Semifinals (2024)

Updates: Go to the NCAA Bracket for Live Stats. Go to ESPN+ for the video.

The 2024 Fantasy Volleyball Stats/Standings have been updated. The delay was me. I was tired.

Alice Yu just hit me with a ball. I will not write anything nice about her today. 😉 OMG! She almost hit me again! How did she know?

My last coach that I didn’t know in person was Stacy Boudreau from Whitewater but, thankfully, she knew about the site. Also met Associate Head Coach Keith Scheckel who acquired me a shirt. Thank you! That makes three on this trip. La Verne, Gallaudet (via Sam Atkinson, Selection Committee Chair) and Whitewater. That’s 3 more than I thought I could score. Next time I need to ask for a car or something. Might as well push my luck.

Alright, just about 10 minutes before the match starts. I think this will come down to the UWW block versus the JHU speed. Can JHU get the balls to the pins fast enough to stop Whitewater from getting set? The next key will be whether Whitewater can have the same level of success serving as they did against Emory? If they get JHU scrambling and can limit their options then advantage UWW. The problem with that is JHU is pin heavy so being out of system won’t hurt them as much as a middle dependent team. I think the UWW offense is also really good so let’s see how the defense of JHU reacts. Let’s see how their block works for them. We’ve got two heavyweights and it should not disappoint.

Alice Yu got lucky with a kill. Yeah, I’m going to have fun with this.

UWW is targeting libero Nicole Tuszynski (NT) on the serve early.

Big swing at 9-6 with JHU getting the kill but called into the net. They were some confusion if they should challenge. They didn’t and really weren’t ready for the next point.

UWW has really just gone at NT exclusively on the serve. Testing the first-year libero. Adam had one ball served her way but had the 3 point pass.

We have the auto timeout at 15 points (no team called their own before 15). The JHU block is the difference right now. They are out-blocking the best blocking team in the nation. Alice Yu may have been involved in one of those blocks but do we care?

Three blocks in a row for JHU. Fourth goes out of bounds. They are on the UWW hitters right now.

JHU 20-13 as they are rolling right now. The greatest hit in volleyball is the middle with two blockers up that mishits the ball with a full swing. It always goes down.

JHU 22-13. Two straight after the timeout and we get another by UWW. Ace by Evans and then a kill by Carlsen.

JHU with an easy 25-13 set one win. Perfect set by the Blue Jays. Their blocking has been incredible. I thought I might write that sentence but about UWW.

Early run from UWW. They targeted Carlsen with the serve with some success. UWW running two liberos. At least they let Kuepers serve.

First set UWW went at the libero with the serve and now it’s Carlsen. She’s doing fine with it. JHU doesn’t seem to be focusing on anyone.

Two sets and two auto timeouts at 15. UWW up 15-13.

While trying to fix the bench after being crashed into…we have a JHU challenge. Call confirmed…challenge unsuccessful. JHU with one challenge left.

The libero server only, Payton Kuepers, is on a run. Nice short serves by her. UWW up by 8 and still going.

25-16 UWW. We have a 1-1 match with two blow out sets. The good side is back to being the left side. Sets were basically carbon copies with different results.

Shoutout to Haverford Coach Drew Hargrave who fixed our table after multiple crashes and introduced herself. I mean that was nice…but no shirt? 🙂

JHU’s second challenge. They got the ball over on three it looks like but an early whistle. The question is whether the 2nd contact was before it hit the floor. I know JHU got it up…will the review show it clearly enough. Challenge successful. JHU keeps their challenge. Replay.

Back to back challenges! In/Out call. Hard to tell from the review. That was in. Whoa! Unsuccessful challenge. That’s JHU’s last challenge unless this goes 5-sets.

I don’t want to say that Alice Yu has a good serve, so…

Do we like these sleeves worn by JHU? A number of teams wear them and they look cool but they would be so annoying. Always pulling them up.

UWW with their first challenge. Disputing a net call or if there was a net, was the ball down? Challenge unsuccessful. UWW with one challenge left.

3 for 3 on the auto timeout this match. 15-7 and no UWW timeouts but we’ve had 3 challenges.

First timeout for UWW at 16-9. This is the first set all over again. It’s the side!

Alice Yu served the ball and it went off a UWW player out-of-bounds. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not? It was Alice so not.

JHU blocks a ball that looked in but it was called out. Can’t challenge but they can call a timeout. They are up 19-14. UWW coming back.

Timeout UWW at 22-14. There was a play right after the timeout where UWW was called in the net. It didn’t look like it but no challenge. There was a long discussion. JHU then went on to extend their lead.

Is there a rule that we have to serve into the net after a timeout? It’s happened a lot.

25-17 JHU and they lead 2-1. Another set that wasn’t really that close.

