2023 NIVC Tournament

[1972Shocker]

22-0. It's been a few years since we played Drake. Drake lost the NIVC championship last year, so this team might be better than the Drake of the old MVC days.

Drake beat both Tulsa and South Florida in non-con, both 3-0. They also swept WSU non-con foes Bradley and Illinois State in their conference schedule.

Hope this team carries on the tradition to make it 23.

,Drake also made it to the semi-finals of the NIVC last year losing to Boston College in 4 sets 22-25, 25-21, 18-25 and 27-29.

Shocks will need to play well.

[1972Shocker]

At El Paso on Friday UT Arington swept Floriday Atlantic 20, 22 and 18 and host UTEP beat North Texas in 4 sets 22, 21, (17) and 20.

South Florida plays host St. John's this evening and East Carolina is hosting Georgia Southern this evening in Round 2 matches.

[flyingMoose]

First Round

USF 3-0 Buffalo
23 19 14

East Carolina 3-0 Citadel
22 17 17

FAU 0-3 UT-Arlington
20 22 18

North Texas 1-3 UTEP
22 21 (17) 20


Second Round

USF 3-2 St. John's
(23) (21) 19 25 14
USF comes "storming" back (St. John's is the Red Storm - I couldn't resist.)

East Carolina 0-3 Georgia Southern
20 22 22

[WuDrWu]

East Carolina was swept by Georgia Southern with all sets competitive (20, 22, 22) while the Bulls dropped the first 2 set and trailed most of the 3rd but came back from 17-18 to take the 3rd, won the fourth and then the 5th to complete the comeback (23) (21) 19 25 14.

Elite 8:

Drake at WSU

Montana State at Wyoming

USF v Georgia Southern

UTEP v Clemson

[flyingMoose]

Quarterfinals

Shockers v Drake

Wyoming v Montana State

Georgia Southern v USF

UTEP v Clemson


EDIT: We crossed and I listed the home site first. Scoreboard style. So it goes. :)

[Critter's Pa]

I believe USF is playing at Georgia Southern. * This game is on the 7th, the other three games are on the 6th.

UTEP beating North Texas wrecked my bracket. I have them going to the finals. Almost lost another final four team, but USF pulled it out in five sets over St. Johns. (23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 27-25, 16-14). I picked 4 of the round of 8 teams- WSU, Drake, Wyoming, and USF, but I have 3 of those teams in the final four.

*ETA

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (23-8, 15-4 American)

Wednesday, Dec. 6 (6:30 p.m. CT) vs. Drake (24-10, 14-4 Missouri Valley)
Wichita, Kan. (Charles Koch Arena)
Live Stats // Watch

https://goshockers.com/news/2023/12/5/volleyball-preview-nivc-round-3.aspx

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS:

• Drake brings a 24-10 overall record to Wichita, finishing second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 14-4 mark. The Bulldogs lost a heartbreaking five-set match in the MVC Tournament championship to regular season champ UNI.
• The Bulldogs swept Chicago State and DePaul in the opening two rounds of NIVC play in Des Moines.
• Drake advanced all the way to the NIVC Final last season, beginning their tournament run with two wins in Wichita against Weber State and Grand Canyon. The Bulldogs hosted the championship match, falling in four sets to Boston College.
• Three Bulldogs were named the AVCA All-Midwest Region team on Tuesday. 2023 MVC Libero of the Year Jada Wills and First Team All-Conference outside hitter Taylor Oberpriller were First Team selections, while the program's career kills leader Haley Bush snagged an Honorable Mention spot.
• Drake was listed as one of the First 8 Out on the NCAA selection show, narrowly missing out on an at-large berth. The Bulldogs played a challenging non-conference schedule that included matches against NCAA tournament teams Marquette, Dayton, Western Kentucky, Washington State and Iowa State.
• The Bulldogs possess a stifling defense that holds opponents to a .161 hitting percentage, thanks in large part to 17.42 digs per set (eight-best nationally).

---

This sounds like it is going to be a very tough match. Hopefully, the Shockers are on their A game.

[Rize Ballz]

So is The Valley better than the AAC overall?

[1972Shocker]

So is The Valley better than the AAC overall?

I would say no. Overall, I think the AAC is better. SMU would be the best team overall. Drake and UNI might be comparable to WSU and Rice. After that I think the AAC is probably the better league on balance.

Based on RPI the 14 AAC teams have an average RPI of 144.5 and the 12 MVC teams have and average RPI of 166.3

The top 4 AAC teams have an average RPI of 58.5 vs an average RPI of 70.5 for the top 4 MVC teams.

So the edge probably goes to the AAC. Lambo seems to think the AAC is better from top to bottom, although UAB was really bad this year, and has better volleyball athletes than the Valley does.. However, he doesn't think a lot of the AAC Schools schedule properly to maximize their RPI's.

Maybe flyingMoose has some Pablo numbers on that.

As long as Bobbi Petersen is at UNI they are probably going to be a solid program. Missouri State has declined since the Shocks were in the MVC especially after Melissa Stokes resigned prior to the 2019 season due to several NCAA infractions. The most serious of which was provided free or reduced housing to volleyball athletes in a half dozen rental properties she owned near the MSU campus. She denied that was the case.

Whether or not Drake can sustain its recent success remains to be seen. The Shocks are 47-19 all-time against Drake. Lambo lost his first match against Drake in 2000 and the Shocks have won 33 straight matches over Drake in Lambo's tenure. That said I don't think that history has any significance relative to tomorrow's match.

[flyingMoose]

Avg Pablo

5209.6 AAC - Nine of the teams are 5000+.

4919.2 MVC - Only three of the teams are 5000+.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers 57% v Drake
All of that is the home court advantage. The raw Pablo numbers are 5920 v 5910, the two highest numbers remaining in the tournament.

Wyoming 70% v Montana State

Georgia Southern 73% v USF

UTEP 67% v Clemson
UTEP has the next highest Pablo at 5830

[pogo]

Shocks up 19-17 first

[pogo]

21-20 Shocks

[pogo]

22

[pogo]

22-22