Win or Go Home Time

[Play Angry]

Panthers leading 18-10 in Set 3.

[bunck]

Somehow we've got it to 15-19 despite hitting .030 for the set.

[Play Angry]

25-23 UNI wins Set 3. Early hole was just too big.

[Play Angry]

Gals with a little mo, 3 straight points to tie it at 12- UNI timeout.

[flyingMoose]

Nope.

18-25 in the fourth set.

Redbirds and Panthers play tomorrow for the Valley automatic bid.

[WuDrWu]

Just couldn't score enough. Can't beat a good team, much less a very good team, hitting .130. Pretty good season all things considered. Now if 1 or 2 of the redshirts can come in and score for us next year we should be pretty darned good, if not great.

[1972Shocker]

There is the normal radio broadcast on goshockers.

That's an internet broadcast. No radio this year.

[1972Shocker]

Obviously we lost this match at the end of the 2nd set and the beginning of the 3rd set. Had we been able to sustain our focus throughout those 1st three sets we may actually have won in a sweep. However, we didn't and we paid the price.

One thing Lambo needs to figure out for next year is how to have the team ready to play after the intermission period.

We're not far away from being a good team but we do have a lot of little improvements we can make in just about all phases of the game. If the Ladies can do that then we should take a nice step forwards next year. This team grew a lot from the beginning of the season to now so no reason to think the progress will stop with this young team.

Overall enjoyed watching this team develop although at times it was kind of frustrating.

Hopefully we will get a non-con tournament at home next year.

[flyingMoose]

The RKPI, the NCAA RPI replicated by Rich Kern and calculated after last night's matches, has Illinois State with an RPI of 29. Even a loss tonight does not make them a bubble team - they are in.

[flyingMoose]

Illinois State 3-1 Northern Iowa
17-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-13

[1972Shocker]

Illinois State 3-1 Northern Iowa
17-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-13

I was kinda hoping UNI would win to give the Valley two participants in the NCAA Tournament. Gotta give Illinois State credit they have a team that definitely has the "it" factor this year. It will be interesting to see how they fare in the NCAA tournament.

[JayJ79]

ISU is only 56 miles away from Illinois (who has an RPI of 9 will definitely be seeded and likely hosting unless they have facility conflicts), so I'd bet the Redbirds are sent there.
Other possibilities within the NCAA's 400 mile "bus radius" are: Wisconsin (RPI 5, 197 miles), Iowa State (RPI 12, 325 miles) and possibly Kentucky (RPI 15, 363 miles).

[flyingMoose]

Illinois State is at the Wisconsin Regional. The Badgers are the #4 national seed.