The National Collegiate Hockey Conference board of directors denied membership to Minnesota State Mankato and Arizona State, Commissioner Josh Fenton announced Wednesday.

Fenton said the conference's athletic directors unanimously settled on the decision after a six-plus-hour meeting last week in Minneapolis.

The announcement comes after reports that Minnesota State Mankato and new NCAA Division I program Arizona State had applied for NCHC membership. Fenton said he informed both schools of the decision early Wednesday.

"I had individual phone conversations ... with both of those schools simply alluding to the fact that the board of directors' desire is to focus on our current membership at this time and that we'll continue to be attentive to changes that may come in the national landscape of college hockey in the future that could potentially have us reopen or readdress the topic," Fenton said.

The eight-team conference entering its fourth season has been one of the most successful in college hockey. North Dakota won the national championship last season, and 13 teams have qualified for the NCAA tournament since the conference started in 2013-14. In 2014-15, the conference sent six teams, 75 percent of its membership (an NCAA record), to the NCAA tournament.

JASON GONZALEZ

U volleyball team in Puerto Rico

The sixth-ranked Gophers volleyball team will play Friday and Saturday in the Puerto Rico Clasico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, facing No. 14 Texas A&M on Friday and No. 16 Florida State on Saturday.

The trip means Gophers libero Dalianliz Rosado will be competing in front of something of a hometown crowd. She's from Morovis, Puerto Rico.

The Gophers are 1-1, Texas A&M is 2-1 and Florida State 1-0.