They put the CAA in NCAA….
Here’s a chance to vary the content a little, in the midst of the beach volleyball world championships. We knock another conference off the list in this possibly vain quest to visit them all prior to the season’s commencement late next month. Here’s 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 Colonial Athletic Association began life as the ECAC South basketball league. The ECAC, for reference, is a conference for which the word scarcely does it justice, as they’re like the MPSF on steroids (ehh…maybe a bad analogy). They sponsor pretty much every sport there is for over 300 member institutions across all three NCAA divisions — a colossal safety net if teams have no other options to field the sport in question. Anyway, the CAA as we know it today dates back to 1985, when other sports were first sponsored.
It’s a pretty transitory conference. Only two charter members remain having had uninterrupted tenures (a third, Towson, are a charter member, but they left and came back two decades later). They were influenced by the conference moves of this year (and yes, it’s now “were” rather than “will be,” these moves became official first of this month).They’re at a net minus of two, losing George Mason, Georgia State, and Old Dominion, while adding the College of Charleston. This, incidentally, gives the league two 2012 NCAA tournament teams, as Charleston were the Southern Conference champions last year. (The SoCon added no one this year, so they won’t have a team from last year’s tournament)
Here were the year-end volleyball standings in the CAA last season (the conference includes one school, Drexel, which does not sponsor volleyball):
1. Towson 12-0 (25-4)
2. Northeastern 9-3 (20-7)
3. Delaware 9-3 (16-14)
4. Hofstra 6-6 (21-14)
5. William & Mary 5-7 (13-14)
6. James Madison 5-7 (13-16)
7. UNC Wilmington 3-9 (11-17)
8. George Mason 3-9 (5-20)
9. Georgia State 2-10 (4-20)
The Hofstra Pride turned a pretty big upset in the conference tournament, knocking off the previously unbeaten-in-conference Towson in a five-set semifinal. The final win over Delaware was also a five-setter, giving CAA volleyball fans a big treat. I therefore thought they were probably one of the shakiest entries in the NCAA tournament. They drew ninth-seeded Florida state, and lost (25-21, 25-10, 25-20).
Towson made the argument against conference tournaments in college volleyball. They were pretty much dominant in the Colonial regular season last year, finishing at the very top of several team rankings and near the top of most others (though they were oddly low in the defensive rankings). But one bad day, and their season ended. I briefly considered pencilling them as an at-large in my bracketology, but ultimately their RPI was just a little too low (75) for it to really be a realistic possibility. Theirs was the only RPI in the double-digits in this conference at year’s end.
It’ll be a new look for Towson this year, that’s for sure. The team had seven seniors last year, and six of them saw action in at least 70 of the team’s 103 sets. (Probably the only reason the seventh didn’t is because she was the second-string setter for a team running a standard 5-1) There’s also a change in head coaching, as former Maryland-Eastern Shore coach Don Metil takes over the position previously held by Bruce Atkinson, who if you’ll recall is the new top man at Winthrop out of the Big South. And we’ve closed the loop.
Curiously, the team’s website hasn’t mentioned anything about incoming recruits, so we can only look at retained players to see who might have an impact in 2013. Outside hitter Dayane Van Ass (how unfortunate….I can just imagine the cheeky college boy puns) is the only senior on the roster this year. She played in all but one of the team’s matches last year, starting 18. Libero Paige Sekerak is the only other returner to have had substantial playing time last year.
It’s a rebuilding year for the Tigers, no question about it. Their season begins 30 August at an invitational hosted by Virginia Tech. They play three 2012 NCAA tournament teams in their non-conference, most notably Michigan State.
The Northeastern Huskies return the 2012 CAA Player of the Year, senior-to-be at outside hitter Kelly Bacon. Bacon’s success at that position is remarkable, given that she stands a scant 5-foot-7. In no area was she outstanding, but in pretty much all of them she was solid — scoring output, efficiency, serving, defence, blocking, all of it at least decent. You don’t often see that in one player. Northeastern return most of their roster from last season, losing two seniors to graduation and one to transfer, but it’s this year that they’ll have their big peak, with seven seniors on the roster, Bacon among them.
