I said yesterday there were 22 matches today. That was wrong. There are 27. That’s because the ten teams who won yesterday are back in action for their second-round contests today. A busy slate indeed!
The first match on the virtual airwaves was Colorado State/Purdue, but I didn’t plan to watch all of it, being more interested in Wichita State/Arkansas to follow. Purdue took a solid, fairly constant advantage in this one, winning something like three out of every five points with regularity until set point at 24-18. That’s what you gotta do in indoor volleyball — exploit tiny advantages all the time. Beach is just the opposite — exploiting huge advantages in small windows. Took ’em three tries, but the Boilermakers got the first set at 25-20.
The second set started out much more evenly, but Purdue began to pull away again from 9-8, attaining a four-point lead that prompted the Rams’ timeout. Colorado State were able to close to within one at 15-14 but did not pull even, as the Boilermakers than ran off four in a row to re-establish their lead. They pulled away a bit more for a 25-18 final. I started to regret not paying closer attention to the match as the WSU/UA match wasn’t webcast until the third set.
This was an interesting webcast, because it used what was definitely the regular ESPN graphics package for their volleyball tele- and webcasts, but it didn’t bear ESPN branding. it was just an NCAA thing. It had a commentator, sort of. She was so quiet. I had to turn my speakers up full blast to hear her at all. It made me worry she’d come to full volume at some point and blow my doors off.
Purdue had little trouble closing out the sweep, by the way. They took 10 of the first 13 points in the third set, and Colorado State never got closer than four. The Boilermakers closed it out 25-19.
Finally, I was able to join Wichita State/Arkansas. The Razorbacks took the first two sets, the first more dominantly than the second. Both teams ran their offenses quite efficiently in set three, or failed utterly on defense, depending on your perspective. Both sides were very successful scoring with their middles, and from middle-back positions on back-row kills. At Arkansas’ timeout at 19-15, the Shockers were hitting over .400 on the set and the Razorbacks around .340 — neither side had a hitting error. On 20-17, Jasmine Norton, who came up big at other times, had the first hitting error of the set for the ‘backs, after teammate and 2008 Olympain Roslandy Acosta dug a ball that was a surefire blocking error. The prompted Arkansas’ second timeout. The Shockers put the set away in short order, with kills from Chelsey Feekin and Emily Adney, a double block, and then Ashlyn Driskill ended it quite emphatically.
Ashley Andrade and Elizabeth Field both had big third sets, with each notching five kills without an error. And the Shocker middles continued to tear up the Razorback block early in the fourth set, forcing Arkansas to call timeout after just 7 points at 5-2 Wichita State. The Shockers ran it to 8-3 with more big net presence from Andrade especially. For the Razorbacks, Norton’s big swinging presence drew them back to within two at 10-8. The Shockers took a potentially crucial point on 14-11 as as Feekin was somehow able to redirect an overpass before it went over the net and score a kill that by all rights shouldn’t have happened. The Arkansas coach called time after this, and the exasperation on his face was evident.
Kelsey Banwart came up with a big ace out of the timeout to give the Shockers a five-point lead — what a turnaround. It could have been just one if only a couple of tiny things had gone differently. After siding out on 16-11, Ashley Vazquez came up with an ace of her own to get back to within three, and a rare double contact fault on Feekin made it 16-14 for the Shockers’ timeout. The Razorbacks came out strong out of the timeout to tie the set at 17. Adney and Field kept the Shockers on top with a double block, but Acosta answered from the right side to tie it again. Adney put the Shockers back on top by two with a kill and then an ace from the service line. At 21-19, Norton made what would have been an attack error had Adney not been called for in the net. Feekin got the point back for the Shockers with a perfect overhand dink, but the Razorbacks responded by knotting the set yet again at 22 to prompt the final timeout for the Shockers.
Wichita State was called for a net violation coming out of the timeout, but got the point back the rally after. Adney got them set point with a great kill from the middle. And for once in this tournament, it seemed like a match had a really good crowd in attendance. Way to go Midwest volleyball fans. Katie Reilly sent the match to a fifth set leading a great double block against Acosta, and you can see why I wanted to watch all of this match (if only I could have ).
Neither side was able to seize any sort of advantage in the fifth. Wichita State scored a big sideout at 5-5 to get out of a potentially dangerous rotation in Arkansas’ 6-2 offense with three big hitters in the front row. But they did little with the advantage, tying the match again on the next point with a hitting error. With a double block by Janeliss Torres-Lopez and Liz Fortado the Razorbacks were able to go up 7-6. Field answered with yet another big kill from the middle to it at 7. The 7-all point was everything anyone could have hoped for, eventually ending with the Razorbacks taking the sideout and the slimmest of leads at the side change.
