Lane Carico earned her second consecutive NORCECA gold on Sunday, Oct. 5, at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. This time she played with Heather Hughes, and the duo stormed through the tournament without dropping a set.
In the final, Carico and Hughes met fellow Americans Sarah Day and Kaitlin Nielson, defeating them 21-12, 21-17.
The bronze medal match was also a battle between compatriots. Mexico’s Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas took on Itzel Santoyo and Stephanie Burnside, taking the match 21-15, 21-17.
Americans met in the men’s final match as well with Theo Brunner and Nick Lucena taking down Tri Bourne and John Hyden 21-19, 17-21, 15-13. Brunner and Lucena had not dropped a set in the tournament until that second set in the final match.
Winning the men’s bronze was Puerto Rico’s Hector Soto and Roberto Rodriguez over Canada’s Michael Plantiga and Cameron Wheelan 21-19, 17-21, 15-12.
The NORCECA tour continues starting today in St. Lucia. The finals will be played on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Dave Shoji earns career win No. 1200 while clinching the Big West title/Photo courtesy Hawaii Athletics
It was an eventful late-regular-season Thursday around the women’s college game with Hawaii clinching the Big West Conference title and gaining an automatic NCAA tournament berth in what was legendary Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji’s 1,200th career win, while back on the mainland one of the sport’s most well-respected coaches, Louisville’s Anne Kordes, announced she is stepping down at season’s end to spend more time with her family. Tournament __play in the WAC, Big Sky and Atlantic Sun also commenced Thursday.
All the details later, but first, a quick look at the 56 matches for Friday evening, including the nine conference tournaments.
In the Big 10, No. 13 Michigan State goes to No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin is home against No. 18 Michigan, Maryland goes to Illinois and Ohio State faces Northwestern.
Pacific 12 __play is headlined by No. 9 UCLA hosting No. 19 Oregon, plus No. 8 Washington heading to Colorado, No. 12 Stanford is at Arizona State, Cal plays at Arizona, Oregon State at USC.
It’s a busy evening in the ACC, as Virginia goes to No. 6 North Carolina, Florida State is at Duke in a battle for second place in the ACC, Notre Dame at Clemson, Virginia Tech at Boston College, Louisville at Georgia Tech, Miami at Wake Forest, and Pittsburgh at Syracuse.
The SEC has four matches on tap, No. 23 Kentucky at LSU, No. 25 Missouri hosts Auburn, Alabama at South Carolina, and Arkansas at Georgia.
Big 12 is off for the evening.
In the Mountain West, Boise goes to Wyoming, with its first of two opportunities to clinch the conference title and the automatic berth.
On to the nine conference tournaments kicking off today:
In the Atlantic 10 Championships, A-10 No. 4 Duquesne plays No. 5 VCU, with No. 1 Dayton to face the winner Saturday. No. 3 Saint Louis plays No. 6 Davidson with No. 2 Rhode Island waiting in the semifinal.
The Horizon League championships are hosted by Cleveland state, where the quarterfinals are Horizon No. 3 Northern Kentucky vs No. 6 Valparaiso and No. 4 Oakland vs No. 5 Milwaukee.
The four MEAC Championships quarterfinals are: MEAC South No. 2 Bethune-Cookman vs. North No. 3, North No. 1 Howard vs. South No. 4 NC Central, South No. 1 Florida A&M vs. North No. 4 Norfolk State, and North No. 2 Maryland E. Shore vs. South No. 3 N.C. A&T.
Four teams advance to the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament: Campbell plays Charleston Southern, and High Point against UNC Asheville.
Fairfield hosts the MAAC championships, with MAAC No. 3 Quinnipiac vs No. 6 Niagara and No. 4 Rider against No. 5 Siena in the quarterfinals.
Friday’s Conference USA championships quarterfinals feature C-USA No. 1 Western Kentucky vs. No. 8 UTEP, No. 4 UTSA vs. No. 5 Florida Atlantic, No. 3 Marshall vs. No. 6 Rice, and No. 2 Southern Miss vs. No. 7 North Texas.
The America East semifinals are America East No.2 Albany against No. 3 UMBC, followed by No. 1 New Hampshire against No. 4 Binghamton.
The evening’s Colonial Athletic Association championships at UNCW feature CAA No. 4 Hofstra vs No. 5 Towson, followed by No. 3 Northeastern vs No. 6 Delaware.
The SWAC tournament kicks off at Jackson State tonight, with SWAC No. 1 Alabama State vs. No. 8 Grambling state, No. 4 Alabama A&M vs. No. 5 Prairie View A&M, No. 3 Southern vs. No. 6 Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and No. 2 Texas Southern vs, No. 7 Jackson State.
Hawai’i clinches the 2016 Big West title and automatic NCAA bid/Photo courtesy Hawaii Athletics
Back to Dave Shoji’s milestone: at home in Honolulu, AVCA No. 14 Hawaii secured its 25th conference title overall and ninth Big West crown. In the process, Shoji became the second NCAA Division I women’s volleyball coach to hit the 1,200-win mark (1,200-203-1 in 42 years). All of this happened in Hawaii’s 25-11, 26-24, 25-15 victory over Cal Poly. The only other coach to jump the 1,200-win barrier? Penn State’s Russ Rose (1,208-195).
“Well, tonight it means that we’re going to the NCAAs,” Shoji told Ian Schuering of Hawaii News Now. “That’s the biggest story, I think.
“We’re going to the NCAAs. Going somewhere to compete. And to qualify now, it just takes a lot of pressure off of us and that was the big thing about tonight.”
Nikki Taylor led Hawaii with a match-high 15 kills (17th double-digit kill match of the season), while Natasha Burns and Annie Mitchem each had five blocks. Norene Iosia recorded her third-straight double-double at home. Hawaii moved to 21-5 overall and 14-1 in Big West play. Cal Poly dropped to 17-9 and 10-5.
Hawaii is headed to the NCAA tournament for the 24th year in a row thanks to winning the league for the fourth time in five years since rejoining it. The Rainbow Wahine did have its streak of holding opponents below 20 points in a set snapped at 16 when Poly put up 24 in the second set.
Anne Kordes steps down at Louisville/Photo courtesy Louisville Athletics
Louisville will be in search of a new head coach at season’s end after Kordes announced her resignation, effective at the end of the season.
Heading into weekend play, Kordes was 272-135 overall and 130-60 during her run at Louisville. Under her direction, Louisville won Big East titles in 2011 and 2012, an AAC title in 2013 and the ACC title last year. She’s been named a conference coach of the year eight times, including last year’s ACC coach of the year accolade.
“It’s with extremely strong emotions that I am announcing my decision to end my career as a Division I volleyball coach,” said Kordes. “The last 20 years in this business have been a dream come true. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work for so many wonderful people during my time in coaching, but especially Tom Jurich (athletic director) at Louisville. He treats his athletic department like family and I could not be more thankful to him. There are aspects of every job that can be challenging and at this point in my life I am finding it hard to be the mom I want to be to my daughter because of the grind and travel of the recruiting season. There is no way around it if you want to be successful as recruiting is your lifeline. My struggle isn’t the work, it’s the work out of town. I consider myself to be lucky because of what I have been able to experience as a coach, especially at the University of Louisville. I also consider myself lucky because of what I get to experience as a mom.”
Jurich will begin a national search immediately for Kordes’ successor. “It has been an honor and privilege to have had Anne guiding our volleyball program for the last six years,” he said. “I wish her and her daughter, Mary, the best as they embark upon the next chapter in their lives. I am exceedingly grateful to Anne for her dedication to the University of Louisville, and I’m excited to see what the future holds for her. We will miss her enthusiasm and vigor around our department, but as a former student-athlete and coach at UofL, she will remain a Cardinal forever.”
The Cardinals have four matches remaining and are flying to Georgia Tech and Clemson this weekend.
“I grew up a Louisville Cardinal, I graduated as a Louisville Cardinal and I will always be proud that I am a Louisville Cardinal,” Kordes said. “I love this university and will continue to love and support the coaches, athletes and leadership. A very heartfelt thank you to Tom Jurich, Christine Herring (Louisville senior women administrator/assistant athletic director), my staff, players, alumni and the fans.”
Sidney Wicks sets for CSU Bakersfield/Photo courtesy Western Athletic Conference
Tournament hopping Numerous conference tournaments kicked off Thursday. We start in the WAC at New Mexico State in Las Cruces.
No. 3 seed CSU Bakersfield edged No. 6 seed Seattle 3-2 behind 17 kills and 19 digs from WAC player of the year Carol Grasso (15th double-double of the season). Setter Fabiana Andrade had 22 assists and 11 digs, while libero Jocelyn Rodriguez had a match-high 25 digs.
Katarina Marinkovic had 15 kills and 10 digs for Seattle.
CSU Bakersfield heads to the semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. local against No. 2 seed Utah Valley.
Thursday evening’s second quarterfinal match also went the distance with UT Rio Grande Valley (No. 5 seed) upsetting No. 4 seed Missouri-Kansas City in five sets.
RGV set a tied a program Division I record by notching its 19th win and assured itself the highest winning percentage in program Division I history.
