Regionals Day 1

Update: I’m releasing this early because of a game we played last year. Your task is to figure out which underdogs will win the most matches in this tournament. An underdog is defined as a bottom 4 seed. We need 8 choices, one from each regional. Put it in the comments with some random name if you want (or your own name). The comments don’t require emails although it may ask.

Here are my choices: Texas Lutheran, Southern Virginia, Endicott, Millikin, Marymount, UW-Eau Claire, Rowan and Swarthmore.

I am not confident in any of them. 🙂

I’m missing a couple of regional website links. If a video or live stats link doesn’t work, try the Info link. They should have all of the links there, too.

Good regional morning everyone! I’m still alive and my (hot) wife can’t complain that I’m going to stay in our room all day streaming matches. I guess that is what is known as an upside.

I’ve already determined that 6 streams at the same time is not going to work well. Good to see that a few of the regionals are at sites that use Roku apps so I can use the television to stream.

Not getting the Transy stream to work. Wittenberg/Hope gets the television (YouTube).

Okay. Transy started to work.

So, Salisbury raced up to the net on the meet and greet so their entire team was at the net when the other team snaked up (like is normal). What would happen if both teams did what Salisbury did? You wouldn’t shake hands with everyone. It would be chaos. Let’s make that happen if Salisbury moves on. Freak them out.

Only the Hope/Wittenberg match doesn’t display the score. Hope (get it) they fix that.

And a second later they do. The power I posses is amazing. Hope up 6-1. Keep them up and they are winning it all.

Something I haven’t written much about this year because Eau Claire ruined it last season, but historically having a Top 11 Hitting Percentage means you’ll win the title. Here are the 11:

1. CMS

2. Northwestern

3. Calvin

4. Wittenberg

5. Transylvania

6. Juniata

7. Trinity

8. WashU

9. Wesleyan

10. Berry

11. MIT

That’s a pretty good list.

Berry is the first team to take a set. Salisbury takes their first set against Endicott. Morrisville takes down Chris Newport. Not a good showing for CNU here. I didn’t have them selected and they have a 3 seed. Scranton gets their first set. Hope takes the first set. They built a big early lead and Witt could never pass them. Stevens wins their first set. So, two potential upsets with Hope and Morrisville so far.

Annie Lockett (the rocket) from Hope is basically beating Wittenberg herself (not really but it sounds good). She’s a transfer from Eastern Michigan. Hit 0.260 from the outside. You have to stop her if you want to stop Hope.

Berry up 2-0. Always cool to see the Viking horns in the crowd. CNU comes back strong. Tied 1-1 now.

Wittenberg’s season may be at a tipping point right now. 21-21 but they lost a lead. Lose this and they are down 2-0. Scranton up 2-0. Hope up 2-0. So much for my Wittenberg pick. Stevens up 2-0. Salisbury up 2-0.

Gust. Adolphus and Eau Claire have started. We’ve got a couple of finals as Berry sweeps Covenant and Scranton sweeps St John Fisher.

Stevens get their sweep. CNU is now up 2-1.

Lockett the Rocket. They didn’t go to her on successive set points in set two but let her finish this one up. Hope upsets Wittenberg in a sweep.

Easy set one win for Gust. Adolphus.

Chris Newport figured it out and win 3-1.

Could the king be dead soon? UWEC struggling against Gust. Adolphus.

Adolphus 2-0. This isn’t particularly close.

I fear the 2 pm matches will be interrupted by a nap. Multiple naps a day is a Covid benefit.

I called it. Fell asleep watching the Eau Claire match. Caught the end of that match as Adolphus wins 3-1. There will be no repeat champion this year.

The AVCA All-Region Teams dropped while I was asleep. I’ll update the Awards Page when I can. 10 of the spots go to Trinity and CMS. Halle Hetzler first team makes me smile. Happy Graycee Mosley got 1st team. Outstanding year. Annika Canaba and Lexi Morris also make me happy. My (hot) wife and I were really impressed with Morris this past weekend. And granddaughter Emma White. So happy.

