Part two of the three-part series giving a little background into the teams in the major conferences in NCAA men’s volleyball.
There’s no particular reason why I went to the MIVA next rather than the EIVA. Neither is particularly more prestigious than the other. Prestige in men’s volleyball is all about the West Coast, and California in particular, which means the MPSF.
But there’s volleyball to be played in the Midwest, too. The team picked to win the MIVA this year is a possibly surprising powerhouse, the Division II Lewis Flyers. Lewis actually won the NCAA championship in 2003, but later vacated it due to recruiting violations. Presumably playing by the rules now, the Flyers are no less a men’s volleyball heavyweight, and are the defending MIVA champions. They return two second-team All-Americans from last season (no mean feat, as only two first-team All-Americans from last season returned at all) in junior setter BJ Boldog (great name) and senior outside Jay Petty. Boldog is a very good blocker for a setter, at .86 BPS, and Petty managed to top 4 KPS while still hitting .318, which is damned impressive. Petty is also a decent blocker, at .65 BPS. The Flyers lost their top blockers from 2012, so they’ll look to 6’9″ Chinese import Yiwei Zhou, junior, and sophomore Sean Nelson to pick up the pace. The Flyers’ biggest advantage last season was their defense, close to a block per set better than the competition and over 100 points better in attack percentage.
The Loyola Ramblers are, by a narrow margin, number two in the preseason MIVA poll. This is an experienced team, with six seniors on the roster. The Ramblers’ top scorer from a year ago is junior outside Joseph Smalzer. Loyola have the best defensive numbers of any team I’ve written about so far, and are led in that department by junior libero Peter Jasaitis, at close to three digs per set (peanuts in the women’s game, but impressive on the men’s side). The Ramblers averaged more than a dig per set better than the opposition a year ago, meaning they’re not afraid to play long rallies. They’re not much of a blocking team, being out-blocked by more than 60 last season, and the next highest scorer after Smalzer to return is Cody Caldwell, who had a not-terribly-impressive two and a half KPS last year. Looks like there’s lots of expectations for new players to step up and for older ones to improve. Moldovan Dainis Berzins joins Smalzer and Jasaitis on the preseason all-conference team.
The team the Ramblers narrowly edged out is Ohio State. Both the Ramblers and the Buckeyes got a first-place vote, so someone voted Lewis second. Losing Shawn Sangrey‘s five kills per set hurts the Buckeyes, so they need someone to step up. That someone would seem to be sophomore outside Michael Henchy, who saw consistent playing time in 2012 and is named to the preseason all-conference team. Senior middle blocker Grayson Overman anchors the Buckeyes’ front-line defense, coming off a very solid 1.27 BPS 2012 campaign. Redshirt sophomore setter Peter Heinen played in all 30 matches last year and will surely, barring injury, do the same this year. The Buckeyes also had good digging numbers a year ago, but most of the players who put them up are gone and returning libero Michael Piechowski was actually one of the lower dig-earners of the bunch.
The second of four Division II schools in the league, Grand Canyon take up the fourth spot in the coaches’ poll. The Antelopes’ top scorer from last year, Belgian Ben Ponnet, does return, but this squad was pretty staunchly average at hitting a year ago. They were pretty average at everything, frankly, being close to opposition totals (either way) in every category. Sophomore “middle hitter” (still not quite sure what that is) Ryan Mather was the team’s third most efficient scorer a year ago, and averaged more than a block per set. There’s reason to believe those totals might go up. Keith Smith was the Antelopes’ lone setter last season, and looks to be again this year, with the only other setter on the roster a freshman (Smith is a junior). Senior libero Trent Bruns looks to improve upon two and a half digs per set in 2012.
Ball State have one of the longest-standing men’s volleyball programs in the NCAA. They and Ohio State were both charter members of the MIVA, the league forming in 1961. They’re picked fifth in the eight-team 2013 incarnation of the conference. The Cardinals hit just .203 as a team in 2012, but held opponents to a likewise paltry .215, as they held their own with a 14-12 season record. Their website curiously lists players as “attackers” rather than “hitters” (and accordingly, the abbreviation OA, which took me a second to figure out). Even though “attack” is the formal term, I’ve never before seen it used as a position name. They don’t list any players as blockers (instead listing them at MA). The top scorer from 2012 was Larry Wrather, who returns, but he had just a .152 hitting mark for the year. He’s quite undersized to play outside (5’11”). Middle….uh, attacker… Kevin Owens might better be considered more of a scoring threat, hitting an even .400 on a not-insignificant 350 total swings, to go with just over a block per set.
The ‘Volleydons’ of IPFW check in at number six in the preseason poll. Puerto Rican Eddie Rivera is the top returning scorer, at 2.7 kills per set, but just a .230 attack percentage. Countryman Ramon Burgos is slightly less prolific, at almost exactly 2 KPS, but well more efficient, at .440, and also averages nearly a block per set. In a statistical oddity, the Mastodons and their opponents had precisely the same number of digs in 2012 – 1,070 aside. Fellow Puerto Rican Omar Rivera (think Coach Ball enjoys recruiting in PR?) was the team’s main setter a year ago and his counterpart has graduated, so he may well be the only setter this year. All told, the Mastodons ran quite even with their opposition in nearly every category, perhaps reflecting their 13-15 season record.
The MIVA’s new team, Lindenwood, are seventh. Just like Cal Baptist in the MPSF, they’re technically not eligible for the postseason this year. And just like Cal Baptist, it probably won’t matter. Again like Cal Baptist, they played a few of their current conference opponents a year ago, but also had some much easier competition. Junior middle Scott Siwicki is the top scorer the Lions return from last season. In slightly limited playing time, Siwicki managed a very good .379 hitting clip on a respectable 285 total attempts. His blocking was a bit pedestrian, though, at just .76 BPS. Logan Jarus led the way there for Lindenwood, with more than a block per set to his credit, and he too hit over .370 for the season (and on 356 swings in his case). The highest scoring outside to return for Lindenwood is junior Michael Adams, but he’ll need to improve his efficiency if the Lions are to turn any heads, as his 2.67 KPS came on just a .208 attack percentage. Lindenwood did out-hit and out-block their opposition a year ago, but it bears repeating that the opposition this year will be tougher.
Sadly bringing up the rear are the Quincy Hawks. They, like Lewis, Grand Canyon, and Lindenwood, are Division II. They were a grotesque 1-11 in the MIVA last year. Four different Hawks had over 200 kills a year ago, and a fifth had 198, so there’s really no one to point to as the team’s top scorer. Only the fourth and fifth out of that group of five, respectively junior middle blocker Stephen Battaglia and sophomore middle ‘hitter’ John Pranger, return for 2013. Chris Lynch, a Lindenwood transfer interestingly enough, will have to step into the role of primary setter despite only occasional playing time in 2012. Quincy are one of the first teams I’ve looked at who seem to be solidly above-average servers, but that’s actually a hallmark of a not-so-great team. They need to do more aggressive serves in order to compensate for faults elsewhere. There’s less risk since, if they shank it into the net, it’s a point they probably would have lost in a rally anyway. So don’t look for too much from this team.
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