VBelo Scouting Report: January 07, 2023

Don't sleep on the 'Splitters

Jan 07, 2023

It only took 3 days before a ranked team lost to an unranked team. Lincoln Memorial (who is a highly underrated team) beat UCSB in Gaucho territory. VBelo gave LMU about a 1 in 3 chance of winning. Home court plays a role in the model but the Railsplitters were able to overcome that disadvantage and get a huge win. If you go back to the VBelo preseason rankings, LMU was above UCSB by a mere 4 points. After this upset, LMU will continue to have a strong position in the VBelo ranking and hopefully the AVCA poll will acknowledge their strength.

In other news, UCLA had 18 aces in a three set match. It is difficult to imagine almost an entire set’s worth of points coming from aces. Just, wow!

We have a handful of matches today all across the country. The Battle for the Boardwalk continues in Atlantic City while several ranked teams continue to battle it out in Isla Vista at the Asics Invitational. The matches at BYU today look to be interesting matchups. All of the teams are really looking to make a statement and garner some votes in the next coaches’ poll.

Match Recaps

Non-conference

Erskine (69%) def. Tusculum (31%)
3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-18)

Erskine was able to hold Tusculum to -.034 hitting for the match by out-blocking their opponent 13-4.

UC Irvine (32%) def. Lewis (68%)
3-1 (26-28, 28-26, 25-22, 25-23)

This match was all offense, all the time. Both Lewis (.423) and UCI (.412) hit over .400 on the match. Francesco Sani led the way with 22 kills and a .588 hitting percentage.

Stanford (61%) def. Saint Francis (39%)
3-1 (25-16, 25-16, 21-25, 25-22)

Lincoln Memorial (37%) def. UC Santa Barbara (63%)
3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-12)

UCLA (76%) def. UC San Diego (24%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-14)

The Bruins didn’t have anyone with double digit kills, but they didn’t need it because 24% of their points (18 of 75) came straight from aces!

Southern California (73%) def. CSU Northridge (27%)
3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-20)

Purdue Fort Wayne (59%) def. King (41%)
3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-14)

Penn State (84%) def. Central State (16%)1
3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-19, 25-12)

BYU (54%) def. McKendree (46%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-20)

That feeling when the popular percentage matches the VBelo percentages.

Grand Canyon (73%) def. Lindenwood (27%)
3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 35-37, 25-13)

Lindenwood may have lost the match, but they did win the longest set of the year (37-35). GCU had two players with a double-double: Nicholas Slight (36 assists, 11 digs) and Jackson Hickman (12 kills, 11 digs).

Belmont Abbey (60%) def. Eastern Nazarene (40%)
3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-21)

St. Francis-Brooklyn (43%) def. Belmont Abbey (57%)2
3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-20)