Penn State coach Russ Rose is never short of opinions on NCAA volleyball/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
As we are wont to do, we asked legendary Penn State coach Russ Rose what three things he would do if he were the czar of all volleyball.
The concept didn’t go completely as planned, and ended up being a debate about recruiting ethics and scheduling, but he didn’t hesitate with No. 1.
“I’d go back to traditional scoring,” Rose said.
For the younger generation, who has never known volleyball without rally scoring and a libero, in the old days you could only score when you were serving. The game was both thought out and played very differently.
“And then I think recruiting is going younger and faster than I think is healthy for both parties,” said Rose, who is in his 38th year at Penn State, where he was won seven NCAA titles.
“Well, I teach a class on coaching ethics. And you can’t legislate ethics. Some people are going to __play up to the gray line, and some people are well beyond it.
“We’re in a competitive environment and everybody goes into it looking at what’s important to them.”
So what change would Division I’s winningest coach make? Not be allowed to watch or offer players before 15?
“You can’t stop the occasional outlier situation,” Rose said. “The perfect example would be the Rolfzens (senior All-Americans Kadie and Amber) when they were young. They’re Nebraska kids and my assumption is they went to camps and this is what they dreamed of, so it makes all the sense in the world for kids like that.
“But there was a time when volleyball coaches used to look at football and basketball coaches and kind of comment to the ethical things they were doing and say, ‘I’m glad I coach women’s volleyball.’ And now those people who thought that they’re all retired.
“There are a few of us from that old era who understand that, but it’s a new landscape and this is the way the game is being played.”
But he still hadn’t told us what he would do.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” Rose countered. “It’s like the rally scoring. It’s never going to change. This isn’t going to change, either. It’s always rotating.
“If I was the czar I would give it to somebody else because it’s going to cut into my cigar and sun time.”
OK, then what would be No. 3?
After a long pause …
“The third thing is people focusing on betting the game and not worrying about their RPI,” he said. “People send out things all the time about scheduling that they only want certain RPI teams.
“I’m in a geographical area where there’s nobody with a good RPI and I think I have a responsibility to try to help and __play anybody. If it hurts my RPI it hurts my RPI. I think it’s a good thing for some of these teams who never have a chance to play in a big gym with their names on the board. It’s a big deal to them.”
This year, for example, Penn State — currently ranked 15th in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll and No. 23 in the NCAA RPI — was visited by Georgia Southern, Rhode Island, Howard and Clemson and played against Siena, Hofstra and Syracuse in Syracuse.
“Well, it’s hard to get people to come here,” Rose said. “And some of the people you schedule you’d think would be good because they were good last year and then they have some challenges.
“I’ve had years when my team is one of the top two or three in the country in RPI. It happened …
“I think now with being a top four seed you can host (the NCAA regionals) I see people tactically scheduling and doing things. I understand that, because everyone would rather host than play on the road, but nobody’s hosting the national championships, so at some point your team has to be able to play on the road.
“Even if it’s a neutral site, you have to be able to deal with the outside factors necessary to win.”
Katie Stadick and her Illinois teammates __play Rutgers and Penn State, hoping for an NCAA bid/Craig Pessman, Illinois Athletics photo
Most of the nation’s Division I volleyball teams are either waiting for Sunday to learn their NCAA Tournament fate or have already packed up the gear and are planning for next season.
But with 23 matches on the schedule Friday and 24 more Saturday, a few things have to be decided, including who wins the Big Ten.
More importantly for the the Big Ten will be if Illinois can __play itself into NCAA contention in its final matches at Rutgers (a gimme) Friday and at Penn State on Saturday.
Right now the league will get eight bids — Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan State. Michigan, Purdue, Penn State and Ohio State — but Illinois is sitting at No. 50 in the NCAA RPI, a tenuous place to be, and will gain nothing by beating Rutgers.
Penn State is 23 in the RPI, so a win Saturday might get the Illini over the hump. And maybe not.
There are three other matches in the Big Ten on Friday, as Purdue (22 RPI) goes to Ohio State (38 RPI), Northwestern is at Penn State (No. 15 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll and 23 in the RPI), and Indiana is at Maryland.
Saturday is when things get really serious. Nebraska and Wisconsin are both 17-2 in the conference, while Minnesota is 16-3.
AVCA No. 3 Wisconsin (No. 1 in the RPI) goes to Minnesota, which is No. 2 in the AVCA, 4 in the RPI and coming off that big five-set win over Nebraska.
AVCA No. 1 Nebraska, 3 in the RPI, can win the B1G title by beating Michigan (AVCA 18, RPI 17), which is coming off a huge win over Michigan State (AVCA 14, RPI 14).
Also Saturday, Indiana goes to Ohio State, Michigan State is at Iowa and Northwestern goes to Rutgers.
The Pac-12 is all about rivalries in the final round of matches, three on Friday and three on Saturday. Washington is 15-4 in the Pac-12, while Stanford and UCLA are tied for second a game back at 14-5.
Right now you can figure on Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Utah, Oregon, and Arizona assured of NCAA bids. But USC, at 43 in the RPI, and Washington State, 45 in the RPI, are at the mercy of the NCAA selection committee. Both play higher-ranked teams.
Washington (AVCA 7, RPI 11) has already clinched a share of the Pac-12, but can win outright by winning at Washington State on Saturday.
Stanford (AVCA 12, RPI 9) plays host to Cal on Friday, while UCLA (AVCA 8, RPI 12) is home for USC (RPI 43) on Saturday.
Oregon (AVCA 19, RPI 21) goes to Oregon State on Friday, and Utah entertains Colorado, while the other Saturday match has Arizona (RPI 31) at Arizona State.
North Carolina (AVCA 6, RPI 10) has already won the ACC title and the Tar Heels, Florida State(AVCA 18, RPI 26), and Pittsburgh (RPI 37) are in good NCAA stead. But Georgia Tech (47 RPI) is playing for its NCAA life when the Yellow Jackets go to FSU on Friday for a noon Eastern first serve. Also Friday, Syracuse goes to Notre Dame, Clemson travels to Miami, Boston College is at Louisville and Virginia Tech plays at Virginia.
Saturday, Wake Forest finishes at North Carolina and Pittsburgh plays at Virginia.
There is one match in the SEC, with South Carolina at Ole Miss.
The Big 12 has Friday off but finishes up Saturday with four matches, including No. 4 Kansas at Baylor, No. 5 Texas entertaining West Virginia, and two others bound for the NCAA, Kansas State playing host to Texas Tech and Iowa State home for Oklahoma. TCU, almost definitely going to get a bid, is finished.
No. 21 Creighton plays in Friday’s Big East semifinals against Seton Hall. The Bluejays, 24-6, went through the regular season 18-0. In their earlier matches with Seton Hall, Creighton won in three both times. The other semifinal has Xavier playing Marquette. Creighton is 18 in the NCAA RPI, while Marquette is good shape at 36. Xavier is the next-highest Big East team at 69.
All the other ranked non-power-five teams are waiting on Sunday NCAA’s selection show: No. 10 BYU and No. 11 San Diego of the West Coast Conference, No. 13 Hawai’i of the Big West, No. 20 Western Kentucky of Conference USA, and No. 24 Dayton of the Atlantic 10.
There are five matches in the American Athletic Conference. SMU (RPI 33), which holds a one-game lead in the the league over Cincinnati, goes to Connecticut and clinches with a victory or a Cincy loss. Three other AAC teams in the NCAA hunt, are in action: Cincinnati (RPI 40) goes to Memphis, Temple (RPI 49) plays host to Tulsa and UCF (RPI 53) is at Houston.
Illinois State enjoys knocking off Southern Illinois in the MVC tournament
And the Missouri Valley Conference has its semifinals after, on Thanksgiving night, Illinois State swept Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa did the same to Loyola. Today’s 5 p.m. first semi has top-seeded Missouri State playing No. 5 Illinois State, followed by No. 2 Wichita State against UNI. Wichita State (RPI 35) would likely get an at-large if it doesn’t win, while UNI (44) and Missouri State (46) could be left out.
Katie Stadick and her Illinois teammates __play Rutgers and Penn State, hoping for an NCAA bid/Craig Pessman, Illinois Athletics photo
Most of the nation’s Division I volleyball teams are either waiting for Sunday to learn their NCAA Tournament fate or have already packed up the gear and are planning for next season.
But with 23 matches on the schedule Friday and 24 more Saturday, a few things have to be decided, including who wins the Big Ten.
More importantly for the the Big Ten will be if Illinois can __play itself into NCAA contention in its final matches at Rutgers (a gimme) Friday and at Penn State on Saturday.
Right now the league will get eight bids — Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan State. Michigan, Purdue, Penn State and Ohio State — but Illinois is sitting at No. 50 in the NCAA RPI, a tenuous place to be, and will gain nothing by beating Rutgers.
Penn State is 23 in the RPI, so a win Saturday might get the Illini over the hump. And maybe not.
There are three other matches in the Big Ten on Friday, as Purdue (22 RPI) goes to Ohio State (38 RPI), Northwestern is at Penn State (No. 15 in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll and 23 in the RPI), and Indiana is at Maryland.
