Quarterfinals (2023)

Updates: Video and Live Stats link can be found on the Championship Website.

I tweeted out yesterday that there was an injury during practice to one of the teams. After multiple confirmations as I wasn’t there, it’s safe to say it was Trinity’s Maddie Fate. I do not know the severity but this is a huge blow if she cannot be ready for the match. I did learn it was non contact and in fact she was just walking at the time. Crazy. Great player so let’s see if she can Willis Reed this thing. (Reference for the grandfathers out there.)

Jet leg is very real.

15 minutes until NYU and Northwestern. I’ve already received a few comments that my purple shoes are fitting for this match. I unfortunately don’t have different shoes for each match so all team colors will be purple today.

CMS/NCAA have a nice setup for the “media” (using quotes in my case). We are end line with tables and chairs, outlets, stats and I think there are snacks. If anyone gets hungry, let me know and I’ll hook you up.

Here we go!

Timeout, NYU at 4-8. No runs for NYU, yet. Marylyn Schroyer has served the last 3 points. Seems like some nerves on both sides early on. NYU service receive hasn’t been the best, yet.

One rotation through in our first match: NW 11-8. Difference has been Schroyer’s rotation.

NW up 15-10. NYU has used their second and final timeout. NW hasn’t shied away from serving the NYU libero but they are really trying to go to Haley Holz when she’s in the game. She has struggled a bit. NYU uses a rotation defense especially on the right side to cover for the setter when backrow.

Timeout NW. First run for NYU with Lindsey Hirano serving. 16-13 NW. I’m loving Hirano as the libero right now. Fun to watch.

Haley Holz has a really good serve. A short jump serve. A real jump serve.

With Holz serving, NYU has their second run of the match. Timeout NW. All timeouts are burned. It’s 18-18.

Second rotation. 22-22.

First set, NYU 29-27. They had 4 set points but got it back to Holz who served the game out. Holz had 9 points while serving for the set. Grace Strickfaden (NW) had 7 in her rotation. NW had one set point but couldn’t finish it. NYU hit 0.217 while NW hit 0.167. NYU had 22 kills but 9 attacking errors. If they clean it up and NW doesn’t improve, this could be a lot quicker than I thought and the team I didn’t pick.

Northwestern is running a 5-2 but Hannah Gadient (the front row setter) isn’t blocking well right now.

No rotation changes for set two.

First block for NYU. Took to the second set to get it.

Timeout NW. NYU 6-2. Hirano on another serving run. Have I mentioned I love her game.

2 aces for Strickfaden. NW best server set one.

No sound on the audio right now. Working on it.

First rotation set two. NYU 12-11.

Timeout NW. NYU up 17-13. This is the second run for NYU. NW really hasn’t had one this set.

Second rotation second set, NYU 23-17.

Wait! We have our first challenge!!!! NYU challenging a back row attack. NW won the point with a Glanzer back row but it looks like she was on the line. Call stands.

NYU with the timeout leading 23-19. NW with two points with Mikayla Wilber serving.

NYU takes the second set 25-19. NYU did about the same as set one but reduced their errors. NW has to answer here. It starts with getting more kills.

Third set. No rotation changes for either team. By that I mean they are starting with the same servers.

Long rallies have been going to NYU all match. NW just got one. Let’s see what that does.

I will see that there is a lack of power from both teams. Good angles. Smart shots but no explosions. Ari Schmidt (NW) just gave us a little pop.

NYU letting middle Elise Curtin serve is a little interesting. They have the subs but are not bringing in a DS. They did the first rotation first set but not since.

And it hurts them on that point as she got in the way of the back line player.

First rotation, third set. NW 11-9.

You simply cannot dink on Hirano (NYU libero). She has unofficially, 304 digs.

NYU timeout. 13-9 NW. Hirano, officially, has 26 digs. I was slightly off. NYU making a sub. Leela Anvekar in front row. First time we’ve seen that look.

NW up 15-11 but another long rally to NYU. I didn’t think that would happen in this match. Maybe the difference.

Timeout NW leading 16-14. Dominique Drust (NYU) with a small run serving.

Timeout NYU. NW leading now 19-15. They got within one but a sideout and scoring run with Schroyer serving. This has been one of the best rotations for NW in the match. They just aren’t getting a lot of runs but this one rotation has provided a few.

