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Post by skrapheap on Nov 14, 2014 22:32:10 GMT -6
mkepanthers.com/news/2014/11/14/WVB_1114141223.aspx?path=wvballThe Panthers announced today the signing of three new players for next year, to help fill the shoes of the five seniors who are finishing their Panther careers this month. One of the incoming freshmen, Caitlin Schultz of Port Washington, is 6'4" or 6'5" tall, which will make her one of the taller Panthers in their D1 history, and one of the taller players in the league. She will start school in the Spring semester, so she will be able to participate in the spring program. The spring program has been helpful in acclimating new players to D1 play. The other players are Teagan Taylor from Burlington, a defensive specialist, and Maddie Williams, a six foot tall middle hitter who has an impressive jump.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 15, 2014 17:34:58 GMT -6
The Panthers finished the regular season with a three set sweep of Wright State. The Raiders put up a fight, forcing the Panthers to win set two 28-26.
The Panthers now enter the league tournament with the second seed, which means they have a bye into the semifinals. The outcome of the UIC-Valpariso match tonight will determine the rest of the seeds. If Valparaiso wins, they will lock in the third seed, and the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds will be determined by tiebreakers among UIC, Youngstown State, and Cleveland State, all of whom will have 7-7 records. If UIC wins, they will tie Valpo for third place at 8-6, and will have the third seed because they will have won the head-to-head competition with the Crusaders; the fifth and six seeds would then be based on a tiebreaker between Youngstown State and Cleveland State. The match between the third and sixth seeds, and the match between the fourth and fifth seeds are scheduled for Friday; Oakland will host the tournament. On Saturday, Oakland will face the lower seeded winner of the Friday matches and Milwaukee will face the higher seeded winner in the semifinals. The semifinal winners will meet on Sunday for the title and the league's NCAA berth.
I have to say that Oakland is the most likely winner. They play steady, quality volleyball, and don't seem to get rattled. They have bounced back from losing the first, and even, in some cases, the second set, and pulled out wins repeatedly this season. The Panthers won the fourth set last night after dropping the second and third sets, but Oakland took control of the fifth set from the beginning, and won comfortably. OU won four five-set matches in the league this year. They have won their last eight league matches, and will be playing at home.
The Panthers went 5-2 in both halves of the league season. Success for the Panthers will depend on them getting back to their best level of play; in three of four league losses, the Panthers were outplayed pretty much throughout the match. The second match with Oakland was the exception, in that they battled back in set four to force the fifth set; that match was their only five-set loss on the season.
The other five teams in the field have all played good volleyball at times, but only UIC has beaten the Golden Grizzlies this season. Cleveland State may be the hottest team in the league after Oakland, having won their last three league matches, all three on the road.
Update: Valpo swept UIC in Chicago. I will let the league go through its tiebreaker process and then post the tournament bracket.
Update 2: UIC Volleyball's Twitter account says YSU is the fourth seed, CSU is the fifth seed, and UIC is the sixth seed. The League apparently had to go to the fourth option to break the three-way tie.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 17, 2014 15:30:38 GMT -6
Horizon League RPI Ratings at the end of the regular season (11/17/2014): RPI Rank | School | Overall Record | League Record | RPI Last Wk | 99 | Milwaukee | 16-13 | 10-4 | 100 | 115 | Valparaiso | 24-7 | 9-5 | 120 | 119 | Oakland | 20-9 | 12-2 | 136 | 161 | Youngstown St. | 16-13 | 7-7 | 151 | 171 | Cleveland St. | 14-13 | 7-7 | 183 | 193 | UIC | 14-16 | 7-7 | 196 | 233 | Green Bay | 5-21 | 2-12 | 223 | 281 | Wright St. | 5-23 | 2-12 | 279 |
No change in the order, but some changes in rankings week to week. The top three teams moved a bit closer together, and separated from the remaining schools a bit more. Oakland and Cleveland State showed the biggest improvement from last week.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 18, 2014 15:09:50 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 19, 2014 21:45:15 GMT -6
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 21, 2014 19:55:15 GMT -6
In the first quarterfinal match, Valpo swept UIC, 25-22, 25-22, and 25-22. In the first set, the Flames got out to a 6-2 lead, but Valpo battled back to tak an 8-7 lead, and maintained a lead through the end of the set. The lead got as high as five. The Flames would narrow the lead to two on a few occasions, but never could sustain momentum to retake the lead. In set two, Valpo took early leads, and went on sustained runs to push the lead to where the Flames could not get back to even. In set three, Valpo had an eight point lead early. The Flames fought hard, and gradually narrowed the lead to the point of tying the score at 20 all. Again, the Flames were not able to sustain momentum enough to retake the lead, and the Crusaders held on to win. The Crusaders will face Milwaukee tomorrow in the late semifinal.