I’ve got TLU/Chicago on the big screen. I got a very nice note from the Chicago head coach this morning out of the blue. It was very nice but I still told him he needed to lose here. Staying loyal to my region!

It looks like the 2 pm matches decided to start despite my falling asleep. Kind of rude. A number of blowout matches going on. A lot of these are 2/7 matches. Millikin is doing well in the second set. S Virginia is losing but keeping it close.

The announcer for the TLU/Chicago match definitely doesn’t say much. Would love to know who is serving and maybe some mid-action comments.

Wow. Easy set one win for TLU. That was the team from last weekend. Their serving game really hurt Chicago. Only 4 attacking errors.

Just noticed in our underdog game, there has only been one underdog win so far and no one picked them.

JHU with the sweep over Hunter.

Peyton Sulak (TLU) was injured a few weeks ago. She received all-conference honors but didn’t make the trip to the SCAC Tournament. I don’t see her at CMS, either. Wait, she may be on the bench. Hope that’s her and she got to travel.

MIT with the sweep. NYU with the sweep. Ithaca with the sweep. I missed the NYU match. They also swept. CMU now gets the sweep.

Millikin is up 2-1. Another upset coming?

The announcer is calling Chicago “UChicago”. That’s fine. It’s their name and I think they refer to themselves that way. Anyway, my (hot) wife breaks quarantine for a bit and watches and asks if the announcer is rooting for Chicago. I say, “No, why?” She says she emphasizes the point every time they get one. Just then Chicago scores and she hears, “Point for you Chicago.” I have to explain the you or ‘U’ is part of their name. Now I can’t unhear “you Chicago”.

Chicago with the comeback in set three. I didn’t realize there were so many fans for Chicago there.

Cornell looking for another upset. They take set one over Whitewater.

WashU wins the fourth set and we have our first 5-set match upcoming.

5th set has started. Score is WashU 25-2. I don’t think that is right. Dang. They just scored and lost 24 points. Huge mistake on their part.

Great 5th set as WashU beats Millikin. Bad day for the underdogs.

Another 5th set! “You”Chicago takes the 4th. Is the TLU magical run done?

Ugh. Great run by TLU. Huge comeback for Chicago.

Looking at the WashU/Millikin box score and it’s crazy. Millikin had 82.5 Points to WashU who had 64. That’s a big negative spread for a winning team. There were 27 service errors in this one (Millikin had 15). Crazy.

Meanwhile, Whitewater has come back and lead Cornell 2-1.

Gold Digger playing at CMS and I always hold my breath wondering if this is the clean version or not.

New announcer at CMS. Same style.

Eastern/Marymount are in a 5th set.

Williams gets the upset win and I know some picked them.

No upset for Marymount. They lose in 5.

In the underdog game, only the Williams supporters have a point: CC Fan, MIAA-Fan, SoCal and Scott. We do have one player that has missed on all of his teams and is already out. That would be me.

Trinity with the sweep. Just too good. Congratulations to Puget Sound on a great season. They broke the Whitworth/PLU logjam in the NWC.

Another great 5-set match with Oshkosh holding off Otterbein.

Yellow numbers on white jerseys should be outlawed.

Ugly first set for UTD. Easy set one win for UCSC.

Crazy match. I though UTD were going to get run off but they have come back to take a big lead in set two.

If UTD wins this then the underdog pool is tied at one with everyone but me. That would be very sad. UTD is such a strange team with the extremes they can play at. UCSC had 16 kills in that set and still lost. UTD just 7 total attack errors in the last two sets.

It’s like the CMS announcer goes to the restroom at every timeout/break and has to race back after play has already started. North Park took set two against Northwestern. They were my favorite 8th seed to win. Still don’t think they will do it but they are a tough team.

UTD with the 3-1 win. Really low attacking errors on both side. UTD hit 0.304 in that last set.

High level of play in the Northwestern/North Park match. Fun to watch.

Wow. North Park’s Adriana Rodriguez has an amazing serve. 61 aces on the year but 80 errors.

