junior to senior year.
In 2013 on an average D3 roster there were 4.0 sophomores, 3.0 juniors, and 2.4 seniors. But in 2023 there were 4.3 sophomores, 3.7 juniors and 3.3 seniors, suggesting that a higher percentage of players are staying on the team for more of their time in college. This is a trend that started before covid, and while 2020 is an outlier, it is a trend that has continued in more recent years.
This means that fewer D3 players are quitting collegiate volleyball during college, and more are finishing their collegiate careers playing volleyball all four years. This is a trend that started before covid, and while 2020 is an outlier, it is a trend that has continued in more recent years. It may be that this general trend is driven by D3 coaches keeping players on their team more engaged and higher levels of player commitment to being part of the team and playing volleyball throughout college.
Serving
Finally, when we looked at serving in Division 1, we noticed that number of service aces (and service errors) per set went up dramatically over the past ten years. In Division 3, that trend is no different. Both divisions have an upwards trend at a similar magnitude (increase of .3 aces per set), but for D3, the baseline was higher in D3 since they get more aces per set than D1 teams do.
In D3, as in D1, there is a strong correlation between how many aces per set and service errors per set teams have, but the overall “best fit line” on the D3 scatterplot is higher than the D1 scatterplot. A team that averages 3 service errors per set in D3 averages 2.75 aces per set, but a team averages 3 service errors per set in D1 only averages 1.75 aces per set. Division 3 servers seem to be able to get more aces and less errors in a set than Division 1 servers, which could suggest that either D3 passers are less consistent, or D3 servers are better than D1 servers relative to their passers.
Overall, a lot of the trends in Division 1 and Division 3 are similar, but the baselines for the trends are different. The average baseline of heights in D3 is 2-3 inches shorter than in D1. In both divisions, we have seen an increase of around 2 roster spots over the past two decades, but D3 rosters started off bigger than D1 rosters and it seems D3 has generally had lower levels of super seniors. For serving, we have seen both divisions become more aggressive with their serving, and the ace-to-error ratio has gone up. With this being said, Division 3 has more aces and less errors than Division 1.
While it is interesting to see that some of the key trends and patterns hold across D1 and D3, it will be interesting to dive deeper into both the Division 1 and Division 3 data in future articles!
Data Notes:
- To be consistent with my D1 dataset, I also exclude D3 schools that either transition divisions or have newly formed teams in the time period.
- My post on how balanced and diversified hitting on volleyball teams reported data for both D3 and D1 teams, and the patterns in the data were mostly fairly similar across the two divisions. However, that’s not to say that statistically the hitting in D1 and D3 doesn’t have other differences. Hitters on average are more terminal in D1 than D3. On average, D1 hitters generate a noticeably higher percentage of kills (and similar percentage of hitting errors) on their swings than D3 hitters.
- While it’d be very interesting to look at D2, NAIA, junior colleges and more, it takes a lot of work to get and clean this data! I’ll probably be focusing on further analyzing the D1 and D3 data I have before trying to gather and analyze data from any other schools.
- Photo Credit: Header photo from Davidson Wildcat Athletics