Weekly Wrap-Up (9/8/24)

Our second Weekly Wrap-Up of the season and I’m pretty sure this one will need to hold you over for a couple of weeks. I’ve got an early flight next Sunday so I’m doubtful I’ll be able to get to it. The good news is this one is done and you’ve only just started reading it! The Wrap-Up is where we look at the week that was and the events to come. I also throw in a lot of stuff that interests me with the hope you share my volleyball insanity just enough to get through it all.

This past week we had the D3VbWest Top 25 which was followed up by the AVCA Top 25. I did an article on NPI as we looked at the numbers from the first weekend. We had our normal Players of the Week and the Region Leaders articles. Other than the Match Days, the final item from the week was the news on how the NCAA is going to protect the Top 8 seeds in the Tournament.

Looking at the schedule for the week, we’ll have matches from Tuesday through Saturday. We’ll also see the start of the ASC with Mary Hardin-Baylor having matches against both Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons. Outside of the matches, we’ll have our normal articles and I hope to have two NPI simulations run with the data through today. It will be interesting to see how things look so very early.

Oh, the standings for Region X have been updated on the left side (or pulldown).

Before we get to the results of this past week, time for my mind to wonder.

I was down at Southwestern Friday and Saturday and got to see six different matches. I was really excited to reconnect with Pacific Lutheran Head Coach Kevin Aoki who is probably the nicest coach in volleyball. I mentioned this to Southwestern’s Head Coach Don Flora and he responded, “You mean the second nicest?” I said, “No. I’ll stick with the nicest.” Don agreed.

Well, the PLU family also has to be one of the nicest of any of the volleyball programs. I had written earlier in the year that coaches needed to start getting me practice shirts (Men’s XL). Well, I got my first one from Coach Kevin. I fear it will be my only one. I also got some chocolates, which pleased the (hot) wife and a beautiful Hawaiian lei. There is a strong Hawaiian presence in the program (as there is in most of the NWC teams) and I’m just happy that the PLU families that still live on the islands will now welcome me into their homes for a week plus the next time we vacation there.

This Wrap-Up already has a strong PLU slant but I was intrigued by their postgame meeting I was invited into. They Zoomed family members who couldn’t be there in via a computer and had their postgame meeting. It included the coaches (obviously), team (duh) and also friends and family that cheered them on that match. The coaches did their spiel and then the team went around and gave props to other team members who did something special during the match. They also did shoutouts to the family and friends in the room and on Zoom. It was very heartwarming and pretty much the opposite of what I did when coaching 6-year-old soccer. “YOU ALL NEED TO PLAY BETTER OR YOUR CAREER IS OVER!”

One of the teams at the Southwestern Tournament was Illinois Tech. I always introduce myself to out-of-region teams and hope they’ve run across the website. Well, not the case with IIT. Oh well, I can’t win them all but hopefully they will check out the site and let their parents and players know there is a DIII resource out there trying to spread some DIII love. A little rejection is also good for me as it makes me feel young (brings back high school memories).

Whitman was also at the tournament, which allowed me to meet in person Head Coach Matt Helm. Matt was an email buddy until that moment so it’s was really great to meet him in person. I will say, no shirt?

I was also able to reconnect with traitor UT-Dallas Head Coach Zach Villarreal. The program is transitioning to DII and are on a fast track, which means a DIII schedule this year and a DII schedule next year with full DII membership in 2026. They are required to hand out athletic scholarships this year and learning and following DII rules and procedures. The team is ineligible for their conference tournament or the NCAA Tournament and their matches really only count as in-region games. Wins and losses will be recorded for opponents but they are not part of the NPI calculation. I asked Zach what their team goals are without the promise of a conference title or tournament in their future. He said that they would still keep an internal standing of their conference and their goal is to secure the top seed. Other than that, this season is about getting better because there is a difference in play between where their program is today and what they will need to do in the Lonestar Conference starting next year.

Oh, back to Illinois Tech and check out this picture. What are they doing (wrong answers only)?

I mean it looks like the referees are really cracking down on the jewelry rule or something. I believe without asking or trying to find via Google is that they are emulating a Scarlet Hawk, which is their mascot. The entire team on the floor would take this pose when serving.

Back to PLU and my heart goes out to Assistant Coach Rusty Carlson and his family as his mother passed away this weekend. He had made the trip to Georgetown when he received word and had to return home.

