VBelo Daily: February 23, 2025

The "favorites" might have won, but that doesn't mean there wasn't drama on Saturday.

Bruin Middles are just built different. (UCLA Athletics)

Yesterday's Scores

ConfCarolinas

Lees-McRae (51%) def. Emmanuel (49%)
3-2 (26-24, 25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 15-9)

The closest match of the day (in terms of VBelo odds), and of course it went five. Conference Carolinas is shaping up to be quite the ride this season.

Erskine (63%) def. King (37%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-22)

Belmont Abbey (63%) def. North Greenville (37%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22)

ECC

St. Thomas Aquinas (78%) def. Roberts Wesleyan (22%)
3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-23)

EIVA

#20 Princeton (48%) def. Charleston (52%)
3-1 (25-16, 24-26, 25-21, 25-19)

Princeton was the only team with <50% odds that won today. I don’t think you should use VBelo as a betting strategy, but if you did, it would have paid off yesterday.

#19 Penn State (59%) def. NJIT (41%)
3-1 (26-24, 17-25, 25-21, 28-26)

Harvard (81%) def. Sacred Heart (19%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-9, 25-15)

MIVA

#15 Ohio State (64%) def. Lindenwood (36%)
3-1 (28-30, 25-22, 25-18, 25-22)

#7 Loyola Chicago (97%) def. Quincy (3%)
3-1 (25-16, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19)

#17 McKendree (57%) def. #8 Ball State (43%)
3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-10)

I saw the “upset” card pulled for this match multiple times. Not an upset in my book, but I get the sentiment. I sure hope the coaches realize that they have the Bearcats severely underrated. This is a top 10 team right now.

#13 Lewis (72%) def. Purdue Fort Wayne (28%)
3-2 (23-25, 25-27, 25-16, 25-10, 15-7)

A night after setting a Lewis program record with 22 digs in a single match, Nico Paula followed that up with another 15 digs yesterday. (For those wondering, the season high this year is 23. Bonus points to whoever knows who pulled that off!)

NCAA has not updated there stats yet, but I do believe Paula currently has the most digs of any player this season.

MPSF

#10 Stanford (97%) def. Vanguard (3%)
3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 29-27)

Non-conference

Daemen (98%) def. American International (2%)
3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-19)

Missouri S&T (85%) def. LeMoyne-Owen (15%)
3-0 (25-10, 25-8, 25-16)

Saint Francis (89%) def. Dominican (11%)
3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-14, 25-22)

Merrimack (90%) def. Wentworth Tech (10%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-19)

#3 UCLA (68%) def. #2 UC Irvine (32%)
3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-14, 15-10)

The stats for these middles are getting out of hand. Cameron Thorne (UCLA) had 17 kills and 1 error on 19 attacks. That is .842%! When your middle leads the team in kills, you probably won. Also, shout out to Andrew Rowan for being willing to set the middle in ideal and less than ideal situations. Love it!

#6 BYU (99%) def. Barry (1%)
3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 26-24)

#13 UC San Diego (88%) def. Concordia (12%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-16)

#1 Long Beach (99%) def. Barton (1%)
3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-16)

#4 Hawai'i (97%) def. Catawba (3%)
3-1 (25-19, 25-11, 25-27, 25-19)

#4 Hawai'i (89%) def. Queens (11%)
3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20)

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Today's Match Projections

EIVA

Sacred Heart (18%) vs Harvard (82%)

SIAC

Benedict (10%) vs Fort Valley State (90%)

First SIAC match of the year!!!

Non-conference

Barton (1%) vs #1 Long Beach (99%)