Saturday is when things get really serious. Nebraska and Wisconsin are both 17-2 in the conference, while Minnesota is 16-3.
AVCA No. 3 Wisconsin (No. 1 in the RPI) goes to Minnesota, which is No. 2 in the AVCA, 4 in the RPI and coming off that big five-set win over Nebraska.
AVCA No. 1 Nebraska, 3 in the RPI, can win the B1G title by beating Michigan (AVCA 18, RPI 17), which is coming off a huge win over Michigan State (AVCA 14, RPI 14).
Also Saturday, Indiana goes to Ohio State, Michigan State is at Iowa and Northwestern goes to Rutgers.
The Pac-12 is all about rivalries in the final round of matches, three on Friday and three on Saturday. Washington is 15-4 in the Pac-12, while Stanford and UCLA are tied for second a game back at 14-5.
Right now you can figure on Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Utah, Oregon, and Arizona assured of NCAA bids. But USC, at 43 in the RPI, and Washington State, 45 in the RPI, are at the mercy of the NCAA selection committee. Both play higher-ranked teams.
Washington (AVCA 7, RPI 11) has already clinched a share of the Pac-12, but can win outright by winning at Washington State on Saturday.
Stanford (AVCA 12, RPI 9) plays host to Cal on Friday, while UCLA (AVCA 8, RPI 12) is home for USC (RPI 43) on Saturday.
Oregon (AVCA 19, RPI 21) goes to Oregon State on Friday, and Utah entertains Colorado, while the other Saturday match has Arizona (RPI 31) at Arizona State.
North Carolina (AVCA 6, RPI 10) has already won the ACC title and the Tar Heels, Florida State(AVCA 18, RPI 26), and Pittsburgh (RPI 37) are in good NCAA stead. But Georgia Tech (47 RPI) is playing for its NCAA life when the Yellow Jackets go to FSU on Friday for a noon Eastern first serve. Also Friday, Syracuse goes to Notre Dame, Clemson travels to Miami, Boston College is at Louisville and Virginia Tech plays at Virginia.
Saturday, Wake Forest finishes at North Carolina and Pittsburgh plays at Virginia.
There is one match in the SEC, with South Carolina at Ole Miss.
The Big 12 has Friday off but finishes up Saturday with four matches, including No. 4 Kansas at Baylor, No. 5 Texas entertaining West Virginia, and two others bound for the NCAA, Kansas State playing host to Texas Tech and Iowa State home for Oklahoma. TCU, almost definitely going to get a bid, is finished.
No. 21 Creighton plays in Friday’s Big East semifinals against Seton Hall. The Bluejays, 24-6, went through the regular season 18-0. In their earlier matches with Seton Hall, Creighton won in three both times. The other semifinal has Xavier playing Marquette. Creighton is 18 in the NCAA RPI, while Marquette is good shape at 36. Xavier is the next-highest Big East team at 69.
All the other ranked non-power-five teams are waiting on Sunday NCAA’s selection show: No. 10 BYU and No. 11 San Diego of the West Coast Conference, No. 13 Hawai’i of the Big West, No. 20 Western Kentucky of Conference USA, and No. 24 Dayton of the Atlantic 10.
There are five matches in the American Athletic Conference. SMU (RPI 33), which holds a one-game lead in the the league over Cincinnati, goes to Connecticut and clinches with a victory or a Cincy loss. Three other AAC teams in the NCAA hunt, are in action: Cincinnati (RPI 40) goes to Memphis, Temple (RPI 49) plays host to Tulsa and UCF (RPI 53) is at Houston.
Illinois State enjoys knocking off Southern Illinois in the MVC tournament
And the Missouri Valley Conference has its semifinals after, on Thanksgiving night, Illinois State swept Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa did the same to Loyola. Today’s 5 p.m. first semi has top-seeded Missouri State playing No. 5 Illinois State, followed by No. 2 Wichita State against UNI. Wichita State (RPI 35) would likely get an at-large if it doesn’t win, while UNI (44) and Missouri State (46) could be left out.
Penn State coach Russ Rose is never short of opinions on NCAA volleyball/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
As we are wont to do, we asked legendary Penn State coach Russ Rose what three things he would do if he were the czar of all volleyball.
The concept didn’t go completely as planned, and ended up being a debate about recruiting ethics and scheduling, but he didn’t hesitate with No. 1.
“I’d go back to traditional scoring,” Rose said.
For the younger generation, who has never known volleyball without rally scoring and a libero, in the old days you could only score when you were serving. The game was both thought out and played very differently.
“And then I think recruiting is going younger and faster than I think is healthy for both parties,” said Rose, who is in his 38th year at Penn State, where he was won seven NCAA titles.
“Well, I teach a class on coaching ethics. And you can’t legislate ethics. Some people are going to __play up to the gray line, and some people are well beyond it.
“We’re in a competitive environment and everybody goes into it looking at what’s important to them.”
So what change would Division I’s winningest coach make? Not be allowed to watch or offer players before 15?
“You can’t stop the occasional outlier situation,” Rose said. “The perfect example would be the Rolfzens (senior All-Americans Kadie and Amber) when they were young. They’re Nebraska kids and my assumption is they went to camps and this is what they dreamed of, so it makes all the sense in the world for kids like that.
“But there was a time when volleyball coaches used to look at football and basketball coaches and kind of comment to the ethical things they were doing and say, ‘I’m glad I coach women’s volleyball.’ And now those people who thought that they’re all retired.
“There are a few of us from that old era who understand that, but it’s a new landscape and this is the way the game is being played.”
But he still hadn’t told us what he would do.
“It doesn’t make any difference,” Rose countered. “It’s like the rally scoring. It’s never going to change. This isn’t going to change, either. It’s always rotating.
“If I was the czar I would give it to somebody else because it’s going to cut into my cigar and sun time.”
OK, then what would be No. 3?
After a long pause …
“The third thing people focusing on betting the game and not worrying about their RPI,” he said. “People send out things all the time about scheduling that they only want certain RPI teams.
“I’m in a geographical area where there’s nobody with a good RPI and I think I have a responsibility to try to help and __play anybody. If it hurts my RPI it hurts my RPI. I think it’s a good thing for some of these teams who never have a chance to play in a big gym with their names on the board. It’s a big deal to them.”
This year, for example, Penn State — currently ranked 15th in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll and No. 23 in the NCAA RPI — was visited by Georgia Southern, Rhode Island, Howard and Clemson and played against Siena, Hofstra and Syracuse in Syracuse.
“Well, it’s hard to get people to come here,” Rose said. “And some of the people you schedule you’d think would be good because they were good last year and then they have some challenges.
“I’ve had years when my team is one of the top two or three in the country in RPI. It happened …
“I think now with being a top four seed you can host (the NCAA regionals) I see people tactically scheduling and doing things. I understand that, because everyone would rather host than play on the road, but nobody’s hosting the national championships, so at some point your team has to be able to play on the road.
“Even if it’s a neutral site, you have to be able to deal with the outside factors necessary to win.”
Samantha Seliger-Swenson goes airborne to lead the Minnesota celebration as the Gophers beat Nebraska/Eric Miller, University of Minnesota photo
You know it was a heck of a night when Alabama’s Krystal Rivers, who on Wednesday was named the SEC player of the year, doesn’t make the headline after getting 35 kills and hitting .408 in a win over Ole Miss.
So, yes, it was a heck of night, when No. 2 Minnesota came back from 0-2 to knock off visiting No. 1 Nebraska 21-25, 22-25, 28-26, 25-17, 17-15 in truly a Big Ten match for the ages.
“It was a couple of heavyweights going toe to toe in the fifth,” Minnesota coach Hugh McCutcheon said.
And a night in which No. 7 Washington beat visiting No. 8 UCLA to win the Pac-12 title, its third in four years, and when No. 6 North Carolina clinched the ACC crown.
There are more matches to recap from Wednesday, but first Happy Thanksgiving on a day when, yes, there are two matches, as the Missouri Valley Conference tournament gets under way at Northern Iowa.
Illinois State plays Southern Illinois and Loyola faces the home team. __play resumes Friday when top-seeded Missouri State awaits the winner of the first match and Wichita State the winner of the second. And as an aside, it’s possible the Valley will get two at-large bids, since Wichita State is 35 in the NCAA RPI, UNI 44 and Missouri State 46.
Big comeback for Minnesota as Big Ten race tightens
In what could well have been a preview of a rematch in Columbus in either the national semifinals or NCAA title match, Minnesota turned the tables on Nebraska, which had beaten the Gophers in five when they came to Lincoln on Oct. 23. But this one was even closer.
“The fans got their money’s worth tonight,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “Numbers 1 and 2 in the country and it came down to two points in the end.
“Minnesota played really well. They held us off in game three, and we kept coming back in game five and couldn’t get a lead on them. We earned some chances to win it, but just didn’t execute.”
It left the top of the Big Ten still up for grabs.
