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Friday, Sept 19 Match Day!

Updates: PP with a big lead over Muskingum in the first set. Good to see Coach Val back on the sidelines. She and her family have been dealing with the loss of her father. Here is hoping his “little girl” gets the win.

PP with the set one win. Second set is close early. Charlotte Sekerka hitting 0.500 with 5 kills so far. Late rush by Muskingum in the second set is stopped by Tene Ariyo kill and then a Natalie Potter ace. PP up 2-0.

Muskingum’s Mackenzie Krous bringing the hammer from the pipe to finish the third set 25-20. PP still leads 2-1.

Still watching the PP match and Savanna Cespedes is setting for them. She has played all four years although she suffered a bad knee injury one year (my memory is bad although I saw it happen). Just reminds me of the toll these student-athletes pay for the privilege to play.

Muskingum leads 23-22 but PP comes back to take the set and get the win 3-1. Tene Ariyo with 21 kills, Paige Mountanos with 13 and Samantha Grabb with 9.

Caltech takes the first set but then drops the next 3. Good day for PP so far as they are up 2-0 on Maryville.

PP gets the old 32-30 set win for the match sweep. Paige Mountanos with 15 kills in this one.

Hope laid the hurt on UCSC in that first set but the next two were close. Hope does get the sweep. Whittier got the sweep over Mary Washington. Statistically, pretty dominate. Mia D’Amato hit 0.471 with 3 aces and 3 total blocks.

CC got the sweep over TLU. Camille Sherrill had 17 kills and hit 0.324 from the pin.

Nationally, Smith beat Swarthmore in 4-sets. William Smith went to 8-1. Their loss is to Gettysburg. Albion went to 10-1 with their loss being to Wittenberg. Kean moved to 9-1. Eastern/Scranton are 1-1 and IWU had an easy first set win against the aforementioned Wittenberg.

Eastern/Scranton are now in a 5th set. IWU with the sweep…again. Ithaca up 1-0 on NYU.

Catching the end of the Eastern match which has them up 11-9. Scranton has beaten some good teams while Eastern has had an easier schedule. This might be Eastern’s best win if they can close it out. (That’s without looking so don’t @ me.) Okay, I love this announcer. He stumbles but he has passion. 11-11. Can we not move the banner hanging down that is covering the court?

Scranton leads 12-11 now for their first lead in set five. I have not brought luck to Eastern. Now, it’s 14-12 Scranton. As far as I can tell, based on my limited viewing of this set, that Scranton will win the national championship. I’ve always had an affinity to Eastern and Northwestern because my daughter went to Southwestern. The directional schools stick together. Meanwhile, back at Scranton, Eastern earns the point and Scranton calls their last timeout. It’s 14-13 with Scranton about to play Match Point 2.

Scranton 15-13 and win 3-2. Sorry Eastern. I take the blame here.

Tuned into Whittier/Mount Union. Whittier up 2-0. Gallaudet has teams playing in the same gym with a screen separating the two matches. This side has the stands. I have no clue where the fans are watching from in the other match. Whittier had a somewhat easy time of it in the first two sets but this set is tough. Lots of defense by both teams.

Whittier picking on a poor passer right now. Just got a couple of easy points to create a gap. Mount Union goes with a 2 person receive and wins the point.

25-19 for the Whittier sweep. They looked good in all faucets in this one. Beware the Poets. Malena The “Goddess” with 13 kills and 11 digs. Mia D’Amato with 2 solos and 3 block assists.

ETBU with an easy set one win over UMHB. Juniata 25-22 over CNU in set one. Williams takes set one over Trinity (CT). Lynchburg and Wesleyan are also up 1-0 in their matches. Wesleyan over Colby would change things up.

Stepping a way for a bit. Use the links.

The Caltech/Simpson scores are really weird. Never seen scores like that recorded (in error). Regardless, Caltech lost.