I had written about my mother’s passing when a Southwestern player lost her mother a couple of years back. You can find that article here. Since things have gotten a little depressing here, let me tell another story that happened on the trip when I found out about my mother. We were taking a family vacation to Deston, Florida and had rented a larger car at the Pensacola Airport. I thought I was going to get an SUV and was finishing up the paperwork while the (hot) wife and kids checked out the car. I step outside and the two kids (6 and 4) are racing towards me with huge smiles on their faces. They explained that they loved the car and that we had to get one for our family. As I walk up, I realize they rented us an older station wagon (paneling and all). I was about to go complain when the kids showed me why they loved the car. They went over to the door and rolled down the windows. They had control over their windows! This new technology was a must-have they said. We kept the car for the week. (To you younger readers out there, older cars use to have a handle that allowed you to roll up or down the windows. There was no switch and the driver couldn’t lock you out from messing with the windows.)

One problem with going to the Southwestern Tournament is that I missed the East/West Challenge hosted by WashU. If this is going to be the greatest season in DIII history because of all of the talent on all of the top teams (i.e., Super Seniors), then this was the greatest regular season tournament in our history. Here were some of the more incredible results:

• Johns Hopkins 3-1 over Trinity: JHU Simone Adam with 13 Kills hitting 0.440.

• Emory 3-2 over Colorado College: CC lead 10-5 in the fifth set but lost 10 straight points.

• CMS 3-1 over Trinity: CMS Brenna Bell hit 0.455 with Shae Delany getting 18 kills.

• WashU 3-1 over Trinity: TU picks up 3 losses but no shame against these teams.

• Johns Hopkins 3-1 over Emory: JHU averaged 21.75 Points/Set against EMORY!

• CMS 3-2 over Tufts: CMS Georgia McGovern with 7 kills, 37 assists, 6 aces and 3 total blocks.

• Emory 3-1 over CMS: Widest point margin in the four sets was 3 points. Brenna Bell with 24 kills hitting 0.447 from the right side.

I skipped some matches but everything reported back to me was that this was a great tournament. Comment from one coach that was there, “These are the highest-level matches at this tournament ever. Incredibly high level. WashU/Trinity was unreal. Then walked over to watch Emory/JHU which was even better.” I still believe there is a tier of Juniata or maybe Juniata and Hope but these teams are next tier and you never know when it comes down to just one match.

Brenna Bell (CMS) with 45 kills hitting 0.383 against top teams. Simone Adam (JHU) with 39 kills hitting 0.452. This is the bar for the AVCA Player of the Week Award if they want to give it to a hitter.

Okay. PLU again. Sigh. If you have the time, take 45 seconds to watch a point in the Southwestern/PLU match. You can jump to 1:24:30 of this video. It’s the 3^rd set and the score is 7-3. There are a number of outstanding digs in this one point but the special one is PLU setter Ayre Takamoto who dives to send a ball over the net only to find the Southwestern middle who pounds the ball back at her as she lies on the floor. Somehow, Ayre gets a hand up while laying down to dig the ball. Special. Southwestern would win the point and that has been a signature of their play this year. Winning the defensive points against teams that are just as good on defense.

I now take a moment for you wannabe referees out there. Saw some fun ones this weekend.

1. A player goes to serve and slips. The ball doesn’t touch her. She gets up and rolls the ball to the other team. What is the call here? Illegal serve? Replay? Time violation once the referee gets to 8 seconds?

2. A back row setter attempts a jump set. She is below the net while in the air and can’t get to the ball. The ball goes over the net and the other team blocks the ball back on her back as she ducks. Is this a back row block? Is this play on?

3. A back row setter goes to the net to set and sees that the ball is going over. She turns towards the net with her hands up. She doesn’t jump. No part of her is above the net. The ball is hit down and goes off her. Is this a backrow block? Is this play on?

4. I didn’t see this one but like the above example you have a back row setter standing (not jumping) with her hands up by the net. Next to her is a front row player that jumps and blocks the ball. The setter never touches the ball. Is this a backrow block? Is this play on?