Great rally at 20-15. Goes NW way.

Huge block by NW as NYU was making a comeback. 23-20 at the end of the second rotation, third set.

Good timeout here by NW. Up 23-21. Last timeout for both teams. Neither has been afraid of using it. Still have challenges for both teams.

Third set goes to NW 25-23. Really no runs for NYU in that one. More errors. NW was a little better offensively. Abby Glanzer (NW) has struggled a bit. Really doing more shot making than anything else. I’ve seen her pound the ball so just weird to me. 52 kills to 32 for NYU. Attacking errors are 22 for NYU to only 13 for NW.

Again, no changes to the serving order in the fourth set.

I swear Hirano just missed her first dig. Shanked it.

First rotation, fourth set NW 10-7.

Timeout NYU down 11-7. Scary times for NYU. Up 2-0 and in control. Now NW is in a groove. I’m still worried about Abby Glanzer (hitting 0.102) but the team is playing well. Great defense on both sides right now.

They just dinked Hirano. It had to be perfect and she still touched it.

There it was. NW just called their own touch at 15-13. I don’t think the referees had that.

NW up 18-14. Timeout NYU. Hitting percentage is about even now. Both liberos are putting on a clinic. NW needs a little more from some hitters.

We have a challenge! This time it’s an out call by NW. It looks in but really blurry. Another call stands decision? Call confirmed. It was out. NW 18-15.

NYU has Anvekar serving for the middle now.

Second rotation, fourth set NW 21-16.

Timeout NW up 22-19. They get into a couple of rotations with the front row setter that aren’t good. They are stuck in one now.

We are going to a fifth set. NW wins 25-21. NW has only lost in 5-sets this year.

Glanzer hit one but it was dug. Then hit the antenna. NYU up 2-0 early.

Early timeout by NW down 3-0. Oh, same server setup for both teams it appears.

8-5 NYU on the turn and 9-5 with NW using their last timeout.

10-9 NYU as they take a timeout.

NYU match point and NW uses a challenge to slow things down. The challenge is on a net call but there wasn’t one. No net. Match point #1. NYU wins 3-2 and 15-13 in the fifth. Next match starts around 3 pm Pacific/5 pm Central. We could be in for a long one.

I had to go get something to eat. I was starving! NYU hit 0.174 for the match and were led by Holz with 20 kills and Grace Nelson with 22 kills. They out dug NW 105 to 80 with Lindsey Hirano getting 36 of them. She looked incredible today. Northwestern was led by Abby Glanzer with 16 kills and Ari Schmidt with 16 kills. They hit 0.149 as a team. Marley Aune had 7 blocks and Marylyn Schroyer had 28 digs. At times it was the Hirano/Schroyer show. Statistically, NYU should have won this a bit easier than they did but Northwestern just kept getting better as the match went along.

Here we go for match number 2.

Trinity jumps out to a 13-8 lead. Juniata timeout. Courtney Pope looks like she has moved to middle to cover for the injury to Maddie Fate. Marissa Drange is playing right side. Trinity has the depth but hard to move two players right before an important match.

First rotation, 14-9 Trinity. Juniata lost a point on a touch call that was missed. Surprised Juniata didn’t challenge it. They had the card up.

Trinity timeout at 17-16. Not seeing Live Stats anywhere.

Kennedy Christy is serving Trinity off the court right now. Timeout Trinity. Down 17-19. If I had stats I could tell you the number of aces she’s had.

We have a challenge. Trinity hits it out and it’s challenged. It was close. Call stands. 23-20 Juniata.

Trinity wastes a chance there as they had a nice lead on Juniata. Lose the first set 25-20. This set was much different than our previous match. Lots of runs from both teams while the first match was more back-and-forth. Juniata scored 10 points while Kennedy Christy was serving. During that span Juniata went from 12-17 to 20-17.

Found some stats. No change in serving order. Trinity out hit Juniata but had 10 less attempts. 16 kills to 11 for Juniata.

Trinity using a two person receive at times.

Trinity 10-9 after first rotation in second set.

Juniata challenges a touch call from the DS. Ruled a touch. I’ll be surprised if they can overturn this. And they can’t. 11-11.

Timeout. Trinity down 15-18.

