I wasn’t really sure what to expect today. There’s a lot of matches happening simultaneously today, and even more happening simultaneously tomorrow. There’s no TV coverage this weekend — that doesn’t start until the regional round next week.
The first match I tried to find was Tennessee/Michigan, as I figured it promised to be a competitive match between two pretty evenly-matched teams. And sure enough, there was a webcast. A pretty doggone stable one, actually. It wasn’t just one fixed camera, either. It had at least 2 cameras and several different angles available. The camerawork was certainly TV-quality.
The only problem? There were no commentators or on-screen scoreboard. No commentators, I was ready for, but how can you not have an on-screen scoreboard? Especially when the camerawork is that good. It made it pretty tough to know the context of what was happening in the first set (starting in the second set I began keeping my own score). No commentators means it’s harder to know who’s doing what when you’re not especially familiar with the two teams on the court. You can get by if you have a roster sheet, and I’m aware such things are readily available online, but there’s only so much space on my screen and I don’t have a printer.
The cameras may just have caught bad angles when going for crowd shots, but it sure looked like there were a ton of empty seats, which is sad. This is Louisville’s pod, and the KFC Yum! Center is a huge arena (that’s why they’re hosting the Final Four) but the only people who weren’t among the small contingents of fans that Michigan and Tennessee traveled looked to be the members of the Louisville and Belmont teams. What’s a ticket, ten, twelve bucks? Come on, people. Wait for Twilight to hit Netflix, and go watch some volleyball!
The first set of the match was indeed pretty competitive. The only particularly long run on serve came from the Michigan libero Tiffany Morales. There were lots of long rallies, and both sides had some pretty strong net play. When one side has a long run on serve and the other does not, that first side will win, and that was the case here. The Wolverines got a kill from the right side to end the first set at 25-22.
And since there were no commentators on the webcast, it gave a much clearer voice to the PA announcer. And I can’t help but offer professional critique whenever I see or hear someone do something that I also do. I thought he did a reasonably good job. It might have been nice if he called players’ names on points more often (he generally just said “Point Michigan” or “Point Tennessee” or used the nicknames), but he may not have had a very good vantage point for that. And I imagine he’s Louisville’s guy, so I’m sure he would be more familiar with at least some of the players in the court in the second match.
The Wolverines took control in the second set, but it was mostly Tennessee’s ineptitude that got them there. With a run on serve from Jennifer Cross starting from 5-3 that continued to a Volunteer timeout at 9-3, their back row consistently had troubles with overpasses to the setter. It’s tough to run an offense when you’re also worried about hitting the net, and they had troubles getting an effective attack. And it just got worse from there. The run continued to 12-3 until Tennessee finally sided out with a left-side kill, but good freaking luck coming back from down by 9, basically ever.
During a really long rally on 14-8, it seemed like both sides were out of system quite a bit, flying and diving simply to keep the ball alive. The point finally went to Tennessee after a kill from the right side snuck in the back-right corner of the opposing court. Michigan called time there, and sure it was three straight point for the Vols, but I bet their coach might have called time also to give his players a breather. The point was over a minute long. Five points, at 14-9, was the closest the Vols came in the second set. Michigan got the first three back out of the timeout and it was mostly sideout after sideout from there to the Wolverines’ 25-17 second set win.
The big stars through two sets for the Wolverines were Molly Toon and Lexi Erwin, both in double digits in kills. The Wolverines also held a marked advantage on defense, holding the Vols to a hitting percentage of just .155 and leading on blocks 8-3. Kelsey Robinson and Leslie Cikrafor Tennessee, their two big hitting stars on the season, both had just 5 kills through two sets. Their leader was DeeDee Harrison, with 9 kills on a .400 attack percentage.