One team I didn’t know much about going into the season was UW-Whitewater. They are a historically good program but were losing a ton of statistics to graduation. I kept them in my preseason rankings because of their history. Well, they are 7-0 with wins over Augsburg, Berry, Cornell and Northwestern. They’ve dropped 2 sets all season. Let’s figure out how they are doing this. I had them losing 4 seniors with the two big losses in the Points department being Jenna Weinfurt and Kristen Anderson. Almost 1000 Points between them or almost half of the team’s Points last season. Their leader in Points this year is Super Senior transfer Alayna Jansky who is averaging 5.11 Points/Set. Next up is Jenna Weinfurt who came back for her Super Senior year and is averaging 4.92 Points/Set (and won the AVCA Player of the Week Award Week 1). I guess Hope has some competition for best outside duo in the nation. There is another Super Senior transfer in Ava Rebarchik and a libero Super Senior transfer in Jaedynn Evans. A sixth Super Senior also stuck around in Hannah Proctor. Jansky is a DI transfer who last played at Winthrop in 2022. Rebarchik is a DII transfer who played last year at Kentucky Wesleyan. Evans was an All-American at the DII level playing for the University of Central Oklahoma. Over the next two weeks, UWW will play Millikin, UW-Oshkosh, La Verne and Gust Adolphus. Could we be adding UWW to tier one?

Congratulations to LeTourneau’s Morgan Nix for breaking their school’s record for total digs in a career.

I am fresh out of PLU news so maybe it’s time to look at some of the best individual results from our Region X players this week. I’ll also go over the conferences at a high level. Just mixing it up.

From the ASC:

• Avery Reid (ETBU) 10 kills hitting 0.667 in a 3-set win against Huntingdon.

• Graycee Mosley (ETBU) 16 kills hitting 0.519 in a 3-set win against Huntingdon.

• Natalie Hughes (UMHB) 11 kills hitting 0.667 in a 3-set win against St Scholastica.

• Graycee Mosley (ETBU) 25 kills hitting 0.345 with 17 digs in a 4-set win against St Thomas.

• Logan Lear (LETU) 11 kills hitting 0.435 in a sweep over Moravian.

• Morgan Nix (LETU) 29 digs in a sweep over Moravian (and the team’s career record!).

• Laura See (UTD) 10 kills hitting 0.333 in a sweep over Concordia.

• Kendall Harrington (UMHB) with a triple-double in a 4-set win over UW-Superior.

• Gabby Jones (HSU) with 11 kills hitting 0.846 in a sweep over Huntingdon.

• Alina Strickler (UTD) with 15 kills and 14 digs in a 4-set loss to TLU.

• Anita Hancock (ETBU) with 11 kills hitting 0.429 with 4 total blocks in a sweep over Hendrix.

• Gabby Jones (HSU) with 10 kills hitting 0.692, 4 aces and 3 total blocks in sweep over Hendrix.

We had everyone playing in the ASC this weekend. UMHB continues to roll through their schedule while Howard Payne is also undefeated. Even though HPU is 5-0, they are only 2-0 with DIII teams. ETBU swept through their tournament and sit 6-1 with their only loss being a 5-set match to Trinity. Their schedule has been much tougher than UMHB so I still give them the edge in conference. HSU sits 5-2 with a nice win over Berry their first week but a 4-set loss to St Thomas (who lost to ETBU) this week. It looks like they definitely sit third right now in conference. UT-Dallas went 2-2 this week and looked good at times but also struggled terminating at times. They are ineligible for conference. LeTourneau went 2-2 this weekend and took a loss to Millsaps who HPU beat week one. That probably slots them 5^th in a very deep, albeit small, conference. LETU is the only ASC team with a losing record.

UC Santa Cruz had a tough weekend but a point here or there would have given it a different look. They finished 1-3 with a win over Pacific but took two 5-set losses to La Verne and Whittier. What could have been. UCSC plays in the C2C Conference so they basically act as an independent until that conference has their tournament. Salisbury is still undefeated in their conference with Mary Washington sitting 5-4 and Chris Newport sitting 3-3. Top performances for the Banana Slugs were:

• Olly Gordon with 15 kills hitting 0.700 and 3 blocks in their 4-set win over Pacific.

• Kelly Ann Greene with 10 kills and 4 aces in their 5-set loss to Whittier.

From the NWC:

• Maddie Badger (UPS) 15 kills hitting 0.345 with 4.5 total blocks in their 4-set win over Chapman.

• Makena Jackson (PLU) 2 aces and 22 digs in their 4-set win over IIT.

• Alexis Baer (GFU) 16 kills hitting 0.317 in their 5-set loss to Augsburg.

• Maddie Badger (UPS) 11 kills and 5 total blocks in their 4-set loss to Whittier.