Bojana Mitrovic led the Vaqueros with 23 kills, while Alisha Watson had 16 kills and hit .556. Ragni Steen Knudsen had 13 kills and a career-high five service aces.
Emma Hagedorn had 21 kills and hit .405 for Kansas City.
RGV heads to the semifinals to face top-seeded and host New Mexico State Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Big Sky Conference top-seed and host North Dakota swept No 8 seed Idaho in conference tournament play. Faith Dooley had 11 kills, five blocks and hit .474, while Big Sky MVP Sydney Griffin added 27 assists and five kills for the Fighting Hawks.
Other Big Sky quarterfinals included fifth-seeded Idaho State rallying from two sets down to defeat No. 4 Northern Colorado and earn a spot in the semifinals.
Chloe Hirst led Idaho State with 20 kills and 21 digs, while Abby Jensen had 19 kills. Marissa Todd had 12 kills and 11 digs, while Hayley Farrer had 49 assists and 17 digs for the winners.
Defending champion and No. 3 seed Northern Arizona swept No. 6 Portland State in another quarterfinal contest that lasted 83 minutes. Jensen Barton had 27 assists and 10 digs for the Lumberjacks. Lauren Jacobsen posted her 21st double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. Abby Akin had 10 kills.
No. 2 seed Sacramento State edged No. 7 Eastern Washington in five thanks to 16 kills and 15 digs from Mikaela Nocetti, 14 kills and 21 digs from Shannon Boyle and 13 kills and 14 digs from Madeline Cannon. Setter Kennedy Kurtz had 45 assists and 10 digs.
Friday’s Big Sky semifinals feature Sacramento State (20-11) against Northern Arizona (23-7) at 4:30 p.m. local followed by North Dakota (24-9) against Idaho State (16-14) at 7 p.m.
Over at Lipscomb in Nashville, Tenn., Florida Gulf Coast, the No. 3 seed, was a 3-1 winner over No. 6 seed Jacksonville in the Atlantic Sun quarterfinals. It’s the sixth trip in a row for Florida Gulf Coast to the conference semifinals.
Amanda Carroll paced Gulf Coast with 27 kills. Karissa Rhoades had 24 digs and three aces. Mallory Mattingly’s 13 kills topped the Jacksonville stat sheet.
Gulf Coast faces No. 2 seed Kennesaw State at 7:30 p.m. local time tonight on ESPN3.
The other semifinal saw fifth-seeded South Carolina Upstate, making its ASUN tournament debut, record a 3-1 win over No. 4 seed North Florida.
Callie Yeargin’s 15 kills led Update, which also benefited from Kaleigh Kelley’s 32 digs. Gabby O’Connell led North Florida.
Upstate squares off against No. 1 seed and host Lipscomb at 5 p.m. local Friday on ESPN3.
Elsewhere, the only Pac-12 contest saw AVCA No. 16 Utah fend off Washington State in five 25-15, 22-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-8. Utah hit the 20-win barrier and moved to 11-6 in conference play. Washington State was denied its 20th win and sits at 9-8 in Pac-12 play.
Adora Anae led Utah with a match-high 23 kills and hit .348 to go with nine digs. Tawnee Luafalemana and Carly Trueman combined for 29 kills.
Kyra Holt led the way for Washington State with 16 kills and sits in second place all-time in Cougars history with 1,705 kills, trailing only All-American standout Sarah Silvernail’s 1,848 total. McKenna Woodford added 13 kills.
Two key Bay Area matches were on tap in the race for the West Coast Conference title and an automatic NCAA bid where AVCA No. 10 BYU was a 3-1 winner on the road at San Francisco and AVCA No. 11 San Diego dispatched Santa Clara in three.
Both victors moved to 14-2 in conference.
At San Francisco, senior middle blocker Amy Boswell had 13 kills, hit .522 and had five solo blocks, the second-most in BYU rally-scoring-era history. Lyndie Haddock had 28 assists, while Mary Lake had 22 digs. BYU also had eight aces against only four service errors.
“Our serving was on point tonight,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “It was a good team effort offensively and defensively.”
BYU moved to 25-3 overall with the win.
San Diego (23-4) was paced by Lisa Kramer’s 14 kills on 23 swings (.421 hitting). Kelly Edwards had 10 kills on 19 swings (.421). Anna Newsome had 24 assists, while Kristen Gengenbacher had 18 assists. Hunter Jennings had 11 digs and San Diego hit .303 as a team.
Looking ahead, BYU stays in the Bay Area and plays Santa Clara Saturday and then heads to Los Angeles Tuesday to face Loyola Marymount in a game televised on ESPNU. San Diego also remains in the Bay Area and heads to San Francisco Saturday before going down to Malibu Tuesday to visit Pepperdine.
Briana Holman and Nebraska avenge their earlier loss to Penn State/Photo Credit: Nebraska Athletics
A pretty light night of action Wednesday around the country, but one that saw a near upset in Morgantown, W. Va., where AVCA No. 4 Kansas escaped the WVU Coliseum with a 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 20-25, 15-8 win over West Virginia.
Not so in Lincoln, where AVCA No. 1 Nebraska took care of business at home with a sweep of No. 15 Penn State, 25-17, 25-14, 25-22.
How dominant has coach John Cook’s squad been lately? It was Nebraska’s 13th win in a row and it was its seventh sweep of a ranked opponent this year.
More on that later, but first a look at what’s on tap for NCAA volleyball today. There are 23 matches on today’s schedule. The B1G, ACC, Big 12, and SEC are idle, but the Pac-12 has one match, as Washington State travels to No. 16 Utah.
Atop the WCC, the action is in Northern California, as BYU travels to San Francisco, and San Diego plays at Santa Clara.
Big West No. 1 Hawai’i will face Big West No. 3 Cal Poly.
The Big Sky leaders are all in action, as North Dakota is home against Idaho, Northern Colorado plays host to Idaho State, Sacramento faces Eastern Washington, and Northern Arizona takes on visiting Portland State.
Both the WAC and A-Sun championships begin Thursday. New Mexico State hosts the Western Athletic Conference tournament, where No. 3 Bakersfield faces No. 6 Seattle and No. 4 University of Missouri-Kansas City follows against No. 5 University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Lipscomb hosts the Atlantic Sun championships. The opening round pits No. 4 North Florida against USC Upstate and No. 3 Florida Gulf Coast against No. 6 Jacksonville.
Madison Rigdon serves against West Virginia/Photo Credit Kansas Athletics
With Wednesday’s win, Kansas moved to 24-2 and 13-1 in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks played the majority of the contest without All-American junior Kelsie Payne, who was injured in the second set. Junior Madison Rigdon led Kansas with 15 kills, nine digs and six blocks. Freshman Jada Burse had 11 kills and four blocks, while freshman Zoe Hill and redshirt freshman Ashley Smith provided a spark in Payne’s absence. Junior All-American setter Ainise Havili had 38 assists and 17 digs.
“It was a grind. You never know when things are not going to go your way,” Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. “We had some key performances. Zoe came in and gave us a huge boost of the bench. Ashley came in and was competitive—blocked well. But in the end, once again, Tayler Soucie got us off to a really good start in the fifth set.”
Soucie passed Amanda Reves for second on KU’s career blocks list with 518.
West Virginia dropped to 12-16 and 3-11 in Big 12 play.
“I told the team there is nothing to hang your head about,” said Bechard. “West Virginia has taken a lot of teams to four or five sets in this building. We absolutely had to earn it tonight because West Virginia played one of their better matches of the season, I thought.”
Kansas is a win away from clinching at least a share of its first-ever Big 12 title.
Ebony Nwanebu scored 15 kills against TCU/Photo credit: Texas Athletics
The Jayhawks are a game ahead of AVCA No. 7 Texas, which shook off a weekend loss to Iowa State with a sweep of Texas Tech Wednesday at home in Gregory Gym.
The win put the Longhorns at 20-4 overall and 12-2 in conference.
Texas hit the 20-win milestone for a 13th year in a row.
Offensively, Texas hit .414, marking the ninth time this year the team hit above .300 (10-0 when it does so).
Junior opposite Ebony Nwanebu’s 15 kills paced Texas. Senior outside Paulina Prieto Cerame had 14 kills and hit .407 while Micaya White had 10 kills and nine digs.
“It was a really disappointing loss,” Texas junior libero Cat McCoy said, referring to the Iowa State setback. “I really liked the way we came to practice (after the loss) with a good mentality—just positive energy—and I think it showed tonight at the game. We were having fun and that’s why I think we played so well.”
Looking ahead, Kansas hosts Iowa State Saturday and then wraps up conference __play next week at Baylor. Iowa State and Baylor both are 8-5 in Big 12 play.
Texas hosts Kansas State and West Virginia at home to close things out prior to the NCAA tournament.
In other Big 12 action, TCU edged Baylor in five sets, while Kansas State was a 3-1 winner over Oklahoma.
Nebraska sweeps Penn State at home/Photo credit: Nebraska Athletics
In Big Ten Conference action, unanimous AVCA No. 1 Nebraska inched closer to the Big Ten Conference title with a 3-0 sweep of Penn State in Lincoln. The Huskers are now 25-1 and 16-1 in league play. Penn State was eliminated from contention with the loss and stands at 19-9 overall and 11-6 in Big Ten action.