Nebraska still leads at 26-2 overall, 17-2 in the league, but dropped into a tie with idle Wisconsin, 26-3, 17-2. But Wisconsin — which win four over Iowa — goes to Minnesota (24-4, 16-3) on Saturday, while Nebraska finishes up at home against Michigan (22-9, 11-8), which put the hammer on MichiganState on Wednesday night.
In other words, the title is up for grabs between those three teams with one match left.
Meanwhile, back to Minnesota-Nebraska, as the Gophers had 72 kills, 100 digs, and 10 blocks.
Senior outside hitter Sarah Wilhite had 19 kills and career-high 25 digs. Sophomore setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 59 assists and 19 digs. Senior middle Hannah Tapp had 16 kills with three blocks, freshman outside Alexis Hart had 13 kills, and senior middle Paige Tapp had 11 kills with four blocks. Junior Molly Lohman added nine kills hit .533, and a team-high seven blocks.
“Samantha did a really good job at balancing the offense and getting the ball to the middles and right sides,” Wilhite said. “It opened things for me and Lexi on the outside and changed the game. I don’t think they were able to stop us offensively.”
If they got the chance. Both teams were tight at the end of the fifth. At 15-15, Sydney Townsend of Nebraska — as Hart of Minnesota had done just two points earlier — missed her serve. And then Minnesota closed it out on a block by Wilhite and Lohman.
“Obviously Nebraska’s a very good team,” Minnesota’s McCutcheon said. “Defensively they were playing with a lot of discipline and I thought in the beginning of the matchI thought our athletes thought they had to do something really special to get the ball to the floor. So we ended up forcing some stuff, especially out of system.”
McCutcheon said that during the break he told his team to be patient.
“It was really about committing to a lot of hard work for a really long time and we just kept making plays for long enough we’d have a chance.”
Wilhite said they talked about “playing Gopher volleyball.”
In set three, McCutcheon said, “there was a little ebb and flow and we were able to turn that and all of a sudden we got going on the offensive end.”
Nebraska, which had won 14 in a row overall and 17 in a row on the road, got 20 kills and 10 digs from senior right side Kadie Rolfzen, who hit .333. Sophomore outside Mikaela Foecke and senior outside Andie Malloy had 12 kills each and junior middle Briana Holman had 11 kills and six blocks. Senior middle Amber Rolfzen had seven blocks and had six kills. Junior setter Kelly Hunter had 48 assists and 12 digs, and senior libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 26 digs.
“Our serving was very tentative and they were in system,” Cook said. “They’re a very tough team when they’re in system. I knew serve and pass was going to win it, and we lost serve and pass tonight. We also got out-dug by 14 balls. We’re used to out-digging teams, and I thought we got outworked tonight.”
The NCAA bracket will be announced Sunday and the volleyball-watching world can only hope these two teams are on opposite sides to set up a meeting in Columbus.
“These matches are very rare,” McCutcheon said. “This kind of environment and this kind of team where you really get put to the test. We learned a ton tonight and I think we also grew a little bit and got to evolve.”
What crazy scores as the Wolverines won 25-16, 25-11, 32-30 to get revenge after losing to State in four earlier this season. Michigan is 22-9, 11-8, while Michigan State is 23-8, 12-7
Michigan, which improved to 15-2 at home, got 12 kills from Claire Kieffer-Wright, who hit .476. Abby Cole added 10 kills.
State’s Alyssa Garvelink led the Spartans with just eight kills on a night when they hit .091. Michigan hit .350, its best in a Big Ten match this season.
“We really didn’t get going until the third set, and credit has to go to Michigan for keeping us out of sorts,” MSU coach Cathy George said. “I thought we played much better in the third, which looked a lot more like the sets between these teams 10 days ago at Jenison.
“We’ll take stock of ourselves tomorrow and get some rest – because we know that we’re going to get an “A” effort from Iowa in their building on Saturday.”
Wisconsin and visiting Iowa grinded until the fourth set when the Badgers came away with a 25-15, 22-25, 25-16, 25-7 victory. It dropped the Hawkeyes to 19-12, 9-10 and at 68 in the RPI, left them on the outside looking in on Sunday.
Sophomore Tionna Williams led Wisconsin with 14 kills and a .737 hitting percentage with no errors on 19 attempts, to go with a match-high seven blocks. Freshman Molly Haggerty had 13 kills, senior Haleigh Nelson 12 and six blocks and junior Lauryn Gillis had 10 kills.
Senior setter Lauren Carlini had 57 assists, one fewer than her season-high, and had seven digs and two blocks.
“I thought it was a really good match, so many positives out of this,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought we came out and played really well. Iowa came out in the second and upped their service game a little bit and we got kind of knocked back on our heels. I thought we responded great.
“That’s probably the most important quality. I told the team afterwards, that’s probably the most important quality going into the tournament is how do you respond because you’re not going to keep a good team down for an hour and a half or two hours. I thought we responded in a great way.”
Junior Jess Janota led Iowa with 12 kills as her team took a set off Wisconsin for the first time in more than three years.
“Great effort by our gals tonight,” Iowa coach Bond Shymansky said. “When you come into a top-ranked team’s gym on senior night, there’s a lot of energy and emotion out there, but I thought we responded really well after the first set and played some great volleyball.
“I’m proud of our group and how far we’ve come. Everything is about the process and the progress for us, and you can see it in our group. You can see it in the way we are willing to execute.”
Nothing comes easy for Purdue this season and Wednesday was a perfect example as the visiting Boilermakers improved to 18-12, 8-11 with a 25-18, 24-26, 25-17, 22-25, 15-9 win to give coach Dave Shondell his 300th college victory.
Junior Danielle Cuttino had a match-high 17 kills and added a team-best four blocks, while junior Azariah Stahl had 13 kills and 18 digs. Sophomore Sherridan Atkinson followed with 12 kills and hit .471. Senior Faye Adelaja had eight kills and four blocks, while redshirt freshman Blake Mohler had seven kills and four blocks.
Junior middle blocker Hailey Murray led Maryland with 15 kills as the Terps dropped to 11-20, 3-16.
“Hats off to Purdue. They are a tournament team that competed hard and made plays at crucial times,” Maryland coach Steve Aird said. “We are moving on to Indiana right now. I expect us to __play really hard on Friday.”
Washington celebrates beating UCLA and winning the Pac-12 title/Stephen Burns photo
Pac-12: UW gets share of the title, Stanford still in it, Utah falls
Basically, it was winner take all in Seattle, where UCLA and Washington were 14-4 atop the league. So Washington’s 25-11, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15 victory left the Huskies 25-4, 15-4 and guaranteed a share of the title.
But UCLA (23-6, 14-5) and Stanford (20-7, 14-5) can force a tie. Washington finishes at Washington State on Saturday, while Stanford ends up with Cal at home on Friday and UCLA entertains USC on Saturday.
Junior outside hitter Courtney Schwan had a career-high 27 kills and hit .440 for Washington, which won the Pac-12 outright in 2013 and shared the title last year with USC. U-W also won back-to-back Pac-10 titles in 2004 and 2005.
“It takes a lot of people to accomplish anything of significance,” second-year U-W coach Keegan Cook said, “and on days like this it’s easy to feel grateful for all those people.”
Tia Scambray added 13 kills and Crissy Jones had 11.
Freshman Torrey Van Winden led the Bruins with 11 kills and had eight digs, while junior Reily Buechler added 14 digs and eight kills. Senior Claire Felix had seven kills in 15 attempts with no errors and hit .467.
No. 12 Stanford beat visiting No. 19 Oregon for the ninth time in a row with a 25-22, 25-11, 25-22 sweep. Oregon dropped to 19-9, 13-6 as Stanford hit .356.
Stanford got 10 kills apiece from freshman Kathryn Plummer and senior Inky Ajanaku, who also had five blocks.
Freshman Ronika Stone led Oregon with 14 kills and hit .524.
No. 17 Utah lost at Arizona 22-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-15 to fall to 20-10, 11-8, while Arizona improved to 18-13, 10-9.
Kalei Mau had 21 kills and three aces, Kendra Dahlke had 13 kills and Katarina Pilepic had nine kills and three blocks.
“I was proud of the way we played today,” Arizona coach Dave Rubio said. “We came out a little flat in the first set, but we executed well in the last three sets. That was a big win for us against a good team. We had some energy that I felt we had been lacking the last couple of matches.”
Adora Anae led Utah with 16 kills. Carly Trueman added 15 kills and two blocks and Tawnee Luafalemana had eight kills and two blocks.
Washington State won a big match between teams hovering on the NCAA edge when the Cougars beat visiting USC 17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-25, 15-8.
It left WSU, 45 in the RPI, 21-10, 11-8. USC, 43 in the RPI, is 18-12, 10-9.
Kyra Holt led the Cougars with 18 kills, 12 digs and five blocks. McKenna Woodford added 14 kills and four blocks and Taylor Mims and Claire Martin had seven blocks apiece.
“I’m very proud of this team for getting the win against a very, very tough USC team,” WSU coach Jen Greeny said.