Quarterfinal number two featured Cleveland State and Youngstown State. Set one was closely played to a 10-9 Penguin lead, when the Vikings took their first timeout. The back and forth play continued, as neither team led by more then three. The score was tied at 23, and the Penguins won the set with consecutive points. Set two continued to be close, though the Penguins built a 12-9 lead into a Viking timeout. The Penguins then took over the set, pulling away to win 25-17. The Penguins kept rolling to start set three, getting out to a 10-4 lead and forcing the Vikings to take both timeouts. The lead grew to 15-5, then 18-7. Cleveland State did manage to string some points together but the hole was too deep, and the Penguins closed out the set and the match 25-16. Youngstown State faces top-seeded Oakland in the early semifinal match tomorrow.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 22, 2014 14:43:05 GMT -6
The first semifinal featured the top seed Oakland Golden Grrizlies hosting the fourth seed Youngstown State Penguins. YSU got out of the gate fast in set one, taking a 7-2 lead, before Oakland got going, scoring eight of the next nine points to take a 10-8 lead and force a Penguin timeout. Out of the timeout the Grizzlies maintained a two to three point lead to a 14-11 score. There a number of long rallies, as both back rows were good at getting to balls. The Penguins to to within two, and consecutive OU points pushed the lead to 16-12, and forced the second YSU timeout. Oakland began to pull away, extending the lead to 22-14, and to set point at 24-15. After three points by the Penguins, the Grizzlies closed out the set on a kill.
The first point of the second set was disputed, but was called for Oakland, and was part of a three point run by the Grizzlies before the Penguins scored their first point. OU got out to a 6-2 start. YSU took their first timeout trailing 9-4, and came out of the timeout to score four straight points to narrow the lead to one. The Penguins tied the score at 11 on a OU hitting error, and took a 12-11 lead on a setter kill, prompting the first OU timeout. OU tied the score at 13 and then retook the lead to 16-13, forcing the second YSU timeout. The Grizzlies again pulled away, scoreing six consecutive points to take a 22-13 lead. After the Penguins scored four straight points of their own, and Oakland took their second timeout with the lead narrowed to 22-17. The Grizzlies then finished the set with three points in a row to take a two sets to none lead into the break.
Set three started fairly even, with the score tied at two, three, four and five all, until OU put together six points to take an 11-7 lead, forcing a Penguin timeout. The OU lead continued to alternate between three and four points to 13-10, when the Penguins scored two straight to narrow the lead to one. Consecutive OU points reestablished the lead at three, where it remained to 20-16 and the second Penguin timeout. From there, the Grizzlies coasted to a 25-16 win to sweep the match.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 22, 2014 17:26:38 GMT -6
The Panthers' semifinal match with Valpo started fairly even. Valpo had a two point lead at 7-5 and then 8-6 when the Panthers scored three straight to take the lead, 9-8, then 12-9, only to see Valpo score three straight to tie the score. The score was tied again at 13 and 14, as the teams continued to trade points. The Panthers reopened a three point lead at 17-14, and Valpo called a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Panthers pushed the lead to 21-16. When Valpo scored two straight, and the Panthers called their first timeout leading 21-18, and then took their second timeout leading 23-20. The Panthers got to set point on a Maggie Dunbar kill to end a long rally, and then took the set 25-20 on a Crusader hitting error off another long rally. Julie Kolinske led the Panthers with five kills, followed by Kaisa Mattson and Dunbar with three each. The Panthers outhit Valpo .300 to .143.
