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Post by skrapheap on Nov 21, 2019 13:33:17 GMT -6
horizonleague.org/news/2019/11/20/womens-volleyball-horizon-league-announces-2019-hlvb-awards.aspx The Panthers placed three on the all-league teams: Jess Grabowski (Honorable Mention), Carmenn Heilemann (All League), and Ari Miller (Freshman of the Year). I had been wondering how the Panthers would fare in the end-of-season honors. They had balance on offense and defense that meant it was hard for any one player to put up numbers that would really stand out. For example, the Panthers played two setters all year: Rylie Vaughn (688 assists) and Jenn Dore (619 assists) played well, but because they split time on the court, neither one could put up the assists-per-set numbers that the Setter of the Year (Green Bay's Maddie Yoss) got. The balance made them successful, as witnessed by their second place finish. The quarterfinal matches for the tournament are tomorrow afternoon and evening. The Panthers play in the late semifinal match on Saturday (5:00 PM CST). The Final match is at 1:00 PM on Sunday.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 22, 2019 13:29:00 GMT -6
Milwaukee was 6-4 against the tournament field: they split with Wright State, swept Green Bay, split with Northern Kentucky, swept UIC, and were swept by Oakland. Wright State was 7-3; they split with Milwaukee, split with Green Bay, split with UIC, swept Northern Kentucky, and swept Oakland. Green Bay was 7-3; they split with Wright State, was swept by Milwaukee, swept Northern Kentucky, swept UIC, and swept Oakland. Northern Kentucky went 3-7; they were swept by Wright State, split with Milwaukee, were swept by Green Bay, split with UIC, and split with Oakland. UIC was 3-7 against the field; they split with Wright State, were swept by Milwaukee, were swept by Green Bay, split with Northern Kentucky, and split with Oakland. Oakland was 4-6; they were swept by Wright State, swept Milwaukee, were swept by Green Bay, split with Northern Kentucky, and split with UIC.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 22, 2019 22:03:53 GMT -6
The third and fourth seeds made it out of the quarterfinals in the HL Volleyball Tournament today, and made it look easy.
Green Bay swept Oakland to make the late semifinal match, with Milwaukee. Northern Kentucky swept UIC to make the early semifinal with top seeded Wright State. In both matches the eventual winner pulled away in the first set, and led comfortably in the second and third sets.
The Milwaukee vs. Green Bay semifinal will be a rematch of the regular season finale last Saturday, except it will be on a neutral floor. Milwaukee swept Green Bay in Green Bay, and won in five sets at home.
Northern Kentucky is on quite a roll, having now won six consecutive matches. But they are facing a Wright State team that went undefeated in the second half of regular season league play, so the Raiders have won eight consecutive matches. And the Raiders are at home, where they have not lost a match all year.
If Green Bay (the defending champ) and Northern Kebrucky (who were eliminated from the 2018 tournament by the Phoenix) play tomorrow as well as they did today, the semifinal matches will be entertaining. If they don't, it will probably be the top two seeds in the final on Sunday afternoon.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 23, 2019 16:13:03 GMT -6
Six consecutive wins played eight consecutive wins in the semi-final. The eight-win team had an extra day of rest.
The six-win team, fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky, became a seven-win team with a four-set win over number one seeded Wright State. The statistics indicate that the Norse beat the Raiders at the Raiders's own strategy. Wright State has had a formidable defense all season, finishing near the top of the league in defensive categories like blocks and digs (they led D1 in digs per set). The Raiders finished with more digs, 72-67, but the Norse had a 13-4 advantage in blocks. Another key weakness in the match for the Raiders was at the service line. Wright State had one ace to nine errors; the Norse had five aces to five errors. The Norse outhit the Raiders .280 to .269. The Raiders were holding their openents to .138 per match going in.
The Norse will play in the final for the second consecutive year. Last year they lost to Green Bay. Depending on the result of the Green Bay-Milwaukee semi-final, they may see a rematch.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 23, 2019 20:16:54 GMT -6
The Panthers took some time to get themselves going in today's semifinal match, but prevaled in four sets over the Phoenix, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20, and 31-29, to reach the final match tomorrow.
In the first set, it was all Green Bay early, and the Panthers could not fight their way out of the hole. The beginning of the set was fairly even though a 5-all tie score. Green Bay went on a six point run to make the lead 11-5, then on another six point run to push the lead to 11 at 17-6, when the Panthers started to play better. Milwaukee ran off five points to cut the lead to six, but the Phoenix got two points back. Milwaukee continued to chip away at the lead, but the Phoenix kept getting single points to advance toward 25. The Panthers narrowed the lead to two at 23-21, but the Phoenix were able to get the two points they needed to finish the set. The Panthers committed 11 hitting errors in the set, including six blocks by the Phoenix, and finished the set hitting .135.