Nebraska held Penn State to season-lows in kills and attack percentage, in fact the 28 kills the Nittany Lions registered was nine fewer than their previous season low.
Senior Andie Malloy led the Huskers with a match-high 11 kills on .400 hitting, while sophomore Mikaela Foecke had 10 kills and seven digs. Amber Rolfzen and Briana Holman combined for 14 kills on 23 swings and both hit .500 or above. Kadie Rolfzen added six kills. Kelly Hunter had 36 assists and 15 digs.
In other Big Ten action Wednesday, Iowa downed Rutgers 3-1 at home in Iowa City, while Purdue stayed in state and was taken to five sets in Bloomington by Indiana.
Nebraska wraps up its regular season with matches at Iowa and Minnesota (this coming Wednesday) and a home contest against Michigan. Minnesota sits at 21-4 and 13-3 in the conference. Nebraska won the first meeting in five in Lincoln.
Over in the Pac-12 Conference, UCLA swept Oregon State 3-0 to seize control of the top spot in the league by a half-game over idle Washington. UCLA moved to 22-5 and 13-4 in the loop, while Washington stands at 22-4 and 12-4.
Senior Taylor Formico led the Bruins defense with 27 digs (one shy of the school record in a three-set match), while junior Reily Buechler had a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs (the latter tying a career high).
UCLA posted a season-high nine aces, including two by Formico and senior Jordan Anderson, who added nine kills. Junior Ryann Chandler and freshman Kylie Miller each had similar stat outputs of 17 assists, seven digs and one assist, while freshman Torrey Van Winden had nine kills and seven digs. UCLA won the contest, despite hitting .177.
Looking in the near-term, the Bruins host Oregon Friday, which along with Stanford loom in the upper tier of the Pac-12 with 11-5 records. Washington heads to Boulder to face Colorado.
The match to keep an eye on is this coming Wednesday when UCLA visits Washington for its penultimate Pac-12 regular-season contest.
Boise State came back from a 1-2 set deficit to defeat Colorado State 25-23, 27-29, 10-25, 25-13, 15-10 to take control of the Mountain West. The Broncos, 23-6, 14-2 are now in sole possession of first place, and need only win one of their two remaining matches against Wyoming or Air Force to earn their first ever berth into the NCAA tournament.
Bronco head coach Shawn Garus is proud of his team: “We got blown out in the third set, and our team didn’t panic at all,” said Garus. “I took out our setter and told her to relax and that she was going back in and that we were winning this match. They believed it completely. I told the girls that were on the sideline once it got to 23, 24 to keep it positive when we go to the other side. Nobody panicked and we came back and blew them out in the fourth set to take the momentum back. It’s a sign of a mature team that they can get their butts kicked at home and come right back without skipping a beat and __play even better.”
New champion looms for Division III
Reigning NCAA title holder California Lutheran lost in the round of 16 to regional host University of Northwestern (St. Paul) on Saturday as quarterfinal action begins on Thursday afternoon, and by Saturday night a champion will be crowned.
The road to Oshkosh saw several grueling matches, including five-set victories for UW Whitewater over Elmhurst and Southwestern over regional host UT-Dallas. Calvin College and Tufts both had relatively easy times advancing through their respective brackets, and make for a potential championship-final match-up.
Earlier first-round play saw 18 teams advance with 3-0 victories and included early exits for previously undefeated Johnson and Wales, 31-win Susquehanna, and West Coast power Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The home-court advantage paid off for the University of Mary Washington Eagles as they breezed through their first three matches, dropping only one set. The Capital Athletic Conference champions will face Washington University (St. Louis) in Thursday’s nightcap. The Eagles had regular-season losses to Emory and Southwestern, both of whom advanced to the round of eight.
Dan Apol, front row far right, attends the 2016 Olympic Games Preparation Seminar in Brazil, March 2016.
Editor’s note from Ed Chan:
I’m very sorry to report that Dan had an aneurysm while working a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference match Tuesday night in Colorado Springs. He was taken off life support Wednesday.
Dan and I have been friends for a long time and I really enjoyed interviewing him and writing this story about him working the Olympics. He was a calm, friendly and positive force on the court. Dan was 44, an avid fisherman, camper, and skier (Dan skied 51 days this year). He leaves behind his wife, Bonnie.
Dan’s friend Keith Murless posted the following Wednesday on Facebook:
To all of the many “Friends of Dan,
I can’t tell you why. Something to do with blood vessels in his brain. A random accident. Or perhaps he was “called home” or “called up” by some higher power. But we’ve lost him.
Last night, while reffing a local volleyball match (of course), my best friend’s time was called. He was disoriented for a bit. But there was no trauma, no pain. Professionals collected him quickly, and took him to the best of care. But he’s gone from us.
He’s still here in Colorado Springs, on life support in a beautiful hospital. His family, having flown through the night, is with him now. He looks great. But he’s not here.
Orion is upstairs too. You all know the mastiffs. Artimus has left us, but his picture adorns most of the referee badges in the world. And now Orion. Bright stars in the sky. Dan will be joining them.
Such a bright star. We’ve all been so lucky to work with him; to call him friend.
And now, proud organ donor that he is, Dan will save some forty lives this week. That brings a smile to Bonnie’s face. Even today, when we are all forced to say goodbye.
THANK YOU!
Bonnie, and all of the family, want you all to know just how important your support has been. Thousands of texts and emails. Millions of prayers. And the hospital courtyard is filled with local ski bums and vagrant referees, all here to say goodbye.
But I need to ask you all a favor: The family needs time to grieve. Time to rest, and to begin to heal. Your quiet prayers are what they need, just now.
Several of us will be setting up an information stream. Details, for those who want them. Also various means to say goodbye, through flowers, or donations, or what have you. I’ll be posting links to this information on Facebook, and publishing them through referee channels as well.
We will also publish the details of services, as soon as they are known.
Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time…. and please join me in breathing to the stars… WE LOVE YOU DAN!
Lori Okimura, chair of the USA Volleyball board of directors, talked about Dan.
Dan Apol was first and foremost an amazing and very dear friend. I had the privilege of working with Dan for many seasons on the FIVB World Tour. He was often the first one at the site and the last one to leave, always offering assistance and a kind word exactly where and when it was needed. I remember fondly Dan volunteering to work the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships for the under 19-age group in Bermuda back in 2006. When Hurricane Florence hit the island Dan was the first to grab the shovels and buckets to start bailing out court number 6 then court 5 then court 4 and eventually made his way with the backhoe, the shovels and the buckets all the way to court number 1.
He was one of the greatest ambassadors for USA Volleyball and one of our most accomplished Olympic and Paralympic international referees. His knowledge of the game, his professionalism, his kindness and sense of humor and his passion for those who played are among the many reasons why Dan was so well respected around the world. I was proud of him every time he stood up on the stand, and I was honored to call him a friend.
VolleyballMag.com will post more details here as we get them.
Feel free to comment about Dan below or visit our Facebook page, Facebook.com/Volleyballmag, where some of us have already begun to pay tribute to Dan.
This is our Q&A story that ran on this site just before the Olympics:
At the Rio Olympics, 20 indoor and 16 beach referees will be tasked with judging and administrating the matches fairly. VBM had a chance to chat with Dan Apol, the USA designated beach referee (Patricia Rolf, the former Marquette coach, is the USA designated indoor referee).
Apol, a ref since 1991, is a full-time volleyball official. He lives in Castle Rock, Denver, and is one of a handful of referees in the world who have both the International FIVB beach and International Para-volley (handicapped) certifications and is also an NCAA official. He has 12 years of International experience and was an Olympic referee in London 2012. As you might imagine, an international referee racks up plenty of frequent-flyer miles. Apol has officiated in 30 different countries and will spend 87 days this year officiating outside the U.S.
Referees must be selected by USA volleyball to become a national official. It takes a minimum of three years to become a national referee, candidates must attend a variety of training programs and be evaluated numerous times. What’s more, candidates must attend international referee school prior to age 41. There are one or two international clinics per year. International beach referees are forced to retire at age 55.
“Beach is an image sport, they want their officials to be youthful and be fit as well,” Apol said, adding that on the average international beach referees are 15 years younger than their indoor counterparts.
VBM and Apol visited on a number of topics, starting with the difference between the Olympics and major competitions.
Apol: “It’s all the same players, all the same referees, all the same delegates, all the same people telling us what to do, except that it’s two levels higher,” Apol said.
“It’s higher than the tour finals, it’s the Olympics, it’s every four years, it’s the highest sporting event in the world. The pressure is unbelievable. We probably only do two or three matches each day, but we go through three or four meetings every day for 19 days in a row. What we did wrong, what the proper protocol is, etc.
“One thing that’s new this year is they have the video challenge system, which is really cool. The last men’s Olympics ended on a questionable lines call. Who’s to say what happened, but now there’s indisputable video evidence. ”
“It helps us deal with the players. Instead of yelling and going all Tim Hovland, they just initiate a challenge. Everybody watches the review on the TV, and there’s no problem. It’s a good thing for us.” VBM:How do you deal with the pressure?