The Panthers jumped out to a 3-1 in set two, on a Mattson ace, but immediately gave a point back on a service error. The Panthers then scored five straight, on the service of Kayla Price, to take a 8-2 lead, prompting the first Valpo timeout. The Panthers got kills from Nicole Latzig, Kolinske, and Dunbar in that run. Price served three more points out of the timeout, to give the Panthers an 11-2 lead. The lead got to 13-3 on Dunbar's fifth kill, and the Crusaders took their second timeout. The lead remained 10 at 14-4 and 15-5, and then Myanna Ruiz scored consecutive kills to push the lead to 12 at 17-5, and then 18-6. The Panthers continued to dominate play, extending the lead to 22-8 on a block by Kolinske and Latzig. The Panthers reached set point at 24-10 on Dunbar's seventh kill, and Myanna Ruiz had the winner with her fourth kill, and the Panthers went into the break up two sets to one. The Panthers hit .429 in the set, and .360 for the first two sets. Kolinske had 10 kills hitting .333. Dunbar had seven kills, Latzig six and Mattson five. The ten points Valpo scored was their lowest score in a set all season.
Set three also started even, to 4-4. Valpo took a 6-4 lead, and the Panthers took their first timeout. Back and forth play continued, to ties at 10, 11, and 12 all, and the Panther retook the lead at 13-12, then 14-12 forcing a Valpo timeout. The Panther run continued, with three straight points to extend the lead to 17-12, forcing the second Crusader timeout. Two consecutive Crusader points prompted the second Panther timeout. The Panther pushed the lead back to six at 22-16. The Panthers scored two more to get to match point. The Crusaders fought off one match point, but Dunbar closed things out with her ninth kill. Kolinske finished with 17 kills; Ruiz and Dunbar had nine each. The Panthers hit .352 for the match, and appear to be heading into tomorrow's final playing their best volleyball.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 6, 2014 12:12:21 GMT -6
As well as the Panthers played in their semifinal match, Oakland was just the better team in the conference final. The Panthers started well, winning the first set, but Oakland bounced back to take the next two sets. Where the Panthers won set four in the previous match with Oakland, the Golden Grizzlies managed to finish the match in the fourth set, but the Panthers took them to extra points; the final score was 28-26. Oakland went on to lose in the NCAA tournament first round, 3-0 to Kentucky. Oakland was one of seven teams the Panthers played this season who made the NCAA tournament: Michigan State, Western Kentucky, Iowa State, LIU Brooklyn, Marquette and Western Michigan also made the tournament. Of those seven teams, only Michigan State and Iowa State made it to the second round. Wisconsin, a top 10 team all season, beat Western Michigan in the first round and Illinois State (who beat Marquette in the first round) to make it into the third round. Here's the League RPI ratings as of 12/1/2014 RPI Rank | School | Overall Record | League Record | RPI Last Wk | 91 | Milwaukee | 17-14 | 10-4 | 99 | 105 | Oakland | 22-10 | 12-2 | 119 | 115 | Valparaiso | 25-8 | 9-5 | 115 | 158 | Youngstown St. | 17-14 | 7-7 | 161 | 174 | Cleveland St. | 14-14 | 7-7 | 171 | 190 | UIC | 14-17 | 7-7 | 193 | 246 | Green Bay | 5-21 | 2-12 | 233 | 275 | Wright St. | 5-23 | 2-12 | 281 |
Oakland pulled into second in the league based on their finish to the league season. Milwaukee's RPI improved, owing to the quality of their non-league schedule.
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Post by PantherU on Dec 6, 2014 15:12:37 GMT -6
I want you to know, Skrap, I do read this thread. And I'm not the only one. Thanks for all your hard work.
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Lutzow10
Freshman
MILWAUKEE PROUD - PANTHER STRONG
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Post by Lutzow10 on Dec 6, 2014 23:23:44 GMT -6
Yes me too. And I really appreciate the work. I know next to nothing about college volleyball so this is great. Without it I would be completely in the dark about panthers volleyball
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Post by skrapheap on Feb 13, 2015 13:55:15 GMT -6
In addition to the usual spring practice schedule for the volleyball team, setter Kayla Price will be participating in an open tryout for the US Olympic squad: mkepanthers.com/news/2015/2/13/WVB_0213154021.aspxThat's quite an achievement for the senior. Kudos to her.
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