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Friday, Sept 12 Match Day!

Scoreboard:

West Schedule:

Willamette takes over the NWC lead!SAA ScoreboardSCAC ScoreboardSCIAC Scoreboard

Matches I’m Watching Nationally (Times are CDT & links provided to schedule or tournament page):

Johns Hopkins vs Ithaca 3 pm – CMU putting on a fun one this weekend. Just one of the matches I’ll be highlighting.

Edgewood vs Wartburg 3 pm – Not an obvious choice. Edgewood’s two loses are to top teams. Wartburg is pretty good. Should be a good match. Edgewood gets Gust Adolphus later in the day in another telling match.

Chris Newport vs Montclair State 3:30 pm – CNU has struggled albeit playing top teams. Montclair State made my Top 25.

Hope vs Chicago 4:30 pm – Oshkosh putting on another great tournament. Chicago is down this year but I think Hope may also be down. This should be a Hope win. Otherwise…

MIT at Carnegie Mellon 5 pm – Show me what you have, MIT.

Northwestern at Trinity 6 pm – And…Trinity putting on a nice tournament, too. NW gets the timeslot when the students can be there.

Colby vs Smith 6 pm – Has Smith figured it out? Win this and they probably get ranked again.

UW-Platteville at Carthage 7 pm – What is UWP? We kind of know what Carthage is. UWP has been a little up and down.

La Verne at UW-Oshkosh 7 pm – Best match of the weekend? Oshkosh has played like the number one team in the nation. La Verne has burped a little water through the nose. Mya Ray was back on last weekend. Two of the best in the nation with her and Samantha Perlberg going at it. Tune in.

Updates:

TCU emptied their bench in the sweep of Rhode Island. I originally thought they were playing Wyoming but that was yesterday. This continues the unsettling trend of me misreading schedules.

In sad news, I can see that Amherst has cancelled their trip to the NYU Tournament. I saw a reason given but would like to confirm before reporting a rumor. I have reached out to a number of teams at the tournament for comment. More to come. If anyone reads from Amherst, please fill me in on the comments or send me an email. (d3vbwest@gmail.com).

Catching up but before I do, I have a birthday party tonight so late updates this evening.

UMHB gets the sweep over Alverno 15, 15, 10. The Cru emptied their bench so let’s give some love to Avery Gray who played one set and finished with 5 assists and 4 digs. Schreiner gets a really nice 5-set win over Methodist. The Monarchs are a tough squad. Jesse Garner had 14 kills on 0.385 hitting for SU.

I saw that Swarthmore beat Misericordia in 4-sets. That a good win for the one-loss Garnets. North Park moves to 7-2 with a win. Rhodes gets the sweep of Dominican. Caroline Short with 9 kills, 4 aces and 7 digs for Rhodes.

Big time result for Whitworth. I didn’t think they had it in them. My apologies. They get the 5-set win over Northwestern utilizing the reverse sweep and extras in the fifth. Lauren Kremer hit 0.409 with 10 kills for the (other) Pirates. Mya Rodriguez with 28 assists. Nicely done. I love Northwestern but I have to root for the west.

St Thomas got the sweep over Minnesota-Morris. Carly Lange with 2 assists, 2 aces and 18 digs for the Celts. Whitewater beat Marian. Not really noteworthy but credit Marian for going up against some of the best out there and taking their lumps. Respect.

Berry with the sweep over LaGrange. Before I look at the box I’m just going to say, Madie Whitehead. Okay. She did great but I’ll go with Lura Underwood in this one for Berry as she delivered 13 kills on 0.400 hitting. You’re still my favorite Madie.

Millsaps is about to sweep Centenary. Ally Baer with the big day there for the Majors. Likewise, McMurry is about to get the sweep over Lyon. Rylie Patterson has been almost perfect in this one.

Southwestern up 1-0 on HPU but HPU leading late in the second. Nick! I’ve been nice to you so far. Don’t make me mad. HPU looks good.