The Shockers sided out first after the side change and then took a “true point” (still not sure that’s a thing people say) with a hitting error from Norton. Arkansas sided out with Fortado from the right side right after, and this immensely even match marched forward tied again.
Play was then delayed for quite some time at 9-9. The Arkansas coach had a long discussion with the down referee, apparently about some sort of atypical substitution. The down official had to consult with the scorer’s table, and there was a lot of standing around after what was at one time a pretty high-energy moment. It sort of killed the moment, and it had to royally suck for the girls on the court. Eventually, Arkansas called a timeout as it seemed that their two middle blockers Amanda Anderson and Summer Morgan who tried to sub in to the front row weren’t allowed to come in. I’m not entirely sure what happened here. After the timeout, Anderson came in but Morgan did not.
Andrade immediately sided out for the Shockers from the right side. She is such a solid player, and versatile for a middle blocker. I may just be becoming a fan of this Wichita State team the old-fashioned way. Arkansas’ Fortado, a freshman playing well in such a pressure situation, returned the favor on the next point. Wichita State took the crucial two-point lead at 12-10 when Norton tried a tip shot that landed wide. Arkansas was thus forced to take their second timeout.
Banwart came up with an ace on the serve after with a shanked pass by the Razorbacks. Norton then hit right into the double block on the left side, with Andrade and Reilly, to give the Shockers match point, and another ace sealed the deal.
Wichita State d. Arkansas (16-25, 25-27, 25-17, 25-23, 15-10)
What an entertaining few sets I was able to see. And curses on the webcast gnomes who were over an hour late getting this match on the virtual airwaves. You play this match 10 times, and it’s probably 5-5. Two talented, likeable teams going at it in this one, with the Shockers moving on. Andrade’s 23 kills to lead the Shockers were a career high. This is a team with just one senior on it (that being Adney). Remember them for next year, and that’s if they don’t make serious noise this year.
I then watched a little of Arizona State/Oklahoma, held at BYU. It didn’t appear that this arena (maybe ‘gymnasium’ would be better) was a very large one. What seats there were were a little over half full. Whoever was playing the music was an obnoxious son of a bitch. Little clips were played after every point. Now, that’s actually pretty hard to do, but it’s also patently unnecessary. I wonder if it’s part of BYU’s home court advantage, because I’ve never heard anyone else do that. The Sun Devils won the first set of the match, but I joined the second with the Sooners up 16-10. They more or less preserved that lead to the finish, tying it at one set apiece. There was no commentator on this stream and I really don’t know much about these teams, so it’s hard to say anything about the action itself.
The next match I watched in depth was Santa Clara vs. Hawaii. This matchup intrigued me very much, as it pitted a strong team coming out of one of the weakest conferences in the nation with a fair/good team out of one of the best. It was a back-and-forth open to the first set, with the Rainbow Wahine getting some big kills from Summer Ross‘ old partner Jane Croson from the left side. They took the first two-point lead for either side at 7-5 after a ball handling error called on the Broncos.
A kill on the right side from Ashley Kastl put them up three despite her hitting the ball right into the tape of the net (it managed to bounce over). Kayla Lommori brought the set even at 8 with a kill and a block on the left side. Croson re-established Hawaii’s two-point lead with back-to-back kills, and Emily Hartong scored a timely sideout for the Rainbow Wahine to get a powerful jump-server off the line. And speaking of jump-serves, Croson’s might be the most powerful I’ve ever seen. It’s certainly the loudest. The Rainbow Wahine ran out to a 3-point lead on Croson’s serve before a net violation got the Broncos out of that difficult rotation. The TV timeout came out at 15-12 Hawaii. It was mostly sideout after sideout from that point on, to Hawaii’s 25-20 first set win.
Interestingly, this webcast was produced by Hawaii. I would have figured it was produced by the Washington people (UW pod). But the commentators were definitely Hawaiian, and they used a phrase the BYU Hawaii people had last night — “aloha ball.” Croson, who was a bad little girl earlier this year, led all scorers in the first set at 8/1/14, for a cool .500 attack percentage.
Hawaii took one of the better points of the match on 5-4 in the second set, scrambling after a wayward ball with a couple of desperate dives to send over a freeball, and eventually scoring a kill. The Broncos coach wanted a double contact call on a libero set just before the kill, protesting pretty vocally, and I have to say I agree with him. Still a pretty impressive, athletic play, though. The Rainbow Wahine rotated into Croson’s powerful serve leading 8-5 and ran to 10-5 before Santa Clara’s timeout.
