Around the Non Conference

[WuDrWu]

I won't have the time to put the detail in here like some previous seasons so if ever anyone else is interested enough to jump in, please do so.

Cal Poly is without TVW, for how long I don't know. But they are clearly a different team (sis gone, new setter, new coach) and it shows. They were not competitive today, getting swept by Kentucky (no shame in that but 21-9-20 is a bit harsh) and then St Mary's (13-23-19). Clearly they can be had, if Torrie is out for sure.

San Jose State lost to the Pacific 3-1 (24,12, (26), 13).

North Texas lost to Illinois State 3-1 and beat Pepperdine 3-2. In that tourney, Illinois State handled Tulsa (19), 20, 22, 16.

BYU appeared less than spectacular in sweeping Boise State 13, 21, 17.

VCU was swept by Texas Tech 17, 20, 19 and swept Lehigh 19, 8, 16.

Texas beat UNI 3-1 19, (22), 23, 19. The Panthers were scrappy and will win a lot of matches this year. So will UT.

Nebraska beat Creighton in a hard fought match 19, (24), 17, 21.

Wyoming was swept by Colorado 18, 23, 22.

Around the American, lots of matches. Surprised Cincy was swept by Pitt. Pitt is really good, but 18, 13, 16 is a beating reserved for SWAC type teams, not any team with Jordan Thompson.

UCF with a great 3-2 win over Iowa State 15, (22), 20, (21), 11.

As a conference 15-5 is the current record.

[1972Shocker]

Great recap Doc. Yes, the margin of Cincy's loss to Pitt was a bit surprising. However, Pitt is ranked 12th nationally. Pitt held JT to 9-3-24 = .250 and outhit Cincy .419 to .179.

Anytime JT is held to single digits in kills Cincy will be in jeapardy.

In Cincy's 21, (18), 20 and 21 win over South Carolina JT did have 20 kills but her 20-6-56 = .250 attack line was not overly impressive.

[1972Shocker]

In perhaps a mild upset today #37 Rice (the CUSA favorite) swept #29 UCF (the AAC favorite) 23, 21 and 22 in Oxford, Mississippi. Tabitha Brown played in all 3 sets for Rice but only manged 3 kills with 3 errors on 16 attacks. Not a bad loss but does take a bit of the shine of of UCF's win over Iowa State yesterday.

North Texas handled Tulsa at home today winning in 4 sets 18, 19, (20), and 23.

Wyoming falls to Santa Barbara in a 5 setter in Boulder, Colorado by scores of (21), 20, 26, (16) and (11) as they are off to an 0-2 start.

SMU lost a tough 5-setter to Stephen F. Austin (24), 20, (12), 18 and (13). SFA 5-11 Sr. setter, Ann Hollas had a triple-double with 24 assists, 13 kills and 10 digs.

[1972Shocker]

Cal Poly is without TVW, for how long I don't know. But they are clearly a different team (sis gone, new setter, new coach) and it shows. They were not competitive today, getting swept by Kentucky (no shame in that but 21-9-20 is a bit harsh) and then St Mary's (13-23-19). Clearly they can be had, if Torrie is out for sure.

I have been searching the web to see if I could find anything on TVW's situation. About the only thing I found so far that provides any hint as to what might be going on is this blurb from an 8/29/19 pre-season review in VolleyballMag.com:

Big West — It starts with Cal Poly, which lost Crosson to Cal, replaced by assistant Carolina Walters. The key is Torrey Van Winden, who missed the Mustangs’ last NCAA game when she sustained a concussion. The Big West player of the year, who missed the entire spring beach season, is still battling through that injury.

From what I have been able to determine she suffered a concussion when a volleyball hit her in the face during practice leading up to Cal Poly's 1st round NCAA game this past December, which, without Torrey available, they lost. I also confirmed that she missed the entire spring beach volleyball season because of the concussion. That must have been one hell of concussion if that is still bothering her 9 months later, assuming that is, in fact, what is ailing her.

Really feel bad for Torrey. I have not heard anything about what her prognosis/desire for a return to the court currently is although she is still listed on the Cal Poly roster and was the preseason pick for Player of the Year in the Big West. So I am assuming they are planning on her return to action at some point.

[flyingMoose]

Yes, TVW is suffering from Post-Concussion Syndrome. It seems there is no expected date for her return at this point. It is even conceivable she will miss the entire season.

[1972Shocker]

Cal Poly lost a tough 5-set match at Utah this evening (24), 24, (16), 22 and (13). Still no TVW. #27 Utah was coming off sweeps of St. Mary's and #7 Kentucky so look for the Utes to move in the top 25. Cal Poly falls to 0-3.

VCU loses at Ohio State in 4 sets (19), (16), 24, (17).

#18 Creighton is swept by #20 Baylor losing all 3 sets by an identical 20-25 score.

[1972Shocker]

Memphis, picked to finish last in the AAC preseason poll, is off to a 3-0 start. In fact, they may end up with the best non-con record in the AAC when all is said and done. They play an extremely weak non-con schedule. The 12 teams on their non-con schedule are Drake, South Dakota State, Eastern Illinois, Gardner-Webb, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, UT Martin, Alabama State, Southern Illinois, IUPUI, Northern Alabama, Toledo and SEMO. After the 1st weekend of the season their non-con opponents are 12-25. The 12 wins have come against teams with a combined 5-33 record after the 1st weekend. Memphis plays in 4 tournaments in the non-con of which 2 are at home.