“We were able to grind it out in five. It was a little inconsistent at times but I was glad we were a little more consistent in the fifth set. We needed to settle down and get our defensive going more. Our serve wasn’t great until the end of the match and that definitely helped us. I thought Taylor Mims, especially, had some great blocks and shifted the momentum.”
Khalia Lanier led USC with 27 kills and 12 digs, Niki Withers had 12 kills and Elise Ruddins had nine kills and six blocks.
Also in the Pac-12, Oregon State won at Cal in five and Arizona State beat visiting Colorado in four.
ACC: UNC douses Duke hopes, FSU, Pittsburgh win
Duke, 59 in the RPI, desperately needed the upset of the No. 6 Tar Heels to get into the NCAA mix, but North Carolina beat the visitors 22-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-20 to claim the school’s 13th ACC title.
“This one feels as good as the first one,” said UNC coach Joe Sagula, who tied the ACC record by winning his seventh league title.
“I’m really proud of this team. I think there were a lot of expectations and pressure from the beginning of the season to be able to fulfill the goals and the predictions. The fact that we could do it was a relief, especially against a really good opponent and a rival. To do it before the last match of the year was a chance to just take a deep breath, to take it in, and to really appreciate it more.
“It may sound corny, but the appreciation we have for this team, especially here at Thanksgiving— we just have a huge amount of gratitude for everyone’s hard work to make this happen this year.”
It left UNC 26-3, 18-1 ACC, and Duke 21-8, 15-4.
Sophomore Taylor Leath had 17 kills and 17 digs, hitting .372 with a career-high six blocks.
“I think it’s really special for this team,” Leath said. “It’s one of those things that we need to do. We’re not only thinking about ACC’s but we’re thinking about the postseason as well. The energy we brought today is really going to help us, and we’re gaining momentum at the right time. So it’s not only the ACC championship, it’s also the statement we want to make about Carolina Volleyball.”
Freshman outside Julia Scoles added 10 kills, 12 digs and three aces, while senior opposite Taylor Treacy had nine kills and seven blocks. Junior middle Taylor Fricano hit .471 with eight kills and eight blocks and junior middle Beth Nordhorn had seven kills and five blocks.
“It’s insane,” Fricano said. “It feels amazing just for our seniors. I was getting choked up just thinking about them and all the effort they’ve put into this program and everything they’ve done for this program. That was for them more than anybody else.”
Duke senior middle Jordan Tucker led the Blue Devils with 17 kills and hit .333.
We just didn’t sustain it like we needed to against a good team like this,” Duke coach Jolene Nagel said. “We had some really good things going for us. Their blocking had a strong impact. If we could’ve minimized those errors just a little bit and controlled that ball a little bit better, maybe we could’ve picked at that block a little bit more and it would’ve been a different outcome.”
No. 16 Florida State had to go four to beat Clemson 25-16, 24-26, 25-17, 25-17 to improve to 23-5, 16-3. Milica Kubura had 18 kills and Mara Green and Katie Horton 14 each for the Seminoles, who hit .389.
Pittsburgh improved to 23-8, 14-5, with its 25-23, 25-18, 25-19 win over Virginia Tech. The Panthers, 37 in the RPI, got seven kills and four blocks from senior Jenna Potts, who hit .462. Freshman Stephanie Williams had 15 kills and hit .444.
How about these scores: Georgia Tech, 47 in the RPI, kept its NCAA hopes alive with a 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 20-25, 21-19victory over Miami, its first in Miami since 2011.
Teegan Van Gunst led the Yellow Jackets with 23 kills and 21 digs. Gabriela Stavnetchei added 14 kills and 12 digs.
Georgia Tech is 24-7, 15-4, while Miami is 14-17, 8-11.
“The players came together and said we’re going to do this,” GT coach Michelle Collier said. “They played with so much confidence on the court. I don’t think there was one second in their mind where they thought they couldn’t win that match. I’m so proud of their demeanor on the court. They were really resilient and kept going after it. It was a very deserving win for this group.”
Olga Strantzali led Miami with 19 kills and 16 digs. Anna Haak had 17 kills and 21 digs.
“I was excited to be in a match like that,” Miami coach Jose “Keno” Gandara said. “I think the first three sets were very different from game four and five. It’s good to be in matches that close. We know the margin is thin and they played better in key points.
“I’m proud of the girls and the way they competed. We made a lot of good plays and some not so great plays, but it was a good match.”
Also in the ACC, Notre Dame swept Boston College, Louisville beat Syracuse in four and NC State swept Wake Forest.
Start with the amazing Rivers, who goes into her final match needing 40 kills to catch Saint Louis’ Daniele Rygelski for the most kills in the NCAA this season.
Rivers not only was named the SEC player of the year on Wednesday, she was also named the league’s scholar-athlete of the year, the first time a player in the SEC has won both those awards in the same season. Rivers is a Spanish major with a 3.65 GPA. She is a two-time honoree on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team and the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Rivers was also named a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2014. She is a six-time honoree on the Dean’s List and a two-time honoree on the President’s List.
Rygelski, whose career ended when the Billikens lost in the Atlantic 10 final to Dayton, finished this season with 715 kills. Rivers, after getting 35 on Wednesday in a 25-22, 24-26, 25-17, 13-25, 15-6 win over visiting Ole Miss, had 675. She needs 40 in the finale Saturday against LSU, which is not likely but don’t put anything past this 5-foot-11 right side who not only became Bama’s all-time kills leader, has 69 block assists this season, 12 solo and averages .70 blocks per set. She was named the SEC player of the year on Wednesday.
Bama’s season ends Saturday, but Kentucky has its eyes on the postseason and obviously got a wake-up call at Tennessee as the Vols won 18-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-17.
If left UK 22-7, 15-3, while Tennessee, in dire need of a season-ending pick-me-up, improved to 17-13, 7-10.
“I was really proud of the team and the energy and fight they showed,” Tennessee coach Rob Patrick said. “Kentucky is obviously a great team all around. My hat’s off to my team and how they went after Kentucky. They were aggressive all match, offensively and defensively.”
Tennessee sophomore middle Erica Treiber, had eight kills, hit. 533, had three aces, five blocks and three digs.
Junior Kendra Turner led Tennessee with 12 kills and had eight digs. Junior Kanisha Jimenez had seven kills, a season-best 16 digs and two aces.
Emily Franklin led Kentucky with 11 kills, three aces and three digs. Freshman Leah Edmond had 11 kills, while junior Kaz Brown added nine blocks and nine kills.
No. 22 Missouri extended Georgia’s misery with a 25-20, 25-17, 25-19 in Athens as sophomore Alyssa Munlyn, who is from Suwannee, Ga., had nine kills and hit .818. Her team improved to 24-5, 15-2, as Georgia dropped to 13-17, 1-16. The Bulldogs were 0-18 in the SEC last year.
No. 9 Florida improved to 25-3, 15-2, with a 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 25-14 win over visiting Auburn (15-15, 9-8).
Alex Holston led with 13 kills and three blocks, while Rhamat Alhassan had 11 kills and 10 blocks, and Carli Snyder had 10 kills, three blocks and three aces.
Also in the SEC, Texas A&M improved to 20-8, 14-3, as it beat LSU in four and Arkansas did the same at South Carolina.
Big 12: Iowa State, TCU get big victories
Iowa State rallied to win at Baylor 27-25, 14-25, 22-25, 25-11, 15-9 to improve to 17-10 and tied for third in the league at 9-6. Baylor dropped to 21-10 and is also 9-6. Iowa State was 30 in the RPI, but at 41 Baylor put itself in a potentially precarious position as it finishes the season Saturday at No. 4 Kansas.
Morgan Kuhrt led Iowa State with 16 kills and hit a career-best .583. Jess Schaben also had 16 kills, while Samara WestClick had 12.
Katie Staiger had a career-high 32 kills and is one behind Rivers for the overall NCAA kills lead with 644.
“Very frustrating loss. It was frustrating for me, personally, because the team didn’t reflect some of the core values from training that have been important to us all year. It’s ultimately on me in making sure they’re doing that, inspiring them to do that, motivating them to do that,” Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre said.
“Sometimes you could just see looks on faces where we weren’t ready to battle. We’ve only been good this year because we showed up ready to battle, and know the outcome, we can’t control. Tonight we didn’t battle like we know how to and we were disappointed with the outcome.”
Also, SMU, which already clinched the title, dealt Temple a four-set blow. Temple is 49 in the RPI. Cincinnati, 40 in the RPI, swept East Carolina.
The CBVA honors Elaine Youngs, Fred Zuelich, John Featherstone, Dain Blanton, and the team of Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd.
The California Beach Volleyball Association held its annual hall of fame Inductions last week at the Hermosa Beach Community Center.
The attending members of the hall of fame gather for a photo/Photo Credit: Ed Chan, VBshots.com
The ceremony is always an evening of meeting friends, renewing old friendships, and recanting stories. This year was no different, as Elaine Youngs, Fred Zuelich, John Featherstone, Dain Blanton, and the team of Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd were inducted. Jim Arico was the master of ceremonies and Sean Rosenthal and April Ross were the award presenters.