Libero Natalia Skiba, erroneously listed as an outside hitter on the CAA end-of-year conference report, is the other returner who attained all-conference honours in 2012. She was second in digs per set and third in service aces per set in the Colonial a season ago. Setter Ina Kamenova returns having played in every match and all but one set last year. The Huskies ran a fascinating 6-2 last year, with Kamenova setting pretty much exclusively (just 13 kills over the course of the season) but her counterpart, the now-transferred Jillian Briner, racking up 5.7 assists per set and 2.2 kills per set. Doesn’t look like they’ll go back to that well, as Kamenova is the only player listed at setter on the team’s roster, but you never know.
Northeastern have five incoming freshmen this year — three pin hitters, a middle, and a back-row specialist. The Huskies begin their season 30 August at an invitational hosted by Dayton. The Flyers are one of two 2012 NCAA tournament teams on the docket for Northeastern in their non-conference — the other is San Diego State.
I’ve always been a touch surprised that this team doesn’t have separate nicknames for their male and female teams. Although the male equivalent of a Hen yeahletsnotgothere
The Delaware Blue Hens, who as you may recall once counted WNBA star Elena Delle Donne among their number, are somewhat caught in between this season. They lost some big talent to graduation, a first-team all conference outside hitter and a second-team middle, but they’ve also got some of the best young returners of anyone in the league. Setter Mackenzie Olsen and libero Ariel Shonk were both members of the CAA all-freshman team last year. Olsen is the only returning setter to average 10 assists per set last year, and she hit that number exactly — 1,090 assists in 109 sets. Shonk led the conference in digs per set, at 5.68. This was actually only good enough to get her named to the third all-conference team overall, which seems a little stingy by my book.
Longtime Blue Hens head coach Bonnie Kenny has announced a six-player incoming class, some of whom will surely redshirt this season. They number three pin hitters, two setters, and a libero. It’s slightly surprising that they wouldn’t bring in at least one middle, but they may have tried and not found one suitable. There are only three on the roster this year, one of whom is a senior. Delaware don’t typically emphasise the middle in their offensive sets, but they have to have someone there.
The Blue Hens have not announced their 2013 schedule.
Hofstra arrived perhaps a year ahead of schedule last season. Most of their team returns for 2013 with NCAA tournament experience behind them. In a conference full of so-so blocking teams, Hofstra will probably have the edge. They return the top blocker from the Colonial in 2012, Adama Aja, and she will still only be a junior this year. They also return the conference’s top scorer, outside hitter Kelsie Wills, and she too will be a junior. Big, big strengths there this year and next.
The big question will be at setter. Second-team all conference setter Catalina Charry is really the only major loss to graduation for the team from last year to this. Her likely replacement is a transfer, ex-Dayton setter Kaitlyn Krause. There is one player retained from last year who is listed at setter, junior-to-be Jordan Clingan, but she played just a single set last season. The Pride also graduated a libero, but she was middling in the conference rankings, and with Corrina Delgadillo matching her playing time as a DS I don’t think much will be lost there, if anything.
Hofstra begin their season 30 August with a home invitational. To my mild surprise, they don’t have any particularly strong teams slated for their non-conference, so they should reasonably expect to win just about all of those matches.
There’s a nickname I’m kinda surprised still exists.
The William & Mary Tribe didn’t sustain heavy losses from last year to this, graduating only two supporting players. But it could quite rightly be said of the team last year that everyone was a support player. Their leading pin hitters had offensive swing totals typical of middles at other schools, and they had no standout defender either. They do return their leading blocker, sophomore Carolyn Albright, who will be a sophomore this year.
With production in all areas, and indeed playing time itself, so profoundly spread out last year, it’s difficult to call anyone out. No one played every set of the season, though DS Devin Andrews-Lyssy only missed two. Kills leader Paulette Grand Pre was the only other returner, with Andrews-Lyssy, to play in all 27 matches, starting 23. The team gave time to two setters last year, but both are actually gone now. One was a now-graduated senior. The other, Carolina Rivas, was only a sophomore last year, but she’s not on the roster this year and I can’t see that she’s transferred anywhere either. So that’s one question mark for the team. Incoming freshmen Paige Lucas and Stephanie Paul may well form a similar rotation this year. The team recognise back-row player Gabrielle Pe as their most-decorated recruit for 2013.