Timeout with Trinity down 22-16. One more rotation and we’ll have two complete rotations this set. Didn’t happen in set one. Definitely a quicker match.

Well, 25-16. Didn’t get that last rotation. Service receive is the problem for Trinity. Juniata had 18 kills and hit 0.326. Trinity actually has a couple of problems, unfortunately.

Another challenge. Juniata thinks there was a touch. The ball looked like it knuckled. We haven’t had an overturn, yet (I think). We have an overturn! Touched the blocker.

Timeout Trinity. They are down 9-10.

First rotation, third set. All tied 11-11. Less runs in this match. Trinity hasn’t given up the big run that has killed them in sets one and two. Kennedy isn’t having the success at the service line. Serves are still tough but Trinity is handling them.

Cassidy MacLean (Trinity) has been subbed in and has run off a couple of points. Juniata timeout. 16-13 Trinity.

Another Juniata timeout. Trinity up 20-15.

We have a full second rotation in this match! Trinity up 22-19.

Trinity takes the third set 25-21. No serving runs for Juniata. Juniata had only 13 kills (one more than Trinity) but 7 attacking errors (Trinity had only 3). So, we know Trinity can win but it takes a better service receive (which they had) and very few errors. Even then they need Juniata to beat themselves a bit.

Both teams seem to be staying with their formation. We haven’t seen any strategic changes in either match as far as where to start their serving game.

So much of this is Kennedy (Juniata) serving at Whatley (Trinity) and whether Trinity can get the sideout. Went poorly in set one and two for Trinity. Went well in set three. 4-2 Juniata with Kennedy getting 2 points.

Trinity bringing in Kathryn Detweiler at right side. First action for her. Trinity hasn’t gotten very much production from the right sides to this point.

Trinity timeout with Juniata up 11-8. Not seeing the Juniata run but four of the six servers have multiple points this rotation. Bleeding Trinity right now as only one server has more than one point (Cassidy MacLean).

12-8 and we have a challenge and a BLACKOUT! Lights are back on but dimmer.

That took 10 minutes but we are back. We completed a full rotation at 14-9 Juniata. The challenge was unsuccessful by the way.

Trinity uses their last timeout at 16-9 Juniata. Juniata was bleeding Trinity but then had a run from libero Kiona (she has a lot of last names). Up big. Whatley off the back row as Juniata is rolling. Drange in. Didn’t help.

Juniata had this but Trinity is clawing back. Timeout Junita leading 23-18. Did I mention that this was just the 6th set loss for Juniata this year? I think that’s right.

Juniata finally gets that last point. Win 25-20 and 3-1 on sets. They move on against NYU tomorrow.

Sorry for the delay. I was talking with Ricky! He’s here! As far as the last match, Juniata was led by Lily Podolan with 19 kills and Olivia Foley with 48 assists. Kiona Sky (long last name) had 32 digs. For Trinity, they were led by Makenzie Logan with 16 kills. Nadia Kern had 23 digs. Juniata hit 0.242 while Trinity hit 0.173.

We are about ready for the third match on what is going to be a very late night.

I got called away for a second. I think we’ve had two timeouts; one by both teams. JHU is up 7-5. This first set will be more observational than my first two matches.

Whoa. Lauren Lee (Hope) with the hidden dump. Wow. Simrin Carlsen is good. I’ve already seen more hard hits in this match than the previous two matches combined. (Maybe an exaggeration…but not by much.) Hope is hitting 0.700. They will win if they keep this up. JHU is hitting 0.471. They will win if they keep this up.

Hope is up 20-16 and we have a timeout by JHU. Their last timeout. I don’t think Live Stats are working. Things aren’t adding up. Okay…now they are working.

Hope 25-18. JHU just starting making errors. 13 kills and 8 errors was their downfall. Hope still hitting an ungodly 0.667. Hope only had 16 Points that set so this was about their hitting efficiency and the JHU errors. If JHU can eliminate the errors then this should be a fun one.

I just realized that I haven’t heard a single “FBK” chant. See, if you want to make the Elite 8, you’ll get rid of it!

JHU is go big or go home. Huge offensive power but it carries some mistakes. Fun to watch.

The Hope bench is on the other side but I swear they are yelling “mine mine mine” like in Finding Nemo when receiving the serve. I hope that’s what they are doing. Brilliant. If not, someone else do this from now on.

