First to 10
First to 10
Both Long Beach and Hawaii reached their tenth win of the season last night. These teams are putting the BIG in Big West.
The big-time matches last night both ended with the Big West defeating the MPSF. Long Beach, fueled by over 4,000 fans, powered through a deep UCLA squad in four sets. Then Hawaii dominantly swept Stanford in front of 9,000 fans.
Hawaii had a particularly noteworthy night hitting. They finished the night with only 3 total hitting errors. As a team, they hit .594 against the #4 ranked team in the country. I will say VBelo doesn't have Stanford as high as #4 but they are still a top team in the country. The Rainbow Warriors were led by Senior Outside Hitter Spyros Chakas (23 kills, .733 hitting pct). While it would have been nice to know what Stanford would have looked like at full strength, that matchup may have to wait until May.
And in case you are wondering, no. I have no idea what to make of CSUN this season. They have wins against opponents ranked #4 and #11. And then they lost to The Master's yesterday. To be fair, The Master's is the #1 NAIA program right now. But still, the inconsistency this season for CSUN is something they will need to figure out soon.
Three Intriguing Matches
Long Beach at UCLA - If I were a betting man, I would bet that UCLA and Long Beach split this series. These two teams put on quite a show yesterday, and I would expect today to be no different.
Long Island at BYU - VBelo might not think this one will be close, but that first match between these two was impressive. LIU was holding their own and very easily could have taken multiple sets off a top-10 team.
Barton at King - In 2022, Barton had a winless season. They already earned their first conference win yesterday, and defeating the defending Conference Carolinas Tournament champion would be huge. I will always be happy to see a program turn things around in major ways.
Match Recaps
ConfCarolinas
Barton (56%) def. Lees-McRae (44%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-16)
Mount Olive (48%) def. King (52%)
3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20)
MIVA
McKendree (33%) def. Ball State (67%)
3-0 (30-28, 25-23, 25-21)
Loyola Chicago (32%) def. Ohio State (68%)
3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 27-29, 25-14, 15-5)
Purdue Fort Wayne (57%) def. Queens (43%)
3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 28-26)
Non-conference
Hawai'i (87%) def. Stanford (13%)
3-0 (27-25, 25-7, 25-20)
Master's (3%) def. CSU Northridge (97%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-18)
Long Beach (41%) def. UCLA (59%)
3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-19)
Tusculum (47%) def. Emmanuel (53%)
3-0 (26-24, 27-25, 25-22)
Daemen (97%) def. St. Thomas Aquinas (3%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-9)
Saint Francis (34%) def. Charleston (66%)
3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-20)
Harvard (65%) def. Merrimack (35%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-16)
Lincoln Memorial (41%) def. Princeton (59%)
3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19)
Maryville (55%) def. Central State (45%)
3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-18)
Missouri S&T (84%) def. Talladega College (16%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-12)
Match Projections
ConfCarolinas
Barton (37%) vs King (63%)
Emmanuel (26%) vs Belmont Abbey (74%)
North Greenville (59%) vs Erskine (41%)
Mount Olive (81%) vs Lees-McRae (19%)
MIVA
Ball State (61%) vs Lindenwood (39%)
Purdue Fort Wayne (65%) vs Queens (35%)
Non-conference
Long Beach (36%) vs UCLA (64%)
UC Irvine (75%) vs Southern California (25%)
UC Santa Barbara (24%) vs Pepperdine (76%)
Roberts Wesleyan (32%) vs Thomas More (68%)
St. Thomas Aquinas (13%) vs D'Youville (87%)
Saint Francis (46%) vs Charleston (54%)
Lincoln Memorial (88%) vs Harvard (12%)
Fairleigh Dickinson (3%) vs Penn State (97%)
Sacred Heart (8%) vs Princeton (92%)
Central State (39%) vs Missouri S&T (61%)
Long Island (15%) vs BYU (85%)
Master's (6%) vs Concordia (94%)
Benedict (57%) vs Carolina (43%)
Midway (53%) vs Kentucky State (47%)
Kentucky State (40%) vs St. Mary-of-the-Woods (60%)
Talladega College (15%) vs Maryville (85%)
Talladega College (15%) vs Maryville (85%)