The inductee list possessed impressive volleyball resumes:
— Youngs was a four-time All-American at UCLA, won an NCAA championship in 1991 and was a three-time beach Olympian, winning bronze in the 2004 Athens Games.
— Zuelich earned 40 top-five finishes from 1971-1979, including a 1973 upset over Matt Gage and Ron Von Hagen to win the Manhattan Open.
— John Featherstone was inducted for his contributions to the sport, as a teacher, tournament director and referee.
— Blanton, a two-time beach Olympian, won the gold medal in 2000 with Eric Fonoimoana.
— Hovland and Dodd were inducted as a team, having one of the longest and most productive beach volleyball partnerships, spanning 180 tournaments and 53 victories, including five consecutive Manhattan Open wins.
Elaine Youngs is a three-time Olympian (beach in 1996 and 2004, indoor in 1992)/Photo Credit: Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Youngs participated in both indoor (1992) and beach volleyball (2004, 2008) Olympics. Known for her intensity and athleticism, she won 51 tournaments, earning over $1.7 million in prize money, including three Manhattan and five Hermosa Opens.
Young could not attend, but her partner in Athens in 2004, Holly McPeak, paid tribute.
“You’re one of the best athletes I’ve ever played with, one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever competed against, and I’m proud to call you my ex-partner, and 2004 was one of the highlights of my career,” McPeak said. “Not only were you physically talented, but you were mentally tough. You always were tough in big matches, and I could always rely on you. And that says a lot about being a good partner.”
Fred Zuelich, 1973 Manhattan Open champion/Photo Credit: Ed Chan/VBshots.com
Zuelich was a tough competitor despite being undersized. His ball control and consistency made him a threat, earning six wins, 40 top-five finishes, and a 1973 Manhattan Open victory over Matt Gage and Ron Von Hagen.
Dodd joked about the Manhattan win.
“I was 16 years old, played with my brother Tim. We played Zuelich and Bob (Jackson) and were ahead 14-11 in the earliest rounds, when Bob chucked the living heck out of the ball, and Tim was livid. The referees, who were their buddies from Santa Barbara, wouldn’t call the set. We ended up losing that match 16-14, but when I began my career in real estate, Fred was representing the Gages on the other side of my first transaction.”
John Featherstone at the 2016 CBVA Hall of Fame/Photo Credit: Ed Chan/VBshots.com
Featherstone ran the first beach clinics in San Diego, was key in securing permits for courts at Mission Beach and was a long-time tournament director there. He also promoted the first world beach doubles championship indoors at the Sports Arena in San Diego, trucking in sand during a time where that practice was unknown. The event attracted more than 6,000 fans. “Feather”, as he was widely known, was also a long time pro beach volleyball official.
Dain Blanton shows the crowd his 2000 gold medal/Photo Credit: Ed Chan/VBshots.com
Blanton played indoor volleyball at Pepperdine, where he earned a men’s NCAA indoor national championship in 1992 under Marv Dunphy. His real love was the beach, and at 6-foot-3, he was adept at both blocking and defending.
“This is a humbling experience to be here among so many legends and role models that I’ve experienced throughout my career,” Blanton said. “Watching guys like Hovland/Dodd and Smith Stoklos compete like their life depended on it was so inspirational. That was my dream, to be a beach volleyball player.”
In 2000, Blanton and Fonoimoana seeded ninth in the Olympics and had never won an international event. Blanton had been playing domestically with Canyon Ceman, who dumped Blanton for Mike Whitmarsh. Blanton then partnered with Fonoimoana, but the two were both left-side players, so Blanton moved to the right. Blanton/Fonoimoana were unable to win a tournament, earning several second-place finishes, so they broke up. However, before the 1999 AVP Clearwater event, Whitmarsh retired and Kent Steffes was injured, so Blanton/Fonoimoana reunited for that event. They defeated Karch Kiraly/Adam Johnson to win it and decided to make an Olympic run together. They caught fire at the Olympics, winning gold over Ze Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil.
“The fact that we were able to pull that off, I was so fortunate, to meet up with Eric, who was such a competitor. And I think we learned that throughout that process, and in life, that if you prepare yourself, and compete your ass off, you can end up with a gold medal.”
Tim Hovland and Mike Dodd are inducted into the hall of fame as a team/Photo Credit: Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Hovland and Dodd had both been previously inducted individually in 2000. Hovland was a 1980 NCAA champion and All-American at USC, while Dodd was a basketball and volleyball standout at San Diego State and drafted by the NBA’s Clippers.
“When we won, everyone knew,” Dodd said. “It was going to be the best party. We were all going to go out after, and have a blast. That hasn’t changed.”
Dodd was the introspective, quiet force, Hovland the fiery, explosive presence. Their rivalry with Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos brought the sport to new heights.
“They promoted our sport like you wouldn’t believe,” MC Jim Arico said. “They barnstormed from coast to coast, they showed up on Wednesday, they did radio shows in Atlanta, and Cleveland, and run promotions endlessly. Those guys made this work, these guys were responsible for our lifestyle and bringing our sport to the rest of the country.”
“I won a million dollars, three thousand dollars at a time,” Hovland said at a previous HOF induction ceremony.
Last week he recalled that “Marine Street was unbelievable. Those days you had to be able to __play nine hours a day seven days a week. If you got beat 7-0 you had to take your pants off and run down to the ocean. Word got around: Don’t come down to Marine unless you’re really, really serious.”
“We’re still great friends, almost 25 years later,” Dodd said. “The unique thing about Tim, he could abuse fans: ‘You’re horrible, you have nothing,’ he would say … and they loved him. We’d go back to the bar the next day and the fans would apologize.”
George Stepanof, who has run CBVA tournaments for over 60 years, is given the Ron Von Hagen award/Photo Credit Ed Chan/VBshots.com
George Stepanof was the recipient of the first Ron Von Hagen award. Stepanof, who retired this year after over 60 years as a CBVA tournament director in San Diego, created the rating system as well as the first rule book.
Also honored as top players were Jorge Martinez and Dalida Vernier (AAA), Griffin Conway and Jenn Henderson (AA), Seth Tuton and Morgan Kendrick, and Kaili Kimura (B).
And the 2016 Youth Cal Cup Champions: Chanti Holroyd, Madilyn Yeomans, Will Bantle, Rob Mullahey (18U), Kyla Doig, Jaden Whitmarsh, Jevan Coronado, Luke Grafton (16U), Makenna Gaeta, Kate Reilly, Miles Partain, Luke Turner (14U), and Kelly Belardi, Savannah Standage, Mick Bakos, Ryan Sprague (12U).
Boise State accepts the Mountain West championship trophy/Jessica Vargas photo
There’s a new sheriff in the Mountain West, where the Boise State Broncos celebrated Tuesday night winning the Mountain West league crown for the first time, while the Colorado State Rams are left in limbo until Sunday to learn if their team goes to the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd consecutive year or not.
And what would a night of NCAA volleyball be without an upset? To wit, No. 11 San Diego was stunned by Pepperdine while BYU won at Loyola Marymount to win the West Coast Conference regular-season title.
No matter who wins it won’t be an upset, but Wednesday night has what could well be a preview of the national-title tilt as No. 1 Nebraska goes to No. 2 Minnesota for a Big Ten showdown that has must-see written all over it. It’s on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m. Central and if it’s anything like the last time they met — a 3-2 win for Nebraska Oct. 23 in Lincoln — volleyball fans don’t want to miss it.
First a look at the rest of Wednesday’s key matches — and there are some potentially great ones — starting in the ACC where Duke is playing for its postseason life at No. 6 North Carolina. The Blue Devils are 21-7, 15-3 in the ACC, and tied with No. 16 Florida State (21-4, 15-3), two games behind Carolina (25-3, 17-1).
But Duke has an RPI of 59, putting the Blue Devils in a very tenuous situation in a 64-team field in which 32 spots go to conference winners. Duke finishes the regular season Saturday at NC State.
The aforementioned Seminoles __play host to Clemson (6-24, 1-17). Pittsburgh (22-8, 13-5), which has an RPI of 37, entertains Virginia Tech (12-17, 7-11). But Georgia Tech (23-7, 14-4), with an RPI of 47 — a scary place to be sitting — goes to Miami (14-16, 8-10) and needing to win Wednesday before finishing at Florida State on Friday. A loss to FSU won’t be an RPI killer, but a victory would all but assure that Georgia Tech is in.
Also in the ACC Wednesday, Wake Forest (9-20, 5-13) is at NC State (18-12, 11-7), Syracuse (7-21, 6-12) goes to Louisville (10-18, 5-13) and Boston College (8-20, 3-15) is at Notre Dame (20-10, 11-7). Notre Dame is 64 in the RPI after losing six of its last eight.
Another ACC note: West Virginia Tweeted on Tuesday that former USC setter Baylee Johnson, who left the Women of Troy last summer, has joined the program.
Nebraska’s Amber Rolfzen jousts with Minnesota’s Samantha Seliger-Swenson in their match Oct. 23/Nebraska photo
Nebraska is atop the Big Ten at 26-1, 17-1. No. 3 Wisconsin is a game back at 24-3, 16-2, while Minnesota is third at 23-4, 15-3.
