Weekly Wrap-Up

Two weeks have gone by since the last Wrap-Up so this calls for drastic measures. I will go ahead and split up the writing into two articles (today and tomorrow) and will mainly cover the conferences since we are now at the mid-way point. I’m even going to skip the housekeeping that I normally do in this space. I will say that there is some interesting information in the article I posted today. For this article, let’s take a look at the ASC and NWC and tomorrow we’ll get into the SCAC, SCIAC and the independents.

The ASC has 11 teams split into two divisions. We learned recently that the coaches approved changes to their tournament format where the top two teams from each division make the tournament plus the two best wildcards that can come from either division. Right now, the top teams from both divisions are UT-Dallas, LeTourneau, Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) and Concordia. The two wildcards would be Hardin-Simmons (HSU) and East Texas Baptist (ETBU). McMurry is only a half match back and they’ve played less matches than ETBU has so far. There is still a half a conference season left to play but right now it looks like Belhaven, Louisiana College, Sul Ross State and Howard Payne will not make the tournament.

Prior to the season I had UMHB winning the conference and although they are in position to do this, it appears UT-Dallas has played better. On top of that, the hosting gig for the ASC Tournament goes to the top team in the East Division and this looks to be UT-Dallas. These teams actually face off Friday at Concordia so that should give us a preview into the tournament championship match. The big surprise so far in this conference would be the play of LeTourneau who are currently at 13-8 overall and 6-3 in conference. They have already equaled their best season in history. They have a split with ETBU and a win over HSU. They still have Concordia, UMHB and another match against UT-Dallas but an 8-6 finish seems very doable. The other surprise is probably the play of McMurry and their 3-5 conference record. I can see them getting to 8-7 on the season despite their start and really their downfall (if one is to happen) will be the harder schedule the West Division has to play.

Jumping back over to the East Division and ETBU looks like they could finish around 7-7 or 8-6 so the battle with LeTourneau is far from over. In fact the difference in that record may determine whether they take the wildcard from McMurry or not. HSU currently sits at 4-4 in the West Division but it seems like best case they can get to 9-6. Any slip up puts McMurry in the running again and makes it a three-team race for the two wildcard spots with ETBU. Honestly, after looking at it, although HSU and LeTourneau have an edge, it’s really 4 teams fighting for 3 spots. What is clear is that UMHB, Concordia and UT-Dallas are just playing for seeding at this point.

The big results from this past week include LeTourneau’s 4-set win at home against ETBU. LETU’s Kianna Crow had 21 kills and 22 points in this one. This past week also saw HSU complete the season sweep over McMurry in another 4-set affair. Triniti Anderson had 17 kills and 18.5 points in this match for HSU. This weekend UMHB played in the Trinity Tournament where they had matches against two ranked teams in Ohio Northern and Trinity. As has been the case all season, however, the Cru were unable to get the win and they are just leaving the door open for a team from another region to take their at-large bid if they don’t take the Pool A bid. The last match of note was a 5-set battle between UT-Dallas and ETBU. It was Senior Day for the Comets and those emotions can often interfere with a team’s play but they were able to pull out the win. Three players had double-digit kills (Jillian Via, Allison Owen and Catherine Croft).

This week the ASC has their crossover tournaments. In addition to UTD/UMHB, we’ve got Concordia/LeTourneau, UTD/Concordia and ETBU/McMurry to look forward to and each will impact the standings and the ASC Tournament seeding.

Looking at the NWC and things were going pretty smooth for Whitworth until this week. Looking at the standings and we find Whitworth tied with Pacific for the lead at 7-1 although Whitworth owns the head-to-head result (first tiebreaker). Puget Sound sits in third at 6-2 with Pacific Lutheran a match back at 5-3. The rest of the conference looks to be out of the title race although each team is capable of pulling off a surprise. Lewis & Clark, George Fox and Willamette are tied at 3-5 with Linfield and Whitman sitting at 1-7.

Prior to the season I had Pacific winning the title with Puget Sound a close second. I had Whitworth in third and Pacific Lutheran in fourth. So, not too bad all things considered. I had Linfield in 7^th with Lewis & Clark in 8^th so that may not end well for me but for the most part this conference is playing out like anticipated.

Looking forward and it really comes down to home matches and the pairings between the four teams in the lead. Whitworth will have both Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound at home while getting Pacific on the road. Pacific Lutheran will also have two home matches – against Puget Sound and Pacific. So, it would appear to be advantage Whitworth the rest of the way although Pacific will host Whitworth and those are the two teams tied for the lead. It should be noted that if Whitworth can beat Pacific then they will hold the tiebreaker with them. If Pacific wins then they need to win in 3 sets to hold the tiebreaker. A 4-set win makes things more murky (and magnifies the Whitworth loss to George Fox) but a 5-set win gives Whitworth the tiebreaker. There are still a lot of combinations that could happen here and you can’t count any of the teams in the conference playing the spoiler.

The big results from this past week include the big rivalry match between Pacific Lutheran at Puget Sound. The Loggers jumped out to a 2-0 lead but Pacific Lutheran came back strong to force a fifth set. In the end, Puget Sound won at home to third place in conference. The Loggers’ Jordan Holman would have 10 kills, 4 aces and 2 blocks to lead the way. The shocker of the weekend came when George Fox beat Whitworth on the road in 4-sets. Ashtyn Butler would lead George Fox with 15 kills on 0.382 hitting. She also had 2.5 blocks and one ace on the night. It’s results like this that tell us the NWC will not be an easy road for whomever comes out on top and might end up being too bloody to get two teams into the NCAA Tournament from this conference. Another surprise on the weekend was Whitman earning their first win of the season against Lewis & Clark. The Pioneers had been playing pretty well and may have been looking ahead to their matchup against Whitworth the next night. Whitman would get 12 kills from Ava McCabe, 11 kills from Christina Boxberger and have setter Emma Anderson pitch in 33 assists, 10 digs and 4 kills on the night.

This week we’ve got Pacific Lutheran at Whitworth, which is a must win for the Lutes. George Fox looks to pull another upset at Pacific. Puget Sound then gets their chance at Whitworth in another must win. If Whitworth can escape clean then it’s really down to that Pacific match. Speaking of Pacific, they will be at Lewis & Clark in a match they can’t overlook.

Before I end this article, let me take a quick look around nationally. There weren’t a lot of upsets this past week but we did see Saint Benedict lose to both Saint Mary’s and Saint Olaf. The Saints play rough in the Central and it’s really brutal this season. Berry has now lost twice to Birmingham-Southern on the season, which is interesting but something tells me they’ll get a third chance at each other in their tournament. Not nationally and not this past week but we did see Chapman beat CMS in 5-sets right before I left on vacation. Important win for Chapman and the West Region and I’ll have more on this when I do the West Region Rankings tomorrow. Also prior to leaving we saw Colorado College sweep Trinity, which gives you an indication of how strong Colorado College can be. Remember, they are still suffering some injuries. The WIAC is proving tough again this season although Whitewater seems to be cruising. UW-Eau Claire lost to UW-Stout, which was a bit of a surprise. At one point I thought the conference might get three teams into the NCAA Tournament but now I’m not sure they get more than one. Stevens Point is their best bet for a second team but it’s a deep conference where upsets can happen. I really think this conference would benefit if they played home and home instead of just once through the teams.

As I said at the top, I’ll hit the other two conferences and take a look at the independents tomorrow. I have also updated my Watch List page, which sees the removal of one of my favorite teams. I’ve had to spend a lot of time today updating my background data I use for Top 25, watch list and regional rankings so that’s why I’m cutting this short tonight.