Saturday, Oct. 30 Match Day!

Updates: I’m seeing multiple times for the Dallas/St Thomas match. Either 1:00 pm or 5:00 pm. I assume it’s 5:00 pm since St Thomas plays Centenary at 1.

ETBU/McMurry 14-14 in the fifth. The rally went on forever! Coaches on ETBU thought they won the point at least 3 times before they actually did.

After a timeout, ETBU wins the match.

Live stats has Dallas easily beating Colorado College. But, that’s only if the two programs have swapped teams. Once again, Live Stats is wrong.

Millikin beat WashU today. If anything will drop WashU in the regional rankings that might do it. BUT, it’s only a loss and not a regional ranking loss…which doesn’t matter in their case because their results are pretty bad.

TLU lead Austin College 2-1 and are trying to close it out in set 4. This might be a preview of the SCAC Tournament first round match.

TLU with the win 3-1.

Sul Ross State had travel issues so the UT-Dallas match is cancelled and will be considered a “no contest”. If Sul Ross State had C-Word issues then this would have been a conference forfeit. Kind of weird to me, to be frank. I guess this wipes out UTD’s senior day but good news…they didn’t have any seniors! The “no contest” means that Sul Ross State will not finish 6th and will take part in the 4th/5th place match and be on the same bracket side as UT-Dallas.

Hope “upsets” Calvin today for their second win against them this year. After watching both teams play CMS, it’s a little surprising but playing at home in front of over 1,000 fans is helpful. Credit to Hope for winning in 5-sets. It will be interesting to see if they put both of these teams in the same regional. I guess if they put Trinity and CMS in the same regional then we shouldn’t care.

Berry “upsets” Emory today in a sweep. They split their matches this year.

When coaches complain about doubles and a referee then decides to call it really tight then you get a Top 20 match that is unwatchable.

Trinity announcer, “Lucky swing off the block.”

I can’t write what I think of you right now.

Nice win by Pomona-Pitzer over Chapman.

Whittier with a set one win over CMS. Cal Lu won their first set against Redlands. Whitworth looking to win the title as they take the first set against PLU.

My three wishes right now. Stay in system Southwestern. Don’t call a double referee. Set Crabtree.

Trinity with the 3-1 win over Southwestern. Another great effort by Trinity as they go undefeated in conference.

PLU looks like they play in front of Johnny Carson’s Late Night curtain. If you don’t know who that is then ask your grandparents.

It’s always fun to see the tournament celebrations when a team wins their conference title and secure an NCAA Tournament spot. Tune into the PLU/Whitworth stream if you want to see it. Whitworth is up 2-0 and need this win to secure the title and tournament spot (no tournament for the NWC). Third set is tight. 19-16. (Or tune in if you want to see an insane comeback.)

Hetzler (PLU) is attempting to get the insane comeback going. 23-22 PLU in the third set. Whitworth now up 24-23. Celebration time?

Uh. No. PLU 26-24 and we go to a fourth set.

Cal Lu sweeps Redlands and secure the last tournament spot in the SCIAC. They will face CMS.

Puget Sound and Willamette get sweeps tonight.

Maddie Lee (Whitworth) hits one of the hardest balls in the region.

In the fourth set. It’s 23-23 as Whitworth has just tied it up forcing a timeout. Comeback or Title?

Title. Congratulations to Whitworth! You are going dancing!

Pacific and Linfield going to a fifth set.

Pacific takes it in the fifth and that ends the night.

National Ranked matches not involving West Region teams:

#1 Johns Hopkins beat Bryn Mawr #6 Hope upsets #4 Calvin#9 Juniata beat Scranton #9 Juniata beat Elizabethtown #8 UW-Whitewater beat Lakeland #10 UW-Eau Claire beat UW-Platteville #14 Berry upsets #11 Emory#12 NYU beat Brockport #12 NYU beat Ithaca #14 Berry beat Washington & Lee #15 Northwestern beat Bethany Lutheran #15 Northwestern beat Martin Luther #17 Ohio Northern beat Mount Union #19 MIT beat Coast Guard #20 Bethel beat Hamline #21 Chicago beat Aurora #22 Tufts beat Colby #23 Otterbein beat Captial #23 Otterbein beat Hiram #24 UW-Stevens Point beat Carthage #25 Gustavus Adolphus/Saint Mary’s

Random Thoughts: The cover photo is Occidental’s senior libero Sydney Takauye.

Sorry for the late entry of my thoughts on today’s matches. First time (I think) this year. Maybe I’m in offseason mode already.

Last day of the regular season for the ASC. UMHB has the first seed and UT-Dallas has the second. Both will get byes in their tournament. Concordia is done at 10-8 and they currently sit in the last tournament spot. LETU, Sul Ross State and ETBU are tied for third at 10-7. LeTourneau has the easiest match of the three with Sul Ross State the hardest. I’m not going to go through the tiebreakers but it’s razor thin margins between these 4-teams (includes Concordia). I think I’d rather finish in the 3rd or 6th spot so that I line up on the UT-Dallas side. UMHB at home, despite any recent struggles, is going to be hard to beat in the tournament.

The SCAC begins their final weekend with matches tomorrow, as well. Trinity has the top spot and a bye and will also host at home (it’s done on a rotation basis). Southwestern sits in second but even if they beat Trinity today, they will most likely end up in third with Colorado College getting the spot as they hold the tiebreaker with the Pirates. TLU and Austin College looked to be secure for a tournament berth. Dallas sits in the last spot and will have to fight off the rest of the conference as I think everyone is still mathematically in it. Saying that, Schreiner has the toughest path as they get both Trinity and Southwestern for their last two matches. The St Thomas/Dallas match may decide the final spot. If St Thomas wins, they have the tiebreaker on Dallas. Centenary probably needs to win out to have a chance.

The SCIAC also has their last day of the regular season. CMS has secured the #1 seed which means they host any tournament match they play. Pomona-Pitzer has secured the second spot and will “host” Chapman who they actually play today. I say “host” because the Sagehens’ court is being re-constructed so I assume this match will be at CMS. The fourth and final tournament spot is between Cal Lutheran (who surprisingly lost to Caltech last night) and Whittier. Whittier plays #1 CMS while Cal Lu plays #9 Redlands. Whittier needs to win and Cal Lu to lose to take the 4th spot.

The NWC still has another week in their schedule as they do not play a conference tournament. Whitworth has a chance to win the title tonight against PLU. PLU is the only other team with a chance but they have to win out while Whitworth would need to lose their remaining 3 matches. The rest is for pride but we did see Linfield win their first conference match of the year.

UC Santa Cruz has an exhibition match scheduled today but it doesn’t count towards their record.