Weekly Wrap-Up (9/19/21)

Time for the Weekly Wrap-Up where we talk volleyball and make fun of CMS. They didn’t actually play this week so I guess we can say they’ve hit their peak? (Thank you! I’ll be here all article and make sure you tip your athletic trainers.)

Let’s take a look at the week that was on the website in case you’ve missed anything. We had our D3VbWest Top 25 on Monday followed by the AVCA doing theirs. We also had our Points/Set Article, Players of the Week and Region Leaders articles. Other than that, it was all about Match Days. Before we get to the actual matches, let’s check on a few things first.

The big news, which may turn out to be nothing, was the release of the DIII Championships Committee recommendations to the Management Council. In this release there was a recommendation to change the first published regional rankings. I talk about regional rankings a lot so I never know if it becomes boring or if more is needed. The regional rankings determine the order of which teams are considered for at-large berths into the NCAA Tournament. They are extremely important for teams on the bubble that don’t win their conference tournament. One of the selection criterions is record against ranked opponents. The first published ranking doesn’t include this because each region doesn’t know who the other regions are going to rank. Starting with the second published rankings, they do. The recommendation is to release the first ranking alphabetized instead of by order because not all of the criteria is being used. This would be a pilot effort for this year only and be evaluated afterwards. In my opinion this isn’t much of anything. I think there are people that may get upset when they see the rankings change from the first release to the second and don’t understand that it’s due to the inclusion of the ranked record. This would maybe reduce that confusion. On a personal note, I’m not in favor of this. I still like to see the ordering because it often gives us insight into what criteria the RAC is favoring.

The item that may be more impactful was buried at the bottom of the release. It talks about travel considerations in order to ensure full fall tournament brackets. Without seeing the specific recommendations, it sounds like they are trying to alleviate some travel rules that would make it easier to book flights (i.e., make more flights viable for booking). On the surface this sound good, but should we be worried that the selection committee might be concerned about selecting teams that will require flights? We are always told that selection does not consider travel requirements. I’m of the belief that this has to be in the back of the committee’s mind and may be a factor towards the end of selection.

I had time to look through the ballots for the last AVCA Top 25 and I was interested in which coach voted for Emory after they lost twice the previous weekend. They lost to CMS and Trinity. Well, this coach voted Emory, Trinity and then CMS as their top 3. (Remember that CMS also beat Trinity that weekend.) So, probably the exact opposite that many others would do based on these results. I decided not to mention the coach’s name as they are all really busy and the AVCA voting is probably the last on their to-do lists. BUT!!!!! The coach’s team follows me so there is a chance they are reading this and I’d like to say that the penalty for this past vote is that you have to use my exact order in your vote this week. My order will be out tomorrow and you simply just need to mimic this in your AVCA vote. I will be watching!

Some oddities this week.

• I was a little surprised that UMHB’s Points/Set against Howard Payne was only 13.67. I then noticed that HPU had 27 unforced errors in their 3-set match. That would do it.

• The UMHB/UTD match was (statistically) pretty outstanding. Points/Set was 19.25 to 18. UTD lost with an 18 number, which I consider “elite”.

• It’s not often a team doesn’t get served an ace in a match. ETBU didn’t give up a service ace in their match against Howard Payne.

• Caltech had 22 service aces in a 3-set match against Mill College.

• By my count we have 2 teams over the 100-service ace mark so far this season – UC Santa Cruz and Puget Sound.

I was interested in Colorado College this week because the quality of their opponents jumped up with their final match of four being against Johns Hopkins. On Friday, they won both of their matches but only managed Points/Set numbers of 16.75 and 16.33. This was after being over 18 for the season. This was pretty concerning to me. Saturday, they played Susquehanna and were handed a very difficult match. The Tigers won in 4-sets reaching 19.25 Points/Set, which is more like it for this team. Unfortunately, they couldn’t duplicate that effort against JHU and lost in three (14.33 Points/Set). I think this weekend shows us that CC is very good but it also shows us that JHU is a tier above them and probably a tier above most of the teams in the nation. Right now, I’m thinking their competition is CMS, Trinity and UW-Whitewater. Feel free to throw in Calvin and Hope, too. A back-to-back national championship after being off a year in between would be quite an accomplishment.