The Tribe start their season 30 August with a home invitational. They play a few big conference teams in their non-conference, but no one who made the NCAA tournament a year ago.
The James Madison Dukes have eyes for the future. They’ll only have one senior this season, libero Katie Daorai, with much bigger graduating classes in ’14 and ’15. This year, though, may be a lean one. The only all-conference returner they have is outside hitter Meghan Niski, who made the all-freshman team. She played every match and almost every set, notching 2.3 kills per set and a very serviceable 2.5 digs per set as a six-rotation player. Middle blocker Lizzy Briones, who narrowly missed posting a conference-qualifying block per set, returns as a junior having also had extensive playing time a season ago.
The Dukes had a pretty solid contingent of support players last year. Nothing like William & Mary, a team basically made up only of supporting players, but five different Dukes played in at least half of the team’s matches last year in addition to their core of six regular starters. Most of them will be back this year with those experiences behind them. Four incoming freshmen also bolster the ranks, and continue the team’s long gaze to the future. James Madison begin their season 30 August at an invitational hosted by Virginia. They play two NCAA tournament teams in their non-conference — North Carolina and Cleveland State.
The UNC Wilimington Seahawks are the lowest-ranked team from last season that return to the Colonial this year, as George Mason and Georgia State have moved on to other leagues. They’ll have four seniors this season and have an impressively large roster altogether, with 19 players listed on it. Presumably some of the six new freshmen, three of whom were highlighted on the team’s website, will redshirt. Maybe all six will.
Somewhat surprisingly for a team this low in the order, the Seahawks do have a standout returner. Right-side hitter Christi Laite was second-team all CAA, and she led the team in scoring output. She’ll return as a senior this year. I’d look for a big season from junior middle attacker McKenzie Keightley as well. Keightley was second in the conference last year in both attack efficiency and blocks per set. Tough to do any better than that, so it’s maybe a little surprising that it didn’t amount to even a third-team all conference nod. Laite’s partner-in-crime on the left-side pin, Morgan Kline, also returns. The two formed a reasonable 1-2 punch last year, both at about two and three quarters kills per set. The Seahawks ran a 6-2 last year, and one of those setters, Victoria Phillips, returns. There are two incoming freshmen at setter, and either could re-form the 6-2 with Phillips this season.
Really, it’s tough to identify why this team lost so much last year, because at a glance I can’t find any particularly glaring problems with them. Their season begins 30 August at an invitational hosted by the United States Naval Academy. Their biggest opponent in their non-conference is probably Alabama.
The new kids on the block are the College of Charleston Cougars, fresh off their NCAA tournament appearance as champions of the Southern Conference a year ago. They’re actually the first team to be profiled in this series who won a tournament match, something which I meant to delay by the ordering scheme I’ve employed, but no matter. Their five-set win over the Miami Hurricanes was not the first NCAA tournament victory in their history, but it was an unexpected upset over a nationally-ranked squad. The Cougars didn’t dominate in the SoCon last year, but they did enough to get a good seed for their conference tournament, which they (obviously) saw through.
The Cougars are in line for another big season. Just two seniors left them a year ago, one their regular libero and the other a supporting-role outside hitter. With a small departing class, Charleston also have a small incoming class — just three players.
Big-time returners include first-team all SoCon outside hitter Darcy Dorton and second-teamer Sloane White. Outside hitter Melissa Morello also made the all-freshman team. A further outside hitter, Emily Neideffer, and a middle blocker, Kerstin Koehler, also return having had strong seasons in heavy playing time last year. Setter Taeler Davis immediately slots in as the most prolific setter in the league.
Simply put, this team is going places. Their season starts — say it with me now — 30 August, at an invitational hosted by Georgia Tech.
The verdict
There’s a lot of strong teams in this league. There’s gonna be some good teams that wind up with motley records, and there might well be another low seed to win the conference tournament. Dare I even suggest it, but this conference might even end up in at-large consideration. It’s certainly the first time in this series I’ve even thought that to be possible.
TNS SWAG
1. College of Charleston
2. Hofstra
3. UNC Wilmington
4. Northeastern
5. Delaware
6. William & Mary
7. Towson
8. James Madison
And I don’t really even think that lowly of the teams in the bottom half of the SWAG. This is gonna be a good league this year.
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