The last time Nebraska played Minnesota, the final was 24-26, 25-18, 26-24, 22-25, 15-8.
Wisconsin plays host to Iowa (19-11, 9-9), which is 68 in the RPI. Purdue (17-12, 7-11) goes to Maryland (11-19, 3-15). Despite its record, Purdue is No. 22 in the RPI. And in the battle of the Michigans, No. 14 Michigan State (23-7, 12-6) goes to No. 18 Michigan (21-9, 10-8. They played just 11 days ago and State won in four. State is 14 in the RPI and still hoping to be a first-round NCAA host.
All three ranked SEC teams — No. 9 Florida, No. 22 Missouri and No. 23 Kentucky — plus NCAA-bound Texas A&M __play Wednesday night. Florida (24-3, 14-2) plays host to Auburn (15-14, 9-7), Mizzou (23-5, 14-2) goes to Georgia (13-16, 1-15), Kentucky (22-6, 15-2) is at Tennessee (16-13, 6-10) and A&M (19-8, 13-3) gets LSU (9-18, 4-12). Kentucky can wrap up the SEC title with a victory, which would be its first since 1988.
Also, Arkansas (8-20, 6-10) is at South Carolina (18-10, 6-10, and Ole Miss (16-13, 5-11) is at Alabama (18-11, 7-9).
There are two Big 12 matches on Wednesday as Iowa State (16-10, 8-6) goes to Baylor (21-9, 9-5) and West Virginia (12-16, 3-11) goes to TCU (13-12, 6-9). Iowa State, Baylor and TCU are going to get at-large NCAA bids.
The Pac-12 has a full slate with a lot of rankings and seedings on the line, especially with No. 8 UCLA(23-5, 14-4) at No. 7 Washington (24-4, 14-4) in a battle for first place. As the U-W news release said, “Alaska Airlines Arena will be the site of a de facto Pac-12 title match this Wednesday night, as the first-place Huskies and Bruins meet for the first and only time this season in the penultimate regular season match for both squads.”
No. 19 Oregon (19-8, 12-4) is at No. 12 Stanford (19-7, 13-5) as the league race comes down to the wire. Two other matches with NCAA-bound matches include No. 17 Utah (20-9, 11-7) goes to Arizona (17-13, 9-9) and USC (18-11, 10-8) goes to Washington State (20-10, 10-8).All four of those teams will make the tournament.
Also, Colorado (13-15, 5-13) plays at Arizona State (10-20, 3-15) and Oregon State (11-18, 4-14) is at Cal (9-19, 3-15).
New Mexico State, which has already clinched the Western Athletic Conference and the NCAA bid that goes with it, goes out of conference to play UTEP.
SMU has already won the American Athletic Conference title, but two others, Cincinnati and Temple, are playing for their postseason lives. Cincinnati, 40 in the RPI, plays host to East Carolina, while Temple, 49 in the RPI, entertains SMU in a match that could go a long way in helping its cause.
Boise State’s Maddy O’Donnell attacks against Air Force/Jessica Vargas photo
Boise State celebrates MW title
The Broncos made short work of visiting Air Force25-15, 25-15, 25-20 and then took a lot of photos with the Mountain West championship trophy. Boise State (25-6, 16-2) takes a 14-game win streak – third longest in school history and which began with a sweep of Air Force – into the NCAA Tournament.
“I’m excited about where the program is at, but I’ve also been thinking a lot this past week about how many alumni helped us get here,” said Boise State coach Shawn Garus, whose team in 2015 finished 23-7, 15-3, but didn’t get an NCAA bid. “I wish they could all understand how important they’ve been to our current players. The current players may have won the conference this year, but we wouldn’t have been able to have done it without some of the alumni in the past who have really helped us be ready for this moment.”
Junior Sierra Nobley, who has had a fantastic season for the Broncos, led Boise with 14 kills and hit .344. She also had three of the Broncos’ 18 blocks. Sabryn Roberts added 10 kills, while Kaitlyn Oliver had five kills and five blocks.
The 25 wins this season are the second most in school history and gives the Broncos back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1990.
“Coming in as a freshman, we were definitely underdogs as a team, but we had a lot of potential,” Nobley said. “I think this showed how hard we’ve worked for it.
“Last year we missed it and it really motivated us to get into the gym during the spring and the summer. I think that really prepared us. This is a talented group of girls, but I think our work ethic is what did it for us.”
Sunday night the Broncos will see where they’re headed.
“I think the NCAA tournament is going to be a blast, but a coaching friend of mine told me it goes fast,” Garus said. “We need to get our kids honed in on specifics, because it’s one-and-done. We need to be really sharp and ready for that first opponent, or we’re going to be out really early. I’m excited for them to take a few days off and rest, but I want them to get right back in it and get ready to attack whoever that first opponent is.”
Conversely, Colorado State is left hanging. The Rams beat visiting Wyoming 22-25, 25-20, 28-30, 27-25, 15-12 in a thriller to improve to 21-8, 15-3. Their RPI is 48.
“I am still definitely hopeful and optimistic,” CSU senior libero Cassidy Denny said. “If for some reason we do not get (a bid) I think in a week or two it will really set in that this was my last game. In my head this was not my last game. You cannot think of it like that.
“This is my last game at Moby, that is bitter-sweet, but I went out the best possible way I could, in a five-set Border War win after having lost at Wyoming (earlier in the year). I could not ask for anything more, but it’s definitely not my last game.”
Veteran coach Tom Hilbert was optimistic, too.
“The Mountain West significantly improved their conference RPI this year. You know, we moved from 14th to seventh and I think that is a case to put three teams from the Mountain West in, and maybe that means (UNLV) gets in too,” Hilbert said.
CSU setter Katie Oleksak had 71 assists, the most in CSU history in the 25-point rally scoring format. It was also the third-highest total in a five-set match by any player in the NCAA this season.
Teammate Sanja Cizmic led the Rams with 27 kills on 55 swings and hit .436. Jasmine Hanna added 20 kills, while Kirstie Hillyer had nine blocks, one solo.
Wyoming’s Kayla Slofkiss and Laura Beach had 14 kills apiece.
“That was a pretty crazy match,” Hilbert said.
Toreros fall at Pepperdine, BYU wins WCC
USD would probably rather be building momentum heading into postseason than losing 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 in Malibu. It left the Toreros 24-5, 15-3 in the West Coast Conference. Meanwhile, No. 10 BYU won at Loyola Marymount in a wild one 16-25, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-13 to clinch the title. BYU is 27-3, 16-2.
“I am so proud of the team,” BYU coach Heather Olmstead said. “Loyola Marymount came out on fire and played a great match. Our team stayed positive and never gave up. That was a total team effort tonight and everyone contributed.”
McKenna Miller led BYU with 21 kills and hit .317. Whitney Young Howard had nine kills and seven blocks and Amy Boswell had 15 kills. LMU’s season ended 19-11, 10-8, as Sarah Sponcil led with 18 kills and 17 digs.
USD got 16 kills from Lisa Kramer. Pepperdine ended its season 13-17, 7-11. Gaby Palmeri ended her career in style with 11 kills, five blocks and four digs.
Dan Friend and Lorelee Smith with Rae Analyn in the Lewis gym
Lewis men’s volleyball coach Dan Friend is entering his 13th season at the Romeoville, Illinois, school about 31 miles from Chicago. His record of 240-127 includes five MIVA tournament finals, one MIVA tournament title and a 2015 NCAA Division I-II national runner-up finish. Accordingly, Friend was the Volleyball magazine men’s coach of the year.
His wife, Lorelee Smith, is in the middle of her 10th season as the Flyers’ women’s head coach. Her record of 267-69 includes four Great Lake Valley Conference titles and two NCAA Division II regional final appearances. Her Lewis teams are 145-21 in GLVC play.
Smith gave birth to their daughter, Rae Analyn, June 5, but she was four months premature and weighed just 1 pound, 8 ounces. She’s doing great and this past Friday Lewis held a “Playing For Preemies” fundraising and awareness event that coincided with the school’s women’s volleyball match with McKendree.
The Friend/Smith family with Achilles, left, and Thor
The annual American Volleyball Coaches Association convention is the time of year where coaches from all over the country gather to network and share best practices. It also happens to be the venue that spawned a marriage between two of the sport’s collegiate coaches. Back when the convention was in Dallas, Friend, then the head men’s and women’s coach at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas, met Smith. She was an assistant at Central Missouri State.
“This was right before I took the Lewis job,” Friend said. “We started dating and doing the long-distance thing and then got engaged. The following year the Lewis women’s job opened up.”
The couple has been married eight years.
This June, of course, their lives were turned upside down.
“I went in for my monthly ultrasound on a Tuesday and everything was good,” Smith recalled. “On Wednesday I didn’t feel good. I was struggling. I went to the hospital and I was going into labor.”
But Rae wasn’t due for another four months, 16 and a half weeks to be exact. To complicate matters further, Smith hadn’t reached the 24-week mark of her pregnancy — a key benchmark of sorts in the medical community in terms of viability of survival if premature birth occurs. A child born at that early stage is called a micro preemie.
