What. A. Match. The Cardinals defended the nest from the hard-hitting Ramblers. All four sets were decided by just two points, with sets 2 and 3 going into overtime.1 VBelo wasn't kidding when it said this match was a toss-up. Home court, some powerful hitting, and a handful of Loyola errors helped power Ball State to an all-important MIVA conference win.
I asked Ball State's Head Coach Donan Cruz about this big win and he had this to say.
"We have been battling against some of the best non-conference opponents leading up to today and have not come out on the winning end of those matches. We just wanted to stay the course, and tonight showed we are improving on a daily basis. Loyola is a good team and well coached. We capitalized on opportunities and showed our fight. Every match matters in conference, and that's a great start for us.
Men's Volleyball across the country this season is going to be epic. I recommend to all those volley fans out there, pay attention and follow our sport! Our student-athletes across the country are unbelievable and insanely fun to watch!"
I couldn't agree more with Coach Cruz. There is great volleyball all across the county. More people should know about these incredible athletes and the quality of play they deliver day after day. Let’s continue to find ways to #GrowTheGame.
Daemen vs UCSB - Closest VBelo match of the day at 51/49. Given the strong performance of UCSB against UCLA, Daemen can throw a giant chaos wrench into the gears of the polls with a win today. It may be on a neutral court (Harvard), but the match is much closer to Daemen.
Kentucky State at Benedict - First SIAC matchup of the season. Both programs are looking for their first win and they are hoping to take the first step towards being the first SIAC national tournament contender.
UC Irvine at UCLA - It seemed a little too cliche to pick this rematch, but the first meeting was just too good. If Hilir Henno can break free, the Anteaters could definitely get their revenge. On the other hand, UCLA is really freaking good. Hoping for another great entertaining match.
Match Recaps
MIVA
Ball State (55%) def. Loyola Chicago (45%) 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 27-25, 25-23)
This poll was as close as the match!
Match Projections
MIVA
Lewis (72%) vs McKendree (28%)
Queens (59%) vs Quincy (41%)
SIAC
Kentucky State (12%) vs Benedict (88%)
Harvard Invitational
Daemen (49%) vs UC Santa Barbara (51%)
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Grand Canyon (84%) vs Harvard (16%)
Non-conference
UC Irvine (17%) vs UCLA (83%)
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Saint Francis (41%) vs Purdue Fort Wayne (59%)
Tusculum (1%) vs Hawai'i (99%)
CSU Northridge (11%) vs Stanford (89%)
Saint Xavier (16%) vs Missouri S&T (84%)
King (3%) vs Long Beach (97%)
UC San Diego (36%) vs Southern California (64%)
Edward Waters (87%) vs Talladega College (13%)
Lincoln Memorial (80%) vs Erskine (20%)
American International (12%) vs Sacred Heart (88%)
Coincidently, I was just talking to Eric Ingerick over at Frog Jump about super close matches. He did some awesome math for D-III matches. A fun calculation he did using some of my D-I/II numbers involved the super rare 5-set, all-overtime match. The rarity of that would be about 1 in 182,000. Over in D-III, it is even rarer at roughly 1 in 666,666!
This weekend and next will start to show which teams path was best. Playing top ranked programs, playing at about your level, or playing the lower tier programs. Every year a coach has to make a decision on their path. I just hope I was correct.
This weekend and next will start to show which teams path was best. Playing top ranked programs, playing at about your level, or playing the lower tier programs. Every year a coach has to make a decision on their path. I just hope I was correct.