JHU is challenging an in call. It looked in in real-life. I just saw the video (it’s about 2 minutes behind live action). This challenge will fail and embarrassment will ensue.

Challenge was unsuccessful and Hope has gone on a run. They lead 13-11 with a JHU timeout. They are out of timeouts. Hope is hitting 0.442, which can’t be happening.

I haven’t mentioned potential player of the year Addie VanderWeide (Hope) but she’s going nuts. Hitting 0.562 as an outside.

Hope calls a timeout at 19-19. They have one left. Not sure how JHU has this tied. Hope is outhitting them by a good margin this set. Okay. Now it makes sense. I’m using two different stats programs and one is behind. Hope calls their last timeout down 23-21. Like I said, I don’t know how Hope is still in this.

JHU with their third timeout. Or else, I was wrong and that can’t be the case. 23-23.

JHU set point but Addie puts it down. Tied 24-24. Addie should get the ball every time for Hope.

Set point Hope 26-25 after a huge block.

Hope takes the set (27-25) and are up 2-0. Not sure about the decision there by JHU. You had Simrin Carlsen outside but they went middle. They couldn’t connect (or what the announcers would say, “they miscommunicated”) and a free ball did them in. Hope had 20 kills in that set with 6 errors (0.286). JHU hit 0.208 with 15 kills. JHU elevated their game with Hope coming down a bit (but still putting up insane numbers) and Hope still took it.

I haven’t tracked rotations in this match but I think JHU is putting out a different one (maybe they did last set and I didn’t notice). I think it’s flipped as Carlsen led off the match serving but is now left side front. Meanwhile, Addie is hitting .636!

Dig totals are way down in this match. Why? Because they are all terminating! Funny how that works.

We have a challenge. I was looking down so I have no clue what is happening. Challenge was a possible touch and it was. Successful challenge by Hope.

JHU calls a timeout down 11-5. They are hitting 0.667 for the set and losing by 6 early. Hope is hitting 0.714. Addie hasn’t made an error today. She’s hitting 0.667 with 16 kills. Not human?

I think it’s cute when someone else gets a set other than Addie. I’d set her if she was on the bench catching a breath.

JHU dinking a bit more and it’s working. Still down by 4.

Hope with a timeout at 15-12. Addie’s on the front row. Not sure what they should do. In other news, Carlsen and Onukwugha both have 10 kills for JHU.

They set Addie out of the timeout for the kill. She has 17 with no errors. Addie now back row. Only got set one time that pass. Not what I would have done. Hope leads 17-14.

I just noticed the stat board here doesn’t match up with the NCAA stats. Addie “only” has 15 kills on the board.

JHU with the timeout. Their last unless they get three again. 20-17 Hope. I think Addie is front row now or will be next rotation. JHU is playing really well. I don’t want that to get lost. Hope is just crazy good right now. Two best teams on the day so far to be frank about it.

Setter went out of her way not to set Addie there. Weird.

Addie with another kill. 22-19. Now it’s 23-20 with Addie serving. JHU needs to take advantage here.

24-22 as Addie makes her first error (from back row). Perfect game is over!

Wow! Three match points but it’s all tied at 24. Timeout Hope.

We have a challenge. Point is Hope’s to make it 25-24. JHU thinks there was a touch. Huge touch. Point JHU. Set point.

Now 26-25 Hope. 4th match point but JHU wins the point. Addie is one rotation away from the front.

JHU with the 28-26 win in set three. Hope up 2-1. This is a great match.

JHU starts off set four with a block of Addie. Her second error.

We have a Hope challenge but I’m unsure about what. The ball was in by JHU. Maybe a net violation?

In other news, the UWO/CMS match is going to be really late. Will that hurt UWO more? Challenge was unsuccessful. JHU point.

Addie is now hitting under 0.500. She should probably be benched. (I hope you all know how incredible this is for an outside against a top team. Of course, she wouldn’t make player of the week.)

Going back to that challenge by JHU late in the third set. No challenge system and Hope has this in a sweep.

Hope subs in Natalie Dunn for Brooke Fox. JHU serves her for an ace. Then they hit the libero for an ace. They are up 12-6. Crazy match that looks like it could go 5-sets. Timeout Hope.