“At 23.4 weeks old the odds of survival are 30 percent,” Friend explained. “If you make it 24 weeks the odds jump to 60 percent. That’s a pretty big thing if you can make it those extra three or four days.”
Thus, Smith needed to hold off giving birth as long as possible.
“I went in on a Wednesday and 24 weeks was Sunday,” she said.
Two rounds of magnesium injections (plus steroid injections during that time to help Rae’s growth) did the trick. Rae was born June 5.
“She came on Sunday,” Smith says. “I was so blessed and lucky the magnesium worked.”
Rae was born 1-pound, 8 ounces, and measured 12 inches.
“She fit around the palm of my hand,” Friend said.
But the delivery brought its own set of complications.
“When she went into labor that was the scariest part for me,” Friend said. Smith explained that Rae’s umbilical cord became prolapsed. The doctor who discovered the situation had to ride on the cart with Smith into the operating room in order to keep things from getting worse.
Smith had to have an emergency C-section.
“Dan got left behind since it was an emergency,” Smith said. “Being left in the dark for a few hours was frightening for him.”
During delivery Rae’s arm was broken but that was not discovered until a day later when X-rays of where the PIC line (to make it easier to administer intravenous medicine) was located.
“Those 24 hours were probably the most scariest thing ever,” Friend said.
Coming home
Rae remained in the Loyola University Medical Center (located just outside Chicago in the city of Maywood) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit until September 13.
“We watched her grow in a box in the NICU and then in a crib,” Smith said. “It was like you were visiting someone in the hospital.” Rae ended up going home two weeks earlier than her regular due date.
“It’s a testament to Loyola’s NICU,” Smith said. “Rae could have had a ton of complications and she didn’t. They are really good there.”
Friend, used the word shocked to describe the initial days when it was evident Rae would be born prematurely, but added the couple was put at ease due to the outstanding care it received at Loyola.
“They start throwing stats and numbers at you,” he said. “I know they have to do that, but it becomes almost a morbid thing. They are talking about complications such as cerebral palsy and brain bleeds and her lungs not being developed.
“It becomes overwhelming really fast. While we were at Loyola during Rae’s stay we saw a lot of heartbreak and we saw a lot of joy with other people. She was there 105 days and every day we drove 45 minutes each way. It opened my eyes what Loyola NEQ did for us.
“We feel extremely blessed.”
Friend and Smith also had an additional scare related to a spit-up and chocking incident during a feeding that necessitated a 911 call and a short stay back at Loyola.
“Her stomach was still developing and there was a little bit of acid reflux and she was spitting up,” Friend said. “So we had to back there and they told us it’s not uncommon to have that in this situation.”
Smith added, “We went through that twice. We were scared and freaked out. Every time we would feed her we would get really nervous and worried that she would go into that choking thing or that she wasn’t breathing right.”
Today, Rae weighs 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Rae’s first name is a nod to the middle name of Smith’s father, while her middle name is in recognition of the middle names of both parents’ mothers.
“She’s at the weight of a smaller newborn right now,” Smith said. “A big thing was waiting for her lungs to grow. They weren’t fully developed and she had a breathing tube for a while. She’s off that now and breathing on her own. We’re the happiest parents in the world.”
Smith, 40, and Friend, 41, say their ages played a big role in helping them get through the past few months.
“They place us into the mature parents category,” Smith said with a laugh.
“I’m not sure we could navigate what we went through if we were 25 or 26 years old,” Friend said.
Giving Back
Friend credits Smith’s assistant coach, Rudi Balich, for coming up with the idea of “Playing for Preemies.”
“We wanted to raise funds for premature babies,” Friend said. “We wanted to give back to Loyola for everything they did for us.”
All fans were encouraged to wear purple in recognition of Premature Birth Awareness. All ticket proceeds went directly to Loyola Medicine’s NICU. Lewis also sold T-shirts and both teams made donations. Lewis will ended up donating about $2,000 to Loyola through this effort.
Smith, whose team is ranked No. 19 in the country in the most recent AVCA Division II coaches poll, says she also was involved in a previous Playing for Preemies Night involving former St. Joseph (Indiana) head coach Jill Schopieray.
“She also had a preemie but not quite as premature as ours,” Smith said. “This one was bigger just because it involved Rae and it’s directly related to our program as opposed to joining in on another program.”
Looking back, both Friend and Smith are thankful for the outpouring of support Lewis University has given them over the past four months.
“Lewis has been great through the entire process from the administration to both teams and the coaching staffs,” he said.
“We’ve received so much support from the school and the volleyball community. I’d post some updates on Facebook and they would get 400-500 likes. The volleyball community is amazing. We look out for each other. We’re so blessed to be part of this community.”
If you’d like to donate to Loyola Medicine’s NICU, please click here.
Kathryn Plummer of Stanford is the Pac-12 offensive POW after Plummer averaged 4.67 kills, hit .333 and had 2.83 digs and half a block in two road wins/Ed Chan, VBshots.com
Many of the mid-majors announced their players of the year last week before their respective conference tournament, so we have both those and players of the week in this roundup.
Pittsburgh’s Nika Markovic is the ACC POW/Pittsburgh photo
ACC
Player of the week: Pittsburgh sophomore setter Kamalani Akeo
Freshman: Pittsburgh right side Nika Markovic
Worth noting: Akeo averaged 12.43 assists and 2.14 digs per set, while her teammate hit .343 in two matches while averaging 4.39 kills and 3.29 digs.
The complete ACC release
Big 12
Offensive: Texas junior right outside Ebony Nwanebu
Worth noting: Nwanebu hit .585 for the week. Hillegas, last week’s top freshman, averaged 6.60 digs. Soucie had 16 blocks in two matches and has had five or more blocks in five consecutive matches. White hit .349, had eight blocks and had 25 kills and 16 digs in two victories.
The complete Big 12 release
Big Ten
Player of the week: Wisconsin freshman outside hitter Molly Haggerty
Defensive: Illinois sophomore middle blocker Ali Bastianelli
Setter: Wisconsin senior Lauren Carlini
Freshman: Haggerty
Worth noting: Haggerty averaged 5.1 kills and hit .373 and had 20 digs in two matches. Bastianelli averaged 3.0 blocks, while Carlini averaged 13.7 assists as she earned the setter award for the 11th time.
Worth noting: Edmond is the freshman for the second straight week, but as the POW she had 39 kills in two victories and had 10 digs and five blocks in those matches. Dailey, too, went back to back, as she averaged 14.0 assists. Crow averaged 4.67 kills and 1.67 digs, while Munlyn averaged 1.44 blocks.
The complete SEC release
Demi Muses of New Hampshire is the America East POY
America East
Player of the year: New Hampshire senior middle Demi Muses
Worth noting: Muses won it in 2015, too, as UNH won the honor for the fourth straight year. She leads the league in kills (3.61 per set) and is fifth in hitting (.313) and digs I3.98. Watson led the league with 5.56 digs per set. Severtson won for the second straight year after leading the league with 11.36 assists per set. Kornmann led all freshmen with 3.5 kills in AE play.
The complete America East release
American Athletic
Offensive: Cincinnati sophomore right side Jordan Thompson
Defensive: Memphis sophomore libero Mady Ruhlman
Worth noting: Thompson averaged 4.83 kills and hit .359 in two matches, while Ruhlman averaged 5.62 digs, including 31 against Tulsa.
The complete AAC release
Atlantic Sun
Player of the year: Lipscomb sophomore outside Carlyle Nusbaum
Defensive: Kennesaw State junior libero Katrina Morton
Freshman: North Florida outside hitter Gabby O’Connell
Worth noting: Nusbaum led the league with 4.55 kills per set. Morton led the league with 5.09 digs per set, while O’Connell led all freshmen in the league with 376 kills.
The complete ASUN release
Danielle Rygelski is the A10 POY
Atlantic 10
Player of the year: Saint Louis senior outside Danielle Rygelski
Libero: Dayton sophomore Margo Wolf
Rookie: Fordham outside hitter Olivia Fairchild
Coach: Tim Horsmon, Dayton
Worth noting: Rygelski, who led the nation in kills at 5.97 per set, won the weekly award seven times this season. Wolf led the league in digs with 5.12, while Fairchild set a school freshman record with 4.30 kills per set.
The complete A-10 release
Big East
Player of the week: Seton Hall senior libero Tessa Fournier
Freshman: Villanova libero Regan Lough
Worth noting: Fournier had 22 digs in three sets against St. John’s to go with three assists and an ace. Lough won for the third time as she had 60 digs in two matches.
The complete Big East release
Maddie Palmer of Radford is the Big South POY
Big South
Player of the year: Radford junior outside Maddie Palmer
Freshman: Liberty outside Leah Clayton
Coach: Marci Jenkins, Radford
Worth noting: Palmer, POW six times, led the league with 447 kills and 43 aces. Clayton had 320 kills and was freshman of the week three times. Jenkins won the award for the third time in four seasons.
The complete Big South release
Big Sky
No honors to post this week from the Big Sky.