Set two was evenly played, with a couple of lead changes, to a tie at 15-all. The Panthers went on a four point run on three consecutive Phoenix hitting errors to a 19-15 lead. The Phoenix then got consecutive points, and Coach Johnson opted for a time-out. The Panthers maintained and re-extended the lead to 23-19, and then a Jenn Dore service ace and a Phoenix hitting error won the set, and the match was tied at one set apiece. The Panthers hit a robust .351 in the set, with only three errors; the Phoenix had six errors in the set and hit only .135.
Green Bay led early in set three, and was up 7-4 when the Panthers went on a scoring run of six points, featuring two kills by Carmen Heilemann and one by Jenna Miller around a Phoenix error, when the Phoenix called time-out, and then two more kills by Heileman to take a 10-7 lead. The Phoenix fought back, tying th score at 16-all and taking a brief 18-17 lead. The Panthers scored the next four points, and seven of the next eight to go up five set points at 24-19. The Phoenix could manage only one more point before an Ari Miller kill put the Panthers up two sets to one. The Panthers had 21 kills to only three errors in the set, and hit .486. It appeared that the Panthers had all the momentum at this point.
The Phoenix would not concede the match, and fought gamely in set four. The Panthers got out to an early 6-3 lead, but the Phoenix took a 7-6 lead with a four point run, then scored two more to take a 9-7 lead. The teams traded short scoring runs from that point, with the lead changing hands several times. Trailing 23-22, the Panthers scored twice on a Shari Volpis kill and a block by Volpis and Jenna Miller to get to match point for the first time. The Phoenix responded with a two point run to get to set point for the first time. The Panthers fought off set point three times, the last time getting to match point a second time at 28-27. The Phoenix then fought off three more match points, when a Green Bay hitting error gave Milwaukee a sixth match point. Jenna Miller ended a rally with a tip to an open spot on the floor to finish things.
Milwaukee displayed the scoring balance that has been its calling card this season, as five players finished with at least 12 kills: Ari Miller (.419 hitting percentage) and Heilemann had 14, Volpis had 13, and Jenna Miller (.391) and Kleja Cerniauskaite had 12. Kylie Wilks had seven kills, two assists, a block, and 13 digs. Dore had a double-double with 35 assists and 14 digs; Rylie Vaughn had 27 assists and seven digs. The Panthers finished with 14 more assists and 20 more digs than the Phoenix. The edge in digs helped overcome a 14 to five advantage in blocks by Green Bay.
I should have known, after watching and listening to the first match of the day, that the play-by-play announcer would be thoroughly biased. In the NKU-Wright State match, he kept talking up the Raiders and bringing up how much trouble the Norse had winning close sets and matches all season. Eventually he had to acknowledge that NKU was outplaying Wright State, and he couldn't spin the final result. Apparently in the second semi-final, he was over-impressed with the Phoenix, especially mentioning their all-league players Taylor Wolf and Maddie Yoss repeatedly. He had all but given the match to the Phoenix in the first set, especially when they got out to the 17-6 lead. He had to backtrack a bit when Milwaukee made the set competitive at the end. And, again, he had to concede that the Panthers were outplaying the Phoenix in sets two and three. I actually turned off the sound for long stretches after getting fed up with his cheerleading.
I am not in any way downplaying the Phoenix. They earned their spot in the tournament, and played an impressive quarterfinal match. Perhaps, having witnessed an upset in the first semi-final, the announcer was hoping for another in the second, which would have set the stage for a rematch of last year's final. The Panthers managed to outlast the Phoenix in the fourth set, and he finally talked about them. It took him most of the match to mention that the Panthers had had a huge turnaround season, winning 17 more matches in 2019 than they had in 2018, and going from being picked to finish seventh (meaning they weren't expected to be good enough to make the tournament) to finishing second. The match win today, he noted at the end of the broadcast, tied the record for total wins (26) in the D1 era for Milwaukee, and tomorrow's final will give the Panthers a chance to set a new record.
That match will be a 1:00 p.m. CST tomorrow, against a red-hot Northern Kentucky team. A Milwaukee victory would be the ninth in program history, which already leads the league.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Nov 24, 2019 20:17:53 GMT -6
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 24, 2019 21:03:16 GMT -6
Any chance they get an at large berth in the NCAA tournament?