ETBU with the sweep over UMHB. McKinzie Riley hit 0.471 with 3 total blocks. HSU gets the sweep over HPU. Leigh Jespersen with 10 kills and 10 digs. Allison O’Shaughnessy with 7 aces!

Juniata gets the 4-set win over CNU. Looks like the Eagles keep getting wins over tough opponents.

Tough one for Concordia who lose in 4-sets to St Thomas. They scored more Points and lost the first two sets in 2 pointers. 11 kills each for Bodunrin and Willis. Mount Union leads UCSC but the Slugs are trying to force a fifth set. The NWC matches are about to start.

Catching up on the national matches to watch, Ithaca over NYU 3-1, Williams with a pretty easy sweep over Trinity (CT) to stay undefeated, Wesleyan in 4-sets over Colby in a mild shocker. Lynchburg takes down Bridgewater 3-1. Nice win for them. Transy throwing a wrench in things as they get the sweep over Marietta. HUGE win there. That was a 4 point NPI difference going into the match.

GAC is ahead of Dubuque 1-0. UWEC and UWW are going to a fifth. UWW will need to pull off the reverse sweep to win it. I will be watching that match…now.

Not bringing any luck to UWW. UWEC is blocking everything right now. Early timeout forced at 4-0.

Turn goes to UWEC at 8-3. Will the #1 team go down tonight?

Based on my short time watching this match, UWEC is the best team in the universe. UWW can’t do anything against the block right now. This is over…just not officially.

Well…hold that thought. It was 11-3 and now it’s 12-8. UWW bringing a tough serve into the mix causing problems. There is also a tall bald guy blocking the camera and as a tall bald guy I tell you…sit down.

At 13-11, UWW served out. Stopped a big run. UWEC got the last two points for the 5-set win. Great crowd. Both teams will be in the NCAA Tournament but it’s about the Top 8. The biggest winner from this match, however, might be ETBU who has the win over UWEC. Ripples. Bailey Leeke with 25 kills and some big bombs in the fifth set.

In my rankings, I have La Verne, Oshkosh and then ETBU. I think I have to jump UWO since ETBU has that win over UWEC who has that win over UWW. Still, if that match is played at UWW, they probably win. The WIAC is tough again, folks.

Watching UCSC and Mount Union. They are in the fifth set and playing on the “other” court at Gallaudet. Spectators are on the end line. Not a great viewing experience. Oh, UCSC up 12-7 so let’s go Slugs!

13-7 and the libero serves an ace off the face of a Mount Union player. And, UCSC gets the 15-9 fifth set and the 3-2 win. Nicely done…but a little rude. To give credit properly, the Slug that nearly destroyed a face was Shiraz Benyoucef.

GAC 25-23 over Dubuque in both set one and two. Watching this match now. Since GAC lost to Southwestern, I will be pulling for them the rest of the way. Make our QWB as high as possible!

In the NWC, first set winners were Puget Sound, Whitman (!), Whitworth and PLU. Willamette had a nice win over George Fox to start conference so this is a surprise. It may mean two spots are up for grab in the conference tournament. I think Whitworth and Puget Sound will get two spots.

GAC destroying Dub in the third set. Based on the little I’ve seen of this match Gustavus Adolphus is the second best team in the multiverse behind Southwestern.

Love the stage at the end of the St Olaf gym. Very 1950s. I wonder if they hold a dance can the floor open up in the middle uncovering the swimming pool and Jimmy Stewart will fall in. (Yes, I’m old!)

25-10 GAC in the third set and the sweep is theirs. Yikes. I may have to rethink Dub after this.

Watching the Whitman/Willamette match. Did Whitman Coach Matt Helm lose a battle with a sea monster?

PLU and Whitworth up 2-0. George Fox looking to take set two from Puget Sound. Whitman trying to go up 2-0.

33-31 Willamette. I think that is a sign to wrap it up and update tomorrow. Use the links.

