Detoo
They should just not schedule start times during volleyball tournaments. Or they should just admit that they're subject to change. I know, I know, anyone with a base of knowledge in the sport should know that already, but it's irritating to tune in to a match you expect to start at 9:30 and OOPS LOL the first match went 5 sets so come back in half an hour.
Such was the case this for my Vikings this evening. Damneded Hawaii and their being 2 hours behind my time zone. I work mornings, so just staying up until 9:30 already has me bleary-eyed. In other words, if this post makes as much sense as the movie The Number 23, you'll know why 😛
But it gives me time to give a little rundown of the BYUH Seasiders. This is a really, really good team. They have three losses on the year — Concordia-St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota State, and Hawaii. Yeah, D-I Hawaii. Everyone else they've beaten, and for the most part it hasn't been close. Yesterday against UC San Diego they got their 22nd win of the season in four sets. 22nd win, and just the fourth that wasn't a sweep. The Seasiders boast three Taiwanese imports on their roster, namely outside hitter Erh Fang "Ariel" Hsu, hitter/blocker Shih Ting "Stella" Chen, and setter Ying Chung "Michelle" Chen. The Chens are not directly related. All three are sophomores. Michelle Chen was one of just two Seasiders to start every regular season match, and is the only setter the Seasiders use on a regular basis. Stella Chen averages a whopping 4.4 kills per set, good for ninth in the nation. Ariel Hsu is more of a blocker by the numbers, averaging just under a block a set on the season.
The other big scoring threat for the Seasiders is senior middle blocker Courtney Skaggs. She's fairly pedestrian as a hitter, averaging 1.5 kills a set, but she averages nearly that in blocks a set, too. Lauren Hagemeyer, the other Seasider to start every match, is also a threat on the BYUH side of the net, averaging 3.5 kills and about a block a set. The Seasiders are a massively better blocking team than their collective opponents have been this season, as they have out-blocked them more than 2 to 1. Oh, and did I mention their .335 team hitting percentage is tops in the country?
So our girls have their work cut out for them tonight, but it's not like the mountain is unclimbable. For instance, they're #1 in the nation in hitting percentage, and we're #11. And we could have a marked advantage on defense. We're #40 in the nation in digs per set, which isn't outstanding or anything, but it is better than their mark of #187 in the nation. Of course, when you slam the ball home on one set of contacts, you don't have the opportunity for that many digs.
In that old chestnut "if you play it ten times…" I think BYUH probably win seven, maybe eight. But we're not playing ten times. We're only playing once.
From 2-2, our side ran off three straight points on the serve of Emily Cotter, with two hitting errors on the Seasider side and a weird ace where no one seemed to even try to play it getting us there. Skaggs, though, easily sided out on the next point. At 5-3, our girls at the net made a bit of a mistake judging a ball to be an overpass when it really wasn't, leaving a pretty wide open lack of block for the Seasider hitters. Encouragingly, though, there was a lot of trading points going on (though not strictly sideout after sideout), until the Seasiders tied it at 7 behind Ariel Hsu. The Seasiders looked just fine playing long rallies needing digs, so perhaps my counterpoint above about not having many opportunities for digs was on point.
I thought for sure Marlayna Geary had a kill at 9-8, but the Seasiders miraculously kept the ball alive and wound up scoring on a dig. After two service aces by Michelle Tevaga, Coach Flick called time. A net violation got the Vikings a sideout, and Geary's big serve appeared to get the Seasiders out of system, but, uh….nope. Man Michelle Chen is a heck of a good setter. Having to run for a ball and slide on her knees to set it, it was still in perfect position for her hitter to get an easy kill. The commentator, a BYUH person, said she was the best setter he could ever recall playing for the program, speaking with 30 years' experience.
BYUH extended their lead to 5 at 16-11 with a one-hand tip from Hagemeyer. At 17-12, a net violation was called. I thought the call was the right one, it just went against the side I wasn't expecting. It appeared that our middle touched the net, but the call went against BYUH. The Seasider coach and on-court captain both briefly protested the call, but it stood. Western took their second timeout after a Courtney Skaggs service ace to make it 19-13, and….wow, this is a good team. The BYUH front line just kept up the pressure as the set went on, taing it 25-15.
Hagemeyer got the Seasiders out of the gate strong with back-to-back kills to start the set, and they ran out to a 5-2 advantage pretty quickly following a Geary hitting error. On Laurie Yearout's serve, however, the Vikings drew it even at 6, her run culminating with a very nice service ace. The Seasider front-line, though…jeez. It opened up another three-point edge pretty quickly at 11-8, with Coach Flick calling time again at 12-8.
