Number of the Day
0 - Yesterday, the volleyball world found out the the mysterious and talent-rich “NIL Tournament” will feature 0 matches. Hawaii announced, via social media, that the tournament had been cancelled. The idea was for Hawaii, UCLA, Long Beach, and USC to have a two day tournament with loads of NIL money. Currently, these are the top 4 teams in the country. It was going to be incredible. Instead, we get a cancellation notice 3 weeks before the scheduled matches. This feels like a major misstep and now there are top teams looking to schedule matches last minute.
If you go to the USAVolleyball site for this tournament, you get this fun message. Feel free to click the image and give page views so that USAV knows we wanted this.
Yesterday’s Scores
MPSF
UCLA (99%) def. Vanguard (1%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20)
Zach Rama (UCLA), a top candidate for player of the year, didn’t step on the court as the Bruins got their second conference win of the year (in January). Sean Kelly led the way with 14 kills, a career-high.
Non-conference
Daemen (40%) def. Roberts Wesleyan (60%)
3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22)
Patrick Mullen (Daemen) went off for a career-high 17 kills in the impressive win. He has now recorded at least 9 kills in all 6 matches this year.
Sacred Heart (89%) def. American International (11%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-18)
11 players recorded a kill for Sacred Heart. 8 players recorded a dig. That is some impressive depth.
Today’s Match Projections
Non-conference
St. Thomas Aquinas (67%) vs Fairleigh Dickinson (33%)
This might be my favorite promotional night yet: Pizza Knight with the Knights. Local pizza joint, Pizza Knight (where every night is Pizza Knight) will be providing free pizza to those presenting an FDU ID. Perfect. No notes.
Thomas More (31%) vs Central State (69%)
Dominican (30%) vs Long Island (70%)
Hawai’i (73%) vs Saint Francis (27%)
Master’s (16%) vs Concordia (84%)
Newly ranked Concordia will look to defend home court against a very tough Master’s. I’m intrigued.
UH in PA is a great thing for the sport. Cannot wait to see the attendance numbers in this trip. SFU & PSU should be a great event at both places