Friday, Nov 1 Match Day!

Updates: Looking at Trinity (CT)…with a win over Colby they would be around 60.22 and in the at-large window.

St Thomas and HSU have kicked off. It’s 1-1 and they just started the third.

HSU up 2-1. Good to see the Live Stats working at St Thomas!

I must admit I was working on my 2025 health insurance and didn’t see the HSU/UST match. I don’t think I missed much? It was just a 5-setter where St Thomas won the 4th by 2 points and then won the 5th 16-14. I’m sure it was pretty boring. Big match for Audrey Cataline who had 24 Points.

At a friend’s house trying to get this Southwestern game going. At least the TLU broadcast team is having more problems then I am. Some very interesting changes by Southwestern to combat Brylie Nedd. 7 straight by TLU has evened this first set up.

25-20 TLU. SU hitting negative.

Schreiner is up 1-0. And the second.

TLU up 2-0. If SU loses they will most likely drop out of the at-large window. SU changes up their lineup.

TLU gets the sweep. Not a clean match from either team but TLU had 8 more kills and double the blocks, which was the difference. Andi Lozano-Lomeli with a nice match for TLU.

Trinity (CT) can’t get it done against Colby. CNU has been a thorn to Salisbury. This probably eliminates their Top 8 chances.

UCSC doing well against the Texas teams tonight. Kelly Ann Greene with 22 Points.

Schreiner gets the sweep. Big win for getting into the conference tournament.

Did La Verne add lights to their gym? It’s a nice improvement.

Shae Delany is in for CMS. La Verne’s offense is fun to watch.

3 straight for ULV to go ahead 24-23.

28-26 La Verne. The start of what should be an amazing match. 23 Points for ULV. 23 Points for CMS.

Had to drive home during set two. CMS up big in this one. Some great defense be played tonight. Saw the first two points of this set and two bad calls went to CMS. Got them off to a good start.

Who names their girls Mya and Mariah? How did you handle this when you got angry at one of them? You’re basically yelling at both of them regardless of who is at fault! In other news, Mya’s “little” sister Mariah is in this game, too. I don’t think I’ve seen her play before but she’s pretty impressive so far. They will need another Ray, however, as CMS takes set two to even up this match.

34 Points for ULV so far. 36 Points for CMS. More errors in that second match.

In other matches: Whitman/Willamette 1-1, Puget Sound 2-0, Whitworth 2-0, GFU/PLU 1-1, Whittier 2-0, Chapman/Oxy 1-1 (!) and CLU/PP 1-1.

Mya Ray cross court is pretty automatic. “All day Mya Ray!” – announcer. (Happy birthday, by the way.)

As La Verne leads in set three, I’ll mention that we watched the first set at a friend’s house. My friend’s (hot) wife (also my friend) is in the fashion industry. So, basically, a fashion expert. She did not like the Leopards jersey’s and the leopard print. My (hot) wife and I both said we actually liked it. It was different and cool. My friend said that I needed to write that a fashion expert didn’t like those jerseys. So, because I got a free steak tonight, there you go.

Puget Sound gets a sweep over Pacific. Mackenzie Leith with 15 Points.

Whitworth gets a sweep over Lewis & Clark. Ella Jimenez had 14 Points and 15 digs.

25-20 La Verne. They are now up 2-1 and will try to close it out.

Whittier with the sweep over Caltech. Riley DeGroot with 13.5 Points.

The rest of the matches are 2-1.

I don’t know Zacky Coaston (ULV) but she carries herself in such a way that I think you’re probably the luckiest person in the world to count her as a friend.

Set four starting with Mya Ray serving. Kind of strange to start one of the best hitters in the country in that position. The pro is that she gives you 4 hitters because she’s a threat anywhere on the court.

CMS is going to win set four as they have a huge lead so this will be going to five.

PLU gets the 3-1 win over George Fox. Shaela Allen-Greggs with 17 Points.

CMS gets the set four win. Weird game in that first set was close but the next three have not been that close. Means set five goes to 30.

Pomona-Pitzer gets the four set win over CLU. They needed that one. Chloe Gill with 16 Points.

Willamette takes down Whitman 3-1. Leina Chu with 47 assists and 14 digs. Dream Takemoto with 29 digs.

CMS gets the turn at 8-4.

Chapman gets their win over Oxy 3-1. Oxy is playing better folks. Gave Chapman a run here. Olivia Sampson and Kaylee Koerth each with 17 kills.