The Broncos managed to side out at 11-6, but their block proved ineffective on the point after, allowing Hawaii to side out right back. The only way the Broncos were able to score aside from maybe a 1/3 sideout conversion rate was on Hawaii net faults, of which they had several in the match. Santa Clara burned their second timeout down 16-8. Croson and Hartong were hitting so powerfully the Bronco defenders basically had to play everything on reflex, even if it would have flown long. There was no way they could accurately judge that on the floor as the ball was speeding towards them. None. The lead just bloated from there, going up by 12 at 21-9 and 23-12 before set point at 24-12. Katherine Douglas fended off one from the left side, but the Broncos were never going to fend off 12 set points, and the final was 25-13.
Hawaii hit an unreal .677 in the second set, at 21/0/31. That’s jaw-dropping. Croson led the way among individual scorers with 16 kills through two sets — not quite jaw-dropping, but still very impressive.
It was mostly more of the same in the third. Hawaii didn’t pull away like they did in the second, but they still never trailed, with 2 points at 8-6 being the closest Santa Clara got. The lead got as big as 7 at 16-9, never going below 3 after that. The Rainbow Wahine closed out the sweep 25-19. Perhaps the lone bright spot for the Broncos was Taylor Milton, the only Santa Clara player in double-figures in kills. She also led the team in digs, for a double-double.
Hawaii d. Santa Clara (25-20, 25-13, 25-19)
Hawaii played like a team that deserved a seed. If they’ve got a chip on their shoulders for having to play away from home, so much the better for them if this is the result.
I switched over to Louisville/Michigan, a second-round match. Michigan was up 2-1 in sets as I joined late in the fourth. Michigan came out of a timeout at 23-22 and gave Louisville set point to extend it to a fifth, but then fended them both off to get to deuce. I saw a lot more volleyball in the relatively small number of rallies in this set than I might have expected, as it was back and forth, back and forth. The Wolverines kept feeding Molly Toon and the Cardinals likewise Lola Arslanbekova. While Michigan had the answer for Arslanbekova, Louisville fell victim to Toon who scored back-to-back kills from 25-25 to send the Wolverines to the regional semis. Louisville were the first seeded team to lose.
I then flipped around a little, feeling a bit weary of writing, but I have touch on Michigan State/San Diego. Not the match itself, but the asshat doing play-by-play on the webcast. Attention asshat: PA and play-by-play are NOT the same thing. He called everything is a big cheesy ‘announcer voice’ instead of just talking like somebody talking about a sporting event, and it made me want to reach through the computer screen and punch him in the nose. I figure he does PA and not play-by-play regularly, but come on, dude, have you never heard a play-by-play commentator in your life? Even if you don’t do it very well, it’s better than being Announcer Man with every point. Yeech. That was the UCLA pod, so remind me not to watch any more of those matches.
Next I went to Iowa State/North Carolina. Two fun teams to watch in this one. I joined with UNC up 2-1 in sets and looking to finish it off, but oh my word did the Cyclones put on a block party as the set went on. The set was close when I joined but the Cyclone front line just went to town on the — perfectly capable — Tar Heel hitters to leap ahead by the rather eye-popping 23-12 margin. A few sideouts later, it was 25-14 and off to the decider.
Tar Heel middle Paige Neuenfeldt was responsible for the Cyclones taking the first two-point lead at 6-4. She was whistled for a ball handling error, which she protested, and then was blocked yet again on 5-4. Undeterred, though, the Tar Heel front line came back strong to tie it at 6. The teams swapped serve errors to bring it to 7, and the Cyclones took the slim 8-7 lead at the side change. After the side change, Emily McGee whiffed on a couple of opportunities to draw the set even, with the Cyclones eventually taking the critical 2-point lead. The lead extended to 11-8 with a couple of really smart shots on the Iowa State side, with perfect speed and placement. The Heels took the first two points back from the timeout, prompting Iowa State to call time. But the Tar Heels just weren’t able to draw even. A double-hit call on Chaniel Nelson gave the Cyclones match point at 14-12. McGee fended off one, but another double-hit call ended it 15-13
Next I wanted to watch a match in its entirety. The next one starting was, um…Stanford/Jackson State. Early in the day Penn State swept aside Binghamton, with Binghamton not even scoring 25 total points in the three sets. I didn’t imagine this one would be any more competitive.
Let’s put it this way — by the time the play-by-play voice was done running down the starting lineups, it was already 4-0 Stanford. Jackson State burned a timeout after an ace brought it to 6-0. He helpfully noted that one thing Jackson State is quite good at is serving — they lead the nation in aces per set, and Christine Edwards alone averages nearly one per set. But to get there, you have to side out. Once the Lady Tigers finally did, the serve went straight into the net. To their credit, the Lady Tigers came up with back-to-back double blocks led by Mikayla Rolle at 9-3 and 9-4. Karissa Cook scored a service ace on 11-5 with an unusual two-handed serving form I don’t recall seeing before. Truthfully, this one went by the script. The Cardinal ran out to 17-6 at Jackson State’s second timeout. The Lady Tigers finally sided out again at 19-7, but they just barely managed reach double-digits, as 25-10 was the final.