For the third week in a row. Hey Pirates! Get your serves in! 11 service errors in under two sets? Geez. HPU had a set point but we are tied at 25 right now.

SU wins the second set over HPU after being down by 9 points.

Easy set three win for SU as they get the sweep over HPU. Too many errors for HPU. Tatum Ahrens with 7 kills hitting 0.778 and she added 3 aces. She also “only” had 1 service error so I’ll take that. 13 total service errors for Southwestern. Unacceptable granddaughters!

HSU sweeps LeTourneau. Abbi Allen with 6 Total Blocks and 12 kills.

I’ve got the second set of the JHU/Ithaca match on the tube. JHU won set one. Ithaca leader late in set two. Wartburg took the first set from Edgewood but it’s close in the second set. In the CNU match, they take set one after Montclair State had an early (big) lead. Whoa. Whitworth with the set one win over ETBU. What a showing, so far, for Whitworth. They look to be the favorite in the NWC based on their performance today. I will tune in that match once this second set is done.

Ithaca gets the second set 25-23. All tied 1-1.

(Hot) wife just came in with the Whitworth match on. “Where is Whitworth from?” Me – “Washington. Anything else you’d like to ask?” (Hot) Wife – “No. You’ll make fun of me.”

NPI update you’ll only see here. Here are the top 8 through yesterday’s matches:

ETBU takes the second set 25-21. Stats are very even in this one. All tied at 1-1.

Covenant took set three from CMS. CMS leads 2-1. I’ve got that one on the tube for a bit if they would ever start. CNU with an easy set two win over Montclair State. This might be the end of them in my rankings.

Puget Sound gets the sweep over Chapman 14, 16, 16. Erin Fagan with 18 kills hitting 0.533. Still no Raduziner for UPS.

No announcer or score in this CMS match. Ugh. I guess we can see the scoreboard when Covenant is serving.

Switched back over to JHU/Ithaca. 23-21 Ithaca. This one has a score and an announcer! Big block at 23-23 from JHU. Set point for the Blue Jays. Stream is way behind the live stats. Ithaca takes set three for a 2-1 lead. JHU has another set point (on the stream) but it will not go well…and it doesn’t. Remember that Ithaca lost to Juniata 3-1 so an Ithaca win here really globs up my rankings as I don’t have the Bombers ranked this week.

UW-Stout sweeps Caltech. Dang. Dubuque sweeps UW-River Falls to move to 10-0. All 10 wins play in the NPI but from here on out, they can start eliminating their “bad” wins. Wartburg is now up 2-1 over Edgewood. CNU is going to sweep Montclair State with the last two sets not being close. Emory is about to sweep TLU. Wheaton (IL) is killing Aurora. Interesting. I would consider Wheaton for the rankings but they just lost to Concordia Wisconsin.

There is now a score on the CMS/Covenant match. FloSports is listening to me, I guess. CMS with a large lead in the fourth set.

There is not greater offensive play in all of volleyball than the miss hit middle attack. It always hits the floor behind the block. Always.

CMS is going to win. Switching the laptop over to Hope/Chicago. Chicago with a big lead in the first set. Whoa! I see you Thalita Marangon (Chicago). I’ve seen just one of your swings but you need to demand more attacks. Tell them I sent you.

JHU is in trouble. Ithaca getting kicks saves now.

Chicago 25-21. Will we see Hope leave the rankings this week?

One of the better slides I’ve seen this season from Ithaca’s Addison Leadbetter. Hard ball down the line. Close to unstoppable.

JHU is in more trouble.

20-14 Ithaca lead is now a 20-17 lead. JHU has some fight.

23-19 Ithaca is now 23-22.

Match point Ithaca at 24-23 but they don’t get it. 24-24. Match point #2 for Ithaca.