12-8 CMS. Ray on front row. McGovern serving. Bell on front row. Let’s go.

Heavyweight fight here, folks.

CMS with the win. At 12-8 there was a scramble by CMS to get the ball. Great save that brought the ball to libero Dede Carranza who, in front of the 10′ line jumps and punches the ball over. La Verne bench goes nuts. Referee immediately motions that the ball was struck below the net (which it was) and the play continues until CMS wins the point. Kudos to the referee here. Lots of refs would have just blown that dead. You see it a lot with short backrow setters. In all cases for a backrow player, you can attack if the ball is below the net.

Mya Ray had 26 kills in this one but no other Leopard had more than 8. That’s a problem. I think it was just that the CMS defense was really good tonight and kept rallies alive. Digs were 96 to 79 for CMS. On the CMS side, Brook McKee had 21 kills and 17 digs. With the team hitting 0.235 against ULV, you also have to highlight Georgia McGovern who had 52 assists and 14 digs. It’s a shame the SCIAC doesn’t give out the Player of the Week Award to setters.

This was round 2 in this series. There should be a third round in the conference tournament and let’s just hold out hope for a 4th round in the Elite 8.

This win gives CMS (most likely) the regular season title.

Middlebury lost to Amherst tonight. Huge loss for them and they are out of the at-large window. That puts Springfield in and keeps Southwestern in, at least, for another day. Cut line actually dropped. I’ll try to update everything in the morning.

NCAA Scoreboard

Here are the High NPI matches (55+ vs 55+) tonight:

Region X Matches:

Random Thoughts: The ASC is done with conference so a couple their teams are heading to St Thomas for a tournament that also includes UC Santa Cruz. Some nice matches there this weekend.

There are some important matches in the SCAC. McMurry is trying for the 2nd seed in the Blue Division and should get the win against Centenary. Southwestern goes to TLU for their second match of the year. Southwestern sits 2nd while TLU sits 3rd. I think a TLU win gives them the tiebreaker with SU. An SU win pretty much locks down the 2nd seed and keeps their first place dreams alive. Because I’ve looked at the SU at-large chances the most of any team, I can safely say that they probably need to win a split of their two matches this weekend (TLU and ETBU). Two wins would lock down an at-large while losing both probably knocks them out of the picture unless other teams also falter.

The other big SCAC match is Schreiner at Concordia. Schreiner won their first showdown and are a match up with the tiebreaker. A Schreiner win here probably locks up a wild card spot and pretty much eliminates Concordia.

The NWC has a full slate of matches. Only Willamette, I believe, can alter the top 4 of Whitworth, PLU, UPS and George Fox. That makes their Whitman match a must win. George Fox plays at PLU. A win there locks up their tournament spot. At that point everything is about seeding and bragging rights.

The SCIAC also has a full slate. Whittier and Chapman should get wins today and, frankly, need those wins to help with their tournament hopes. Pomona-Pitzer goes to Cal Lutheran. PP just lost to Chapman, which gave the Panthers the leg up for the 5th seed against CLU (1.5 matches up). A CLU win here might be mandatory to get back in the race. A Chapman win with a CLU loss puts it at 2.5 matches with just 4 to go.

I think that’s it. Nothing else important in the region. Darn shame.

Oh, wait. I missed one.

CMS AT LA VERNE!!!!!!

La Verne really didn’t have an issue with CMS the first time on the road but you have to believe CMS will give it everything they can. They sit in first and a win here probably locks up the regular season title and the right to host their matches in the conference tournament. I think both can withstand a loss here and still be in the at-large hunt.

Looking at the out-of-region High NPI matches:

If Trinity (CT) wants a wild card then just beat Colby. It seems like the New England region is moving a lot of teams in and towards the window. This could be another one. CNU/Salisbury won’t hurt either too bad but it probably means Salisbury can’t get a Top 8 seed with a loss. Both Eastern and NYU are near the cut line. Both need the win although NYU needs it more playing in the UAA where they probably will not get the AQ. Tufts/Wesleyan are both probably too far from the cut line but whomever loses is probably out for good. Not listed in the matches is Amherst/Middlebury. Middlebury is near the cut line and needs this win. They are 6+ NPI points higher so the odds say a 1-2% chance for Amherst. Same is true for Carroll/North Central.