Weekly Wrap-Up (2/14/21)

Another Weekly Wrap-Up that you should read because you can’t go outside. At least anywhere in the states as far as I can tell. Since you are stuck with me, let’s take a look at the week that was. We started the week off with our regional leaders article. It’s early and the SCAC hadn’t played, yet, but the NCAA finally dumped the statistics so we should look. The West Region Top 10 came out with minimal changes but something tells me that will not be the case this week. I finally got to publish a Players of the Week article and this should be the norm moving forward. The SCAC coaches came out with their predictions this week and it’s official that there is a national Trinity love-in going on. I even got out a musing article this week where I discussed the rampant rumors that I would be taking over the Southwestern Pirates assistant coaching position. Most importantly, we had three match days this week so we definitely will be diving into those results. There was a thought that today would be a fourth match day but Whitworth/Puget Sound decided the weather made the match unplayable as there was a hope to makeup the cancellation from Saturday.

Jumping to the week coming up it appears we have 4 match days although the weather may change those plans. I tell you; we don’t have these weather issues in September and we may want to think of moving the season back to the fall. I hope to have an interview published this week and a corresponding podcast. In addition to the normal articles, I also want to unwrap a Points/Set weekly article that will use this stat to essential rank teams in the region.

I’ve mentioned this in some match day articles but I’m struggling with the lines people staying on one side when the teams no longer switch. The Trinity/Austin College match had a late arriving referee so someone else had to take the line and there were a couple of calls that were obviously wrong. The referee finally arrived but there were two sets where the same team had to suffer through it. Seems like an easy change that makes thing fairer.

Sad news from the Colorado College team as their libero (senior Rachel Krutz) went down in their 3^rdset on Saturday with what looked like an Achilles injury. She didn’t play at all in 2019 due to injury and word is that she’s out this year now, as well. Please keep her in your thoughts and add that to the list of reasons you always hug your daughter when given a chance.

I enjoyed a post from Trinity where it appears they made cutouts of the Trinity volleyball parents/fans and bring them to their matches to silently cheer them on. Very cool. Next level would have been making one of me booing.

Another pet peeve is the short setter that gets called for back row attack. I was a club referee for a couple of years and I tried to watch for this but for the most part this is an automatic call. After a time, I fell in line (just easier to call the expected than buck the system) but there are a few setters that can take a full approach and not strike the ball when it is completed over the plane of the net.

The ASC continued their play this week with matches on all three match days. The West Division saw four teams play and the result is McMurry and Mary Hardin-Baylor sharing the top spot right now. McMurry defeated Sul Ross State in their double-header 3-1 and 3-1. Kianni Mitchell was unstoppable getting 20 kills with 0 attacking errors (!) hitting 0.541. In the second match she hit 0.714. That’s not just crazy but a tad unfair. Madison Cuellar led the team in points (27), attacks (65 attempts), aces (7) and digs (38). She’s listed as a libero/outside on the roster and they may want to rethink that ordering. Did I mention she’s a freshman? Yeah, she’s a freshman. Brynn Wilson directed the attack finishing with 39 assists on the day. Sul Ross State were led by Annika Canaba who had 31.5 points, 17 assists and 32 digs getting a triple-double in the second match. Freshmen Loren Garcia pitched in 16 kills as the team went young with 3 freshmen playing all 8 games on the day (one more played 7 games).

Mary Hardin-Baylor won their double-header over Howard Payne 3-1 and 3-0. They were led by Corinne Novak who finished with 17 kills. Alli Pierce and Maddison Heibel split setting duties finishing with a combined 65 on the day. Blocking looks to be a strength for this team as they finished with 18 over the two matches. Howard Payne surprised the Cru with their second set win in the first match but couldn’t build on that effort. They were led Mitsue Rodriguez as she finished with 16 points on the day.

(Big apologies to Belhaven and ETBU!!! I missed their wrap-up and with power out I can’t add it. ETBU had a sweep in the first match and would require a reverse sweep to take a 3-2 win in the second.)

Over in the ASC East Division we have LeTourneau and ETBU at the top after they played their first conference matches of the season. LETU were able to sweep Louisiana College twice in rather convincing fashion. Kianna Crow led the team with a combined 20 kills while Natalie Connelly had 16. Courtney Edge finished with 36 digs on the day. Louisiana College struggled to get things going although Leah Stamps did finish with 10 kills and 17 digs on the day.

The NWC saw a cancellation of the Whitman/PLU matches as weather got in the way. The second match of the Whitworth/Puget Sound was also cancelled due to weather so that left a single match. Going into this season, I just didn’t know what we had with Whitworth. They lost a lot of players to graduation but had a couple of really good returners to build around. One interesting item is that Joelle Forbes who set all last year just hit in this one. She finished with 5 kills on 10 swings. Saylor Anderson got the bulk of the assists with 26. I do have to mention Kaity Barr who finished with 12 kills, 6 aces and 11 digs. Puget Sound were led by Alli Reviglio who had 11 kills and 10 digs on the night. It’s interesting to go through these NWC box scores because they are definitely trying to play lots of people.

The SCAC had their own cancellation and it hurt personally since it was Southwestern/Dallas. Lots of other matches were played, however, and through the first weekend we have Colorado College, St. Thomas and Trinity at the top of the standings page. Colorado College won their two matches 3-2 and 3-0 but the Mountaineers gave the Tigers all they wanted in that first match. The Tigers had to win the last two sets to take the match and were led by Isabella Lipacis with 26 kills. Isa Aragon-Menzel finished with 57 assists to lead the team and Rachel Krutz had 33 digs before suffering the injury. Sophomore Kayla Lofland led Schreiner with 19 kills while Emily De Hoyos and Mia Moreno split setting duties. The second match between these two ended in a sweep but Schreiner still showed well getting to 20 points in both of the first two sets. They will be an interesting team to watch moving forward.

St. Thomas would take down TLU in their double-header 3-1 and 3-0. As we’ll see in the Points/Set article to come, TLU actually created more points in the opening match. Alaina Lanik and Alyssa Ajlouny were the hitting stars for St. Thomas on the day while Kelsie Walker did well finishing with 47 assists over the two matches. TLU saw a dominate performance by Madison Weisinger who had 29 points over the two matches. Peyton Sulak also did very well with 15 points in the first match but I saw her go down and she didn’t play the rest of the day. Hopefully she’ll be fine but would love for a TLU parent to let me know. Lexi Morris had an impressive 7.43 digs/set stat at the conclusion of the day. It should be noted that TLU is playing a 5-2 lineup, which holds a special spot in my heart.

The Trinity/Austin College match was the last one to start in the SCAC. Trinity would end up winning the double-header 3-1 and 3-0. I came away very impressed with the Tigers and specifically Annie Rose Leggett. Although she typically started where she was the first or second server in the game, she still led the team in kills and attacks and points with 32.5. It didn’t appear that there were any holes in the team and that the roles were already known. Nadia Kern seems to have taken over the libero position although Sami Lin also got in the games to serve and play back row. Right side Sarah Flynn was very efficient with 20 kills, 2 errors on 30 attacks. Austin College were led by Shelbi Cook who had 18 points over the two matches but the story is all of the freshmen that played significant roles. Four played in all of the games with two others getting limited time. Now they were playing Trinity but if they can cut down on their attacking errors, they may do some damage in the conference this season.

I guess I’ll wrap this up with a special note to Puget Sound to improve your video stream. It’s just so low quality. Parents, start complaining! If you are not allowed to see the matches in person then you should be allowed to watch fuzzy-free!