VBelo Scouting Report: February 02, 2023
Jaylen Jasper is a hitting machine
Jaylen Jasper (Pepperdine) is having a monumental start to the season. Coming into yesterday, he was leading the nation in kills per set at 5.00! And what does he do last night? He finishes with 17 kills in 3 sets, which only increases his average. He also added 6 digs and 4 blocks because apparently his arms can do no wrong. With Pepperdine beating UCSB, the MPSF is now 15-5 against the Big West this season.1
The most exciting win of the night was Limestone outlasting North Greenville in a 5 set reverse sweep. NGU, the defending ConfCarolinas champion, has struggled against Limestone historically, with the Saints leading the all-time series 11-6 now. North Greenville is a solid team (as we all saw in last year’s national tournament) so this bodes well for the level of play in the IVA. Even more so, this might be evidence of home court advantage now that these teams have completed their home-and-home series. The home team won both matches, but NGU was able to win in 3 while Limestone won in 5. Based on this (and VBelo), if these teams met on a neutral court, I would expect NGU to win most of the time.
Today, undefeated Loyola will be in Irvine taking on Concordia. VBelo has Loyola as the heavy favorite here as the MIVA looks to get its first win against the MPSF this season. Lees-McRae will be continuing their Arizona tour by taking on Park University (NAIA). This will be their third match in three days. Last, but definitely not least, Ball State will host BYU in a great matchup of ranked teams. VBelo has the home team as the favorite (74/26), but there is still plenty of room for the Cougars to come in and spoil the Cardinals’ win streak. Between this match and the Loyola/Concordia match, it seems very likely that the MIVA will have at least 1 win against the MPSF by the end of the day (but let me know what you think in the poll below).
Match Recaps
IVA
Missouri S&T (44%) def. Maryville (56%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-22)
Non-conference
Pepperdine (70%) def. UC Santa Barbara (30%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-21)
Limestone (36%) def. North Greenville (64%)
3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 16-14)
Vanguard (33%)2 def. CSU Northridge (67%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-17)
Grand Canyon (85%) def. Lees-McRae (15%)
3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20)
Match Projections
Non-conference
Loyola Chicago (81%) vs Concordia-Irvine (19%)
Lees-McRae (49%) vs Park (51%)
BYU (26%) vs Ball State (74%)
Tweet of the Day
The only other conference with double digit wins is the MIVA against the IVA (13-1).
This looks like it is an upset (and it probably is), but it should be taken with a grain of salt. VBelo uses a static rating for D-III and NAIA so this match is not as predictive as D-I matchups.