• Ella Jimenez (Whitworth) 18 kills and 15 digs in their 5-set win over North Central.

• Arina Gushchina (Whitman) 13 kills in their 3-set loss to Concordia.

• Maya Deferme (Pacific) 2 kills, 39 assists and 8 digs in 4-set win over Redlands.

• Taylor Miche (Whitworth) 5 assists and 17 digs in their 3-set loss to UW-Oshkosh.

• Addison Hawes (GFU) 22 assists and 11 digs in their 5-set loss to Neb Wesleyan.

• Ella Jimenez (Whitworth) 23 kills hitting 0.321 and 9 digs in their 4-set win over UW-Stevens Point.

• Ayre Takamoto (PLU) 34 assists, 2 aces and 14 digs in their 4-set win over Concordia.

• Breanna Babcock (GFU) 8 kills hitting 0.438 in their sweep over Wartburg.

Unlike the ASC, the NWC is struggling this season. Whitworth looks good and appears to be the class of the conference as they sit at 6-1 while playing some good teams. Pacific and Linfield are the only other teams above 0.500 but when considering only DIII opponents that no longer is the case. Pacific is really 2-2 while Linfield is 0-1. I thought George Fox played this weekend and just was very unlucky. If I’m trying to pick the Top 4 in some order I’d go with Whitworth, PLU, GFU and then either Puget Sound or Pacific. I had really liked Willamette prior to the season but they are not performing right now. It all starts fresh once conference gets going.

From the SCAC:

• Emily Marks (Southwestern) 12 kills hitting 0.344 in their sweep of UTD.

• Audrey Cataline (St Thomas) 12 kills, 2 aces and 8 digs in their 4-set win over HSU.

• Jordyn Braxton (Schreiner) 9 kills hitting 0.667 and 4 total blocks in their 4-set win over Marymount.

• Carolyn Dormady (CC) 13 kills and 17 digs in their 5-set loss to Emory.

• Laynee Beam (St Thomas) 9 kills hitting 0.400 with 2 aces and 3 total blocks in a 4-set loss to ETBU.

• Shavonne Respondek (TLU) 2 kills, 15 assists and 7 digs in their sweep over IIT.

• Reagan Whatley (Trinity) 8 kills hitting 0.364 with 7 digs in their 4-set loss to CMS.

• Brylie Nedd (TLU) 14 kills, 13 digs and 8 aces in a 4-set win over UTD.

• Rayna Pack (Concordia) 15 kills on 0.750 hitting in their sweep of Whitman.

• Lily McWhorter (Southwestern) 14 kills hitting 0.667, an ace and 3.5 total blocks in 4-set win over PLU.

• TJ Folse (Austin) 12 kills and 7 digs in their 4-set loss to Pomona-Pitzer.

• Giana Hilliard (Schreiner) 13 kills and 20 digs in their 5-set win over Heidelberg.

• Maddie Fate (Trinity) 10 kills hitting 0.714 and 2 blocks in their 4-set loss to WashU.

• Audrey Cataline (St Thomas) 17 kills hitting 0.333 and 13 digs in their 4-set win over Huntingdon.

• Emily Marks (Southwestern) 11 kills hitting 0.429 in their sweep over Whitman.

• Annie Steger (CC) 3 kills, 30 assists and 6 digs in their sweep over Cal Lutheran.

• Carly Berkman (Southwestern) 11 kills hitting 0.370 with 7 digs in their sweep over IIT.

• Audrey Cataline (St Thomas) 13 kills hitting 0.591 with 18 digs in their sweep over Willamette.

• Laynie Kovacs (Austin) 6 assists and 22 digs in their 4-set loss to Chapman.

• TJ Folse (Austin) 12 kills and 26 digs in their 5-set loss to Whittier.

Starting in the Blue Division of the SCAC, St Thomas is 5-2 and will probably compete with Colorado College for their top seed. CC is only 2-5 but have played really good teams so far on the year. McMurry and Austin College will battle it out behind those two. Right now, neither Centenary or Dallas have a win on the season. In the Gold Division, Southwestern is undefeated playing a good but not great schedule. Trinity has played the great schedule and are at 3-3 after 3 tough losses this weekend. Both Schreiner and TLU are 4-2 and you could make an argument that these are the 4 best teams in the SCAC all in one division. I don’t think that’s the case but we shall see. Concordia has the misfortune of being the 5^th team in this division.