Oh, GFU did win the second set. 1-1 there. Whitworth will get the sweep. PLU trying to get the sweep at their place. This one is split. Love the 5-set NWC matches! Yawn.

Puget Sound in 4. They had two easy set wins. Whitman with the surprise in five sets. Two sets went into extras. Whitworth with an easy sweep. PLU took care of L&C in a sweep.

West Schedule:

Smith vs Swarthmore 3 pm – These two teams are right around 54 NPI and each could use a big win to push them higher. Well, this is a nice start.

Eastern at Scranton 4 pm – Two teams that almost next to each other in NPI (one spot off) around 55 NPI. Just like the above match, both need a nice boost.

Wittenberg at IWU 4:30 pm – IWU should take this at home, but Witt beat Juniata so who knows what they can do here? They are sitting around 54.3 NPI so they could use another big win.

NYU at Ithaca 5:30 pm – Bigger match for NYU who is around 53 NPI. Ithaca can’t be up and down with this one. Sweep the leg, as they say.

Williams at Trinity (CT) 6 pm – The problem with weak schedules by NE teams is that we really don’t know what they are. This match won’t help too much with that, either, but it’s a big NPI match. Williams is undefeated while “good” Trinity has only one loss.

Bridgewater (VA) at Lynchburg 6 pm – Another good NPI match. Two teams that have done well so far this season and both will want those extra NPI points with a win.

Colby at Wesleyan (CT) 6 pm – Big NESCAC match here. I believe Colby is really good. This will shed some light on Wesleyan. Both are undefeated.

Marietta at Transylvania 6:30 pm – Bigger match for Transy. Based on play this season, Marietta should win.

Gustavus Adolphus vs Dubuque 7 pm – Each team with one loss. Both sitting well with NPI. Adolphus’ only loss is Southwestern so this (selflessly) gives me insight into how they might do against Dub.

UW-Whitewater at UW-Eau Claire 7 pm – I had UWEC over UWW in my preseason rankings. (I actually didn’t rank UWW.) Now UWW is higher but their schedule has been suspect. Fascinating match and huge in the WIAC.

Random Thoughts:

Back to the format from last year. I’ve got our West schedule and then the national matches. Update back on top. I won’t duplicate a West “big” match in the National portion. Just FYI.

No SAA matches as they travel to their pods.

The ASC conference schedule encompasses just two matches. Kind of funny. We have preseason 1 versus 2 and 3 versus 4. I think ETBU rolls but this will be the big chance for UMHB to make a name for themselves with their weak schedule. They must win this at home. Remember that the regular season conference winner gets to host the tournament. In the other match, HSU should beat HPU but they are a team you can’t overlook.

Kind of annoying that the C2C doesn’t play conference. Just more work for me. Oh well. I think Hope will be too strong for UCSC. Whittier should take down Mary Washington. Salisbury should empty the bench in both of their matches. F&M should get an easy win over Mary Washington. The UCSC/Mount Union match could be a close affair. The highlight is CNU playing Juniata. CNU has been up and down. Let’s rise up here.

We have 8 of the 9 NWC teams in action. Puget Sound/PLU will host both George Fox and Lewis & Clark this weekend. I think UPS gets two wins here but I really have no clue about PLU. The other two matches will take place at Whitman and Whitworth. Both Pacific and Willamette will swap places this weekend. I don’t think there will be much drama in either match tonight. Whitworth and Willamette should win but Whitman is always tough at home especially when they are on defensively.

The SCAC gets two single matches tonight. CC travels to TLU for what is normally a big match. I think CC gets a sweep here. St Thomas plays Concordia in the other. These are both Gold Division matches. Give me St Thomas but this could be a really close one.

The SCIAC is traveling this week, which seems a little weird to me. Pomona-Pitzer will try to recover after a week off. I think they could surprise here. Caltech gets two non-DIII matches. Whittier is at the Gallaudet Tournament although their schedule says they play at both Mary Washington and Gallaudet.

 
 
 

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