Geary and Kayla Erickson started hitting much better after the timeout, drawing the set to within one at 13-12 before the Seasiders were able to sideout again. Again on 15-14 I found myself "No friggin way" as the Seasiders kept another surefire Geary kill alive. The Seasiders added two more to make it 18-14 at Western's second timeout. Whatever they discussed worked, as the match drew even behind Erickson and Geary, and the Seasiders finally not keeping a ball alive, to draw even at 19 and force BYUH to call time down 20-19. The set drew even out of the timeout, behind Skaggs and Hagemeyer on the BYUH side, and remained largely even as the two sides traded points. Tavonga got the Seasiders back on top at 23-22, getting the 'siders a big point in a bad rotation for them as it was the first point after Skaggs rotated out. Geary then got a big sideout for the Vikings to get our side back into a favorable rotation (namely, with Marlayna in the front row) and then got another kill to get to set point at 24-23. BYUH burned their second timeout here to ice the server.
Despite the fact that they had to know it was coming, it was Geary who took the last swing of the set to send it to intermission tied at 1-1.
In a blink, our girls went up 4-0 in the third set. Kelsey Moore, along with Geary, was swinging huge. Hagemeyer sided out for the Seasiders at 4-1, which followed with the match of the point won by our front line in a joust. The Seasiders then rattled off three in a row to get to within a point at 5-4 before drawing even at 6. The set was quite even for a time from there, mostly trading points. Hagemeyer finally got the Seasiders to a two-point edge at 12-10 with her kill. Skaggs and Hagemeyer combined for a block double to make it 13-10 afterward. They ran it to 16-11 before Coach Flick called time. The advantage extended to 6 at 18-12, and 20-14 at the second timeout for Western. Geary just kept firing, but the Vikings couldn't really chip into the deficit. The Seasiders took the third 25-17.
The Seasiders went out early in set four, but good grief Marlayna was bound to sleep well tonight, with swing after swing after swing after swing. A run on serve from Yearout, plus an ace from Geary herself, put the Vikings up a point at 9-8. From 11-10 in the Seasiders' favor, Erickson asserted herself with three straight kills, finding the seams in the Seasider block. BYUH, with Hagemeyer, ran off three of their own in response to go back up 14-13. They re-established their two-point lead at 16-14, and Coach Flick used a timeout down 17-14.
At 21-17, Coach Flick inserted Bailey Jones. I wonder what the point was, because after the Seasiders sided out, she came back out again. And at this point our girls really started to look defeated, sorry to say. Except Marlayna. She sure did go out swinging.
#1 BYU-Hawaii d. #4 Western Washington (25-15, 23-25, 25-17, 25-18)
Congratulations on careers to be proud of, Laurie and Marlayna.
This sucks, but it's not heartbreaking like it was in 2007 when we lost in the national championship match. This was one incredible team we ran into tonight, and they've got my respect.
Maybe not enough respect to watch tomorrow's match, because I do enjoy my sleep, but I doff my imaginary cap to them. And the scary part is how young this team still is. They're gonna be really good for another two or three years, at least.
Full NCAA Division II Tournament Day Two results
Southeast regional
#4 Tusculum d. #1 Armstrong Atlantic 3-1
#2 Wingate d. #6 Newberry 3-0
Central regional
#1 Concordia-St. Paul d. #5 Minnesota-Duluth 3-0
#3 Nebraska-Kearney d. #2 Southwest Minnesota State 3-1
West regional
#1 BYU-Hawaii d. #4 Western Washington 3-1
#3 Cal State-San Bernardino d. #2 Grand Canyon 3-2
South Central regional
#4 Angelo State d. #1 Regis (CO) 3-0
#2 West Texas A&M d. #3 Colorado Mines 3-1
Midwest regional
#1 Indianapolis d. #5 Ferris State 3-0
#6 Hillsdale d. #7 Ashland 3-2
East regional
#1 New Haven d. #4 NYIT 3-2
#2 Bridgeport d. #3 Adelphi 3-2
Atlantic regional
#1 Wheeling Jesuit d. #4 Clarion 3-2
#3 California (PA) d. #2 Gannon 3-1
South regional
#1 Tampa d. #5 Florida Southern 3-0
#3 Palm Beach Atlantic d. #7 Christian Brothers 3-0
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