We had two conferences start in on conference play this week so let’s talk about them first. In the ASC it’s all about Mary Hardin-Baylor as they went 3-0 on the weekend to improve to 6-0 in conference and stay undefeated overall on the season. They also took down two of their biggest competitors in UT-Dallas and LeTourneau. The number one seed in their conference tournament is pretty much assured at this point unless the Cru stumble, which doesn’t appear likely. The two big hitters for the Cru this season are Hannah Frasca and Kayla Janikula. Alli Pierce continues to run the offense in a 5-1 lineup. UTD went 2-1 on the weekend with wins over McMurry and Concordia. In past years these would have been important wins but both teams are struggle out of the gate so far. It had to be a good sign that they played well against the Cru in their match but disappointing that it still wasn’t enough. The Comets are led by Catherine Croft, Allison Owen and Abby Jones. Rachel Baxter has been outstanding defensively so far. UTD is 3-1 in conference and 5-6 overall. Sitting at 3-2 in conference is Sul Ross State and ETBU. They faced off yesterday at ETBU with the hosts coming away with a 5-set victory. Offensively ETBU is led by first-year Avery Reid and defensively by sophomore Lillie Hill. Both will be keys to the Bulldogs improving not only this year but in the coming years to follow. Sul Ross State is again getting a great year out of Annika Canaba but are also getting a lot of help from first-year Taryn Griner. The Lobos middles are definitely a strength on this team. LeTourneau and McMurry come in at 2-2 in conference. LETU went 2-1 on the weekend with both wins being 5-set victories. McMurry also went 2-1 and may have gotten a little lucky with their 5-set win at HSU as they lost the Points/Set battle 15 to 13.6. Still, they own Abilene until these two teams play again later in the season. LETU has definitely struggled against their expectations but they’ve been dealing with the C-Word. Both Kianna Crow and Natalie Connelly were playing this past week and it makes a huge difference. McMurry has been getting a great effort from Kaylie Vasil all season but it was Brooke Cox that came in to the HSU match and made a difference in her first playing time of the season. Always nice when you can find an extra attacker. The backside of the standings consists of Howard Payne, Concordia, Hardin-Simmons and Belhaven. Mya Ross continues to be a force for HPU as does Sarah Ghormley and Kylexus Block for Concordia. Taylor Salone is the hitting leader at HSU and once again is doing a nice job at the net defensively. Belhaven has found a good player in first-year Sara Scott who leads the team Points and Kills.

I think that Mary Hardin-Baylor is showing to be at the top of the tiers in the ASC with UT-Dallas right behind. After that, it should be a lot of fun to see who elevates their play as most of these teams are really close in talent and playing levels.

We only have one weekend in the books for the NWC so too soon to make any formal announcements but it’s clear Whitworth is winning the conference and that the Washington teams are better than the Oregon teams. I joke, but that is what the first NWC data point looks like right now (although Washington teams had the benefit of hosting). Whitworth, Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran are the early leaders as all are 2-0 in conference. George Fox, Willamette and Pacific are all at 1-1. Linfield, Lewis & Clark and Whitman are still looking for their first wins after going 0-2 during the first week of conference play. With Whitworth, it’s all about Maddie Lee but they have a deep team offensively with Kaity Barr, Cassidy Franklin and Abby Wolverton. Anderson and Forbes do a nice job in the 6-2 running the offense, as well. With Puget Sound it all starts with the serving behind Jordan Holman as the team puts a lot of pressure on their opposition. Holman also leads the team hitting with Katherine Carley. This is another 6-2 team that will run Logan Winn and Sarah Blumenfeld out as the setters and both do a good job. PLU finally got Breeze Bartle back from injury but it was a slow return for her this weekend. For the season, it’s been McKenzie Pfeiffer leading the attack behind the setting of Emily Dulaney. Halle Hetzler is having another great year defensively for this squad. George Fox got off to a great start but couldn’t get past Whitworth this weekend. They are led offensively by Bailey LeBreton, Kassandra Staton and Caitlin Namecek. Kennedy Kibby has come in and done great running a 5-1 while Sophia Lawrence is trying to (again) stake her claim as the best libero in the conference. Natalie Klotz is good in case anyone asks you about her. She leads Willamette offensively while also getting contributions from Dani Queja and Olivia Cadian. Emma Porter runs a slick 5-1 attack and you can’t sleep on her as she can put the ball down, as well. Pacific just forced Whitworth to 5-sets, which surprised me a bit after a slow start. Elika Unti had a most match against Whitworth and leads the team for the season in Points/Set. Haley Walz is also putting up big numbers defensively as the libero. Anyone that has read my NWC previews knows this conference is loaded with great liberos. Linfield has been a lot more competitive this season than in the spring and the main reason is the play of Raelynn Hammock. With that said, the Wildcats also have Regan Dean, Ellie Mead and Seraiah Ochse playing really well and any could step up big in a match. Aylea Dixon is doing a great job running a 5-1 and putting her hitters in a position to be successful. Lewis & Clark have to be a little disappointed with where they are right now but they have played one of the tougher schedules in the conference to this point. Izzy Willis and Kelsey Parker are leading the team in hitting and the always fun to watch Michelle McGinn is running a 5-1. The player that scares me the most in a podcast, Ka’anelaokapu’uwai Pakaki-Pias, is doing a great job as libero after moving there in the spring. This is the team most likely to rise up to the top half of the standings even after losing their first 2 matches. Whitman is the only Washington team to lose this weekend but they are a really scrappy team that can never be overlooked. Christina Boxberger leads the team in hitting so far this season.