Jackson State actually sided out after Stanford took the first point in the second set, but the aggressive jump-serve they tried didn’t result in a point. 4-1 was a good point, as the Lady Tigers frantically made dig after dig after dig to keep the ball alive, but they never were able to set up an offensive attack. Jackson State burned a timeout down 8-1 in the midst of a run on Madi Bugg‘s serve. They finally sided out on 9-2 to send their best player Paige Williams to the service line, but the ball flew long.
Jackson State were actually able to score on serve a few times, but it never got the point where the outcome was in the slightest bit of doubt — the ‘tightest’ it got since Bugg’s run on serve was 11-6. The advantage hovered around 7-9 for most of the set, and it seemed it was because the Stanford coach emptied the bench. Megan McGehee came in for Stanford at 16-9, having played just 12 sets on the season — and immediately scored a kill. The Lady Tigers called timeout down 21-11, and I’m really not sure why. McGehee in fact scored kills on all of her first four swings to match her with Stanford’s big star Carly Wopat with four-digit attack percentages. Jackson State scored their first ace of the match in the second set to make it 23-17, but even the Cardinal schlubs were able to finish off Jackson State, at 25-17.
Stanford came out with all six of their regular starters to begin the third set. I guess the coach’s mindset was that getting young players championship experience in garbage time is all well and good, but you’ve gotta make it garbage time first. And that they did — running out to an almost instant 5-0 lead on Bugg’s serve. Jackson State finally sided out with Williams at 7-1. It was actually pretty even from there from a while. At 14-7, Jackson State curiously tried to block a serve. Um…you’re not allowed to do that. The Lady Tigers called time at 19-7 to say nice season to one another.
#2 Stanford d. Jackson State (25-10, 25-17, 25-10)
Yeah. Whatever. This match was exactly what you knew it would be. McGehee, by the way, did finish her night at 1.000, with 6 kills on 6 swings (Wopat eventually was dug once and also had an error). Jackson State hit negative for the match, just barely managing to be in the black in the third set (Individually, though, Rolle had an objectively decent match at 5/1/12 for .333). Stanford, on the other hand, hit .375 for the match and .542 in the third. I think they struck a good balance of keeping their starters fresh and in rhythm and allowing reserves some tournament experience (-slash not running up the score).
Once again, this concluded my viewing for the evening in favor of D-II ball, but this time I wasn’t really turning away from anything. All that was left was the final few points of sweep wins for Oregon and UCLA. Nothing too exciting.
Full NCAA Tournament Day Two results
First round matches –
Purdue d. Colorado St. (25-20, 25-18, 25-19)
Bowling Green d. Yale (16-25, 25-15, 25-21, 13-25, 15-11)
Ohio State d. Notre Dame (25-16, 25-21, 25-17)
College of Charleston d. Miami (25-22, 21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10)
Wichita State d. Arkansas (16-25, 25-27, 25-17, 25-23, 15-10)
Creighton d. Marquette (25-22, 25-23, 28-26)
#9 Florida State d. Hofstra (25-21, 25-10, 25-20)
Oklahoma d. Arizona State (20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 19-25, 15-13)
#11 Kansas d. Cleveland State (17-25, 25-10, 25-16, 25-18)
#16 Kentucky d. East Tennessee State (25-9, 25-17, 25-15)
#1 Penn State d. Binghamton (25-11, 25-3, 25-9) The second set was 21-0 before a service error finally got Binghamton on the board. One wonders if a set has ever been 25-0.
#8 Minnesota d. Liberty (25-21, 25-10, 34-32)
Hawaii d. Santa Clara (25-20, 25-13, 25-19)
#14 Florida d. Tulsa (25-9, 25-21, 25-21)
Western Kentucky d. Loyola Marymount (25-23, 25-19, 25-17)
Michigan State d. San Diego (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 18-25, 15-11)
Dayton d. Pepperdine (15-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-9)
#12 BYU d. New Mexico State (25-8, 25-17, 25-14)
#13 Washington d. Central Arkansas (25-13, 25-17, 25-18)
#7 UCLA d. LIU-Brooklyn (25-13, 25-15, 25-12)
#2 Stanford d. Jackson State (25-10, 25-17, 25-10)
#5 Oregon d. Northern Colorado (25-14, 25-19, 25-18)
Second round matches
Michigan d. #10 Louisville (25-15, 22-25, 25-22, 27-25)
#3 Texas d. Texas A&M (25-16, 19-25, 25-19, 25-18)
#4 Nebraska d. Northern Iowa (25-21, 25-16, 25-21)
#15 Iowa State d. North Carolina (25-22, 18-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-13)
#6 USC d. St. Mary’s (28-26, 25-16, 25-19)
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