VBelo Scouting Report: April 15, 2023
VBelo Scouting Report: April 15, 2023
Goodbye regular season. Hello postseason.
Since Twitter has taken an anti-Substack position, feel free to check out Notes (from Substack). Here is a Note that I posted after Hawai’i defeated UCSD yesterday.
The last day of the regular season is here. We have a handful of conference standings to work out before the day is over. We also have 2 conference tournaments going on today. The IVA will crown a champion and the MIVA will kick off their highly anticipated tournament. Let’s get a quick look at where all the conferences are coming into today.
Before the conferences, here is the top 10 in RPI headed into the last regular season matches. Penn State is a hair behind Hawai’i for the 2nd spot. Since PSU is playing Charleston (22-4) and UH is playing UCSD (8-15), I would expect Penn State and Hawai’i to swap spots, if both teams win.
Big West
Hawaiʻi can lock up the #1 seed with a win (as they have the tie-breaker against Long Beach). UC Irvine is locked in at #3 and Long Beach will need Hawaiʻi to lose in order to get the #1 spot. The bottom three spots are all super close and could go a lot of ways.
Conference Carolinas
No matches today, but their bracket is set and the tournament will start on Tuesday. VBelo tournament projections coming soon to a Substack near you.
EIVA
Penn State has the #1 seed but is looking to finish conference undefeated for the second year in a row. Princeton has #2 and Charleston will be #3. Just like the Big West, the bottom 3 are a jumble.
IVA
Championship Saturday! Lincoln Memorial wants that 5-peat against host Queens University. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I want to live in a world where the winner of the IVA makes it to the national tournament.
MIVA
Quarterfinals! Check out the tournament projections from earlier in the week.
MPSF
UCLA is the #1 seed and, with a win, BYU can get the #2. If Stanford wins, it will come down to point differential. GCU has the tiebreaker over Stanford if the Cardinal lose. The winner between USC and Concordia will get the #6 seed.
NEC
Maximum drama! Daemen and Saint Francis will play to be the inaugural NEC regular season champion. This is all thanks to a great upset win by Fairleigh Dickinson over Daemen yesterday. Long Island has the #3 seed no matter what happens. From the looks of it, the #3 spot is the only solidified seeding for the NEC tournament.
SIAC
Edward Waters finished with a perfect record in conference to get the #1 seed. Last year the SIAC had a beautiful double-elimination tournament, but this year it looks to be the standard 6-team single elimination tourney. This makes me sad, but also that is a lot of wear-and-tear at the end of a season, so I get it. One match left today but the bracket is mostly set.
Match Recaps
Big West
UC Santa Barbara (52%) def. CSU Northridge (48%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-22)
Long Beach (77%) def. UC Irvine (23%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-22)
Hawai'i (94%) def. UC San Diego (6%)
3-1 (28-26, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14)
EIVA
Penn State (86%) def. Charleston (14%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-13)
George Mason (43%) def. Harvard (57%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-20)
Princeton (76%) def. NJIT (24%)
3-1 (30-28, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21)
IVA
Limestone (75%) def. Alderson Broaddus (25%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-18)
Maryville (50%) def. Tusculum (50%)
3-2 (26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 16-14)
Queens (67%) def. Limestone (33%)
3-2 (22-25, 25-27, 25-20, 25-18, 22-20)
Lincoln Memorial (87%) def. Maryville (13%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-15)
MPSF
BYU (72%) def. Stanford (28%)
3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24)
NEC
Long Island (82%) def. Merrimack (18%)
3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 25-17)
Saint Francis (81%) def. D'Youville (19%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-12)
Sacred Heart (36%) def. St. Francis-Brooklyn (64%)
3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-22)
Fairleigh Dickinson (16%) def. Daemen (84%)
3-1 (25-18, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20)
SIAC
Edward Waters (94%) def. Morehouse (6%)
3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-14)
Central State (84%) def. Kentucky State (16%)
3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-20)
Match Projections
Big West
CSU Northridge (30%) vs UC Santa Barbara (70%)
Long Beach (67%) vs UC Irvine (33%)
UC San Diego (6%) vs Hawai'i (94%)
EIVA
Charleston (13%) vs Penn State (87%)
George Mason (48%) vs Harvard (52%)
IVA Tournament
Championship
Lincoln Memorial (61%) vs Queens (39%)
3rd Place Match
Limestone (67%) vs Maryville (33%)
5th Place Match
Alderson Broaddus (43%) vs Tusculum (57%)
MIVA Tournament
Quarterfinals
Quincy (7%) vs Ball State (93%)
McKendree (14%) vs Loyola Chicago (86%)
Lindenwood (21%) vs Ohio State (79%)
Purdue Fort Wayne (40%) vs Lewis (60%)
MPSF
Concordia (28%) vs Southern California (72%)
Pepperdine (13%) vs UCLA (87%)
Stanford (27%) vs BYU (73%)
NEC
Sacred Heart (24%) vs Long Island (76%)
D'Youville (47%) vs Fairleigh Dickinson (53%)
Merrimack (34%) vs St. Francis-Brooklyn (66%)
Daemen (49%) vs Saint Francis (51%)
SIAC
Benedict (56%) vs Fort Valley State (44%)