VBelo Scouting Report: March 08, 2023
Chareles(ton) in charge
It appears that coaches and members of the media have taken note of Charleston’s meteoric rise this season. In Monday’s AVCA Coaches’ Poll, the Golden Eagles moved up one spot back to #14. They are still 40 points behind 12-5 CSUN (who lost against NAIA opponent Vanguard a week ago). In the Off The Block National Media Poll, Charleston came in at #10 on the list. Based on how long it took the coaches’ poll to feature Charleston, it would appear that the media is faster to react and/or is swayed more with an impressive win. Regardless, Charleston is getting the respect they deserve as a team that is 15-1 with a victory over a ranked opponent.
That brings me to an unnecessary chart that I spent far too much time making sure all of the colors were correct.1
This charts plots out all of the movement we have seen in the coaches’ poll this year. The first few weeks there wasn’t a ton of drama. Then near the end of January, the poll comes alive. Because the better rankings are at the bottom, lines moving upward are not great. The notable one from the beginning of the year is UCSB and their upward trend off the chart. Recently we have seen some exciting action in ranks 9-15, but the first 8 spots are pretty flat. Just to be clear, that flat line at the bottom is not an axis, it is Hawai’i.
Let me know if you see anything interesting in this chart.
Today we have a handful of matches that are mostly non-conference. One of the closest matches is also the one most likely to have an effect on the next coaches’ poll. Ball State will be playing at Grand Canyon. If we look for these two team on our graph above, they have very different slopes. Ball State is moving higher on the chart and Grand Canyon is moving lower. They have essentially swapped positions from the beginning of the season. VBelo has this as a tight match, but it is not hard to see GCU rack up another win at home against a quality opponent.
Match Recaps
Non-conference
Loyola Chicago (76%) def. Queens (24%)
3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 26-24)
Colton Brooks (LUC) led the Ramblers with 16 kills and a .519 hitting percentage.
Mount Vernon Nazarene (69%) def. Kentucky State (31%)
3-1 (25-12, 24-26, 25-13, 25-10)
Kade Andruski (KYSU) had a double-double (12 assists & 13 digs) in the loss.
Wittenberg (80%) def. Kentucky State (20%)
3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 24-26, 25-13, 15-3)
Jordan Howard (KYSU) led the Thorobreds2 in kills with 14 in the 5 set loss. Kade Andruski also had another double-double (33 assists & 19 digs).
Match Projections
NEC
Long Island (69%) vs D'Youville (31%)
Non-conference
Erskine (85%) vs Kentucky State (15%)
Queens (37%) vs Lewis (63%)
American International (24%) vs Sacred Heart (76%)
Ball State (43%) vs Grand Canyon (57%)
Fontbonne (31%) vs Maryville (69%)
Alderson Broaddus (46%) vs Cornerstone (54%)
Alderson Broaddus (47%) vs Campbellsville (53%)
Tweet of the Day
In case you are wondering, one of my spreadsheets does have the color codes for schools included.
Yes, this is how they spell it. I double checked,