JACKSON – Following Monday afternoon's vote by the National Junior College Athletic Association to move all fall competition to the spring semester, the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges has released its own statement on the status of Fall 2020 athletic competition.

The full statement was released late Monday afternoon from conference headquarters and reads as follows:

"The Region 23 representative to the NJCAA Board of Regents, upon the recommendation of the MACC presidents, voted to abstain from the final vote regarding moving most sports to the spring. While we are very concerned about the health and safety of our student-athletes, personnel, and fans, we believe they are best served by waiting for other conferences and organizations to make a final decision regarding fall sports."

On Monday afternoon, the NJCAA passed a proposal to move nearly all fall competition to the spring semester, excluding Division III women's tennis and cross country. All other fall sports, including football, volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball and women's basketball would begin no earlier than Jan. 1, 2021 under the proposal.

NJCAA Region 23, which makes up community colleges in Mississippi and Louisiana, chose to abstain from voting on the proposal. However, due to the lack of volleyball competition in Region 23, volleyball will have to adhere to the NJCAA guidelines and delay its season until January 2021.

More information will be posted when available on nwccrangers.com and on Twitter (@NWCC_Rangers).