VBelo Scouting Report: March 20, 2023

The Final Four...weeks

Mar 20, 2023

We have just 4 weeks left in the regular season. After all of the great matches happening at the top of the rankings, the top of the VBelo rankings are converging quickly. Here is what the top 4 teams have looked like this season for VBelo.

The Outrigger and the Hawaiʻi/Long Beach series definitely made things interesting at the top of the rankings. If we zoom in on March, we can see how the top three teams all met a few days ago. In fact, this was the first time this season, Hawaiʻi was not on top of the VBelo ranking. Penn State took the slimmest lead over them (1922.8 to 1922.3). Half a VBelo point! UCLA was not far behind at 1917 VBelo points.

You may be wondering why Long Beach looks so much lower. Part of it is the scale of the graph. The three other teams are so closely bunched that anything else looks like an outlier. The other consideration is the number of matches Long Beach has played. Since every match is an opportunity to gain (or lose) VBelo points, they are limited by having played only 15 matches. This is tied for 5th fewest matches played this season. In fact the only teams they are ahead of are in the SIAC and NEC. In spite of their (purposefully) reduced schedule, they are only 80 VBelo points away from the top spot. This is remarkable! All 4 of these teams have proven why they are legitimate championship contenders.

Today we only have one match and it does not have much postseason impact. Benedict, out of the SIAC, will be taking on the Reinhardt University Eagles from the NAIA. This will be the Eagles’ seventh match against a D-I/II opponent this season. They are 4-2 in those matches and have already defeated Beneedict 3-0 earlier in the season. The Benedict Tigers are 7-5 this season and 3-3 in conference play.