Apol: ”I try to relax a lot. You have to mentally prepare yourself. It depends on what you need. A lot of times, I’ll go for a walk, other folks read rule books and go through video footage, I try to relax and let it go, not dwell on it, good or bad.”
VBM:How do you deal with difficult coaches or players?
Apol: “I don’t normally deal with coaches, but I saw an event in Gstaad where a Brazilian coach was standing up in the bleachers and yelling at an official for several minutes. I’ve never seen that before, it’s a bit of an unusual situation. There’s a lot of time that we’re not on the center court, the side courts don’t have the video system, more of the personalities come out a little bit.
“It’s not always as difficult to deal with because it’s not always in the English language. If they’re arguing in their second language it’s not as difficult. For sure we don’t put up with as much discussion as we do on the AVP Tour. I can’t remember when the last time a player was awarded a delay for refusing to __play after a discussion (on the AVP tour). On the world tour, if someone talks for five seconds, then they have to play. And if they don’t play, then it’s a delay. The discussion period is definitely more brief on the FIVB. VBM: Are there any significant rules changes for the 2016 Olympics?
Apol: Generally speaking, any significant rule changes occur after the Olympics. They’re going to try some new things, because the FIVB is trying to speed up the game. The match has to fit into a one hour slot for television purposes, and if they don’t start their match at the top of the hour for NBC, then NBC puts a different sport on, and volleyball loses the TV time. They’re trying to keep every match within a 50-minute slot at the most because there’s a 10-minute warmup period.”
“This year we have had an emphasis on speeding up play. Our target is 12 seconds between plays, on a normal play, which is rampaging fast. It’s mind-boggling even how must faster it is than last year. They’ve done studies that show that a two-set match is three minutes shorter than it was last year, and a three-set match is six minutes shorter than last year.”
“It really pushes the athletes, and I think it’s going to be a great thing, because it keeps everybody more interested . If there’s 30 seconds between rallies, viewers can decide that they can go to the bathroom, get a snack, or change the channel. Keeping the pace up maintains the crowd involvement.”
VBM:Are you concerned about Zika?
“No. I refuse to be afraid, based on what I’ve heard in the U.S. media. I’ve been down there twice so far this year. Once we were out in the sticks a ways at the Brazilian training center, and I did get bit by a mosquito, and nothing happened. I don’t know if it was the Zika mosquito, it died when I smacked it. They’ve been spraying standing water for mosquitoes, when I was there in March I didn’t see a mosquito for 10 days.”
VBM:What do you do when you’re not blowing a whistle on a referee stand somewhere?
Apol: “I do a lot of camping, fishing, and skiing. I skied 51 days this season.”
The full list of Olympic officials:
Beach volleyball – Referees
Giovanni Bake (Republic of South Africa) Jonas Personeni (Switzerland) José Maria Padron (Spain) Charalampos Papadogoulas (Greece) Davide Crescentini (Italy) Roman Pristovakin (Russia) Osvaldo Sumavil (Argentina) Mário Ferro (Brazil) Elzir Martins de Oliveira (Brazil) Juan Carlos Saavedra (Columbia) Lucie Guillemette (Canada) Carlos L. Rivera Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) Daniel Apol (USA) Lijun Wang (China) Djamal Bergheul (Algeria) Kritsada Panaseri (Thailand)
Indoor Volleyball – Referees
Andrey Zenovich (Russia) Juraj Mokry (Slovakia) Fabrizio Pasquali (Italy) Susana Rodriguez (Spain) Piotr Dudek (Poland) Vladimir Simonovic (Serbia) Arturo Di Giacomo (Belgium) Paulo Turci (Brazil) Rogerio Espicalsky (Brazil) Nasr Shaaban (Egypt) Taoufik Boudaya (Tunisia) Denny Cespedes (Dominican Republic) Hernan Casamiquela (Argentina) Luis Macias (Mexico) Heike Kraft (Germany) Jiang Liu (China) Joo Hee Kang (Korea) Mohammad Shahmiri (Iran) Ibrahim Al Naama (Qatar) Patricia Rolf (USA)
Your team is on a roll, the opponent calls time, and when your server goes back to the end line, you don’t know whether the run will continue or that next serve going to hit the back wall, go under the net, or, well, who knows?
So we asked our friend sports psychologist Dr. Bhrett McCabe what gives. McCabe, who specializes in the mental aspect of sports performance at his Mindside in Birmingham, Ala., offered the following:
Dr. Bhrett McCabe
By Dr. Bhrett McCabe for VolleyballMag.com
It happens all the time in volleyball. A server is on a run, dominating the opposition with powerful serves and gaining a distinct advantage with each point. To thwart the rhythm and roll of the server, the opposing coach does what every great coach would do – call a timeout, regroup, and look to change the tide.
Somehow it normally does.
What happens in the time out that changes the rhythm and success of the server? Why does the server seem unstoppable in one minute, but after a break, faults immediately out of the time out?
When an athlete is competing at his or her best, their focus is simple and effective. During these great runs, their mind is able to focus quickly and easily on the task at hand, with purpose and conviction. The chaos of the gym, the score, the crowd, or the meaning of the point is drowned out by the intensity and purpose of the task at hand. The simplicity is key and there are few times to think about avoiding making a dreaded mistake because the game is going fast and building on success after success. That is why it is commonly called the Zone or a Flow State because it is simply happening without much thought.
While it seems that thought is minimized, the truth is that the thought is still happening, just not as many competing thoughts or “failure-based” thoughts.
When the time out occurs, it is common to hear the coaches and other teammates to tell the server to “stay with it,” “keep focusing,” and such, but what really happens next is normal.
During the timeout, the athlete likely starts thinking of two things:
“What was I doing so I can continue it?” and “Don’t mess up now!”
These are very common thoughts, but how you react to them can change the outcome better than anything else that you can do.
As humans and athletes, we are all conditioned to try and avoid loss. It is built into our brains and controls how we think, act, and respond to challenges. While success is often the goal, for most athletes, it is only after safety is ensured. So when the server sits on the sideline, the common response is to realize what has been happening and start to evaluate the success and see how to make it continue.
Then along comes the “what if” thoughts and those thoughts simply take over. Now the athlete is in a mental trap where the negative
“What if” takes over and the player starts to overthink their approach, often their mechanics of the serve, and starts to think about the implications of the next missed serve.
In order to succeed coming out of a timeout, there are a few things that great athletes do that you can do:
Accept that the chaos of the moment is simply background noise. It does not matter the size of the crowd, the meaning of the point, or the how many points in a row you have served successfully. All that matters is the next point.
Take two deep breaths and focus on a small spot on the ground. That allows the mind to re-engage with the present moment better than telling yourself to “pay attention” or “focus.”
Understand that you got on the great run by focusing on hitting great shots, not avoiding trouble or mistakes. The more you buy into the chaos of the point, the more trouble it will cause. Accept that the there are difficult serves and the next one is difficult, so take that mental energy and funnel it into the next shot.
Understand that focus is not ignoring the chaos to pay attention, but rather being so locked into one thing that nothing else matters. Focus on what you want to do to, not working to avoid what may happen. Accept that you may or may not hit a great serve, but understand that either way, the result is simply a result of a fully committed and aggressive intent of the serve.
Visualize where you want the ball to go, not how you are going to make it happen. Under pressure, the mind wants to over control mechanical, internal thoughts. When playing great, the mind is very engaged in external targets. Get external.
Finally, move! There is no reason to get stiff or tight. Move around and stay active.
Great players embrace the serve out of a timeout as a challenge and look forward to executing under those circumstances. They normally have a plan for it and commit fully to it. The beauty of embracing a player’s MindSide is understanding the reality of the challenge and getting all of their resources fighting to achieve the goal.
Visit www.themindside.com to reach Dr. McCabe and to hear his podcasts. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMindSide.
The Rolfzen twins, Kadie, left, and Amber, lead the Huskers against Penn State on Wednesday/Nebraska photo
A game that wasn’t now is, some big matches are on tap for Wednesday, and the coaching carousel has begun its postseason spin.
Start with UC Irvine, which went five, sort of, to beat visiting Long Beach State after being down 10-4 in the fifth. This was the match that was originally played on September 24 but was rescheduled for Tuesday. More on that match in a bit.
It’s that time of year. As the regular season ended for many mid-majors, coaches leave. Accordingly, there are now openings at Montana and Troy.
Wednesday’s slate includes three matches in the Big Ten, starting with No. 1 Nebraska playing host to No. 15 Penn State.Nebraska won 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11 at Penn State on November 4.
Also, Purdue goes to Indiana and Rutgers is at Iowa.
The only Pac-12 match has No. 9 UCLA playing host to Oregon State.
The only ACC match has No. 6 North Carolina entertaining Virginia.
In the Big 12, No. 4 Kansas goes to West Virginia, while No. 7 Texas — No. 1 in the NCAA RPI — plays host to Texas Tech. Baylor goes to TCU and Oklahoma is at Kansas State, which is not ranked but is No. 19 in the RPI.
The SEC has Texas A&M — another team not ranked but No. 23 in the RPI — at Tennessee and Ole Miss at Mississippi State.
There is a huge match in the Mountain West, with Colorado State at Boise State in a battle of the two teams tied for first at 13-2 in the league.
