UMAC Announces Plans for Winter, Spring Sports Seasons

Conference play will begin no earlier than January 30th, but teams will be allowed to play non-conference games beginning January 1st.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The UMAC announced Tuesday their plan to move forward with the winter sports season. Conference play will begin no earlier than January 30th, but teams will be allowed to play non-conference games beginning January 1st.

For men’s and women’s basketball, it will be an eight-game regular season schedule with all teams taking part in the conference tournament, which will begin on March 1st. Another big change will be that no doubleheaders will take place as men’s and women’s teams will play at opposite sites. But local coaches agree the timing of the announcement was great for the teams.

“Yeah it’s a huge relief. We can plan for the holidays. We can plan for a return in early January. I think it naturally gives some positivity for people to go into the holidays with and share with their families,” UWS men’s basketball coach Greg Polkowski said.

“Kids are resilient. They will roll with the punches. So to have some good news heading into the holiday break, especially for our senior Jarod, that’s a positive sign. We’re excited about it and we’re ready to go,” said CSS men’s basketball coach Dave Staniger.

As for the indoor track and field season, the UMAC says they will announce more details on their schedule later next month. The UMAC championships will most likely be hosted by several schools within the conference.

The UMAC also released information regarding the status of the fall sports that were moved to the spring season. Volleyball will begin conference play on March 6th and a nine-team conference tournament will also take place. Men’s and women’s soccer will begin on April 3rd and football will start the following week. A UMAC conference championship for cross country will not take place and any competitions will be at the schools’ discretion.

As for the traditional spring sports seasons, men’s and women’s tennis will be allowed to begin on January 30th, while baseball and softball will begin conference play on April 1st.