JHU hit 0.341 with 19 kills in that third set. Hope had their worst set hitting 0.195 with 15 kills. Would have won a lot of the time. Statistically, now in the fourth, JHU is better for the match. Crazy. Have I said that before.

JHU has this covered so far. Up 18-9 with Hope using their last timeout.

We’ve got a card. Kamryn Burbridge had a great block and she let JHU know it.

Going to a fifth! JHU 25-14.

Lineups look the same. Addie for Hope and Carlsen for JHU starting left front. Hope crowd is loud here.

We have a challenge right off the bat. Each team gets two for the match but if it goes to a fifth and you’ve used both of yours, you get another one. Call goes to Hope. I think JHU challenged a net call.

3-1 Hope. Two kills by Addie and one by Carlsen but also a Carlsen error.

Timeout JHU. Hope up 5-1.

5-5. Four straight JHU points. Hope gets the 6th point. Addie serving. Carlsen will be the next JHU server. Possible touch call there but I don’t think JHU has a challenge left.

Horrible point for both sides but Hope wins it. Gets the turn at 8-6.

JHU up 10-9. This is a classic. Huge touch call goes against Hope. They confer with their players and they admit they did touch it. Wow. Saved a challenge. Then Hope wins the next two points to tie it up at 11.

Now Hope up 12-11. JHU timeout. They are out of timeouts and I think challenges. Addie is front row.

Match Point Hope. They get 3 chances.

They get 2 chances. Can’t happen again, right? Carlsen is now front row.

On their 6th match point of the night, Hope wins 15-12. What a match. Next match will start tomorrow on the East Coast.

Last match is about to go. Took a long break there.

First off, what a great match that was. So much fun. Hope was led by Addie VanderWeide with 23 kills while hitting 0.438. Lauren Lee had 58 assists and Olivia Fiebing had 21 digs. JHU was led by three hitters getting 17 or 18 kills (Onukwugha, Calrsen and Adam). Helena Swaak had a crazy 63 assists. Points was actually 87 to 78 in favor of JHU. The teams hit about the same percentage and were one off in kills. Enjoyed it.

Good crowd here for the last match. UWO has a loud vocal group while CMS has the students. We are over 2:30 hours late for this last match. I enjoyed not doing the rotations last match. I think I’ll enjoy this one a bit more if I just go with observations.

Beder gets the start at middle for CMS. Holmes is right front so only one rotation to start with. Brenna Bell with the first kill. They will need her tonight. Emily Wizceb gets the start at middle for UWO. They suffered an injury at this position (Riley Dahlquist) awhile back and she is the backup.

It’s 5-0 CMS with UWO taking a timeout. Crowd is into it. UWO can struggle to start matches but they always seem to come back strong.

UWO with their first point. It’s 7-1 CMS. Jenna Holmes (CMS) with her first kill. Izzy Sakoda is OH2 for CMS. She took over for Brooke Mckee a few weeks ago. Sawyer (CMS) with her first kill. Another big player that needs touches. Timeout number 2 for UWO. It’s 13-4.

Something within this game is how Riley Kindt (UWO) does against the CMS middles. She’s a really smart player that UWO needs for their attack.

Big play there by UWO at 16-8. Could it spur a run? Libero Abby Fregien with a huge dig.

Having Live Stats issues again. Ugh. 17-12 CMS. UWO on that run. Brenna Bell with another dagger for CMS. CMS block gets another point.

Timeout CMS. They lead 19-15. UWO crawling back. Georgia McGovern got called for back row attack, which is a pretty automatic call for most referees. The problem was that the ball was entirely over the plane.

This is a high error match for both teams. Interesting.

McGovern with a huge kill for the set one win 25-18. This was the first set stinker that UWO can put out. They normally bounce back well. On the other side, CMS didn’t have a great set as they hit 0.182. What stood out was the blocking from CMS. They are getting hands on a lot of balls slowing them down. Jenna Holmes (CMS) is hitting negative and that won’t continue.

UWO up 6-2. Much better start, as expected. Surprised no timeout at 7-2 but CMS gets the point. Students are standing. Hope the stream can be seen.

10-6 UWO but McGovern just faked out the front line setting up an attack with no block.

It’s now 10-8 and UWO takes the timeout. Still no timeout for CMS whose coach likes to bank them for a rainy day.

It’s now 10-10 and UWO is having trouble with the CMS block.