Clearly they were scheduling for as many wins as they could get in the non-con.

No one else has anything close to the guantlet Lambo has set up for his team. Cincy and UCF have decent schedules. Houston, UConn and USF have schedules that have some good names on them. Temple and Tulane have schedules that should produce a lot of non-con wins for them. Tulsa started out with a strong 1st tournament but it get much easier for them over the remainder of their non-con schedule. SMU's schedule so-so until the close out the non-con against TCU and OU. ECU has a weak schedule as is the norm for them.

[1972Shocker]

Really surprised to see that Tulane lost a 5-setter to Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday. SELA is 2-5 with its only other win over Alabama A&M. It has been swept by Troy, ETSU, and Jacksonville State, lost in 4 sets to SIU and lost in 5 sets to SIU-Edwardsville. This was a bad loss for the AAC. Tulane did bounce back to beat MIssouri State on Friday.

On a positive note for the the AAC Cincinatti swept #21 Tennessee in East Lansing, Michigan on Friday. Later in the day Cincy fell in 4 sets to host Michigan State.

Houston picked up a nice 5 set win over Maryland in San Antonio on Friday.

Holy Cross falls to 0-6 on the season after losing 3 times this weekend.

Hofstra is 2-1 this week to move to 3-3 on the season.

Penn State sweeps Iowa State and LSU to move to 5-0 on the season. The have not dropped a set yet.

Creighton had a very good weekend in Cedar Falls. The beat #12 Kentucky 3-1, they beat host UNI 3-2 and they beat #15 USC 3-1 to move to 3-2 on the season. The 2 losses were to #2 Nebraska and #20 Baylor.+

Wyoming, after season opening losses to Colorado and Santa Barbara, has run off 4 straight wins over LIU-Brooklyn (3-0), Buffalo (3-0), College of Charleston (3-0) and Norhtern Colorado (3-2).

#2 Nebraska picks up 2 wins this weekend in San Diego but they had to work tor them. The beat #32 Arizona 3-1 and #25 San Diego (3-2)

Tulane loses a 5 set heartbreaker to Ole Miss at home on Sunday afternoon despite outscoring Ole Miss 114-102. Scores were 25-17, 25-27, 25-15. 24-26 and 15-17.

UCF sweeps Kansas 15, 21 and 15 in Orlando on Sunday afternoon.

[1972Shocker]

#13 BYU will come to Wichita Thursday at 5-1 as the swept LIU-Brooklyn 13, 21 and 17, beat Sam Houston Stare in 4sets (24), 13, 16 and 18 and swept Weber State 22, 16 and 22. Byu's on loss was last weekend to #11 Marquette in 4 sets 22, (16), (22) and (12).

BYU is no doubt very good but they don't seem to be a strong as they were last year. BYU graduated 5 seniors from last year's team most notably 6-0 OH Roni Jones=Perry who averaged 4.82 kills per set last year. Jones-Petty had 1,088 kils last year. The Shockers top 4 players in kills last year had a combined 1,093 kills. Also BYU graduated their 5-10 setter, Lyndie Haddack-Eppich, who ran the BYU 5-1 offense. She has been replaced by highly touted 5-9 Fr. Whitney Bower.

BYU still has more experience than the Shocks and they are big in the middle at 6-4 and 6-5. All-in-all they do appear more vulnerable this year than they were last year. Just not sure the Shoks have progressed to the point they can pult the upset against BYU but the Shocks should be capable of giving them a competitive match.

VCU currently sits at 4-3 with wins over Lehigh (3-0), High Point (3-0), North Carolina State (3-0) and Alabama (3-2). Losses have been to Texas Tech (0-3), Ohio State (1-3) and UC Santa Barbara (2-3). The Rams play Virginia Tech Tuesday before heading to Wichita.

#3 Texas is 3-0 with wins over #35 UNI (3-1), #15 Southern Cal (3-1) and #8 Minnesota (3-0). Texas is playting at #1 Stanfrod with that match currently in progress. Texas takes Set 1 over Stanford 25-17. Set 2 goes to Stanford 25-18. Tied at 1 set each. Stanford cruises in Set 3 winning 25-11 to take a 2 sets to 1 lead. Texas bounces back for a 25-21 win in Set 4 to force a 5th set. Stanford takes the deciding 5th set 15-12 and they will hold on to their #1 ranking. In case there were an doubts about who drives the bus for Stanford their 6-6 Sr. OH Kathryn Plummer had 34 kills (including match point) and 7errors on 57 atacks to hit .474 and on top of that she was on the receiving end of 24 Texas serves and handle those without a reception error. I guess Texas was trying to make it tough on her by directing so many serves her way.

[1972Shocker]

ECU picked up a road win at North Carolina State tonight. After losing the 1st 2 sets (19) and (19) ECU came back to win winning 27, 21 and 10. Neither team had good hitting %. ECU hit .172 for the match vs .143 for NC State.