In the American Athletic Conference, league-leader SMU tries to keep its one-game lead with two matches left over Cincinnati when it entertains Tulsa.
UCI beats Long Beach State
The final score was 25-22, 25-23, 26-28, 17-25, 17-15, but there so much to it than that.
Back on September 24, UCI won the first set 25-22 and was leading 20-18 in the second where — seven weeks later — it would be resumed. But in that first meeting, they played it out and Long Beach won in five. However UCI successfully protested to the Big West, won the appeal, and the match was rescheduled to be played from that point in the second set.
And so Tuesday the Anteaters improved to 11-17 overall, 6-8 in the Big West. Long Beach is 17-10, 11-3.
UCI was led by outside hitter Victoria Dennis with 24 kills, seven digs and two solo blocks. Middle blocker Danielle Geiger tied her career-high with 19 kills and three block assists, while opposite Harlee Kekauoha added 11 kills and 10 digs. Libero Luna Tsujimoto had 20 digs followed by outside hitter Haley DeSales who tied her career-high with 18 digs and pitched in five kills and three aces. Setter Ali Koumelis had 16 digs in the first two sets.
Nele Barber had a career-high 25 kills, getting 16 of them on Tuesday night, and 13 digs.
YiZhi Xue had a career-high 14 kills and hit .400. Ashley Murray and Peyton Grahovac had 11 kills each. Missy Owens finished with a career-high 59 assists, plus had 19 digs and five kills. Libero Hailey Harward had 26 digs to finish just one shy of her career high.
Clearly these two teams were evenly matched: In their other meeting October 28 at Long Beach, UCI won in five 19-25, 27-29, 25-20, 25-17, 15-12.
Openings at Troy and Montana
Tuesday Troy coach Sonny Kilpatrick resigned. He was 145-211 in 11 seasons. Troy competes in the Sun Belt Conference and this season was 10-23, 4-12 in the league.
Click here to read the entire Troy story.
Brian Doyon is out at Montana. He resigned on Monday after Montana finished a 6-26 season, 4-12 in the Big Sky. Doyon was 13-41 in two seasons.
Click here for the entire Montana story.
Middle Tennessee’s head coach Dan Ahiers resigned September 27th. The Blue Raiders finished 5-24, 2-12 in Conference USA under assistant coach Jeff Huebner.
That’s just three NCAA Division I head-coach openings. Rest assured more are coming.
John Forman is an assistant volleyball coach at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, an unlikely landing place for someone with as varied a resume as his in the sport. We connected because he and partner Mark Lebedew are in the process of publishing a book called “Volleyball Coaching Wizards.”
While it’s a volleyball book, the coaches interviewed are not the usual suspects and, clearly, Forman thinks outside the box. The interviews are with Carl McGown, Giovanni Guidetti, Ruth Nelson, Garth Pischke, Teri Clemens, Jefferson Williams, Tom Turc and Craig Marshall.
You can also keep up with Forman at his website coachingvb.com, where he is a prolific blogger.
John Foreman
By John Forman for VolleyballMag.com
Back when I was an undergraduate finance student I read a book called Market Wizards by Jack Schwager. Little did I know at the time how much influence it would have on me.
Market Wizards is a collection of interviews with top traders, investors, and money managers. A whole generation of traders — if not more — can say they were influenced by that book and the follow-up editions published in later years.
The folks interviewed didn’t share any great secrets. What they did, though, was inform and inspire. Readers got to see how these market greats got to where they were and what they had to overcome along the way.
The Market Wizards franchise greatly expanded in the literature of trading. The books tell numerous stories about people most of us would otherwise never hear about. They also share tales of the markets themselves. It makes things highly relatable, even to someone who just dabbles in the markets.
Honestly, I’m not sure what led me to think up a volleyball-coaching version of Market Wizards in the spring of 2015. I had not read that book in years. I think it was just a merging of different influences and ideas swirling around in my head at the time.
I lived in the U.K., pursuing a PhD and coaching at the University of Exeter. I started a coaching blog less than two years prior as a way to share information and ideas with my peers in the southwest of England. Quickly, though, it developed an international readership. That, in turn, let me connect with coaches in other countries.
I leveraged my new contacts to spend time with three professional clubs in Germany during 2014. The coaches I hung out with there were Australian, Argentinian, and Italian. A true multinational, multicultural experience.
I think that exposure gave me a lot of respect for coaches in different places and at different levels. In the U.S., I coached college and juniors volleyball for a number of years. Seeing what the sport — and coaching — is like beyond America’s borders, though, provides a whole different perspective. This is even more so the case in places where volleyball is not a major sport.
One of the coaches I became friends with while I was in England is Mark Lebedew. At the time he coached for Berlin Recycling Volleys, the three-time German men’s champions. I visited with Mark a couple of times and one of the things we talked about is the lack of a good volleyball coaching literature — at least in English.
Think about a sport such as basketball. The stories of coaches like John Wooden and Phil Jackson are well known. They are the subject of multiple books. There are books and documentaries about great players and great teams of the past and present. Their stories are known and told.
What about volleyball, however? Mike Hebert is one of very, very few who have shared their stories in a broad, public way. There are plenty of high profile coaches in our sport, but how much do we really know about how they got there?
And what about the history of the sport? Not many of us know it very well, if at all. For Americans it doesn’t even seem to exist prior to the USA men winning gold at the 1984 Olympics. Many of the key developments in volleyball, however, took place during the 1960s and 1970s. Sadly, too few realize or appreciate that.
I wanted to share the people and the stories, putting together the idea of respecting the contributions of coaches at all levels of the sport, and in all parts of the world, with the desire to share their stories. What you end up with is the “Volleyball Coaching Wizards” project.
Basically, Volleyball Coaching Wizards is about identifying great coaches — wherever they may be, at whatever level they coach — and interviewing them to hear their stories and gain insights into how they think.
Some coaches are well known nationally and/or internationally. This project is also about expanding the volleyball literature and perhaps encouraging others to go a step further and produce more, deeper content.
I managed to convince Mark Lebedew to be my partner on the Volleyball Coaching Wizards project. Honestly, it didn’t take much doing. He and I have, at this writing, recorded nearly 40 interviews. There are many, many more coaches still on our list to speak with (I think I counted something like 300 recommendations at one stage). In other words, we’ve only just started!
Bits of each interview we do are posted via social media as short-form content to share what these great coaches have to say. Mark and I also drill down on some of their observations, ideas, and opinions as part of a podcast. Definitely look us up on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes. I think one of the cool things you’ll find is that much of what the Wizard coaches say isn’t just about volleyball — or even necessarily just about sports.
Although the trend these days is toward shorter-form content, like what we have already been sharing, there is still something to be said about publishing a book. It brings a level of credibility to your work and, by extension, your subject. That’s one of the reasons we decided to develop a series of Volleyball Coaching Wizards books.
The initial one is due out shortly. Consider it an introduction to the project. It will contain eight of the interviews we’ve done so far. They were selected to be representative of the inclusive nature of the project. Both genders are included, and all levels. Half are American, while the other half are international. They combine for a truly impressive number of victories and championships, though that isn’t the only way to measure success. A couple are well known. Others definitely are not.
Eight interviews just provides a sampling of what we’ve got, of course. Even that, though, should be enough to enlighten, inspire, and perhaps even entertain volleyball coaches all over the world. To quote the foreword Kathy DeBoer wrote for us:
“So what is the lesson of these tales of wizardry?
“That excellent coaching, while not easy, is not magic.”
Hopefully, we are just at the beginning stages of developing the kind of resource that can positively influence coaches for years to come.
To keep up with the progress of the book and more things John Forman, go to http://volleyballcoachingwizards.com/
Nicolas Grbic, Man-Bok Park, Misty May-Treanor, Emanuel Rego and Danielle Scott Arruda, who was joined by her daughter Julianne/Lee Feinswog photo
HOLYOKE, Mass. — The induction weekend tipped off Friday night with a reception at which the five honorees were introduced and given proclamations and the like from local and state politicians.
It was quite a gathering of volleyball Who’s Who. The inductees came from all over. We will have complete coverage of the Saturday-night induction ceremonies here on Sunday.
The 31st induction class has Nikola Grbic in from Serbia as he joins his brother in the IVHOF, five-time USA Olympian Danielle Scott Arruda here from Baton Rouge, Misty May-Treanor flying in from Long Beach where she was an indoor star before becoming the greatest beach player ever, Brazilian beach star Emanuel Rego visiting from Brazil, and coach Man-Bok Park of South Korea here from his home in Peru.
The International Volleyball Hall of Fame is located here where the sport was invented and the city of Holyoke takes great pride in that. No place is it more evident than the patch adorning the uniforms of the city’s police force. This photo is from the uniform of chief James Nieswanger. Note how the volleyball is part of the city log:
Saturday’s functions include a luncheon at which the inductees will get rings and plaques and then Saturday night is the induction dinner and ceremony.
For your viewing pleasure, a couple of photos from Friday:
On the left, Lori Okimura, chair of the USA Volleyball Board of Directors, and Debbie Green, the former Long Beach State and international star who won a silver gold medal in 1984. Retiring USA Volleyball chief executive officer Doug Beal and VolleyballMag.com co-publisher and editor Lee Feinswog
Brooke Schwab of Central Connecticut is the Northeast Conference defensive player of the week/Steve McLaughlin Photography
Kentucky swept the SEC POWs.
