VBelo Scouting Report: February 05, 2023
A two day breather
Yesterday didn’t have any huge surprises. In terms of VBelo, the lowest projected team that won still had a 42% chance of winning and that match involved an NAIA team so the projections are less precise. Ball State was able to even out their series with BYU while GCU became the first team in the nation to reach double digit wins. One team that is not getting nearly enough attention and respect is Charleston who defeated Erskine for their 8th win of the season. Looking ahead to the coaches’ poll, it seems really hard to defend voting for UCSB at 2-7 over Charleston at 8-0. But I am confident someone will do that. Just not sure why.
In terms of the polls, Penn State handing UCLA their first loss might create much needed movement. At this point in the season, it would be difficult to give a first place vote to a team that is not undefeated. I think they are both top 5 teams (and VBelo agrees), but the rise of GCU may be meteoric with two ranked victories this weekend. Ball State and BYU, in addition to splitting their series, will probably hover around the same spot in the polls all season, if I were to guess. I think right now VBelo has Ball State a little higher than they should be and BYU a little lower, but I am sure that will even out.
No matches today. Unfortunately, Tusculum had to postpone their two matches this weekend for health and safety protocols. At one point in time, Edward Waters also had a match on the schedule for today but that has been changed. I’m not sure when the NCAA website will reflect these updates, but I try my best to give you the most up to date schedules in this newsletter (regardless of what the NCAA does or doesn’t do).
We have two days in a row without matches but that doesn’t mean the fun stops. Now that we have an entire month of volleyball worth of data, it is a good time to look at what VBelo thinks of these teams now. But that is for tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Match Recaps
Non-conference
Ball State (69%) def. BYU (31%)
3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23)
Ball State out-blocked BYU 15-4. Vanis Buckholz (BSU) led all players with 8 blocks to go along with his 8 kills on 12 errorless swings (.667%).
Purdue Fort Wayne (65%) def. George Mason (35%)
3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 29-31, 25-22, 17-15)
Jon Diedrich (PFW) put the Mastodons on his back and led the way with 27 kills.
Charleston (61%) def. Erskine (39%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-19)
Charleston is now 8-0 on the season. For some context, they were 9-14 last season.
Ohio State (49%) def. Southern California (51%)
3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 25-18)
Jacob Pasteur (OSU) went off for 19 kills and 9 digs in the win.
Lewis (50%) def. Mount Olive (50%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-20)
McKendree (65%) def. Long Island (35%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 26-24)
Lindenwood (61%) def. Missouri S&T (39%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-14)
Stanford (76%) def. Master's (24%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-18)
With his 10 digs, Justin Lui (Stanford) now has 5 straight matches with double digit digs.
Queens (75%) def. Barton (25%)
3-1 (25-19, 30-32, 27-25, 25-22)
Daniel Leitao (Queens) had an incredible night setting with his 60 assists! That is 15 assists per set!!!
Penn State (59%) def. UCLA (41%)
3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 25-17)
Lincoln Memorial (77%) def. Central State (23%)
3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-20)
Grand Canyon (67%) def. UC Irvine (33%)
3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 19-25, 29-27, 15-13)
UCI finished with more total points than GCU (111-109) but the Lopes refused to have their win streak end.
King (80%) def. Fort Valley State (20%)
3-2 (25-16, 25-27, 26-24, 24-26, 15-12)
Isaiah Fedd (FVSU) led his team in kills (25), aces (3), and digs (8) in the 5-set loss.
Saint Francis (80%) def. Alderson Broaddus (20%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-17)
Daemen (86%) def. American International (14%)
3-0 (25-6, 25-15, 25-15)
Merrimack (71%) def. Fisher (29%)
3-0 (25-8, 25-7, 25-8)
In set 3, Merrimack had 14 kills on 16 attacks with 0 errors to hit .875!
Quincy (57%) def. Saint Ambrose-Iowa (43%)
3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-8)
Grand View (42%) def. Quincy (58%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-17)
Merrimack plated a school called Fisher not St John Fisher.