It has been a great weekend of matches and today we had a handful of VBelo upsets. This early in the season, the model is learning a lot about these new teams (and so are we.) With the the small sample size of this first weekend, favorites are 20-9 (69%). Those 9 losses include 5 matches where the winning team had at least a 40% chance of winning, so those are a lot closer to a tossup than an upset. Below is a full schedule for this season that you can sort and will be updated with match results.
For those keeping track, today was Lincoln Memorial’s fourth straight day with a match. I give a lot of respect to them for scheduling such a tough schedule on straight days. I would argue they are probably the best 1-3 team out there. I still think their matches have earned them some attention from the coaches poll, but we will have to wait for the next poll to come out Monday.
Today we get a little breather with only 1 match lined up. Grand Canyon will take on Lindenwood again after a day off yesterday. We know that the Lopes have a huge arm in Janke, but they were lifted on Friday by their defense. They out-blocked Lindenwood 11-6 and out-dug them 38-24. Even though Lindenwood has had a Men’s Volleyball program for almost two decades, as a school they transitioned to D-I this year. This is exciting for them and hopefully (fingers-crossed) this means more funding and maybe even more general support for the sport.
Match Recaps
Non-conference
Penn State (73%) def. Ohio State (27%)
3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21)
BYU (47%) def. Lewis (53%)
3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-17)
BYU was led by Kupono Browne (16 kills & .522 hitting pct) start their season on the right foot. Browne had 7 total aces in two games this weekend as well.
Emmanuel (76%) def. Tusculum (24%)
3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 28-26)
Jayden Young (EC) put the Lions on his
backarm with 27 kills in the 4 set victory.
Stanford (64%) def. Saint Francis (36%)
3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-13)
UCLA (54%) def. UC Santa Barbara (46%)
3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-14)
CSU Northridge (17%) def. Lincoln Memorial (83%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-21)
CSUN outhit LMU .453 to .113 to capture the first victory as head coach for Theo Edwards.
Southern California (56%) def. UC San Diego (44%)
3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-12)
NJIT (40%) def. Purdue Fort Wayne (60%)
3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-23)
UC Irvine (47%) def. McKendree (53%)
3-0 (36-34, 25-15, 25-19)
Hilir Henno (UCI) doing it all. 13 kills (.500 hitting pct), 8 digs, 4 aces, 2 blocks, 0 losses.
St. Francis-Brooklyn (58%) def. Eastern Nazarene (42%)
3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-19)
Fairleigh Dickinson (42%) def. Belmont Abbey (58%)
3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21)
Dylan McFadden (FDU) posted a strong double-double (11 kills, 10 digs) along with 3 aces to give the Knights their first win.
Eastern Nazarene (61%) def. American International (39%)
3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-20)
St. Francis-Brooklyn (71%) def. American International (29%)
3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-17)
SFCB earned its third win of the early season, leading all teams in this first week of January.
Match Projections
Non-conference
Lindenwood (25%) vs Grand Canyon (75%)