Tournament Preview Week 3 (2025)

I’m running out of time in August to get everything done that I need to so I’m changing this up a bit to make it a little easier on me. A little more cut/paste and a little less witty banter/ Remember that I have moved all of the C2C and SAA teams to Region X because I’m just that powerful. For each tournament I looked at the average NPI from 2024 of the teams involved and also tracked statistics loss, average record and Points/Set.

Here is the only note from week one that still applies this week:

• Ozarks schedule is in but they are basically playing non-DIII programs prior to conference.

Tournaments are listed by strength. I have the complete table at the bottom of this article along with the tables from week 1 and week 2.

More cut/paste, remember? This table shows the teams in the tournament with their statistics loss to graduation, their 2024 Points/Set number, their win loss total and their 2024 NPI. The last column is whether they received a bid and what type it was. A is the Automatic Qualifier (AQ) and C is the at-large bid. You’ll notice that NPI is not multiplied by 100 for the teams like the NCAA has it. The final row are the averages and the NPI is multiplied by 100 in this case. Sorry, there are no headers but it saved my a few minutes.

As for this tournament, we have a new leader as that 64.9 NPI is the highest to date. Lots of statistics loss here but notice how that is not the case for La Verne. Just four great teams who all made the tournament last season battling it out in a really good tournament.

Trinity does it again as they are playing a crazy tough schedule. This time we have four conference winners and you know it’s a good one when Northwestern is your worst team! This average NPI is actually the second best so far that we’ve seen. I don’t think we’ve seen a tournament with an average loss of 4.

Another tournament with a number of 2024 tournament teams in it. Any tournament above 56 is going to be a good one so a great test here. Notice the advantage Cortland had in Points/Set but also the fact that they lose the most to graduation. Middlebury losses the least number of stats so maybe they sweep here?

Christopher Newport is another team with a tough slate of tournaments. This one should be a little easier outside of NYU who return a ton of talent. This tournament returns the most overall of the ones we’ve looked at this week.

We take a step down to that 56 range so still a really good tournament but we are getting to that point where the tournament will break a little easier for the top teams. Platteville should do well here based on what they are keeping and the numbers from last year. Still, CC and Carthage will also be good this season.

This one has two conference winners to highlight the teams but don’t look paste TLU here. Seeing how Berry and Emory reload will be an interesting note on the early season.

Dropping below that 56 number and we’re here because of WashU and what they did in 2024. That statistics loss number for them is crazy high and may mean this tournament drops down a few pegs when it’s actually played.

Fun trip for Pomona-Pitzer. This looks to be a really interesting tournament. Transy is the best team but losses the second most. Pomona-Pitzer is right behind them statistically. Muskingum should be a lot better while Maryville may be in trouble here.

Not sure about how this one will look when its played. Seems like Virginia Wesleyan should roll here.

The tournament with the best name until someone comes up with the D3VbWest Classic. We’ve got two tournament teams in this mix but the overall number is brought down Linfield. With these large tournaments, the average NPI is going to vary greatly depending on who you are matched up with.

I’m kind of impressed with St Thomas and the tournaments they are hosting. They are making it work and seem to bring in some interesting out-of-region teams. We’ve got Minnesota-Morris in this one. Southwestern should do well here but only Austin College losses a lot to graduation.

Dropping down to the 50 range in average NPI is not great. Alverno is the main cause of that so this is a tournament that may play up when it goes off.

Love seeing Caltech on the road playing some DIII teams. They mainly play non-DIII teams to start off their seasons. They have no statistics loss but that’s probably not going to be the case as their players will often take study abroad opportunities. Stout should do well here.

Big drop down here. I’d expect Oglethorpe to do well.

Millsaps is the class here but do lose some talent to graduation. In this type of tournament, you must come out with all wins.

Alright, a little light from me today but I’ve got a schedule to keep. The last in this series will cover some of the tournaments to be played based week 3.

Below are the tables that rank the tournaments by NPI. I have kept the tables from the first two weeks, as well.

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1