So patriotic
(just to break up the monotony in the titles a little….might go back to “gearing up” later)
Once upon a time I was gonna do two of these a week, right? Haha. Yeah, I’ll have to play a little catch-up at some point. But for now, the Patriot League. And the rundown:
America East Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Patriot League
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Big Sky Conference
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Northeast Conference
Big South Conference
Colonial Athletic Association
Ohio Valley Conference
Horizon League
Western Athletic Conference
Southland Conference
Conference USA
The Summit League
Atlantic Sun Conference
American Athletic Conference
Ivy League
Southern Conference
Mid-American Conference
Sun Belt Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference
Big West Conference
Mountain West Conference
Big East Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
Southeastern Conference
Big 12 Conference
West Coast Conference
Big Ten Conference
Pac-12 Conference
The Patriot League is basically the NCAA’s second Ivy League. While they do award athletic scholarships (a recent historical development — Lafayette in 2006 was the last Patriot League institution to begin doing so), they like the Ivy League emphasise the ‘student’ in student-athlete perhaps a bit more than most other conferences. Patriot League teams often play the Ivies in non-league play. The service academies Army and Navy, which probably are at least part of the reason behind the conference’s name, join a few of the Ivies in playing sprint football, a distinctly Northeastern practice. Patriot League teams have turned a few headline-making upsets in the men’s basketball tournament in recent years, but ultimately, they’re not going to be tussling with the Pac-12 for that conference’s nickname.
Two new schools join the Patriot League for 2013-2014. One I’ve already mentioned in this series, as Boston University will depart the America East for the Patriot League. They don’t sponsor volleyball, but Loyola Maryland do. This past season was the final one in a 24-year association for Loyola with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, where their volleyball team this past season were 13-15. Unlike almost all conference changes, neither football nor basketball had anything to do with it — it seems lacrosse was the driving force behind the moves for both Boston and Loyola. Only three “regular” conferences sponsor both men’s and women’s lacrosse — the Patriot League, the Ivy League, and the America East. A lot of schools who sponsor the sport do so through single-sport conferences or associate memberships in other leagues. Loyola won the men’s NCAA championship back in 2012 as part of the ECAC, a conference that makes the MPSF look like a bunch of slackers.
Here were the Patriot League volleyball standings in 2012:
1. Colgate 12-2 (17-14)
2. American 11-3 (21-10)
3. Army 11-3 (20-9)
4. Lehigh 8-6 (12-14)
5. Navy 7-7 (11-15)
6. Bucknell 3-11 (9-20)
7. Holy Cross 2-12 (3-27)
8. Lafayette 2-2 (9-17)
For their successes as regular season and conference tournament champions, Colgate’s reward in the NCAA tournament were eventual national champions Texas. Yikes. The Longhorns of course won the match, by a (25-4, 25-11, 25-15) score that suggests Coach Elliott sat his starters as the match wore on.
The Colgate Raiders had an interesting campaign in 2012. They lost 11 of their first 12 matches, facing strong competition at the UC Irvine invitational (three NCAA tournament teams) but, really, nowhere else. They won 16 of their next 19, with a 12-2 showing in league play to attain them the conference championship. The Raiders had three statistical scoring leaders in 2012. Team captain Michelle McCarthy was one of them, and she departs to graduation. But she’s the only one — she was the only senior on last year’s team. Middle blocker Diane Seely, a sophomore in 2012, exactly matched McCarthy’s attacking rate stats while leading the team in blocking at just under one per set. Senior-to-be Lindsay Young, outside hitter, led the club in kills at a touch under 3 per set. Setter Kaylee Fifer ran the offence most of last season, playing even in the occasional matches started by her understudy Jackie Macy. Libero Caitlin Cremin, another player who will be a senior in 2013, led the team and the conference in service aces a season ago. In terms of conference honours, only Young made the first-team all-league squad, but Cremin, Fifer, and Seely all made second-team. Colgate have added three new athletes to their roster, but with such a solid core remaining from a very good 2012 season, I doubt any of them play much. With five seniors in this year’s roster, those signings have eyes for 2014 rather than 2013.
American University came very close to making the NCAA tournament last year, falling in five sets to Colgate in the Patriot League championship match. The Eagles were a junior-laden team in 2012, which suggests good things for 2013. Morgan Hendrix led the Patriot League in blocks per set a season ago at 1.34, and was the only player above 1, and she’ll return hungry for even more this year in her senior season. Regular setter Kylann Scheidt is the only player gone to graduation, but likewise departed is ‘front-row specialist’ Sara Rishell. She has transferred to UAB after a solid all-around sophomore season. Rishell and libero Allison Cappellino were the only Eagles who played in every match in 2012. Kristyna Lindovska and Kelly McCaddin are probably the next-foremost returners on the squad after Hendrix, the three of them constituting half of the six players who will return as seniors in 2013. The team haven’t highlighted any recruits on their website, so it’s likely those six seniors-to-be will lead the way for American in 2013. The Eagles were the only Patriot League team to hit above .200 on the season as a team, and look to maintain that efficiency this season.