Too early to see how things will break in this conference. I really though initially that Whitworth would run away and hide with the title but they don’t look invincible after going 5-sets with Pacific. Despite that, they really played two outstanding matches this weekend so maybe they just know they are going to get everyone’s best shot and will just raise their game. Puget Sound looks like they are going to challenge before this season is done and you can never sleep on PLU. They look like they may be down a bit but they are consistently a title contender. We’ll have to see what George Fox is going to do as they are surprising me a bit so far. They still will get a rematch with Whitworth at their place so nothing is set in stone, yet.

Looking at the C2C teams from our region and UC Santa Cruz continues to roll going 3-0 over the weekend. I’m looking forward to their match with Colorado College later in the year. Mills College is struggling unfortunately but they just need to keep hitting the floor and getting better. The C2C uses the Massey ratings to seed their tournament, which is a little strange. UC Santa Cruz is considered in first right now by a good margin over Christopher Newport. Mills College is 5^th although they are the only winless team in the conference.

Stepping away from conference play, let’s look at the rest of the teams that were still in action. The big in-region news was the Trinity Tournament as we had Cal Lutheran and Chapman come in and play some SCAC teams. There was also Northwestern in the house and it was unfortunately that we couldn’t dirty them up a little more than we did before they flew out. Cal Lutheran and Texas Lutheran played a back-and-forth 5-set match to start the tournament off with CLU taking the win. TLU would actually go 0-3 on the week (also losing to Chapman and Our Lady of the Lake) but they had their moments. This would be CLUs only win of the weekend as they would drop matches against Trinity, Northwestern and Southwestern. It’s been a tough schedule for the Regals and it’s unfortunate they couldn’t do some damage with it. Other than the win over TLU, Chapman also didn’t enjoy much Texas hospitality but at least they didn’t get beat up in front of a restaurant. (Is that the bar now for us Texans? If we don’t beat up a hostess for doing her job, we’re alright?) The Panthers would take a tough 5-set loss to Northwestern and then get swept by both Southwestern and Trinity. Southwestern would stay undefeated with their 2 wins over the weekend and Trinity would add to their record going 4-0. There were some other matches involving teams from the SCIAC with Pomona-Pitzer falling to UC Santa Cruz. Caltech would notch a couple of wins but Redlands would also get bit by the Banana Slugs of UCSC. Over at Johns Hopkins, Colorado College would end up beating Randolph-Macon, Ithaca and Susquehanna before falling to the top ranked team in the nation in JHU. Tough loss to take but I was happy to see CC play some quality teams and take away wins. Both the SCAC and SCIAC will being conference play this week and for the most part every team in our region will be hunkered down in conference play the rest of the way. I know it’s not the case for UCSC, Colorado College, Trinity and CMS but that maybe it.

For the week upcoming, Mills College will be hosting West Coast Baptist tomorrow but I’m going to forget about doing a Match Day for it. I don’t work on Mondays and we shouldn’t have volleyball matches on those days, either. I am looking forward to the Puget Sound/PLU match on Wednesday. Over the weekend George Fox gets both Lewis & Clark and PLU so those will be good tests for the Bruins. Centenary will get its return match with DI Grambling State this week. The SCAC will be playing their pods at Dallas and Colorado Springs so intrigued to see how the first set of results look. It does mean that Colorado College will play both Trinity and Southwestern. With the SCIAC, I’m actually looking forward to all of the matches. I really don’t know how this conference is going to shake out so any match not involving CMS is a crapshoot to me. (CMS at La Verne may be the best of the matches from this conference this week.)

I’ve been thinking a bit about a future West Regional and wrote a few hundred words on it but then deleted it. It’s too early. I will say a huge key is getting Southwestern into the tournament. I will assume Trinity and Colorado College are locks. That gives you three Texas schools (with UMHB) and a good base to start with for regional planning purposes. If UCSC and CMS can make it then we also would be fine with just one more California team being selected but that looks dicey right now. Without Southwestern or a California team, we can forget about it. And on that note, have a great week!