Big West
Player of the week: Hawai’i senior right side Nikki Taylor
Defensive: Long Beach State freshman libero Hailey Harward
Freshman: Hawai’i setter Norene Iosia
Worth noting: Taylor won the honor for the 10th time as averaged 5.29 kills, 2.57 digs, 1.14 aces and 0.57 blocks in two matches. Harward averaged 6.17 digs in two matches, while Iosia averaged 10.57 assists and 3.57 digs to go back to back on the honor.
The complete Big West release
Colonial Athletic Association
Player of the year: James Madison senior outside Janey Goodman
Setter: Northeastern junior Kristen Walding
Defensive specialist: James Madison junior libero Taylor Austin
Rookie: Hofstra freshman right side Laura Masciullo
Coach: Ken Nichols, Northeastern
Worth noting: Goodman has 503 kills this season and led the league with 4.66 per set. Walding averaged 9.78 assists and 2.41 digs. Masciullo averaged 3.37 kills and had 30 aces. Austin averaged six digs. Nichols also won the award in 2008.
The complete Colonial release
Conference USA
Player of the year: WKU junior outside Alyssa Cavanaugh
Libero: Marshall senior Allie Kellerman
Setter: WKU junior Jessica Lucas
Freshman: Southern Miss outside Catherine Repsher
Coach: Travis Hudson, Western Kentucky
Worth noting: Cavanaugh’s .338 hitting percentage topped all NCAA volleyball players who had 900 or more attacks this season, Lucas averaged 11.49 assists, while Kellerman had 482 digs. Repsher had 100 blocks.
The complete C-USA release
Cleveland State senior Grace Kauth is the Horizon POY
Horizon League
Player of the year: Cleveland State senior outside hitter Grace Kauth
Co-Freshman: Cleveland State outside hitter Sara Skeens
Co-Coach: Chuck Voss, Cleveland State
Co-Coach: Sean Burdette, Green Bay
Worth noting: Kauth averaged 3.61 kills. Longoria, who doubled as libero-setter, averaged 5.23 digs.
The complete Horizon release
Ivy League
Player of the year: Princeton senior outside Cara Mattaliano
Defensive: Columbia senior libero Cassie Wes
Co-Rookie: Columbia freshman middle blocker Chichi Ikwuazom
Co-Rookie: Princeton right side Maggie O’Connell
Coach: Sabrina King, Princeton
Worth noting: Mattaliano led the league with 308 kills, 3.76 per set. Wes averaged 5.51 digs, while Ikwauzom led the Ivy with a .427 hitting percentage and 1.37 blocks per set. O’Connell hit .396 and was fourth in kills with 3.08.
The complete Ivy release
Metro Atlantic
Player of the year: Fairfield junior outside Skyler Day
Rookie: Marist freshman middle/right side Megan Fergus
Coach: Todd Kress, Fairfield
Worth noting: Day led the MAAC with 450 kills, 4.25 per set. Hunt averaged 4.62 digs, while Millington averaged 4.77 digs and and had 44 aces. Koval led the league with 48 aces and averaged 8.93 assists.
The complete MAAC release
Mid-American
MAC player of the year: NIU senior middle blocker Jenna Radtke
MAC setter of the year: Bowling Green freshman Isabelle Marciniak
MAC libero of the year: Bowling Green senior Madeline Garda
MAC freshman: Marciniak
Worth noting: Radtke was MAC West offensive POW five times this season. Garda was MAC East defensive POW five times.
The complete MAC release
Mid-Eastern
Player of the year: Howard junior outside hitter Khaila Donaldson
Co-Rookie: Bethune-Cookman freshman outside Alana Handy
Worth noting: Donaldson led the league in kills with 3.99 per set. Handy was fifth with 3.34, while Abreu was sixth at 3.22.
The complete MEAC release
Missouri Valley
Player of the week: Wichita State sophomore outside Tabitha Brown
Defensive: UNI sophomore libero Kendyl Sorge
Freshman: Drake middle blocker Elle Tubbs
Worth noting: Brown averaged 4.17 kills in two road wins and hit .392. Sorge averaged 6.29 digs, while Tubbs had 17 blocks in two wins.
The complete Valley release
Mountain West
Nothing posted as we posted.
Sacred Heart’s Sarah Krufka is the Northeast POY
Northeast Conference
Player of the year: Sacred Heart senior right side Sarah Krufka
Setter: Bryant senior Vika Katzen
Libero: Sacred Heart senior Ana Gonzalez
Rookie: Central Connecticut freshman right side Morgan Woycik
Coach: Rob Machan, Sacred Heart
Worth noting: Krufka became the third player in NEC history to win back-to-back NEC POYs. She led the league with 3.81 kills per set. Katzen repeated as setter of the year, while Gonzalez averaged 3.77 digs per set, 4.36 in conference play. Woycik was rookie of the week three times this season.
The complete Northeast release
Ohio Valley
Player of the year: Murray State senior outside Scottie Ingram
Defensive: Murray State senior libero Ellie Lorenz
Setter: Austin Peay sophomore Kristen Stucker
Freshman: Eastern Kentucky setter Rachel Woody
Coach: Leah Johnson, SIUE
Worth noting: Ingram won the award for the third consecutive year. She led the league with 4.3 kills per set and was second on her team with 356 digs. Lorenz led the OVC with 5.30 digs per set. Stucker averaged 10.37 assists, while Woody averaged 6.67 assists and had 210 kills and 263 digs.
The complete OVC release
Patriot League
Player of the year: American sophomore outside hitter Aleksandra Kazala
Setter: Navy sophomore Patricia Mattlingly
Libero: Navy sophomore Sydney Shearn
Rookie: American freshman middle blocker Vela McBride
Coach: Barry Goldberg, American
Worth noting: Kazala hit .308 this season with 451 kills. Mattingly averaged 9.97 assists, while Shearn averaged 4.67 digs. McBride had 188 kills and 71 blocks. Her coach won the award for the sixth time.
The complete Patriot release
Southern Conference
Player of the year: ETSU senior outside hitter Briana Allmon
Libero of the year: UNCG sophomore Christina Gregory
Freshman: Wofford outside hitter Catie Cronister
Coach: Lindsey Devine, ETSU
Worth noting: Allmon averaged 4.26 kills per set, second in the league. Gregory led the SoCon with 5.23 digs. Cronister led all freshman with 3.79 digs per set.
The complete SoCon release
Southland Conference
Player of the year: Texas A&M Corpus Christi junior outside Brittany Gilpin
Setter: Texas A&M Corpus Christi junior Kristyn Nicholson
Freshman: Stephen F. Austin setter Ann Hollas
Newcomer: Texas A&M Corpus Christi sophomore middle Madison Fitzsimmons
Libero: Texas A&M Corpus Christi junior libero Kate Klepetka
Coach: Steve Greene, Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Worth noting: Gilpin had 353 kills and 266 digs and finished third in league __play averaging 3.73 kills per set while also ranking ninth in hitting at .326. Nicholson and Klepetka are repeat winners.
The complete Southland release
Southwestern
Player of the year: Alabama A&M senior outside Ashundria McNeal
Setter: Alabama State junior Justus Tuiolosega
Libero: Alabama State senior libero Jamie Coleman
Newcomer: Alabama State junior outside/right side Ni’yeshia Brown
Freshman: Alabama State outside hitter Bayle Bennett
Worth noting: McNeal won the award in 2015, too and led the league with 501 kills.
The complete SWAC release
Summit League
Player of the year: South Dakota senior outside hitter Audrey Reeg
Defensive: North Dakota State junior libero Mikaela Purnell
Setter: South Dakota junior Brittany Jessen
Freshman: South Dakota outside hitter Elizabeth Loschen
Coach: Leanne Williamson, South Dakota
Worth noting: Reeg was second in the league with 403 kills, 3.95 per set. Jessen went back to back with the award, while Loschen averaged 2.31 kills. Purnell averaged 5.61 digs.
The complete Summit release
Sun Belt
Player of the year: Coastal Carolina junior outside Leah Hardeman
Offensive: Arkansas State sophomore outside hitter Carlisa May
Defensive: Arkansas State senior libero Markie Schaedig
Worth noting: Hardeman was second in the league in kills at .371 per set. May led in kills with 403, 3.88 per set. Schaedig averaged 5.3 digs per set, while Washington was top setter for the second straight year. She was second in the NCAA with 11.93 assists. Rehr was also COY in the 2015.
The complete Sun Belt release
West Coast
Not posted as we posted.
Carol Grosso of CSU Bakersfield is the WAC POY/Mark Nessia, Mark Nessia Photography
Western Athletic
Player of the year: CSU Bakersfield senior outside Carol Grasso
Libero: NM State junior Ariadne Sierra
Setter: UMKC senior Kaylyn Brandt
Freshman: Seattle U outside Katarina Marinkovic
Coach: Sam Atoa, Utah Valley
Worth noting: Grasso led the league in kills with 4.47 per set, and aces, 0.87. Sierra averaged 4.65 digs, while Brandt averaged 11.17 assists. Marinkovic averaged 3.68 kills, fourth in the league.