Down goes JHU! Ranking havoc is confirmed! Great job by Ithaca. Great fight by JHU. So, the live stats was ahead of the stream and as we watch the match point, we get a commercial! Come on FloSports! I guess they ended the stream before the delay was done? Now I’m struggling to get to the end. I’ve had 6 commercials so far. And, I’ve failed. I can’t get anything to work for that match now.

Chicago now up 2-0 on Hope. Great defense from Chicago in this one. I have Austin College on the tube. The dropped the first set to Minnesota-Morris but are destroying them in the second 16-3. Yikes.

My interaction is about to end. I’ve got a party to go to. One last thing…ETBU beat Whitworth in 4-sets. Tigers stay unbeaten. Graycee Mosley with 23 kills and 14 digs. She hit 0.415 from the pin. Geez.

Okay one other thing. I really like Polar Bears for a mascot name but I think my absolute favorite is ‘Roos from Austin College. Just my opinion.

I am back. It’s about 10 pm Central time. I have been celebrated. Hopefully something I don’t have to do again for another 10 years. I did see some big results happen but didn’t get to watch any of it. I will have to be selective on my thoughts the rest of the way as I still have to do the Saturday Match Day. Ugh.

CMS won two matches today (Covenant and Puget Sound). Rhodes split their two matches taking the loss against Elmhurst. St Thomas moves to 10-0 with their two wins. I know the Celts read my stuff so let me give love to two that I haven’t before: Jada Stallworth had that awesome kill, 31 assists and 10 digs while Brooke Barnes hit 0.412. Nicely done, ladies.

Salisbury got a 4-set win over Cortland. Good win for them. Wheaton had that nice win earlier but then lost to Lawrence who is 11-2. Their two losses are UW-Eau Claire and Lakeland. Lakeland is 4-6. Dubuque goes to 11-0 with a win over St Olaf. Gustavus Adolphus moves to 8-1. Their only loss is to Southwestern. Edgewood came back to win that Wartburg match in 5-sets. They took a loss to Gust Adolphus later in the night.

Williams moves to 5-0 although the NCAA database counts their win today twice. Scranton took down Middlebury in 4-sets. Middlebury should be one of the better teams in the NE regions this season. Their other loss was to St John Fisher.

Chicago fights off the reverse sweep try by Hope. UW-Stevens Point swept Calvin. That’s not a good look for that conference. Of course, there is always 6-1 Albion!

Stockton gives Eastern their first loss of the year. I wasn’t impressed with the teams Eastern had played to date. Austin struggles with Minnesota-Morris but gets the win. Austin has been up and down this short season so far.

MIT fought off Carnegie Mellon’s reverse sweep to win the fifth set 16-14. The “good” Trinity moves to 5-0 with a win over Regis. CWRU beat Muskingum in 5-sets. That’s a bit surprising based on their start to the year. That will help out the SoCal teams that beat CWRU earlier. Ripples.

For some reason there is no score for the Dallas/Howard Payne match that’s a few hundred miles from where HPU currently is.

Otterbein went to 8-0 with a win over Trine. The “bad” Trinity beat Northwestern in 4-sets. Tough day for NW. Linfield also tried the reverse sweep on Redlands but fell short (17-15). It’s failed reverse sweep day, I guess. (That’s what us writers like to say is foreshadowing and irony.)

I just saw this result. Wittenberg stops the streak! Juniata loses in 5-sets. Wow! Some amazing matches today and I know there is more coming. Total respect to JC. Witt is 4-4 but that win could be huge at the end of the season.

Colby sweeps Smith although each set went extras. Crazy.

Berry beats TLU in 4-sets and Carthage beat UW-Platteville. Ugh. Not sure what is going on with UWP but on a night where everyone losses they decided to join the party. Oh, it was a pretty decisive win for Carthage based on the scores.

Caltech lost in 5-sets to Simpson. Dang!

