Regionals Day 1

Updates: Kind of late to do this but “Norleb” gave me the idea. Maybe we do this next year…Give me your 8 underdogs (defined as a bottom 4 seed), one from each region, and whichever group of teams win the most matches during the entire tournament, wins the contest. The contest prize is solely bragging rights. Here are mine but if you want to play along, put them in the comments.

Maine Maritime, Endicott, Springfield, UT-Dallas, Westminster (PA), Whitworth, Colorado College and Stevenson.

The AVCA All-Region Teams are out. I’ll be updating the 2021 Awards Page later today.

Faint sound at Emory. Sound good at Calvin. No announcers at Emory? Bush league.

Southwestern with a big set one win 25 to 11. Lots of errors by W&L so far. Otterbein also takes their set one after a late comeback fails from Westminster.

Otterbein with an easy set two win. They are now up 2-0. Late comeback by SU falls short 25-23. All tied 1-1.

Southwestern with a set three win 25-13. Up 2-1. Northwestern/IWU have started. Otterbein with the sweep.

Northwestern with an easy first set win 25-20. Late 5 point run by IWU not enough.

Southwestern takes the match 3-1 with a set four win. Just Northwestern/IWU going on right now.

Northwestern gets the sweep. We’ll see if the longest set of the tournament is the 32-30 that was the third set in this match.

Short trip to the grocery store. Looks like I brought Berry some luck at the end as they take the first set.

I haven’t run the numbers but I don’t think Ithaca belonged in this thing. And they take the first set against Whitewater.

Whitewater comes back strong and takes set 2. Tied up 1-1. Transy playing Berry tough.

Whitworth about to take on Hope and shock the world.

Berry 31-29 to take the second set over Transy. Whitewater with a big win in set 3 against Ithaca. Lead 2-1.

Whitworth was shaky early but hung in there. Drop the first set to Hope. Let’s see if they can find their legs.

Whitewater takes their match over Ithaca 3-1.

Berry sweeps Transy but they were 3 hard-fought sets.

The Hope/Whitworth match has reversed scores. Hope should be the home team, but are not. So, the NCAA bracket is showing Whitworth winning set one. Now the broadcast has fixed it but I think the statistics will be backwards on some reporting sites.

Whitworth takes set two and has tied up their match 1-1. Don’t mess with the X!

We’ve had a number of late 4 and 5 point runs that have fallen short for teams. This time Whitworth made a late run but not nearly enough. 25-20 as Hope takes a 2-1 lead.

As I wait for the 4:30 matches and Hope/Whitworth to get going again…HBO Succession is really good. Just started watching it. Late to the game, I know.

Ugh. Whitworth had set 4 but a late run by Hope got it done and they take it 26-24. Take the match 3-1. Great effort by Whitworth against an elite team.

Wittenberg up 1-0 over St. John Fisher. Chris Newport with the 25-22 set one win.

UTD ties it up 1-1. Wittenberg up 2-0.

Wittenberg wins seven of the last nine points to win set three and get the sweep. UTD with the set three win. Up 2-1.

We have our first upset of the tournament! UT Dallas takes down CNU 3-1. Everyone except Norleb gets a point.

Chicago takes set 2 and ties up the match with Gustavus Adolphus.

Gusties win 3-1.

Emory with the sweep.

Last match of the night ends in a sweep for host UW-Eau Claire.

Standout Performances:

• Emma White (Southwestern) 14 kills 2 aces 17 digs 3 blocks

• Bridget Oder (Otterbein) 1 ace 24 digs

• Sydney Schwitters (Northwestern) 1 kill 40 assists 2 aces 9 digs

• Molly Bergin (Berry) 19 kills 9 digs 2 blocks

• Ana Grunewald (Hope) 15 kills 2 aces 9 digs 2 blocks

• Erin McNeil (Whitewater) 10 kills 0.529 1 dig 2 blocks

• Tyler Linkhart (Wittenberg) 12 kills 1 ace 5 digs 4 blocks

• Allison Owen (UT-Dallas) 14 kills 3 aces 2 digs 1 block

• Heidi Westra (Calvin) 11 kills 2 aces 11 digs 2 blocks

• Kate Holtan (Gust. Adolphus) 22 kills 10 digs

• Cassie Srb (Emory) 2 kills 38 assists 5 digs

• Charlie Nelson (UW-Eau Claire) 1 kill 43 assists 8 digs 1 block

Random Thoughts: Hold me. Remember the Regional Polls!

Starting off with the Emory Regional and let me show you some bias. Give me Berry, Southwestern, UT-Dallas and Emory. I like Chris Newport and they could do well in this regional but UTD is playing better and are more healthy now. I don’t know if they can pull this off but I like their chances. With that said, if Marci or Zach are reading this then I’m picking Chris Newport.

In the Calvin Regional I like Otterbein, Whitewater, Wittenberg and Calvin. All top seeds so I’m being boring. Westminster with the best chance at an upset…maybe?

More of the same in the UW-Eau Claire Regional. Give me Northwestern, Hope (sorry my second favorite Pirates), Gust. Adolphus and Eau Claire. Biggest chance for an upset, to me, is Whitworth and that’s not a biased take. They have a number of players that can play at this level and why has Hope’s hitting percentage dropped recently?

Here is what you guys think. Poll results taken from yesterday afternoon.

Emory Regional

First off, I have way too many Berry readers. Second, they are all nuts! Honestly, a good pick. Emory as a second pick is solid playing at home although I think Berry is better. Third are the mighty Pirates! There are honestly more parents than that so my own team doesn’t read my stuff, I guess.

Calvin Regional

Less of a vote total. You go Ithaca! Calvin is obviously the overwhelming favorite and rightly so. I need to get more Otterbein readers it appears.

UW-Eau Claire Regional

One Northwestern vote? They have a chance here, folks. I think Eau Claire will be hard to beat at home. First poll where every has a vote.