Hawai’i swept the Big West.
Duke did the same in the ACC.
New Hampshire took three of the four America East awards.
How about Bowling Green senior outside hitter Jelena Sunjic, who had 41 kills in 65 swings with no errors to be named the Mid-American East offensive POW?
Or Oral Roberts junior outside Laura Milos, who was the Summit League POW for the fifth time this year and 11th in her career after averaging nine kills per set last week?
That’s just a sampling of another week of big performances around NCAA Division I volleyball.
You can look forward every Tuesday to the VolleyballMag.com roundup of the POWs around the country.
POWs, of course, are players of the week, and we will do our best to list the honorees from all 32 Division I conferences here.
ACC
Player of the week: Duke senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker
Freshman: Duke setter Cindy Marina
Worth noting: Tucker averaged four kills per set, one and a half blocks per set and a .468 hitting percentage over the two games. Tucker currently ranks fifth in the conference in hitting percentage, averaging a .341. Marina averaged 11.33 assists per set. Against Pittsburgh, she contributed 37 assists, six digs, three kills, two aces and two blocks.
The complete ACC release
Big 12
Offensive: Iowa State junior right side Samara West
Defensive: Texas junior libero Cat McCoy
Freshman: Iowa freshman libero Hali Hillegas
West had 16 kills against Texas and hit .400, and earlier had 11 kills and hit .526 at Oklahoma. McCoy averaged 5.25 digs last week and 4.83 for November.Hillegas, who won last week, too, averaged five digs.
The complete Big 12 release
Big Ten
Player of the week: Minnesota senior outside Sarah Wilhite
Co-Defensive: Michigan State junior middle Alyssa Garvelik
Co-Defensive: Wisconsin junior middle Kelli Bates
Setter: Minnestoa junior Rachel Minarick
Freshman: Maryland outside Gia Milana
Worth noting: Garvelink is a repeat winner. She averaged 2.6 blocks per set, while Bates averaged 5.5 digs.
Wilhite averaged four kills and hit .299 for the week and also had 24 blocks and 21 digs.
Minarick averaged 12.3 assists.
The complete Big Ten release
Washington’s Tia Scambray is the Pac-12 offensive POW/Stephen Burns photo
Pac-12
Offensive: Washington junior outside Tia Scambray
Defensive: Washington State sophomore middle Taylor Mims
Freshman: Stanford outside Torrey Van Winden
Worth noting: Scambray averaged 5.50 kllls, hit .443 and averaged 2.67 digs. She had a career-high 20 kills in three sets against Arizona State. Mims averaged 1.89 blocks, while Van Winden averaged 3.5 kills, hit .383 and her line against Stanford showed 19 kills, two aces, eight digs and four blocks.
The complete Pac-12 release
Southeastern Conference
Player of the week: Kentucky junior libero Ashley Dusek
Offensive: Kentucky junior middle Kaz Brown
Defensive: Dusek
Setter: Kentucky sophomore Olivia Dailey
Freshman: Kentucky outside Leah Edmond
Worth noting: All Wildcats. Brown hit .643 in one match and .435 in the other and averaged 3.29 kills and 1.86 blocks. Dusek had 54 digs in two matches and did not have a reception error. Dailey averaged 14 assists, more than two over her average and had a career-high six blocks at Ole Miss. And Edmond continued her fabulous first season by leading UK in kills twice, averaging 5.14 kills and 2.29 digs.
The complete SEC release
America East
Player of the week: New Hampshire senior middle Demi Muses
Worth noting: Watson and Severtson repeated their honors. Muses averaged 4.3 kills, hit .367 and won the award for the fifth time this season. Severtson averaged 11.86 assists and two digs. Watson averaged 4.86 digs, while Tanski avearged 3.14 iills and 2.86 digs.
The complee America East release
American Athletic
Offensive: SMU freshman setter Kendal Patterson
Defensive: UCF sophomore libero Jordan Pingel
Worth noting: Patterson averaged 13.17 assists and 13 digs against USF. Pingel averaged 6.83 digs per set, more than two over her season average.
The complete American Athletic release
Atlantic Sun
Player of the week: Lipscomb sophomore outside Carlyle Nusbaum
Defensive: Kennesaw State sophomore middle blocker Liesl Engelbrecht
Worth noting: Nusbaum won her sixth such honor and fifth this season as she averaged seven kills and her 24 kills against UNF was twice more than anyone else in the match. Engelbrecht averaged two blocks and 3.17 kills, while Serrano had 13 blocks in two victories and hit .483.
The complete ASUN release
Danielle Rygelski of Saint Louis is the Atlantic 10 POW again
Atlantic 10
Player of the week: Saint Louis senior outside Danielle Rygelski
Defensive: Rhode Island senior middle blocker Layne Self
Rookie: VCU middle blocker Jasmin Sneed
Worth noting: Rygelski, who won the award last week, too, averaged 6.71 kills and 1.86 digs, while hitting .444. Self averaged 2.33 blocks, while Sneed hit .378 and averaged 2.14 kills.
The complete A-10 release
Big East
Player of the week: Butler senior outside Anna Logan
Freshman: St. John’s outside Gaia Traballi
Worth noting: Logan averaged 4.25 kills and hit .275. She had a total of 34 kills in two matches. Trabelli averaged 5.78 kills and 2.33 digs.
The complete Big East release
Big South
Player of the week: Winthrop senior middle blocker Brianna Gray
Defensive: High Point sophomore middle blocker Jordan Hefner
Freshman: Campbell outside hitter Allena Heath
Worth noting: Heath, a repeat winner, had 21 kills against Gardner-Webb. Gray had 38 kills, 17 blocks and hit .469 in three matches. Hefner averaged 2.57 blocks and just less than a kill.
The complete Big South release
Big Sky
Offensive: North Dakota junior middle blocker Faith Dooley
Defensive: Portland State junior libero Tasha Bojanic
Worth noting: Dooley had 25 kills in two matches and hit .583, while Bojanic averaged 6.33 digs.
The complete Big Sky release
Nikki Taylor of Hawai/’i is the Big West POWEd Chan, VBshots.com
Big West
Player of the week: Hawai’l senior right side Nikki Taylor
Worth noting: Taylor averaged 4.5 kills, 1.83 digs, 1.5 blocks and hit .440. Maglio had 12 blocks in two wins and 12 kills while hitting 4.35. Iosia averaged 10.17 assists and 3.83 digs.
The entire Big West release
Colonial Athletic Association
Offensive: Delaware senior outside Autumn Jenkins
Defensive: Elon senior middle blocker Ally Karle
Rookie: James Madiso setter Sarah Martin
Worth noting: Jenkins had 36 kills in two matches and 23 digs. Karle had 18 blocks and ended her career with 390, 120 this season.
The complete Colonial release
Dajana Buskovic of UTSA is the Conference USA offensive POW
Conference USA
Offensive: UTSA senior outside Dajana Boskovic
Defensive: Southern Miss junior libero Natalie Druhan
Setter: Southern Miss sophomore Sarah Bell
Freshman: Florida Atlantic outside Sigourney Kame
Worth noting: Boskovic, who will be featured here later this week, had 39 kills in two matches and won the award for the ninth time, fourth this season. Druhan averaged 6.43 digs. Bell had 88 assists and now leads the league at 12.02 assists per set. Kame had 33 kills, eight digs and two blocks in two wins.
The complete C-USA release
Horizon League
Offensive: Youngstown State sophomore middle blocker Sarah Varcolla
Worth noting: Varcolla had 25 kills and hit .375, while Hurley had 52 digs in two matches.
The complete Horizon release
Ivy League
Player of the week: Princeton senior outside Cara Mattaliano
Co-Rookie: Columbia freshman middle blocker Chichi Ikwuazom
Co-Rookie: Harvard freshman outside Grace Roberts Burbank
Worth noting: Mattaliano had 38 kills in two matches. Ikwuazom hit .545 with 24 kills and seven blocks, while Roberts Burbank had 44 kills and hit .307.
The complete Ivy release
Metro Atlantic
The MAAC is a week behind. These are the winners for last week.
Kent State libero Challen Geraghty is the MAC West defensive POW
Mid-American
MAC East offensive: Bowling Green senior outside Jelena Sunjic
MAC West offensive: NIU senior middle blocker Jenna Radtke
MAC East defensive: Kent State junior libero Challen Geraghty
MAC West defensive: Western Michigan freshman libero Kathleen Reilly
Worth noting: Radtke is back, but last week was the West defensive POW. Sunjic had 41 kills in 65 swings with no errors to hit .631. Radtke averaged 31.2 kills and 1.5 blocks. Geraghty averaged 6.62 digs and was perfect in 66 serve receptions. And Reilly averaged 6.38 digs.
The complete MAC release
Mid-Eastern
Player of the week: North Carolina Central senior outside Casey Curran
Setter: North Carolina junior setter Paige Phillips
Worth noting: Curran had 18 kills, 16 digs and three aces in a win over NC A&T. Phillips had 41 assists and 19 digs in that match.
