Texas Knows a Thing or Two About Volleyball
Texas Knows a Thing or Two About Volleyball
Friday frenzy is back and today we get some marquee matchups in the Lonestar State. You don't want to miss it!
Countless volleyball fans marked today on their calendars at the beginning of the season (or sooner). First Point, who is doing absolutely incredible work to grow the game, is putting on the third annual First Point Volleyball Foundation Collegiate Challenge. This year, they have a stacked lineup. All six teams come into this tournament ranked in the AVCA top 15. Combined, they are 27-2 this season.
Fun fact: this table is interactive so you can sort the columns.
Looking at the chart above, each team is in the top 10 nationally for multiple statistical categories. In hitting percentage, we will see three of the top four teams take the court in Austin. It is hard to ask for much more than this.
As much as I would love to talk about these teams more, there are a lot of other matches happening today as well. In particular, I am interested in the event being hosted at NJIT. Both matches today (George Mason/Long Beach & Lindenwood/NJIT) could be great matchups. VBelo has Long Beach as a strong favorite, but I wouldn't count out George Mason. They are coming off their upset win over UC Irvine. I would keep an eye on New Jersey this weekend, in addition to Texas.
Match Recaps
Non-conference
Tusculum (14%) def. King (86%)
3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 28-30, 25-22, 16-14)
Queens (68%) def. Mount Olive (32%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15)
Fairleigh Dickinson (69%) def. Roberts Wesleyan (31%)
3-0 (27-25, 25-16, 25-14)
Long Island (93%) def. St. Thomas Aquinas (7%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 26-24)
Maryville (60%) def. Illinois Tech (40%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-22)
Match Projections
First Point Collegiate Challenge
Ball State (71%) vs Southern California (29%)
Ohio State (21%) vs UCLA (79%)
Penn State (76%) vs Stanford (24%)
Non-conference
Princeton (78%) vs CSU Northridge (22%)
BYU (73%) vs UC Santa Barbara (27%)
Grand Canyon (76%) vs UC San Diego (24%)
Benedict (24%) vs Erskine (76%)
Lees-McRae (69%) vs Roanoke College (31%)
American International (13%) vs D'Youville (87%)
Emmanuel (12%) vs Charleston (88%)
George Mason (17%) vs Long Beach (83%)
Lindenwood (45%) vs NJIT (55%)
Maryville (9%) vs Purdue Fort Wayne (91%)
Quincy (53%) vs Thomas More (47%)
Merrimack (6%) vs Lewis (94%)
Kentucky State (1%) vs Loyola Chicago (99%)
McKendree (16%) vs Pepperdine (84%)
All roads lead to Newark! I think the visiting teams will be pleasantly surprised by the facilities at NJIT.
The AVCA went to top 20 in men's volleyball (I/II) & (III) this season.