The Black Knights (and is that not the coolest sports nickname ever? Better than Wildcats or Tigers any day) of Army boasted some of the league’s top offensive players a season ago. Outside hitter Ariana Mankus, all 5-foot-8 of her, led the conference in kills by a considerable margin en route to Patriot League Player of the Year honours, but she’s gone to graduation and active-duty service. Setter Mary Vaccaro, last year’s Patriot League Setter of the Year who will be a junior in 2013, was second in the conference in assists last year. Outside hitter Margaux Jarka will probably be the backbone of Army’s offence in 2013, as she along with Mankus played every match and set for the Black Knights in 2012. Libero D.J. Phee posted a flatly ridiculous 5.6 digs per set to lead the conference by a considerable margin, and pace the Army defence which also was tops in the Patriot League by a great deal (three other Black Knights also were better than 2 digs per set on the year, which is all right for defensive support players). While the service academies do recruit for their sports, they obviously have to take more into account than other schools when signing players, so it’s hard to know what new talent might have an impact in 2013. I’d look for their superlative defence (first in the conference in hitting percentage against and in digs) to continue next year even with the loss of Mankus (a terrific two-way player who posted a digs per set total last year that would be acceptable for most liberos). Your odds are always better when the other guys (or gals, as the case may be) have trouble scoring.
Along with conference Libero of the Year honours for back-row specialist Rachel Charles, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks ran a very varied (say that ten times fast) offence last season. Five different players took at least 500 swings, and no one more than 586. It’s a 6-2 offence that strongly emphasises the middle blocker position. Middle Taylor Poole, having been one of them, is the only player to depart to graduation. Expect her role to essentially be filled by sophomore Ana Vrhel, who played in all but one match a season ago, taking 336 attack attempts herself. Another middle, Amanda Clark, led the team in kills per set (Poole led in total kills, as Clark played in about three-fourths of the team’s action in 2012).
Junior Kaylynn Genemaras is listed at setter, but didn’t actually play that position much (if at all) last year, being one of the Mountain Hawks over 500 attacks on the year with just 9 set assists. Dana Raber and Amy Matula, who did the setting, had nearly equal playing time at the position (slightly more for Raber), so I’d expect they will again. The fifth attacker with 500 swings hit that number exactly, outside hitter (finally using that term in this section) Jade Van Streepen. It’s definitely an unorthodox offence, and one that looks like it needs a little polishing as it looks as they were outhit on the season. An extra year under the belts of all of their hitters will surely help. Lehigh have announced an impressive six-player recruiting class, doing introduction pieces on their website for each one of them. Twin sisters Kianna and Taylor Carroll, an outside hitter and middle blocker from upstate New York, highlight the incoming class.
The United States Naval Academy, known as the Midshipmen or ‘Mids’ (and yet that mascot up there is actually a goat….don’t ask me) had the conference’s leader in attack percentage a year ago, middle blocker Alex Cassel. Given that Cassel also had very strong blocking numbers (fourth in the conference), I’m downright stunned that she didn’t make even the second team all-Patriot League team. Outside hitter Erin Fortner, 3.3 kills per set in 2012, made the first team and setter Alex Karika made second team. Karika was also named Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Along with Cassel, Karika and outgoing senior Carolyn Ewert, middle hitter Katie Sylakowski also started every match in 2012. But the Mids suffer an important loss elsewhere, as regular libero Christy Rapp has also gone on active-duty service. Navy’s defence wasn’t very good last year, and only Karika returns as a player to average more than 2 digs per set. J.B. Loomis, a junior this upcoming season, saw significant playing time as a DS last year, but her numbers were unremarkable. She’ll have to step up on defence as just as the whole team will in order to have much of a chance. They allowed a .201 hitting percentage to their opponents, which sounds like it’s still pitifully low until you remember that Colgate were the only team to actually attain that figure themselves on offence. It’s definitely an area for improvement for the Mids.
Bucknell’s former coach Cindy Opalski resigned shortly after last season, in an announcement that by its tone and conspicuous lack of the word ‘retirement’ makes it appear that it was forced. But no matter, time marches on. It would appear that none of the players Opalski recruited have elected to follow her out the door, which sometimes happens in the case of coaching changes, as I can find no evidence of anyone transferring from Bucknell this upcoming year. The Bison were led in scoring in 2012 by middle hitter Kebah Eboho, but she’s now graduated. Her heir apparent was probably Karen Campbell, who as a freshman last year played in every match and set, starting all but one match. They were equal second-best in the Patriot League in blocking a season ago, and Bucknell surely hope that Campbell’s blocking doesn’t fall off with Eboho gone (sometimes it works that way, sometimes not). Campbell also was second on the team in attack efficiency and fourth in total kills — not a bad start to a college career. Outside hitter Claire Healy, likewise a sophomore-to-be, and senior-to-be Jessica Serrato came close to unseating Eboho as team leader in total kills despite not playing in every match (either of them). They’ll no doubt be called upon, barring injury, for fuller contributions this time around.
