Saturday, Sep 21 Match Day!

Update: Dallas has been really poor this season with getting their links up in a timely manner.

UCSC is 1-1 with JHU. Both sets close. I’m really hoping for a ULV win today against WashU. It would be a win that shows they should be ranked high nationally in my opinion.

Nice first set by my Pirates. The defense starts it all for them this year. Payton Shiflet was outstanding that set.

Second set is closer but same result. Can SU break their 9 straight losing streak to Trinity?

Evil has occurred in set three. Trinity takes it. Rodriguez moved back to libero and made a difference on their backline. SU up 2-1.

SU lost Shiflet late to injury but fought through it to get the 3-1 win. Proud grandpa right now

ULV played two tough sets against WashU but were swept. Not what I wanted.

I know this will feel like I’m picking on Dallas but they list their losses as L, 3-0 and L, 3-1. They need to put their score first. Thank you for my Karen moment.

I know I talk about Southwestern too much. Emily Marks is one of those feel good stories in volleyball. She struggled her first year while at SU and missed last year due to injuries. This year she’s one of the best opposites in the SCAC. Nice to see nice things happening to nice granddaughters. She had 18 kills today to lead both teams in the first match where she saw her team beat Trinity.

I would have bet money on HSU against UTD today. Looks like it’s good I didn’t. UTD up 2-1.

In other news, I just got back from playing beach volleyball. We did it twice while we were here. I lost both matches. I don’t think that has ever happened to me. Time to retire.

UMHB comes back down 2-1 to beat Hendrix. These are killer matches for UMHB as they really can’t afford losses with their schedule. The comeback ensures they are still in the at-large hunt.

Whitworth made short work of GFU – 11, 11, 14. Whitworth hit 0.442 while GFU hit zero. It really looks like Whitworth will control the NWC this season. GFU could still be a top 4 team (and in their conference tournament). The difference in these two teams tonight was significant.

Had someone comment about how well UCSC played despite the losses this weekend. They certainly have their moments and for them their season really comes down to the C2C Tournament. They will be a tough out there. UCSC is well over half their season just 3 weeks in. 17 played and 11 to go. They have a tough time scheduling matches due to their conference alignment. With NPI, their past history of playing a really tough schedule kind of goes out the window. I’m not sure if that will make things easier for them or not. Doubling and even tripling up on the SCIAC schools is in the cards now if those schools can find the open dates and want to play.

Sad I couldn’t see La Verne play this weekend. Still worthy of being ranked but not a Top 10 team. The SCIAC should be intriguing. CMS, La Verne and Whittier all in the mix. A team like Pomona-Pitzer is still dangerous, as well.

UW-Oshkosh looks to be rolling again. This week they beat UWW, Northwestern and St Kates. Not too bad.

Sad to hear that Wittenberg had to cancel matches and their school has been impacted by insanity. That’s not a political statement…it’s just a fact that we have a real mental illness crisis in this country and we have too many outlets that feed into the delusions.

I guess MIT is the real deal this season. I am consistently critical of those two regions but not blind enough to acknowledge when they deserve love. They have wins over Colby, Endicott, Whittier, Chris Newport, UC Santa Cruz, Johns Hopkins and NYU. I haven’t thought about the new Top 25 but Juniata, UWO and then MIT? Maybe UWW before them? Emory? Who am I missing? They have to be Top 5.

TLU over Schreiner is a good result for them. Brylie Nedd is an excellent menace for the Bulldogs.

Caltech still hasn’t played a DIII team this year. UCSC is almost done with their season and Caltech hasn’t started. That changes on Friday when they play at La Verne. I’m not trying to be funny but I like the unusual and in this case, the unusual is that after they (most likely) lose to the Leopards, their NPI may be as high as it will be all year. It’s currently undefined.

Back to the NWC. Top 4 in some order: Whitworth, Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound and either GFU or Pacific? Washington schools seem to have the upper hand on the Oregon schools.

NCAA Scoreboard

Random Thoughts: Writing a week early so links are sparse. I hope to fill them out as time permits.

UCSC is still in NYC and get the hosts and Johns Hopkins this morning. Crazy tough.

La Verne close out their tournament at WashU against the hosts. Should be a fun one.

We do have a few SCAC matches today. No pod play. I wrote before that the conference will have more home/away matches this year.

Trinity/Southwestern is always a tough one for me usually because Trinity wins. Playing at SU, and if my granddaughters can play their match…

We also have some ASC/SCAC matches today. ASC has done well so far (at least as of a week ago).

NWC plays a full slate of conference matches. GFU at Whitworth might be one that has 2 of the Top 4 at the end of the year.