The complete MEAC release
Missouri Valley
Player of the week: Wichita State sophomore outside Tabitha Brown
Defensive: Wichita State senior libero Dani Mostrom
Freshman: Missouri State setter Daniele Messa
Worth noting: Messa took the honor for the third week in a row after averaging 11.43 assists, 1.14 kills and 2.57 digs. Brown averaged 5.29 kills, 1.43 digs and 1.14 blocks. And Mostrom averaged 6.29 digs.
The complete Valley release
Mountain West
Offensive: Colorado State junior middle blocker Alexandra Poletto
Defensive: Colorado State freshman middle blocker Kirstie Hillyer
Worth noting: Poletto averaged 2.62 kills and hit .459, while Hillyer averaged 2.38 blocks in eight sets.
The complete Mountain West release
Northeast Conference
Player of the week: Sacred Heart sophomore outside Makayla Dole
Defensive: Central Connecticut senior middle blocker Brooke Schwab
Rookie: LIU Brooklyn freshman setter Amanda Hubbard
Worth noting: Dole won the honor for the fourth time after averaging 4.75 kills and hitting .300. Schwab had 13blocks, an NEC single-match season-high and the second most in program history, against Sacred Heart. She had four more blocks against Fairleigh Dickinson. And Hubbard averaged 12.38 assists.
The complete Northeast release
Ohio Valley
Offensive: Belmont junior outside Arianna Person
Defensive: Murray State senior libero Ellie Lorenz
Setter: Murray State senior Hannah Stultz
Newcomer: Tennessee State freshman middle blocker Payten Clark
Worth noting: Stultz is a repeat winner. She had 113 assists in two matches. Person had 40 kills, four blocks, 23 digs and two aces in two matches. Clark had 20 kills and 12 blocks in two matches.
The complete OVC release
Patriot League
Player of the week: Holy Cross senior outside Mandy Sifferlen
Rookie: Army West Point freshman outside Allie Strong
Worth noting: Sifferien had 49 kills in two matches and averaged 4.97 kills per set for the season. Strong had 25 kills and 16 digs in two matches.
The complete Patriot release
Southern Conference
Offensive: Mercer junior outside hitter Morgan MacGilvary
Defensive: Mercer senior libero Tori Penrod
Worth noting: Penrod went back-to-back after averaging 5.86 digs and ended her career with an ace in each of her two matches. MacGilvary averaged 4.43 kills and hit .413.
The complete SoCon release
Southland Conference
Offensive: Texas A&M Corpus Christi junior outside Brittany Gilpin
Defensive: Central Arkansas junior middle blocker Megan Nash
Worth noting: Gilpin had 20 kills and hit .419 against Lamar and then had 17 kills and hit .390 against Houston Baptist. Nash had 17 blocks in two matches.
The complete Southland release
Southwestern
Not available as we posted.
Summit
Offensive: Oral Roberts junior outside Laura Milos
Defensive: South Dakota sophomore libero Lauren Mattison
Worth noting: Milos won for the second straight week. She has won the award 11 times overall and five this season. She averaged a whopping 9.0 kills per sent and hit .345 and had six aces. Mattison averaged 5.5 digs.
The complete Summit releasehttp://www.thesummitleague.org/sports/wvball/2016-17/releases/20161114ium534
Defensive: Georgia Southern senior libero Alex Beecher
Setter: Arkansas State senior Mallory Warrington
Freshman: Arkansas State outside Kenzie Fields
Worth noting: Warrington won the award for the 10th time this season. She had 50 assists and 23 digs in a win over Little Rock. Hardeman averaged 4.17 kills and hit .535, while Beecher averaged 6.5 digs. Fields had 15 kills in her only match of the week.
The complete Sun Belt release
West Coast
Player of the week: BYU senior middle Amy Boswell
Worth noting: Boswell had 14 kills and hit .435 against Gonzaga and then had 10 kills and six blocks against Portland.
The complete WCC release
Western Athletic
Player of the week: Utah Valley junior outside hitter Lexi Thompson
Worth noting: Thompson averaged four kills, hit .393 and added almost a block and a dig per set. She ranks sixth in the league at 3.40 kills per set.
Orie Agbaji is part of a Texas incoming freshman class ranked No. 5 in the country by VolleyballMag.com via a polling of nearly 20 NCAA Division I women's coaches
By Mike Miazga
In this year’s VolleyballMag.com women’s top recruiting classes poll, one thing is evident.
The rich are getting richer.
Panelists for the Class of 2016 rankings — this year comprised of nearly 20 NCAA Division I women’s coaches — were clear in their voting: The nation’s elite programs cornered the market on elite incoming freshmen.
Of the 10 teams on this year’s list, eight have a place in the American Volleyball Coaches Association 2016 top 25 preseason poll and five find themselves in the top 10. And those 10, which account for securing about 60 percent of the players chosen to the VolleyballMag.com Fab 50 list, also have a combined 18 NCAA titles to their credit.
Stanford was the near unanimous choice and the runaway first-place finisher with 57 percent more voting points than second-place Oregon.
Also of note is the No. 4 entry in the rankings North Carolina. Veteran UNC coach Joe Sagula secured himself an impressive 2016 class and his peers certainly felt the same way.
No. 1 Stanford
Audriana Fitzmorris Jenna Gray
2016 recruits:Audriana Fitzmorris (6-6, MB, St. James Academy, Overland Park, Kan., Invasion), Jenna Gray (6-1, S, St. James Academy, Overland Park, Kan., Invasion), Morgan Hentz (5-9 DS-Libero, Notre Dame Academy, Park Hills, Ky., NKYVC), Caitlin Keefe (5-11, DS, Marymount, Los Angeles, Calif., Sunshine VBC), Michaela Keefe (6-2, OH, Marymount, Los Angeles, Calif., Sunshine VBC), Kathryn Plummer (6-6, S-RS, Aliso Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Calif., T-Street)
The skinny: Not much explanation needed with this haul — wow! Fitzmorris was the 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school player of the year and teamed with Gray in leading St. James Academy out of Kansas to tremendous success over the last few years. Fitzmorris, Gray, Hentz, Michaela Keefe and Plummer are all 2016 Volleyballmag.com Fab 50 picks, while Hentz and Plummer were 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-American first-team selections. “This is a class we have been looking at for a long time,” said Stanford coach John Dunning. “When last year’s seniors (on the 2015 roster) came in, they had a big impact. We knew from experience that when they leave that is better be a good year in recruiting for us. We are lucky to have a lot of really good students who are also great volleyball players in this class and who were very interested in Stanford. It needed to be a class for us that can make an impact and I definitely believe it will.”
No.2 Oregon
Willow Johnson Brooke Van Sickle
2016 recruits:Willow Johnson (6-3, RS, Notre Dame, Phoenix, Ariz., AZ Storm), Jolie Rasmussen (6-2, OH, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, Calif., San Diego VBC), Ronika Stone (6-3, MB, Valley Christian, San Jose, Calif., Vision), Brooke Van Sickle (5-9, Libero, Battle Ground, Wash.,Excel NW VBC )
The skinny: A total of eight voting points separated the Nos. 2-5 classes in this poll with coach Jim Moore’s Ducks getting the nod at No. 2 with this four-player elite group. Johnson, Rasmussen and Stone were 2016 Fab 50 selections, while Johnson and Stone earned 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-American honorable mention accolades. Van Sickle and Stone were 2015 Under Armour All-American first-team picks, while Rasmussen, whose sister plays at Minnesota, was an Under Armour second-team pick. Johnson, the daughter of MLB Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, was a USA Today All-American first-team pick and has high school state and club national titles to her credit. “Ronika Stone probably is the one that is jumping out most at people,” Moore said. “However, Brooke is maybe the best volleyball player of all of them. Willow probably is the best right-side in the country and it’s great she is left-handed. Jolie is physical and very special. Those four kids are going to step in and make a big impact on this program. They have all the talent in the world and we think they are going to be very special, but they haven’t played here yet. How they handle adversity will determine how good they really are going to be.”
No. 3 USC
Raegan LeGrand Khalia Lanier
2016 recruits:Imani Davis (6-3, MB, All Saints Episcopal, Fort Worth, Texas, TAV), Raegan LeGrand (5-10, OH, Papillion La Vista South, Papillion, Neb., Nebraska Juniors), Daley Krage (6-4, RS, St. Charles North, St. Charles, Ill., Club Fusion), Khalia Lanier (6-2, OH, Xavier College Prep, Phoenix, Ariz., AZ Storm) The skinny: Another elite recruiting class for longtime Trojans coach Mick Haley. Lanier was rated the top player in the Class of 2016 by a panel of NCAA Division I coaches who participated in the 2016 Volleyballmag.com Fab 50 voting. Lanier also was the 2015 Gatorade national player of the year. Lanier and Davis were Fab 50 selections, while LeGrand was a 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-American second-team pick. Krage was an elite high school and club player in the Chicago suburbs. “All four freshmen could earn a starting spot in the lineup this year,” said Haley. “Khalia highlights a great class and Reagan is everything that was advertised. Daley adds size and power to the opposite position and Imani has grown to 6-6 and will challenge in the middle.”
