Late Weekly Wrap-Up (9/25/18)

I am a creature of habit and not getting the Weekly Wrap-Up out on Sunday hurt me. Hurt me to the point I had to take an anniversary trip. Please keep me in your thoughts. Anywho (not a word, but it should be), I start writing this Wrap-Up on Tuesday afternoon as I sit in a cabana overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Again, please, keep me in your thoughts. This will be the abridged version of the Wrap-Up, too. You see, I’m on a cabana overlooking the Caribbean…

Nationally, there isn’t a lot to look at this past week. We saw Virginia Wesleyan beat #20 Christopher Newport in 5-sets, which is about the only good news that impacted the West Region. You see McMurry beat Virginia Wesleyan and therefore benefits if Virginia Wesleyan can get ranked in their region. They now also hold a common opponent victory over CNU. As I’ve said all year, McMurry’s weak schedule means they need to find some luck. This counts. The only other national news were the Trinity losses in the IWU Tournament this past week. They dropped a 4-set match against #19 Chicago and a 5-set match against #18 IWU. I wrote on the Match Day report that Trinity should be fine with these losses but the West Region really loses out when it comes to national reputation since Trinity will probably end up as one of our top 4 or 5 teams this year.

Instead of stepping through each team, I’m going to try to highlight each conference and in the process probably step through each team. I’m a creature of habit in case you hadn’t heard.

The ASC had their first crossover play of the year at Sul Ross State and UMHB and it included some big West Region matches. UMHB beat UT-Dallas in 5-sets after coming back from being down 2-1. UMHB really cut down on their errors after set 2 and really outhit UT-Dallas by a wide margin for a 5-set match. Fayna Zeng had 7 aces for UT-Dallas and it was really the service receive of UMHB that held them back a bit in this one. Miranda Klein had a triple-double in this match and I’ll also mention Corinne Novak’s 16 kills because I met her uncle and aunt while at Dos Salsas while down at Southwestern. It was interesting to note that UMHB was now running a 5-1 most of the time with Cory Jo Martin. Klein will set the first ball in certain rotations but for the most part it’s Martin’s show. Another big match was UT-Tyler and McMurry. As you all know by now, UT-Tyler is not eligible for the tournament but their matches count and they are good. McMurry ended up losing in 5-sets after being up 2-1. McMurry’s blocking was almost too much for the Patriots but they hit 0.381 in the 5^th set to push them over the top. Kaitlyn Budisalovich had another outstanding match recording 20 kills but it was Loren Guerra and her 19 kills while hitting 0.515 (!) who McMurry couldn’t stop. I actually came away from this match with more respect from McMurry and their future matches with UT-Dallas and UMHB should be good. This now marks the second time I did a team blurb (this time on LeTourneau) where the team then went out and dropped some matches. Kudos to Sul Ross State for another victory in conference. Also a big shout out to Louisiana College for winning two conference matches this week. They are in their second year of existence playing in a tough conference and being really annoying to the other teams. Every team in the ASC has a conference win, which shows that the ASC may be getting deeper. This is so important to the teams trying to get an at-large bid because it improves their Strength of Schedule (SOS). I believe it was the ASC poor SOS last year that stopped UMHB from getting a bid.

The NWC has two undefeated teams in Pacific Lutheran and Whitworth. PLU is expected but I really doubted Whitworth going into the year and they have surprised me to this point. Winning at Pacific in a sweep really opened my eyes. Get to know the name Jessica Schmautz as she continues to put up monster games in her senior year for the Pirates (42.5 points in the two conference matches). PLU faced Puget Sound in the “Battle for the Sound” match and came away with the sweep. Isabella Zubrod fell 3 kills short of a triple-double in that match. Lewis & Clark won their first conference match of the year while George Fox and Linfield are still looking for wins in conference.

The SCAC had their own crossover this weekend hosted by Southwestern. Colorado College continued their roll going 4-0 only dropping 2 sets along the way. Margo Spaethling and Haley Harris led the offense quarterbacked by Lizzy Counts. Trinity went to the IWU Tournament as I mentioned above in the national write-up and went 2-2. This weekend we’ll have the Colorado College and Trinity match (round 1) hosted at Dallas. There is a big step down between the big 2 in the SCAC and the next 5 teams (Southwestern, Centenary, Austin College, Dallas and TLU) but their order of finish is going to be interesting to watch. Southwestern has beaten everyone they’ve played in conference except for the big 2 and seem to have the inside track on the 3^rd spot. They also put together a great first set against Colorado College, which may be a good sign for the future. Centenary’s loss to Dallas was surprising but they also took down Austin College. Dallas will host the SCAC Tournament and they need to finish in the Top 6 to qualify. They are on their way to do just that. Both Schreiner and JWU are still looking for their first win in conference but will play this weekend. I will say that I was impressed with JWU libero Kaitlin Jones and Ashlee Ruehs had a really good match against Southwestern.

Raise your hand if you had Pomona-Pitzer leading the SCIAC in late September. The Sagehens are 4-0 and are coming off a 5-set win against Whittier. They play the rest of the big guns in conference coming up so they will need to continue to improve their play. Having said that, the Sagehens really dominated Whittier as far as I could tell and for the 2 sets I watched. Julia Zwaal played a great match scoring 22 points. CMS struggled to get by La Verne but got only their second sweep of the season against Redlands. Chapman got surprised by Whittier and got swept. Makenzie Thieme continues to do great for Whittier this season and it looks like freshman outside Kathea Schamblin is getting more playing time. Again, the Poets just seem to be up and down this year. Back to Chapman and hopefully their matches this week will let us know where they stand in conference. Overall, there are 6 teams in conference with winning records and remember that the conference only takes 4 teams to their tournament. Oxy, Redlands and Caltech are still looking for their first wins.

Sorry for the rush job but the sun has set and I can’t see the keys anymore. Remember to keep me in your thoughts.