New Poll and More Conference Matches
Let's ease back into the week with some great volleyball and some new polls.
We have a fairly consistent schedule in the Men’s Volleyball world for the next couple of weeks. Games will start on Tuesdays (like today) and go through Saturday. It is a nice rhythm, but it also means we only get volleyball five days per week.
I’m still working on some research for an upcoming post and normal work is busy so today will be on the lighter side. So let’s talk about the one MIVA match we have today.
Dons & Blers
We’ve got a good one on deck today. The Loyola Ramblers will travel to take on the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons. This will be the 66th meeting all-time between these teams. Loyola holds the overall edge at 41-24 in the series. The most recent match, last season, had the Dons upsetting Loyola in a 5th set that featured an 8-1 run by Purdue Fort Wayne. Both times these two teams met last season, they went to five.
Purdue Fort Wayne rocketed into the AVCA poll today after their huge win over Penn State this weekend. This is the first time they have been ranked this year and the 318th time in program history.1 Who is right above them in the all-time AVCA rankings list? None other than MIVA rival Loyola-Chicago.
The Ramblers came into the season with a statement after splitting their series at Hawaii. They are led by Parker Van Buren who is 5th in the nation with 4 kills/set. Loyola will be looking to bounce back from losing their opening MIVA match at Ball State last week.
If all of that wasn’t enough, VBelo has this as the closest match of the day. Purdue Fort Wayne will look to use their home-court advantage to get the win. But at 42%, Loyola Chicago will not simply wave the white flag. This should be a great matchup for a Tuesday.
AVCA Poll
It wouldn’t be a Tuesday newsletter without the Monday AVCA poll.
I wanted to show the poll in a slightly different way. When we just look at the ranking, there is the implicit assumption that the gap between each team is equal. Most people would admit there are different-sized gaps, but our brains don’t always remember that.
This chart shows the points each school got in the poll that gave them their ranking. Hopefully, this helps gauge the difference between some teams a little better than just a ranking. But then again, I have my complaints about the polls.
Match Recaps
No matches yesterday.
Match Projections
ConfCarolinas
Belmont Abbey (31%) vs North Greenville (69%)
Emmanuel (31%) vs Erskine (69%)
MIVA
Loyola Chicago (42%) vs Purdue Fort Wayne (58%)
Non-conference
Dominican (20%) vs Sacred Heart (80%)
Fort Valley State (62%) vs Talladega College (38%)
Maryville (77%) vs Missouri Baptist (23%)
Life (71%) vs Morehouse (29%)
It’s always fun diving into the archives. https://www.avca.org/resource/national-collegiate-men-poll-archives/
The Conf Carolinas' matchups intrigue me as the league is more even than top-heavy. Just looking to enjoy the carnage tonight
Big fan of this presentation of polls! Edward Tufte would approve.