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 25, 2019 16:38:06 GMT -6
Any chance they get an at large berth in the NCAA tournament? The Horizon League is stronger this year than it has been in many many years. During the tournament broadcasts, the play-by-play guy mentioned repeatedly that the HL is the seventh ranked conference in terms of RPI. He also mentioned that there were two years, a long time ago, where the HL actually did get two NCAA bids. I hadn't known that, and had assumed that the HL had always been a one bid league. That said, as much as he talked up the League's RPI, he didn't hold out much hope that the League would get multiple bids. I'm not necessarily convinced he knows what he was talking about. But if you look at where the League's teams have ranked in RPI, I'm not sure that a second bid is at all likely. The best rankings have consistently been in the 40s and 50s. If you subtract the auto-bids from the 64 bid total, the number of possible at large bids works against the HL teams. He mentioned that for a team like Wright State or Milwaukee, the results of the various conference/league tournaments would be a deciding factor. The Big Ten has had four or five teams in the Top 25 in both RPI and the Coaches Poll. That likely accounts for several at large bids right there. Last week I watched a very entertaining match between Texas and Baylor, both of whom had spent time at #1 in the Poll. They are both likely at large bids if upsets knocked both of them out of their conference tournament. The selection show is less than two hours away as I type this, and there are sometimes surprises. It will be clear later tonight.
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 25, 2019 19:31:19 GMT -6
the major conferences havent had their tournaments yet.
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Post by nickpanther on Nov 25, 2019 19:38:44 GMT -6
selection show is on December 1st at 730. so we have a week or so to wait.
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Post by skrapheap on Nov 25, 2019 22:31:55 GMT -6
I saw the two-hour countdown on the NCAA site...must have been for a different division. I wonder if Coach Johnson will have the team practice this week on the off chance the selection committee might come calling? I have no guess either way. In the latest RPI ranking, the league tournament semifinalists had the four highest rankings in the League: Wright State at 44, Green Bay at 47, Northern Kentucky at 48, and Milwaukee at 54. NKU moved past Milwaukee with the three tournament victories. A 54 ranking makes an at large bid extremely unlikely, IMO. Wright State is probably still a long shot with a ranking ten places higher. My opinion is, of course, worth every penny you pay for it I will be very happy for any Horizon League team that gets an at large bid, all the more since I think it unlikely. If the league keeps improving in volleyball, it's possible that the HL could become a multi-bid league. More-so than it would be in basketball or soccer. The teams aren't there collectively now, but the trend is encouraging. Milwaukee and Cleveland State are the traditional powers in volleyball. The Vikings had a down year, but I suspect they will be back in contention before too long. Milwaukee bounced back from some down years this year. The Panthers graduate six players, but will return nearly all their top players in 2020. The rest of the league has made strides in recent years. NKU has now made two consecutive tournament finals, and they have a nucleus of young talent. Green Bay has one more year with the Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019, and they also have good young players. UIC was really strong in non-league play, but faded at the end of the regular season. Oakland beat Milwaukee in a tournament final a few years back. Even Youngstown State escaped the cellar a couple of years ago with a senior-dominated team. The potential is there.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 1, 2019 19:59:36 GMT -6
The Good News: the Horizon League got two bids to the D1 Women's Volleyball Tournament for 2019.
The Bad News: Milwaukee is not one of the recipients of a bid.
Northern Kentucky got the auto-bid. They will face Michigan in the first round. The Wolverines finished in sixth place in the regular season in the Big Ten.
Wright State got an at-large bid. They will face Purdue in the first round. The Boilermakers were fifth in the regular season standings in the Big Ten.
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Post by skrapheap on Dec 6, 2019 19:25:24 GMT -6
Northern Kentucky and Wright State had Friday matches in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
Northern Kentucky faced Michigan. The Wolverines swept the Norse, 25-22, 25-15, and 25-22. The Norse played well, but they were facing a more athletic and taller opponent. The Norse hit .131 for the match, and required a .289 performance in set three to get above .100. NKU actually had leads early in each set, and in the first and third sets managed to retake the lead later on, only to have Michigan take back the lead and finish out the set. In set two, the Wolverines went on a long scoring run, and the Norse were not able to recover. The teams were playing at a neutral site, so there was a decent turnout of fans for each team.
Wright State faced Purdue, on the Boilermakers's home court, against probably the largest crowd they've played before all season. Nerves appeared to be a factor in the first set, in which Purdue strung together several scoring runs to win 25-9. The Raiders managed to regroup for set two. A late run gave Purdue four set points, but the Raiders scored consecutive points and the Boilermakers called a time-out. Purdue got a kill to finish the set. The Raiders hit -.065 in set one, and .205 in set two. Set three resembled the first set, except that the Boilermakers did not go on as many long runs. The Raiders called their second time-out down 10 points at 19-9. Purdue's block was very effective, thwarting the Raiders's offense when it wasn't scoring points. Purdue had 13 match points at 24-11, and finished the match on a long rally.
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