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It’s never too late for a good upset. Stanford (VBelo #24) opened the broom closet and swept Grand Canyon (VBelo #9). The Cardinal had a 37% chance of winning this home match and they seized the opportunity. CSUN came up just short of upsetting Long Beach in 5 sets. Long Beach was fueled in their reverse sweep by Clarke Godbold and his 32 kills (a career-high).
The EIVA had two upsets as both Charleston and NJIT fell at home. There is still a chance for Charleston to win the EIVA, but they would have to defeat Penn State twice in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions, on the other hand, can lock up the regular season title with a win and a Charleston loss today.
Today we have the MIVA regular season finale. The top is very much up for grabs. Here are the paths to home court advantage for all of the MIVA tournament:
Loyola - Defeat Ohio State OR Win 1 set against Ohio State OR Score at least 60 points
Ball State - Defeat Purdue Fort Wayne AND Ohio State defeats Loyola
Ohio State - Sweep Loyola AND Keep Loyola under 60 points AND Purdue Fort Wayne defeats Ball State
Also, some interesting RPI movement as we enter the homestretch for the season. Feel free to take a look.
Match Recaps
Big West
UC San Diego (45%) def. UC Santa Barbara (55%)
3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 19-25, 25-14, 15-13)
Long Beach (84%) def. CSU Northridge (16%)
3-2 (25-27, 22-25, 25-17, 25-21, 15-9)
Hawai'i (85%) def. UC Irvine (15%)
3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 25-22)
EIVA
Princeton (37%) def. Charleston (63%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-20)
Penn State (83%) def. George Mason (17%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-15)
Harvard (36%) def. NJIT (64%)
3-2 (25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 18-16)
MPSF
Stanford (37%) def. Grand Canyon (63%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20)
NEC
Long Island (74%) def. Fairleigh Dickinson (26%)
3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-14, 28-26)
D'Youville (58%) def. Merrimack (42%)
3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21)
Saint Francis (74%) def. St. Francis-Brooklyn (26%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-20)
Daemen (86%) def. Sacred Heart (14%)
3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-12, 25-22)
SIAC
Central State (87%) def. Morehouse (13%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-14)
Non-conference
Lincoln Memorial (73%) def. Mount Olive (27%)
3-1 (25-27, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23)
Endicott (77%) def. American International (23%)
3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-19)
Barton (40%) def. Tusculum (60%)
3-2 (26-24, 21-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12)
Match Projections
Big West
CSU Northridge (9%) vs Long Beach (91%)
UC Irvine (14%) vs Hawai'i (86%)
EIVA
Princeton (43%) vs Charleston (57%)
Penn State (84%) vs George Mason (16%)
Harvard (41%) vs NJIT (59%)
MIVA
Loyola Chicago (49%) vs Ohio State (51%)
Lewis (79%) vs Quincy (21%)
Purdue Fort Wayne (28%) vs Ball State (72%)
McKendree (37%) vs Lindenwood (63%)
MPSF
Concordia-Irvine (18%) vs Pepperdine (82%)
Grand Canyon (59%) vs Stanford (41%)
UCLA (86%) vs Southern California (14%)
NEC
Long Island (44%) vs Saint Francis (56%)
Sacred Heart (41%) vs D'Youville (59%)
St. Francis-Brooklyn (57%) vs Fairleigh Dickinson (43%)
Merrimack (12%) vs Daemen (88%)
Non-conference
Lincoln Memorial (89%) vs Barton (11%)
Tusculum (31%) vs Mount Olive (69%)
Tweet of the Day
Twitter isn’t letting Substack embed tweets currently. This is a bummer, but I will figure out something else (and hopefully better) to put here.