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Quarterfinals
Updates: I was looking back at my posts from last year and saw that we had challenges starting with the Elite 8. This wasn’t taken away, right? We still will have challenges this year, I believe.
Maybe you took my lack of comments regarding the first two sets as a sign that I was dealing with wedding stuff. Please. This is the quarterfinals! I also had to eat.
All tied at 1-1 between Clarkson and Emory.
Man, I missed three challenges!?! In time for the fourth. Not sure how you can see anything on these videos when it comes to touches. Clarkson is challenging. And the challenge fails. Couldn’t tell one way or the other.
Emory really needs to get their money back for those jerseys. Every player has ripped a section out at the shoulders.
17-9 Emory and they hit it in. Ruled out. They decide not to challenge as they only have one left and with a big need they shouldn’t need to waste it here.
Emory with the set 3 win 25-12. They lead 2-1 over Clarkson in what was a close match prior to that set.
Clarkson with the set 4 win. We are going to a fifth set!
Emory wins in 5. Great effort by Clarkson and it basically tells us that everyone is at risk of going home today.
The championship link is sure slow to link to the press conferences and box scores! They put them out on twitter (press conferences). Not sure what the deal is here. Looks like the next match will start about an hour late. This could make for a long day/night.
Carthage with the set one win 25-18. Bowdoin’s defense is pretty good in this one so far. I don’t have the stats in front of me but it seems like a lot of longer rallies (especially early).
Are these the best line judges we can find for this?
Carthage up 2-0 and the second set wasn’t close. And they get the sweep.
Johns Hopkins is looking like a #2 seed. Up 1-0 and leading in the second set. And now are up 2-0. Might have been a good thing Trinity got Calvin instead.
Also nice having live stats. It wasn’t working for me earlier in the day.
Mild surprise. Not that the Blue Jays won but that it was so easy. Johns Hopkins advances over St. Ben in a sweep.
Trinity with the set one win. Up 1-0. Calvin hit 0.349 and really weren’t that close to winning at the end. Trinity set the bar really high. Not sure either team can play at this level.
Trinity up 2-0. The blocking is the difference right now. 11 attacking errors by Calvin with 8 due to the block. 5 total attacking errors for Trinity.
Calvin comes back strong and takes set 3. Trinity up 2-1. I just realized that Emma Funk isn’t playing for Trinity.
Trinity wins set 5. Great match by two teams that played really well and really smart.
You kind of have to feel for Calvin. They really should have been the #2 seed and faced either Clarkson or Bowdoin. Two seeding changes, one of which was ridiculous, made sure this didn’t happen. The reseeding has been in place since 2017 and one of the main drivers was the Emory coach. She didn’t like it that her team was often put in an easy regional so they would get a low seed in the championship. She got the rule changed and won a championship. Calvin is another powerful program that got hurt by the reseeding rule (or the application of how it was done). It will be interesting to see if they throw their weight around and make a change.
Random Thoughts: Not going to talk about the seeding.
Emory should have an easy time of it with Clarkson. No disrespect to Clarkson, but Emory is just too good.
Carthage better beat Bowdoin just because of my outrage over the seeding. It’s hard to see Carthage losing here and as Ned has pointed out, Bowdoin has some injury concerns.
Johns Hopkins has had a great season. I think this is a toss up. Both teams can bring the heat and the winner is the team that can block and defend better. If I’m forced to make a selection, I’ll take the Bennies.
Calvin is really good and Trinity will be underrated here. I’ve thought all year that there was a tier at the top that included just a few teams and I don’t see Trinity in this group. I’ve got to go with Calvin in this one but I will be pulling for the Tigers. I hope all of the Trinity parents are taking this trip. I wish I could be there to root you on but my daughter’s wedding is in 2 days and it wouldn’t be good if her mother killed me.
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