At the end of the UTD/UCSC stream, the arena announcer asked people to clear the area. I wonder why?

Northwestern looking good. Win 3-1. Just one more match left.

Over 1400 in attendance for the Northwestern match.

CMS is not starting their top lineup for this match. With that said, maybe all of their lineups are their top lineup.

Score display has “CMS” versus “FU”. I have to say, I like it.

CMS with a pretty easy sweep. Some cleanup and I can go to bed.

Top Performers:

• Scranton hit 0.312 and scored 58 Points with 66 digs. Carah Vitkus with 10 kills and 14 digs.

• St John Fisher led by Sydney French with 9 kills.

• Salisbury had 60 Points. Amanda Crew had 11 kills and led both teams in digs with 19.

• Endicott’s Kelsey Sanborn had 10 kills with no errors on the day.

• Hope had 60 Points in this one. Annie Lockett led both teams with 17 kills.

• Wittenberg’s Tyler Linkhart had 12 kills with just 1 error.

• Stevens with an outstanding 62 Points. Bailey Axelrad led all with 20 digs.

• Manhattanville’s Vianca Vital had 29 assists with 12 digs.

• Berry with 61 Points while hitting 0.388. Peyton Breissinger hit 0.500 with 11 kills.

• Covenant’s Kyla Bailey did what she could on defense with 19 digs. She also had 6 Points.

• Adolphus hit 0.271 in this one. Marlee Turn had 21 kills.

• UWEC’s Avery Pennekamp had 14 kills.

• MIT hit 0.337 in this one. Emily Cheng had 31 assists, 3 kills and 9 digs.

• Tough one for Maine Maritime as they hit negative. Rachel Melampy had 7.5 Points.

• Johns Hopkins hit 0.313. They were led by Simone Adam who had 10 kills.

• Hunter hit negative in this one. Nadia Lau had 21 digs.

• NYU hit 0.330. Olivia Lewandowski had 13 kills and hit 0.458.

• Westfield was led by Sarah Bingham who had 4 kills on just 12 swings.

• CMU setter Stella Yan had 4 kills, 25 assists and 7 digs.

• Southern Virginia were led by Sydney Hopkin who had 9 kills.

• Ithaca hit 0.310 and were led by Aleka Darko who had 11.5 Points.

• Alfred State were led by Keturah Gregory who had 9 kills and hit 0.375.

• CNU were led by Dozier, Wright and Carter. Each had double-digit kills with 2 or less errors.

• Morrisville were led by Brianna Gates who had 17 kills to lead both teams.

• WashU were led by Lane Bohrer who had 17 kills and 17 digs.

• Millikin were led by Tori Stuart who had 19.5 Points.

• Chicago was led by Maggie McInerney and her 20 kills. She had 61 swings!

• TLU was led by Maggie Schultz who also had 20 kills and hit 0.311.

• UWW were actually out Pointed in this one. Still, they had Kirsten Anderson finish with 12 kills and 16 Points.

• Cornell were led by Ilah Perez-Johnson who had 18 kills and 14 digs and 3 aces.

• Emory hit 0.432 and were led by Alana Dawson who hit 0.667 with 10 kills.

• Bethany’s leader was Hannah Rogers with 6 Points.

• Babson’s Izzy Seebold had 30 assists and 6 digs.

• Swarthmore’s Chloe Mayhue had 6 kills with 6 digs.

• Williams’ Celia Adams had 21 kills and 15 digs.

• Stevenson’s Kayla Vaeth had 20 digs.

• Cortland’s Zoe Staats had 14 kills and 15.5 Points.

• Rowan’s Natalie Ogden had 8 kills and 8 digs.

• Eastern’s setter Elle Jiron-Bujanda had 5 kills, 45 assists and 13 digs.

• Marymount’s Elissa Munsterman led both teams with 20 kills while hitting 0.366.

• Trinity hit 0.343 and were led by Sara Flynn who hit 0.500 and had 8 kills.

• Puget Sound were led by Katelyn Chekian who had 11 kills and 9 digs.