Bucknell ran a 6-2 most of last season, and only half the setter platoon returns, that being sophomore Meghan Wentzel. With Kat Tauscher gone to graduation it remains to be seen whether Rose Lewis, who saw almost no match action last year, or perhaps an incoming recruit will join Wentzel to reform the 6-2. Bucknell were second in the Patriot League in blocks last year, but were only fifth of eight in attack percetnage against, suggesting at least a slight deficiency in keeping the ball from finding the floor. They were last in the conference in digs per set (although not by a tremendous margin) and regular libero Morgan Mientus was 9th in an 8-team league individually. If the Bison tighten that facet of their game and remain strong in blocking, they could end up making the Patriot League tournament this year.
The Crusaders of Holy Cross (sometimes I have to look up whether a school has religious affiliations….this is not one of those times) had a tough season in 2012, winning just 3 of 30 matches. They lose their top scorer Megan Lynch, their top blocker Callie Black, and their top digger Elizabeth Watters to graduation, so suffice it to say it’s unlikely they’ll have a big turnaround this year. Back-row specialist Julia Gould is the only player who returns having played in every match last year. Her defensive numbers, as she transitions from run-of-the-mill DS to full-on regular libero will have to improve a little for Holy Cross to have any chance to be competitive. But honestly, that goes for every phase of the game. The Crusaders had, statistically, one of the weakest offences in the nation last season, with just a .106 hitting percentage, and less than 10 kills per set. Their defence was also pretty meager, as they allowed a .246 attack efficiency to their opposition on almost 14 kills per set, and they were also out-blocked. High-playing-time returners from 2012 include Emily Oliver and Heather Roberts, though Mary-Kate Short and Alicia Swearingen have been named team captains for 2013, suggesting that playing time may be fleeting. New recruits for the club include setter Katie McKernan, opposite hitter Natalie Welsch, and outside hitter Mandy Sifferlen.
The Lafayette Leopards brought up the rear in the Patriot League last year, losing on a tiebreaker with Holy Cross. But they were probably a slightly better overall team than the Crusaders. They didn’t do much scoring — outside hitter Karissa Ciliento led the club with a rather paltry 2.4 kills per set (the only regular over 2 for the team) — but their back-row defence was among the best in the conference, as they came second in digs. Along with regular libero Michelle Woodworth, the Leopards had two players see time as DS’s, Lauren Pisauro and Melanie Weiss, and all of them are set to return this year. With last year’s primary setter Sarah Frohnapfel gone to graduation, Molly Belcher, a senior this season, will step into the role. Another role Belcher assumes is team captain, together with Ciliento. Blocking is something of a trouble spot just like backbone hitting is. The numbers posted by Danielle Townslee and Katy Rooney, returners both, were decent, but there’s going to have to be an increase in production somewhere to keep the Leopards from again coming last in that department this upcoming season. Lafayette will begin their 2013 season at an invitational hosted by La Salle.
The Loyola Greyhounds join the Patriot League with, unsurprisingly, an athletic program that meshes pretty well with that of the other 9 members. Their fair-to-middlin’ showing in the MAAC last year will probably translate to something very much the same in the Patriot League this year. Senior outside hitter Faye Lukas is undeniably the team’s top front-line option, as she posted 3.6 kills per set last year, which would have been second-best in the Patriot League. Senior middle Jac Bullock also had great offensive numbers, as her kills per set would have been fourth had Loyola been in the Patriot League a season ago, and she would have led the conference in attack percentage by a substantial margin. Back-row defence looks solid as well, with Kara Schiffer and her dead-on 4 digs per set at libero returning for her junior season. The setting also looks like it’s in good shape, as Lauren Andersen comes back from a 10+ assists per set campaign as a sophomore. The weakness for the Greyhounds is blocking, as their team blocking rates would have been last in the Patriot League a season ago. Bullock led the way at .74 blocks per set, which is an okay total for a support player but for a team leader, it really isn’t. But good teams don’t necessarily have to be statistically strong at everything, and this looks like a team that can probably hang with their new competition pretty well.
The verdict?
Of course it’ll be a while yet before we reach any leagues with national significance. Seems like there could be a lot of ‘fun’ teams in this one, though. Lots of teams with similar sorts of strengths and weaknesses, and Lehigh’s unusual offensive formation to top it off. If you see any ESPN webcasts from this league this coming year, tune in — I sure will! From what limited sense I was able to get of these teams, I like quite a few of them.
TNS SWAG:
1. Colgate
2. Army
3. American
4. Loyola
5. Lehigh
6. Navy
7. Bucknell
8. Lafayette
9. Holy Cross
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