At the outset, set number three was more competitive than the firs two had been. Tennessee looked a bit more confident coming back from the locker room, and took their first lead since early in the first set at 3-2, going up two for the first time at 5-3. Tennessee made a gruesome mistake on their serve up 6-5. They got an easy overpass from the Michigan side but did nothing with it, and lost the point. From 8-8, though, they rattled off three in a row to prompt Michigan’s timeout.
After numerous sideouts, Cross’ hitting error put the Vols up by four at 15-11. The Wolverines then ran the score back to 16-14, and finally the match began to look like the even contest I was expecting. Michigan had a great point down 18-14, as they had to scramble to dig a ball and then their setter Lexi Dannemiller sent it over on two with a one-handed punch and completely caught the Vols off guard. Tennessee called time at 18-16. Michigan got the first point of the timeout to close to within one at 18-17, but the Vols ran back out to 23-19 at their second timeout and finished the set off at 25-22.
The fourth set started off evenly, but the Vols ran from 5-4 to 8-4 on the serve of Kayla Jeter to prompt Michigan’s timeout. It seemed like the halftime intermission seemed to really stunt Michigan’s momentum. Cikra came up big in the fourth set with strong swings and blocks. The Wolverines finally sided out at 10-5 with Erwin from the left side. Michigan had a big breakdown on offense when receiving a freeball down 14-10 — it just swooped over the net and fell harmlessly right among 5 different people just standing there looking at it. Those kinds of mistakes will kill you in the NCAA tournament. The Vols ran out to a 6 point lead at 18-12 forcing Michigan’s second timeout, and it was clear just from looking at it that the momentum had shifted. Michigan ran it back to 19-15 at Tennessee’s timeout. The Vols continued to very much out-execute the Wolverines, getting their first set point at 24-18. They converted on their second attempt, after a service error, to set up the race to 15.
Through four sets, Erwin led all scorers with 21 kills, and Robinson led Tennessee with 15, but neither was very efficient, with Erwin hitting at a .230 clip and Robinson just .158. And indeed, Michigan’s team hitting percentage had plummeted to .210, while Tennessee’s rose a little to .184. The Vols actually claimed the advantage in blocks through four sets at 13-10, showing that they really took control at the net in sets three and four.
It seemed a few more seats had butts in them as the match went on. I wonder if people who only bought a ticket for the Louisville match were allowed in as the first match neared its conclusion.
Michigan setter Dannemiller came up when she went back to the serving line at 4-3. With two service aces, the first of which was actually ruled out at first, the Wolverines went up by three to force Tennessee’s timeout. She gave one back with an error after the timeout. Michigan got away with an over-the-net fault on 6-4 and wound up winning the point, a potentially crucial mistake in a match as big and close as this one. The teams switched sides with the Wolverines up 8-5.
Michigan took the first two after the side change to take a big 10-5 lead, with a block and a Tennessee hitting error. Tennessee burned their last timeout there, and made some big inroads after that to close to 12-10 on a double block stuffing Toon. Dannemiller scored on two quick dinks coming out of the timeout to give the Wolverines match point at 14-10. Toon put it away to win it for Michigan and set up a likely date with Louisville in round two.
Michigan d. Tennessee (25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 19-25, 15-10)
Well. After two sets I was sort of regretting picking this match to watch out of the many NCAA webcasts, but it certainly ended up being a barnburner. Since Louisville ought to defeat Belmont easily, they’ll be an even stronger favorite in round two with the Wolverines having played such a long match.
I then watched a little of North Carolina vs. Cal. This one did have an on-screen scoreboard, and commentators. Oh Hosanna! Looks like each site is producing their own webcasts — it’s not an NCAA thing. The Tar Heels took the first two sets, as I would have expected, but the Bears started a long run on serve pretty much right as I started watching. They established a four-point lead quickly and added to it as it went on, taking the third set 25-18. This was at Iowa State’s court, and it didn’t seem like very many people were at this match, either.