Very long rally goes to CMS. 12-11 as they take the lead. Joint is jumping.

Timeout UWO. Their last timeout. CMS leads 14-11. Service is giving UWO some issues. Live Stats aren’t working again.

17-13 after another long rally win by CMS.

Stats are out but I think Jenna Holmes is still hitting negative. Hard to believe CMS can be leading with that happening.

Ace McGovern as they take set two 25-17. I mean she got the ace…not a new nickname. Her nickname is “Giggles” in case anyone wanted to know.

Stats are back. UWO hasn’t played their game, yet. They’ve hit under 0.100 each set. CMS has 12 kills in both sets but still high error. 7 aces and 5 blocks have been huge. Slowing down almost every ball that has come over is maybe the biggest thing. Oh, and Jenna Holmes is still negative. She won’t end that way.

UWO goes up 3-0 and maybe 4-0 but a touch is called. UWO is challenging. Call is overturned. 4-0 UWO.

Really balanced attack for CMS so far. This means they are staying in system and can mix it up. When Holmes gets the load they can struggle unless she can carry the team. CMS with a run and they go up 5-4.

CMS up 9-7. The block is again huge for them. Timeout UWO.

CMS up 13-8. Timeout UWO. McGovern with another kill. Then more blocking.

Huge run for CMS. Now up 16-9 as UWO finally gets something to fall.

UWO making a run. 17-13. And they serve out. Ugh. And Ace McGovern.

CMS with the point to make it 20-14 but I think there was a touch and UWO agrees. We have a challenge. This will be their last challenge unless it goes to a fifth set. Tough call. I didn’t see a finger move on the replay. Call stands. No timeouts and no challenges for UWO.

It’s 12:56 am in Oshkosh right now.

It’s 23-15 and my tournament favorite is about to be eliminated in the only sweep of the day.

Well. UWO is challenging. I guess they got one back on the successful challenge. It’s important to learn the rules, I guess. Remember, you get what you pay for! This will be match point if they lose the challenge. They will have 8 match points to get it done. Call is confirmed. Here we go.

It just took 2. CMS wins 25-17 and gets the only sweep on the day. Not making excuses but a tough draw for UWO getting the host and then getting the late match. Still, CMS played really well and UWO had probably their worst match of the year.

I’m not sure of the stats but Audrey Sawyer had 8 kills hitting 0.667. McGovern had 29 assists with 5 kills. Sami Perlberg had 11 kills for UWO. Those may change when the box score is released. And, it’s released. CMS hit only 0.158 but UWO hit 0.061. 10 aces for CMS is crazy. Getting hands on every ball coming over was just nuts.

Long ride home.

Random Thoughts: I sort of wrote about the teams in my Ceiling/Floor Article if you need more specific content.

For today’s matches, I like Juniata, Northwestern, Hope and UW-Oshkosh. I’ll be sad if we say goodbye to the two Region X teams but both matchups are the two worst you could have drawn up for them.

From our eight teams, we have 2 from Regions V and X. The other four are from Regions IV, VII, VIII and IX. There are no representatives from Regions I through III and Region VI.

I had expected the release of the AVCA Player of the Year Award today but it looks like it’s going to be delayed (or a new schedule of events is being done). Prior to COVID, there was a banquet the night before the quarterfinals where it was announced. The banquet was then eliminated after COVID but did return for this championship on Tuesday night. No announcement was made during the banquet.

As for me, I did make it in early on Tuesday. I wanted to be sure to be there for the quarterfinals and it was the only flight that had a ton of seats. Luckily, my Paris jet lag had me up early so it was easy on the system. I will be around the facility so please say hello if you fell comfortable. I definitely need to find the Trinity dad who has a (hotter) wife than me. No, not to fight him. Please grow up. I just want to meet the (hot) wife! Speaking of that jet lag, I did just finish up a nice 2-hour nap so hopefully I’ll be able to stay up for all four matches on Wednesday. If you want to find me, I’ll probably have my World Champion Texas Rangers cap on, which won’t be as noticeable as my yellow Southwestern cap. I will be wearing purple sneakers so maybe that’s helpful? If you wait until the fourth match, I’ll be the guy probably asleep somewhere in the pavilion. Please wake me up if the match has started. Excited to see Ricky Nelson and connect with some of the coaches there.