From the SCIAC:

• Ariana Carranza (Oxy) 15 kills and 15 digs in their 4-set loss to St Vincent.

• Aniya Hawthorne (Oxy) 7 kills hitting 0.467 in their 4-set loss to Pacific.

• Georgia McGovern (CMS) 3 kills, 48 assists and 5 aces in their 4-set win over Trinity.

• Mya Ray (La Verne) 10 kills and 15 digs in their sweep over Austin College.

• Chloe Gill (PP) 17 kills hitting 0.500 in their 4-set win over Austin College.

• Jenny Jenks (PP) 2 kills, 47 assists and 13 digs in their 4-set win over Austin College.

• Brooke Leslie (Chapman) 18 kills, 4 aces and 10 digs in their 5-set loss to Edgewood.

• Emma Murphy (Redlands) 12 kills hitting 0.323 in their 4-set loss to Pacific.

• Lauren Gott (La Verne) 10 kills and 17 digs in their 5-set win over UCSC.

• Analise Kusleika (Whittier) 11 kills hitting 0.429 in their 4-set win over UPS.

• Kaegan Wherry (Redlands) 10 kills hitting 0.364 in their sweep over St Vincent.

• Brooke McKee (CMS) 15 kills, 4 aces and 7 digs in their 5-set win over Tufts.

• Makaila Brooks (Redlands) 13 kills hitting 0.458 and 2 aces in their 4-set win over Edgewood.

• Riley DeGroot (Whittier) 13 kills hitting 0.324and 17 digs in their 5-set win over UCSC.

• Jenny Jenks (PP) 2 kills, 41 assists and 6 digs in their sweep over St Vincent.

• Paige Mountanos (PP) 16 kills hitting 0.560 in their sweep over St Vincent.

• Brenna Bell (CMS) 24 kills hitting 0.447 in their 4-set loss to Emory.

• Ailsa Shen (Caltech) 14 kills hitting 0.321 in their 4-set loss to Hope Int’l.

• Mya Ray (La Verne) 18 kills hitting 0.302 in their 4-set win over UPS.

• Sammy Chambers (Chapman) 22 assists and 14 digs in their 4-set win over Austin.

• Kimi Watanabe-Mayhew (La Verne) 15 kills hitting 0.355 in their 5-set win over Edgewood.

• Sofia Zazueta (Whittier) 14 kills and 12 digs in their 5-set win over Austin.

La Verne is still undefeated and the conference has most of their teams above 0.500. Whittier is a bit surprising at 6-1 and have a number of 5-set wins under the belt. No quit in the Poets this season. Chapman sits at 5-2 and have also looked good. CMS has played the toughest schedule and is at 4-2. They are better than I thought going into the year and I no longer think La Verne has the title locked down. (Note to CMS – With that statement, please remove all previous writings from your bulletin board.) Pomona-Pitzer is scuffling a bit but are still 4-3. Redlands are doing well at 3-3 and could surprise a team or two in conference. The teams under 0.500 are Cal Lutheran who just played a tough slate of matches at the East/West Challenge, Oxy and Caltech. Caltech has yet to play a DIII opponent so technically they are 0.500 if you could divide by zero. (Seems like someone from Caltech could figure out how we could do this?)

Alright, when I go through the box scores like I did this for this article, I like to guess at the conference player of the weeks. Here it goes:

• Give me a repeat for Mosley. Nix could repeat on the defensive side but I don’t think so just because it seems boring (Sorry Nixie).

• C2C doesn’t go with UCSC this week.

• Ella Jimenez for offensive in the NWC and Makena Jackson for defensive.

• Offensive goes to Southwestern (Marks or Berkman). Not sure about the other two. St Thomas could get defensive (Spice). Setter is hard because only CC runs a 5-1. Do they get the award every week? Maybe Flora for that because she’s willing to take a picture with me.

• SCIAC avoided CMS last year but I don’t think they can do that this week. Give me Bell for offensive. McGovern would also be a fine choice. Defense probably goes La Verne or Whittier as they had a great week. Maybe Patterson for ULV? Carranza (CMS) would probably be my pick just because of the teams she played and she did well.

Tune in Wednesday to see how well I did here. Back at you tomorrow with my Top 25. I think I have to apologize to two teams for dropping them last week. I’m also hoping for some NPI stuff tomorrow.