The fourth set was quite even and back-and-forth, with the Tar Heels holding a meager 15-13 advantage at the TV timeout (the rule is if more than one match takes place during a session where one or more matches are televised, all matches must afford TV timeouts like the televised match, so I suspect the nightcap in Iowa was on local TV). The Tar Heels came out strong out of that timeout to go up 6 at 20-14, and were kind enough to finish the match out before the next one I wanted to watch in its entirety began.
Early in the San Diego State/St. Mary’s match, it was very much ‘defense need not apply.’ At the time 25 total points were on the board, with the Aztecs up 15-10 for a TV timeout, both sides were hitting nearly .400 with only one hitting error for either. Despite two reasonably local teams (this was USC’s pod), the Galen Center seemed only about a fourth full for this one.
The San Diego State right-side Andrea Hannasch scored back-to-back kills to prompt a charged timeout from the Gaels at 18-11, as it looked like this one wasn’t shaping up to be too competitive. As the set went on, it just looked like San Diego State was prepared for whatever St. Mary’s had to throw at them. The Gaels got the first block of the match at 19-12, but then gave the point back with a net violation. The Gaels took their second timeout at 23-14, and you have to figure their coach was discussing second-set strategy. The Aztecs immediately got set point after a net violation on the Gaels’ side. St. Mary’s, to their credit, staved off three set points to force a San Diego State timeout, but the Aztecs claimed set number one at 25-17 right afterward.
This webcast was annoying, because the pictures were a couple of seconds behind the video. It’s not such a big deal when it comes to the commentators, but the whistles. Before I eventually figured out that the audio and video were desynch’d, I figured some yahoo in the audience right by a crowd mic had brought a whistle. And perhaps you know how disruptive that can be. I eventually just turned the sound off.
The second set was very much back-and-forth. The Gaels took a two-point lead early on, and it stayed steady there for a long while, as they at last went up 3 at 14-11. The big change for St. Mary’s was their serve receive. It was far cleaner in set number two than it had been in number one, giving them more and better opportunities to set their offense. But the Aztecs were executing well, too, drawing to within one at 17-16 before going up for the first time in the set at 19-18. I kept expecting the Gaels to call time as their lead dwindled, and they finally did trailing 21-19. The Aztecs continued with their slight advantage, attaining set point at 24-21. The Gaels came up big to stave off two set points, but the Aztec middle blocker gobbled up an overpass at 24-23 to send her squad to the locker room up 2-0.
Pretty similarly to the second set, the third began with the Gaels taking the lead. Their passing was clean, their hitting sharp, and their blocking solid. But from 12-8, the Aztecs proceeded to run back five in a row to go up a point for the first time in the set, prompting the Gaels’ timeout. The St. Mary’s coach sure seemed to like to wait to take his timeouts. The Gaels’ middle made sure to score coming out of the timeout, with an emphatic kill to tie it at 13. From there, the match was dead even for a while, with the St. Mary’s outside hitter Kristina Graven just coming up with kill after kill. A service ace off the hand of San Diego State libero Kristi Jackels got the Aztecs the two-point lead at 20-18. They extended it to 21-18 and the Gaels called time.
After siding out, the Gaels tied the set on the serve of their libero Anna Schroeder, with an ace to knot it in an interesting mirror image of the run that preceded the timeout. The Aztecs called the last timeout of the set for either team with the Gaels up 22-21. The run extended to the Gaels’ first set point at 24-21. It took them three tries, but St. Mary’s stayed alive at 25-23.
The Gaels took the first two-point lead of the fourth set at 10-8 after a hitting error from the Aztcs’ right side. So it was a very even run to begin it, though it wasn’t strictly sideout after sideout. The Aztecs called time after the next rally resulted in a big double block on the Gael side. The Aztecs went on a 4-1 run out of the timeout to draw the set even at 12. San Diego State was able to go up two at 17-15 with an all-too-easy overpass for the middle to smash home. The Aztecs varied their offense nicely — it didn’t look very many swings were coming from the same hands. St. Mary’s finally took their first timeout of the set trailing 20-17. The Gaels ran it back to 21-21 ahead of the Aztecs’ timeout, as the Gaels’ left-side hitter Graven was suddenly able to shred the Aztec block.