• Oshkosh were led by Abby Fregien who had 45 digs. What’s crazy is she was only served to 10 times.

• Otterbein were led by Carlie Craycraft who had 50 assists and 14 digs.

• UWSP had three players with double-digit kills as setter Grace Michalske led the attack with 41 assists.

• Coe’s Grace Lueken hit 0.375 and finished with 8 kills.

• Transy hit 0.394 as setter Grace Ward had 34 assists.

• Randolph-Macon’s Grace Parker led her team in kills with 10.

• Juniata hit 0.426 and had 61 Points and were led by Lily Podolan with 10 kills on just 14 swings.

• Keene State were led by Cassidy Samuelson with 6 kills.

• Tufts hit 0.391 and were led by Janelle Yarwood who hit 0.650 and had 13 kills.

• JWU were led by Peyton Oliver with 11 kills and 8 digs.

• Wesleyan had only 3 attacking errors and hit 0.427. They were led by Mariko Tanaka who had 11 kills.

• E Nazarene hit 0.209 in a losing effort and were led by Eliana Baran with 11 kills.

• UMW emptied the bench in this one hitting 0.338. Emily Flamm hit 0.692.

• Cedar Crest’s Ava Grapsy had 3 kills and 9 assists.

• Calvin’s Heidi Westra had 23 kills and hit 0.375. She also had 24 digs.

• Aurora’s Vanessa Brown had 19 kills and 7 digs.

• UTD’s Madison Ball had 10 kills and 13 digs.

• UCSC’s Sydney Ahrendt led both teams with 22 kills and 24 Points.

• Northwestern had only 10 attack errors in this one. They were led by Abby Glanzer who had 20 kills.

• North Park’s setter Christina Gatta had 3 kills, 45 assists and 17 digs.

• CMS was led by Brooke McKee who had 12 kills and hit 0.524.

• Fontbonne’s (or FU) Kristen Kaempfe had 10 kills and 5 digs.

Random Thoughts: I normally would take this time to pick who I thought would win today but when doing the underdog selections, I realized I liked all of the top seeds. Too boring to put in print any more than I have. Some great matches in the Northwestern and Calvin Regionals. I need everyone supporting TLU against Chicago today. Nothing against Chicago, but we have to protect our regional.

Here are the results (as of a few minutes ago) of the Regional Polls.

Oh, you Trinity parents are a fun group. They have a shot but my pick is CMS. In other news, where are my Chicago followers? Is this why none of you have offered to help my son who has just moved out there?

This was a tough regional to find an underdog for so no surprise the bottom four seeds received 0 votes. I’m a little disappointed my Berry clan got shouted down here. I think any of the top 4 could win this one. I’m actually taking Transylvania. They have been playing really well and are at home.

The top two in this regional have actually played at Wesleyan this season. NYU won a very close 5-set match. I do think NYU is slightly better and I didn’t like Wesleyan’s performance against Tufts in their conference final. With that said, I’ll take Wesleyan here as I think home court pushes them over.

Just a wonderful group of teams. Calvin at home is just tough and history says they are going to the Elite 8 so I’m taking Wittenberg here. I like Aurora, but I think the other 7 teams all have a chance here. Millikin has a recent win over Wittenberg. Wittenberg beat Calvin at their place earlier in the season. Anything is possible here.

The first regional to only have votes for three teams. It’s probably a sign that this is a weak regional. Mary Washington is a really good team but I also like Johns Hopkins here.

The other really tough regional. No love for UWSP? They have one of the best players in the nation on the floor. I really like North Park but they were done wrong here. If I had to pick an upset by an 8th seed, they would be it. Still, I’m taking Northwestern on their home court.

Our biggest favorite of the group and I think that number is low for what it should be. What does only three teams getting votes tell us again?

I would love for a year where the New England regions don’t get a team in to the Elite 8 despite all of the favors they get by the NCAA. But, that’s because I’m a small spiteful person. I’m thinking two get in again with one of them getting the 5th seed in the Elite 8 because that’s what the NCAA does. Give me Tufts here.