UWW on the good side jumps out to a 5-3 lead forcing a JHU timeout. We will not have an auto timeout in the fourth set.

JHU is running more out of the middle in this set four but it’s not very effective. Maybe trying to loosen things up for the pins? Try to keep the UWW middles holding a bit.

Simone Adam crushes a crossing shot. We really haven’t seen that in a bit.

UWW keeping their 3 point lead. JHU has their chances but keep serving out or in the net.

UWW don’t have their big blocking numbers but just got a huge one to force a timeout. Dix and Krzus are just huge up there.

UWW is sitting on the outside. Another block. Widener is in the match on the right. Needs some sets.

It’s not over but we are going to a fifth set. The left side is not fooling around today.

25-16 UWW. The closest set was set four at 25-17.

UWW gets the good side to start. Coach on the floor says “Jansky starts left front for the first time tonight.”

4-2. Big block by UWW. Good timing for it. 5-2…ditto.

8-3 UWW. They are playing great in this fifth set. JHU moves to the good side.

Last timeout for JHU. Down 12-6. It’s going to take a miracle. TO forced by another Dix/Krzus block.

Another Dix/Krzus block. Foot fault at 14-7! Whoa. UWW now gets the win. Strange match. Never close in any of the 5 sets. Whitewater is our first 2024 finalist.

Loved watching JHU. They really controlled the match at times but the UWW block started getting their pound of flesh late. Service receive was a tad off which hurt the offense it felt to me. Big night for Alayna Jansky with 17 kills and Jenna Werner with 16 kills. JHU had three with double-digit kills. (I feel bad about having fun with Alice in this Match Day but she played great and it was all done with volleyball love.)

The NCAA is bringing the bracket to the floor for the winning team to advance their name on the board. Always a cool scene for them.

I have a scoop! I was very perplexed why Roanoke students were coming out in force to root for Hope. The answer is that Hope is bribing them with pizza! So cool and a great idea. Home court will be for Hope in this one.

In other really important news, I think that Whitewater win over Johns Hopkins pretty much secures a fantasy win for Doh. I lost my JHU player although Jerk has a Hope player so an upset could keep him in it. Of course, he in no way wants that to happen being a JC dad.

Game is about to start. Thanks to the JHU dad for reminding me that there were no matches tomorrow. Always good for you guys to keep me honest. I think Juniata wins this. Hope is so good but I just think JC is too good. A coach here at the site said, “Everyone is playing for second.”, and I think that is the feeling by everyone here. Of course, if Hope comes out like La Verne did then I think they can withstand the Juniata counterpunch a little better. Until someone can prove to me that JC can lose, I have to pick them.

Side note from a coach here…Juniata is the only Elite 8 team without a DI transfer. Can that be true?

I’ve seen Addie start in the serving position. Not in this one. She’s front middle for Hope.

JC calls a timeout at 13-7 with Hope leading. Hope has targeted Christy and Rousset-Hernandez (KSRH) the most. Some success with Christy. JC starting off like the La Verne match. That’s not a good thing.

The coaches in the scouting reports talked about how Hope will push middles even when the set is not there. That has been very true early in the first set here.

Tons of emotion from Hope. Very little from JC. I think this could be really crushing for Hope if JC gets ahead.

Hope now up 20-15. Another JC timeout. Service receive for JC is a bit of an issue right now. Hope serving tough.

Since my concern with JC winning this set, Hope has been dominate and they take the set 25-18. Another punch to JC. Hope looked great. The left side loses for the first time tonight. Juniata’s new consecutive set run ends at 3.

Are the two best assistant coaches on the court in this one? Carrie LeHocky for Hope and Casey Dale for Juniata. Last two AVCA winners.

Juniata up 8-5. Timeout Hope. A couple of mistakes by Hope and you just can’t do that. JC is hitting 0.500 this set.

Another serve into the net after a timeout. Maybe we should just award possession to the other team after a timeout automatically.

JC timeout down 12-11. Hope punching back.

That was a 9 point run by Hope. Huge emotion from Hope. JC is not here tonight…yet. Went from hitting 0.500 down to under 0.100. Challenge for JC on a Hope possible touch. We can’t see it here. Challenge unsuccessful and JC down to one challenge.

3 in a row to get JC back in this set. 18-16 with Addie serving. Can Hope win it with Addie back row?

Huge overpass by JC. Could have tied it but Hope goes up 21-19. Hope gives a point back on a missed serve.

JC really only has Coley going right now and that connection isn’t perfect. 23-21 Hope. The dink over the block is working for Hope. Set point.

Addie moves to the front row and gets the kill. 2-0 Hope just like we all thought. JC needs the reverse sweep. This is the first time they’ve lost 2 sets all season. This will be the first 5-set match of the year for JC if they want to win.

