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Saturday, Sept 2 Match Day!
Update: For the two Austin College matches you could try this stream:
I don’t see the VB matches but I think they are supposed to be here.
My morning will be with my dad down the road but I hope to be back for the Pomona-Pitzer/Southwestern match. Updates sparse until then.
Oh, and the annoying chant to me (from the picture) is “FBK”. We all need to do better.
Howard Payne with an early statement. Love seeing teams that struggled figure it out. They look like they are going to take a step up this year.
Nice win by TLU over Whitworth. I wondered how good TLU would be and they look tough again.
The undefeated dream for HPU is over. They lose in 5 to Millsaps. (Or did they? Looks like Millsaps lied on their schedule and HPU starts the year 4-0!)
Cal Lutheran gets their first win of the season. A 5-setter over Whitman.
La Verne gets a 4-set win over Carthage. I still think Carthage is really good so maybe La Verne is really really good? CMS, Trinity and La Verne maybe the three best in the West? UC Santa Cruz could insert themselves.
Just finished watching CMS/Southwestern with CMS winning in five. My Pirates put up a fight and played tremendous defense but CMS was too strong. Southwestern beat Pomona-Pitzer earlier in four.
I will have to update late as food and a long drive take precedence.
It’s 10:10 on the West Coast and after midnight at home, but I finally get to go over the scores and see what happened. Just had a lot of family stuff today and the (hot) wife kept getting hungry. I do want to thank some CMS parents for saying they would pay for my lunch. What they didn’t know is that I was going to take my entire family with me. If I make it back next week I just wanted you guys to know that it is only going to be me this time. Trust me.
Tough weekend for Pacific as they went 0-4 at the North Park Tournament.
ETBU had a nice win over Centre but were swept by Emory. Played a tough first set but then took it on the chin in the next two. Emory is going to be really good this season.
CC bounced back with two wins today but struggled with Hardin-Simmons. Stats heavily in favor of CC in this one but still concerning.
One of the big stories for the West is La Verne going 3-0 with wins over Southwestern (yesterday) and Carthage and St Catherine today. Quality wins and they are your second best team in the SCIAC right now. Although CMS isn’t normal CMS just yet so maybe they could challenge?
HSU went 1-3 on the weekend but played 3 five set matches. They could be a contender in the ASC.
I’m really shocked by PLU this weekend going 0-4. There were some good teams in the tournament but this team should have come away with some wins. On the flip side, Puget Sound played the same teams and went 4-0 although 3 went to 5-sets. UPS looks to be a contender again in the NWC.
I am just seeing the Oshkosh sweep of Trinity. Three tough sets but still a sweep. Oshkosh had the stats in this one playing at Trinity so kudos to them. I had them ranked higher so not a big surprise at the win but the sweep is.
I’ve mentioned the Southwestern matches a bit but nice win over Pomona. They dropped the second set when their #1 outside went down with a fractured finger. Get well Christina. I should also point out that Pomona had lost a middle to an injury (dislocation finger) the previous day. The CMS match that went 5-sets was a really good 3-set match by Southwestern. CMS just dominated the fourth and fifth set.
Too many errors from CMS today and they dropped 3 sets over two matches. Unusual. They are running a new 5-1 formation so working on the kinks but when they turned it on, it was fun to watch. It was nice meeting a few of the ladies today although each was really mean to me for no apparent reason. I mean if you don’t want to shake my hand you don’t have to. (Note to self – Need to remember to disable comments to this post before someone tells the real story.)
I was a little nervous about UCSC after they took 5-sets to beat George Fox but nice wins over Cal Lutheran (sweep) and ranked Gust. Adolphus.
It was good to meet some coaches that I only knew through email and texts and reunite with coaches that I know in person. Redlands new coach Savannah Cox was at Pomona Friday so it was a joy to meet her and her team got her win number 1 today.
Tough weekend for Whitworth and I’m a little surprised by the loss to BSC today. Puget Sound definitely looks like the team to beat in the NWC.
I’ll end with Pomona-Pitzer’s win over Eau Claire. Nice to see a West team take down a ranked opponent (a sweep no less) and the scores indicate an easy affair. Looks like UWEC made too many errors while PP only had 10 attack errors in the three sets. PP is a tough team when they limit errors and they have some nice firepower. Right now it looks like CMS, ULV and PP are the top 3 teams in the SCIAC and we’ll have to see who steps up to join them. I don’t think I mentioned Chapman and that’s because I didn’t see them play. They lost today to Carthage in 4-sets but went 2-1 on the weekend. I need more info to know what they have this season.
I will be travelling tomorrow. No wrap-up but I’ll probably do one on Monday.
Bonus: Again, my (hot) wife and I will be at the Pacific Coast Classic today. I should also have my sister and niece there. So, bonus points for anyone that comes up to us and attempts to convince my niece that she should attend your school of choice and play volleyball. It will totally freak her out.
Double Bonus: I never advertise anything on this website (yes, I know WordPress does), so if anyone needs a topflight realtor in the SoCal area, my sister is one of the best. Click Tiffany Rochelle for her website. Still, if it comes down to freaking out my niece OR listing a home with my sister, please freak out the niece.
Random Thoughts: Remember that links and times and really everything can be iffy this first weekend. I am at the mercy of the SIDs putting down the correct information and am limited by my intelligence.
Another 9 am start for those in the central time zone.
I’m still finding mistakes in the game times every time I update this post. Not a good look.
A number of teams will be finishing up their out-of-region tournaments. Best of luck to all as it does help them and the region when they win.
Wartburg/Colorado College is a fun one. No telling how good Wartburg is going to be this year but CC can’t really afford to lose matches like this if they want to return to the NCAA Tournament. No pressure.
Carthage/La Verne is a match I’ll hate to miss as I think I’ll just have enough time to get back to the Pomona gym prior to the Southwestern match. Again, no pressure, but you really can’t lose this one La Verne.
LETU/St Thomas finish up their two match set today. I kind of like these types of matches between two teams that should be pretty even as it gives us insight into the conferences they play in depending on how the rest of the season goes.
Southwestern/Pomona-Pitzer should be a good one. This will be the first of two meetings this year between the teams. A really big advantage in region to the team that can win both.
I never like it when sisters fight. Concordia-Moorhead and Concordia-Texas do just that today.
Cal Lutheran/UC Santa Cruz – HUGE match in region and for national recognition. I really think UCSC will take this but betting against Cal Lu is always tough.
ETBU/Emory – Shock the world, Tigers.
Chapman/Carthage – It would just be really nice if we could send Carthage home without a win this weekend. It’s not going to happen but keeping the hope alive.
Gust. Adolphus/Willamette – Shock the world, Bearcats.
The Battle of the Sound with Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran going at it in a conference non-conference match.
One of the best matches this weekend will be Trinity/UW-Oshkosh. I think Oshkosh is better but Trinity at home is very tough. Should be fun. Also, if you are there, I think Ricky Nelson is also there. Make sure you figure out who he is and say hello. He started all of this mess so if you are reading this then it’s because of him.
Southwestern/CMS – Hold me.
UW-Eau Claire/Pomona-Pitzer – If PP does well this weekend then this will be the icing on the cake. Don’t go 2-0 and then drop this one. This puts you on the map. No pressure.
Gust. Adolphus/UC Santa Cruz – We’ll definitely have an idea about UCSC after this weekend. Should be a great match. If anyone has a private jet and can pick me up after the Southwestern match and get me to Santa Cruz, please let me know.
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