The jump-float serve from Jordan Shaw gave the Gaels the lead on the point after the timeout, and she added a second ace on a baffling reception error on the Aztec side. Gabby Jolly and Lauren Corp came up with a double-block on the right side to make it set point for the Gaels at 24-21. Jolly finished it off from the middle at 25-22, to send it to another fifth set. Do I know how to pick’em, or what?
The Aztecs took a quick timeout in the decider after just four points were played, with St. Mary’s up 3-1. The Aztecs drew even at 3 after the timeout. Serving up 4-3, the St. Mary’s server shanked it so badly it nearly went under the net entirely. The teams traded little 3-point runs. They switched sides with St. Mary’s up 8-6 after a tip attempt from the Aztecs’ right side failed to clear the net.
The Gaels’ lead extended to 10-7 with a weird shot from the middle that didn’t look like she hit it squarely, but that actually provided for an unusual spin on the ball that made it hard to defend. That prompted the second Aztec timeout, and they got a big sideout from the left side with Raegan Shelton. Back-to-back hitting errors from the Gael left-side Jolly, with a bad set to follow making it 11-10 Aztecs. A hitting error from the right side got the Gaels the sideout they needed to make it 11-11 and a race to 4. The Aztecs won a long rally on 11-11 with a cross-court kill from the left side with Shelton. The Gaels picked up consecutive blocks to go up 13-12.
The Gaels played an unbelievable point on 13-12. The ball got to the scorer’s table, and the Aztecs — quite understandably — looked like they thought they had won the point. But no. The Gaels pursued it and with a couple of one-handed hits, including one where the Gael in the back row was facing backwards and was 5 feet off the court, knowing she had to get it over with just that one hit, did so. It was effectively an overpass for the Aztec front row to chomp up, but they hit the ball wide to give the Gaels match point. And then this great match ended very anticlimactically, as the Aztecs were called for a net violation to end it.
St. Mary’s d. San Diego State (17-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-12)
Whoo. This was a barnburner. The Aztecs looked like solidly the better team in set one, but credit the Gaels and their coaches for making adjustments between sets and at halftime. It was much more competitive in sets 2 through 5. Not sure that bodes too well for the Gaels’ chances against USC, but it beats the alternative for them.
And that was the last D-I match I watched on the day. You’ll notice I didn’t report on any matches involving seeded teams. That’s because I figured today (and the first-round matches for seeded teams tomorrow) they weren’t going to be too competitive. I watched a few points of Texas/Colgate waiting for another match to start, and it was just brutal how bad the Longhorns were winning. You’ll see when I give a rundown of linescores below. Now, Iowa State nearly made me look a fool for swearing off seeded teams, as they had to come back from down 2-1 to beat IPFW, and Belmont did take a set from Louisville, but otherwise, it was brutal. I’d rather watch a D-II match, since their tournament started today too, and as it just so happens I did.
Full Day One NCAA Division I tournament results
Texas A&M d. North Carolina State (21-25, 25-12, 25-23, 25-20)
Michigan d. Tennessee (25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 19-25, 15-10)
Northern Iowa d. Kansas State (25-18, 25-13, 25-21)
North Carolina d. California (26-24, 25-23, 18-25, 25-16)
#10 Louisville d. Belmont (21-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-21)
#4 Nebraska d. Maryland-Eastern Shore (25-14, 25-10, 25-18)
#3 Texas d. Colgate (25-4, 25-11, 25-15) Yeah
St. Mary’s d. San Diego State (17-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 15-12)
#15 Iowa State d. IPFW (25-11, 23-25, 22-25, 25-13, 15-7)
#6 USC d. Fairfield (25-8, 25-11, 25-10)
The other 22 first-round matches are tomorrow, promising an even busier day than today was.
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