YMCA being played. Both set of fans joining in. Bribed Hope fans are very loud. Pizza well spent. Here we go. JC needs to start passing serve and get multiple players involved in the offense. Hope needs to keep being Hope. Defense is insane. Addie is insane. Lauren Lee is insane.

Whitewater needs to find the pizza connection if Hope loses. They need to bump the bribe up to chicken wings if Hope wins.

Audrey Muth with a bomb. Followed by Lily Podolan. 8-8. Life from JC.

Great up from KSRH and then a Lily bomb to force a Hope timeout. No auto timeouts in this one, I guess.

Coley is doing evil things. I haven’t mentioned Brooke Fox who is having a nice game. Hope needs more than their outsides to push this over the edge.

JC up 18-14. Hope timeout. It’s equally crazy to me that Hope wins in a sweep or JC wins in a reverse sweep.

Point of the match so far at 21-16. Long rally goes to JC. Great defense by both teams.

No sweep of Juniata as they take set three 25-20. Will this be a gentleman’s sweep for Hope or are we going 5-sets?

Right now, JC has the momentum. More players are in this match than what Hope has going. Getting some middle production for Hope would be huge.

6-1 to start the fourth set. Timeout Hope. Hope is trying to get their middles involved and just no success.

Brooke Fox with her 6 service ace and then a pass over the net but Olivia Foley bails out JC with a block.

Hope uses their first challenge but this looks like an easy call. Hope touched it out. Really not sure what the issue is here. Whoa! JC hit the net, I think. It looks like Lily Podolan hit the net as the ball went out on Hope’s side. She didn’t touch the ball. Challenge successful. Nice eyes, Coach Becky!

Juniata hitting 0.300 while Hope is less than 0.100. One point game. Strange.

Three JC players with double-digit kills. Just one for Hope. Both have a player with 9 kills. Too much firepower right now for JC. This looks like a fifth set. I asked at some point before the Elite 8 if we’d match the four 5-setters so far in the tournament. If this goes five, it will give us three. Just need the championship to go 5. Of course, I’ll be catching the end of that racing in a car to the airport.

Who says JC is business-like? Lots of emotion right now from them.

Set four ends on an 8-0 run from Juniata.

All bets off but it’s really hard to win a reverse sweep. It’s also really hard when you win big in that fourth set. JC is just JC right now. They are winning this unless Hope finds something deep.

Hello Kamryn Burbridge.

JC gets the turn 8-7. Two unsuccessful challenges back-to-back.

I didn’t think Hope was out of challenges. Addie hit it out but I thought there was a touch. Oh well.

Hope holds off two match points but Juniata wins 15-11. Great match. We all knew Juniata would need a reverse sweep, right? It will be Whitewater and Juniata on Saturday.

More later. Congratulations Juniata.

Back to the JC/Hope match. Addie VanderWeide had 14 kills and 19 digs. Brooke Fox had 10 kills. Juniata had 4 players with double-digit kills led by Coley and Christy with 15 each. Christy had a really bad start to this match but really turned it around and was as important as anyone for the final result. Lily Podolan was another that had a slow start but really had important kills down the stretch. Set four was vintage Juniata. What’s interesting is that in set five neither team hit over 0.100. It was there for both to take. It was cool seeing the emotion from Juniata. We know it means something but I don’t think we like it if we don’t see it. If we think (stupidly) that they don’t appreciate it. Very cool. As for Hope, all props in the world to them. First two sets (especially the second) were outstanding. From that point on it was walking through mud. Everything was difficult. Still, they had a chance and are the only team to take 2-sets from Juniata this season.

The one big takeaway is that Juniata is beatable. I don’t think I thought that after their wins over JHU and Ohskosh earlier in the year. There is certainly enough on video for Whitewater to look at after their two matches.

I believe there is an off day tomorrow. Please let me know if this is incorrect. I’d hate to be having dinner with the (hot) wife and see tweets from Whitewater telling me the score to set one. This has already happened once on this trip.

Time with the (hot) wife tomorrow. I hope she likes the pinball museum!

Random Thoughts: I get to sleep in so I’m excited about that!

I only got to see set three on my phone of the Whitewater game. They obviously played great. They were impressive in their regional. I’m just so impressed with JHU. Can JHU deal with the Whitewater block? JHU is just so good at the pins and getting the ball there quickly. I think my pick is JHU but this could go either way and I think either will give Juniata a run in the final.

Well, I didn’t spoil that, did I? Juniata is at a different level and just got a little bloody so they know it can happen again. Can Hope win? Yes. Play like they did today and they are really good. I thought Addie looked great but what has really changed from last year when it was a sweep in the final? Lockett helps Hope but Juniata wins this in 4-sets. I still say Juniata is a tier above every other team that played Wednesday.