And then I get to La Verne/Oshkosh. A reverse sweep that worked. La Verne wins in five taking the final set 15-4. The AVCA saw their first, third and fourth ranked teams take losses tonight. Still a number of matches to go but right now it’s between Whitewater and La Verne. Ricky can chime in on this match but it appears the blocking of La Verne was a big factor. They had 9 solos and 14 block assists. The other stats are pretty close. Mya Ray with 17 errors but 24 kills. Lauren Gott hit 0.271 with 17 kills as the “other” outside tonight. Zack Coaston with 7 blocks (4 solos and 6 block assists). Looks like La Verne changed out setters tonight so that’s interesting. Samantha Perlberg had 24 kills and 7 errors so more efficient than Ray although 4 more attempts. Just no one else really stepped up for Oshkosh. The rest combined for 28 kills and 27 errors. That will not get it done.

In the first NWC conference match GFU will need the reverse sweep to get past Willamette. Big statement for Willamette if they can get the win. There are a couple of more matches on going.

Willamette takes over the NWC lead. They are basically telling the conference they will be in the Top 4 this season. Cal Lu with a nice sweep over Covenant. They are now 5-1. PLU beats a non-DIII team in 5-sets. Just finishing up is UCSC and Redlands. UCSC gets their revenge winning in 5-sets.

I’m going to see if I can watch a bit of the Oshkosh/La Verne match before my (hot) wife yells at me. See you tomorrow!

Bonus! Alanna Jones (ULV) had some huge swings in that fourth set. If she gets a ball in her comfort zone, she’ll crush it. Very impressive. ULV won with just 3 kills from Zacky Coaston. I could really tell the block was huge for ULV. So many balls from the pipe for both teams. Fun to watch.

Whoa. Just a handing to in that fifth set. Oshkosh libero took a hard fall. Looked to be okay. Hope all is well tomorrow.

Random Thoughts:

Keeping the format from last week. Nobody complained. I’ll actually start my day in a gym! I’m going to watch a school called TCU play a school called Rhode Island. Neither has an NPI ranking so not sure what is going on there. I guess the Latvians have more matches to find in the NCAA database. Go Frogs! Game is on ESPN+. I’ll be wearing the purple hat.

Let’s look at some of the matches for the teams we follow closely here. The NCAA Scoreboard has HPU playing three matches in two different cities. Impressive. They will actually “only” get Southwestern and St Thomas. Both should be difficult matches for them. The LeTourneau/HSU could be a good one at UMHB. LETU has played a little better than expected this season. ETBU gets Whitworth down at Trinity. I think Whitworth is in for a tough weekend.

In the C2C, I mentioned the CNU/Montclair State match above. Salisbury goes up against Cortland. I think the Guls should win that but Cortland can surprise here. UCSC gets a rematch with Redlands. I was a tad surprised that Redlands won the first match. No surprises here regardless of who wins.

There a lot of teams in the NWC but a number of off this week. The price of not having a lot of funding and being so remote. Whitworth’s other match today is against Northwestern. This may be their best shot at a win this weekend…just not likely. Prove me wrong! Puget Sound and Linfield are at the Cal Lu Tournament. Their match against Chapman will be close. CMS should handle UPS in their other match of the day. Things I realized today…George Fox plays Willamette in the first NWC match of the season! I went ahead and added to the schedules above.

In the SAA we have that NW/Trinity match noted above. There are actually some good matches elsewhere as HPU plays Southwestern, TLU gets Berry and Oglethorpe plays Maryville.

St Thomas is hosting another tournament and will get Minnesota-Morris today. Schreiner will play Methodist, which will be a tough opponent. As my mother always use to say, “Watch out for those Methodists!” TLU will also get Emory today so…yikes. Austin will also play Minnesota-Morris.

The Cal Lu Tournament is on going and most teams are there but the news to me is that Caltech is taking a trip to Minnesota. They get UW-Stout and Simpson today. Let’s go Beavers! CMS will draw Covenant in addition to that Puget Sound match. They should be prepared after playing 3 tough opponents last week. Still, the match of the day is ULV playing at Oshkosh as noted above. Fun!

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