Taylor Borup Julia Scoles
No. 4 North Carolina 2016 recruits:Taylor Borup (6-4, OH, Loudon Co., Leesburg, Va., Metro VBC), Holly Carlton (6-7, S-RS, Potomac Falls (Va.), Metro VBC), Katharine Esterley (6-2, MB, Chapel Hill, N.C., Triangle VBC), Mariah Evans (5-10, S, Lewis Palmer, Colorado Springs, Colo., Colorado Juniors), Mia Fradenburg (5-6, DS-Libero, Cardinal Gibbons, Raleigh, N.C., Triangle VBC), Greer Moseman (5-6, DS-Libero, Torrey Pines (San Diego, Calif., Coast VBC), Julia Scoles (6-1, OH, South Iredell, Statesville, N.C., Carolina Juniors). The skinny: North Carolina graduated five seniors, four of whom 27th-year coach Joe Sagula noted were essentially four-year starters. Thus, the Tar Heels needed to replenish the cupboard and did so exceptionally with this class. Borup, Carlton and Scoles were 2016 Fab 50 selections and Scoles earned 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-American honorable-mention accolades. “We have seven total players who have played on high-profile club teams and accomplished a lot in their high-school careers,” said Sagula. “Julia and Taylor ranked among the Top 10 opposite hitters in the nation and Holly is one of the top two setter-right sides. Mia was the MVP on a state-championship team and Mariah set her team to back-to-back state championships. Greer played for Torrey Pines, which is consistently ranked one of the Top 10 high-school programs in the country.” Sagula sees the freshman group fitting into his system rather nicely. “We liked the 6-2 system, which means one of the incoming setters—Holly or Mariah—will have to play. Both middle blocker spots are open, so Katharine will compete for playing time and add depth. Possibly the biggest void is our six-rotation player. Julia and Taylor have done it at a very high level and we see them competing for that spot. Mia and Greer will add depth to our serve-receive and passing core. With the graduation of Heather Gearhart, we will be looking for someone who can help us in a variety of ways as she did.”
Orie Agbaji Autumn Rounsaville
No. 5 Texas 2016 recruits:Orie Agbaji (6-2, MB, Oak Park, Kansas City, Mo., Club North), Riley Fisbeck (6-1, S, La Grange, Texas, Houston Juniors), Claire Hahn (5-5, Libero, Westlake, Austin, Texas, Austin Juniors), Autumn Rounsaville (5-5, Libero, Dripping Springs, Texas, Austin Performance), Blair Westerlund (6-3, MB, Brentwood Christian, Round Rock, Texas, Austin Juniors) The skinny: Another super-impressive class here that joins a Longhorns squad that reached the NCAA final last season. Agbaji, one of four in-state recruits in this class, was rated the No. 4 senior in the Class of 2016 by a panel of NCAA Division I coaches who voted on the Volleyballmag.com Girls Fab 50. Agbaji, Rounsaville and Westerlund were Fab 50 selections, while Agbaji also earned 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-American honorable mention status. “Orie is a big-time athlete. She is very physical, touching around 10-8,” Texas coach Jerritt Elliott told www.texassports.com, the school’s athletics website. “She has the ability to be really good in front of the setter and behind. We think he has a great upside-her work ethic stands out to me. She is determined to be great.” Agbaji has been named the Big 12 Conference preseason freshman of the year.
Savvy Simo
No. 6 UCLA 2016 recruits:Madeleine Gates (6-3, MB, La Jolla, Calif., Coast VBC), Kylie Miller (5-11, S, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Forza1 VBC), Jamie Robbins (6-1, OH, Laguna Beach, Calif., TStreet VBC), Savvy Simo (5-10, DS-Libero, Torrey Pines, San Diego, Calif., Wave VBC), Torrey Van Winden (6-3, MB, Vintage, Napa, Calif., Five Starz VBC). The skinny: Bruins coach Mike Sealy went up and down the Golden State to secure this Top 10 class. Gates, Miller and Van Winden all were 2016 Volleyballmag.com Fab 50 selections, while Gates, Miller and Simo all can be found in the 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-Americans presentation. “We picked up for players who can make an immediate impact in four positions with Kylie at setter, Torrey at opposite, Madeleine in the middle and Savvy as a defensive specialist,” said Sealy. “They all can __play physically and mentally at the necessary level to be successful right away. The class as size and skill.” Sealy also likes Robbins versatility. “Jamie is left-handed good utility pickup for our program.”
Darrielle King
No. 7 Florida 2016 recruits:Morgyn Greer (6-3, OH, Dripping Springs, Texas, Austin Jrs.), Allie Gregory (5-6, DS-Libero, Assumption, Louisville, Ky., KIVA), Chanelle Hargreaves (5-4, DS, Wharton, Tampa, Fla., Tampa United VBA), Cheyenne Huskey (6-2, S, Columbus, Texas, Texstar/Houston Skyline), Darrielle King (6-3, MB, DeSoto, Texas, TAV), Rachael Kramer (6-8, MB, Desert Vista, Phoenix, Ariz., Aspire VBC), Camille Nieves (5-7, DS, Montverde, Fla., Top Select VBA), Mia Sokolowski (6-3, OH, Tucson, Ariz., Zona VBC) The skinny: This is the biggest incoming freshman class in coach Mary Wise’s long tenure at the school. Florida also has the most 2016 Volleyballmag.com Fab 50 selections this year with six. That group includes Greer, Gregory, Huskey, King, Kramer and Sokolowski (who enrolled at UF in January). Another addition to the team is CK Knop (5-8, DS) who transferred from the University of Michigan where she played two seasons. Knop played club at San Gabriel Elite. “These recruits will be a big part of our short-term and long-term plans,” said Wise. “This class, with its talent and size, has the chance to be one of the most special groups to __play here.”
Alexis Hart
No. 8 Minnesota 2016 recruits:Alexis Hart (6-0, OH, Truman, Independence, Mo., Invasion), Brittany McLean (6-1, OH, Rosemount, Minn., Northern Lights VBC), Regan Pittman (6-5, MB, St. Thomas Aquinas, Overland Park, Kan., KC Power VBC), Lauren Litzau (5-8, DS-Libero, Greendale, Wis., Milwaukee Sting). The skinny: The Golden Gophers packed a powerful punch with this four-player class. Hart, McLean and Pittman all were 2016 Volleyballmag.com Fab 50 selections. Pittman, a sliver medalist with the U.S. girls’ youth national team, was the MVP of the Under Armour all-star match during last year’s AVCA convention. She joined Hart and McLean as Under Armour All-American first-team selections. “Alexis and Brittany bring both athleticism and experience to aid them in competition for Big Ten player of the year and Olympian Daly Santana’s vacated position at the pin,” Minnesota assistant coach Laura Kasey said. “Regan adds size and a wicked arm to a very talented core of middles. Lauren brings a high volleyball IQ to our backcourt to round out the class that in a few short days of preseason has already shown an impressive capacity to learn and improve.”
No. 9 San Diego 2016 recruits:Peyton Douglass (5-6, Libero, Mead, Spokane, Wash. Renovator VBC), Thana Fayad (6-2, OH, Oak Bay, British Columbia, Canada), Megan Jacobsen (6-2, MB, Bellarmine Prep, Tacoma, Wash., Kent Juniors), Allyson Eylers (6-1 S, Highland, Gilbert, Ariz., Aspire VBC), Anna Newsome (5-9, S, Joaquim Blume, Barcelona, Spain), Megan Priest (5-8, Libero, Oak Ridge., El Dorado Hills, Calif., NCVC) The skinny: Two interesting names in this group are foreign players Fayad and Newsome“These two are much further along than most freshman,” longtime San Diego associate head coach Brent Hilliard said. “Thana has a chance to be the best outside hitter to ever come through San Diego. She is a full six-rotation player who can hit out of the front and back row. Anna played in the top level of the Italian Serie at 18 years of age. She has been setting athletes almost twice her age and is more developed then 99 percent of the setters coming into college.” San Diego is also high on Douglass, a libero from a lesser-known Washington club. Jacobsen will help the team in the middle. “She’s the best middle-hitting prospect we have had in a long time,” said Hilliard. “She can hit hard off one or two feet and has an internal battery that already is tops on our team.” Eylers can set and play the right side, while Priest will help on the defensive end. “This is the best class we’ve had in over a decade,” said Hilliard.
No. 10 Nebraska 2016 recruits:Hunter Atherton (6-0, OH-S, Coffman, Dublin, Ohio, Mintonette), Lauren Stivrins (6-5, MB, Chapparral, Scottsdale, Ariz., AZ Storm) The skinny: The defending national champions have a small but powerful class here. Both Atherton and Stivrins were 2016 Volleyballmag.com Fab 50 picks and Atherton was honored in the 2015 Volleyballmag.com girls’ high school All-Americans presentation. “Lauren is a big-time middle blocker who adds size, speed and a championship mindset to our team,” said Nebraska coach John Cook. “Hunter is a very athletic setter who flies around the court.” Atherton enrolled at Nebraska in January and Cook noted she has developed well in the Husker Power program, the school’s strength and conditioning arm. Also of note on the transfer front, Nebraska picked up 2014 first-team All-American middle blocker Briana Holman (6-1, junior) via transfer from LSU. She sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules.
