Elsewhere Around American Conference Volleyball

[1972Shocker]

Posted by @shocks02

Three matches in the books for the AAC so far. Is it too late to go back to the Valley?

Cincinnati 0 #23 Utah 3: 10-25, 18-25, 17-25

SMU 2 Mississippi St 3: 25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-27

UConn 2 Sacramento St 3: No Stats

[1972Shocker]

Is it too late to go back to the Valley?

If the AAC goes 0-for-the Non-Con then we might want to think about it but only for about a nano-second and I think we all know what the answer will be. Now if Memphis falls to Bradley this afternoon then...well the answer would be the same. I suppose that's a possibility as Memhis is picked 10th in the AAC and Bradley is picked 9th in the Valley. I guess we will see if the assertion that the AAC is better at the bottom than the Valley holds water.

Obviously the loss by Cincy to #23 Utah is not a bad loss although they weren't very competitive.

However, SMU losing to Mississippi State could hurt. Mississippi State was the clear choice to finish last (13th) in the SEC this year. SMU is picked to finish 4th in the AAC. One hell of a 5th set though. To add pain to misery this was on SMU's home court.

Sacramento State who plays in the Big Sky Conference was okay last year. They were 20-12 (14-4) with an RPI of 104. UConn had an RPI of 125 so perhaps this outcome is not that big of a surprise. But as a conference the AAC was ranked #6 last year and the Big Sky was #17 so this certainly doesn't help. Also this was played in Queens. So a long way from home for Sacramento State. Not so much for UConn. The UConn scores were 13-25, 22-25, 25-16, 33-31 and 7-15.

Let's hope things take a turn for the better over the remainder of the weekend.

[1972Shocker]

Make that 0-4 for the AAC today. Tulane falls to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in 4 sets in Lafayette, LA. 22-25, 25-23, 22-25 and 24-26. Tulane let a 21-16 lead slip away in the 4th set.

[1972Shocker]

Ay, caramba! 0-5 on the day as Memphis falls to Bradley in 4 sets at the Eastern Illinois Tournament. 23-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 25-20.

Lambo will not be in a very good mood by the time he gets settled in at Nashville tonight.

[shocks02]

1-5! Temple swept what was a Top 100 Northeastern squad last season.

[1972Shocker]

I am going to repeat the foul words used by John Wooden when he was really irritated: Goodness gracious sakes alive!

Houston, picked to finish last in the AAC, lived up to its billing losing in 5 sets to powerhouse McNeese State. 21-25, 22-25, 30-28, 25-16 and 11-15.

Tulsa, picked to finish 9th in the AAC, lost in 4 sets to North Texas. 17-25, 17-25, 25-21 and 18-25.

Cincy, effectively the AAC co-favorite with WSU, dropped its 2nd match of the day losing to Arkansas State in 4 sets 19-25, 28-26, 21-25 and 25-14. Arkansas State is decent finishing last year with an RPI of 55 but the AAC co-favorite and loser to #23 Utah earlier today clearly struggled today.

That pushes the AAC to 1-8 so far today.

[shocks02]

1-8 now.

Tulsa 1 North Texas 3
Cincinnati 1 Arkansas State 3
Tulane 1 Louisiana 3

[1972Shocker]

1-5! Temple swept what was a Top 100 Northeastern squad last season.

Scores were 11, 18 and 20 in the Temple sweep. I guess that's the corona around the moon. Temple was a solid pick to finish 3rd in the AAC but they may well be the stiffest challenge the Shocks will face in conference play. Although it is early.

[1972Shocker]

Remaining on the AAC plate this evening:

William & Mary at East Carolina - ECU sweeps 22, 22 and 19
Northwestern at South Florida - USF loses in 4 sets 23, (23), (27) and (19)
UConn vs New Hampshire in Queens, NY - UConn wins in 4 sets 27, (18), 13 and 14
Rice at SMU - SMU loses its 2nd of the day at home in 4 sets 18, (21), (24) and (19)
Tulane at Louisiana (Tulane lost to the Ragin' Cajuns early today) - Tulane gets a split with a sweep 21, 23 and 15
UCF at Northern Colorado - UCF prevails in 5 sets 19, (22), (20), 23 and 15

If the AAC can sweep all of these matches they can climb up to 7-8 on the day but quite frankly the SOS for today overall wasn't terribly impressive.

Not a sweep of the evening matches but a bit of a recovery going 4-2 to finish the day at 5-10.

[1972Shocker]

BTW, the scoreboard on the AAC website can be confusing and not always accurate. For example, it shows Memphis beating Bradley 3-1. That's reversed. I don't think it is setup to handle these tournament formats very well. Should be okay once league play starts.

[WstateU]

Scores were 11, 18 and 20 in the Temple sweep. I guess that's the corona around the moon. Temple was a solid pick to finish 3rd in the AAC but they may well be the stiffest challenge the Shocks will face in conference play. Although it is early.

I might need a few "Coronas" before the night ends...

[flyingMoose]

East Carolina 3-0 The William & Mary (that's what it says)
22, 22, 19

Northwestern 3-1 South Florida
(23), 23, 27, 19 (I think - LiveStats stopped at 24-19 - Sidearm is not the best LS program)

Tulane 3-0 Louisiana
21, 23, 15

UConn 3-1 New Hampshire
27, (18), 13, 14

[1972Shocker]

The William & Mary (that's what it says)

Mary might not like that. Perhaps it should be The William and The Mary.

[1972Shocker]

I think SMU may have lost the Rice match at the end of the 3rd set. They had leads at 22-18 and 23-21 and could not close out that 3rd set losing 24-26. With the momentum shifted Rice jumped out to 9-3 lead and SMU never could recover falling behind 21-10 before a too little, too late 9-4 run to close out the 19-25 4th set loss.

[WuDrWu]

Disappointing start to league play for sure. Watching a little of Utah v Kentucky. Utah has some great young talent including Dani Barton who is showing off against the #14 Wildcats. No shame in the Utah match for Cincy, but the Arkansas State loss was a bit of a headscratcher.

Temple, to me, looked to be the best team not named Wichita State in the AAC and certainly lived up to that today.