The volleyball team traveled to the Dunes to take on The Fighting Irish in spring ball and came away with a 3-2 win.
Quote from: original sin on April 06, 2014, 06:57:43 AM
The volleyball team traveled to the Dunes to take on The Fighting Irish in spring ball and came away with a 3-2 win.
:clap: :dance:
Emily Chittum (S/DS), Sophmore from Texas will not be returning this fall. Reasons are unknown.
Hard to say if this will hurt us or not, as FR rarely play within Coach Avery's system (6 sets played in 4 matches last year), unless they are an absolute star from the beginning. We don't have much turnover in our volleyball group, and we have other quality players, so this doesn't worry me. The only star I remember losing was when Amy Palash transferred to the Illini after her SO year.
Edit: I went to her Facebook page, and there isn't anything there that says anything of value. Looking at her page, it makes me so afraid to have a daughter in the future, though I do want one now that I have a son. Her page is very much what teenage girls post nowadays, lots of bikini pics and guys telling her how hot she is. I do not look forward to this aspect of possibly having a daughter...
Just raise them well.
My wife has already decreed that our daughter won't ever be playing volleyball simply because of the ridiculous uniforms--and she's right.
Beach Volleyball, right LAA? That's where they wear bikinis.
Yeah, that's even worse.
I do mean gym volleyball. There's no reason they have to play in their underpants indoors.
REALLY! Well let's all thank God that there are no wrestling or swim teams to also cast impure thoughts into impressionable minds.
Actually, swim trunks are more modest these days than some other sport uniforms. When did you ever see a female swimmer in the Olympics don a bikini? And cf. the male swimmers' tendency away from the Speedo to the more aerodynamic suit (although for a while it seemed guys would just wear whatever Phelps wore to be 'like mike').
Face it, form should follow function, not pander. If volleyball uniforms were really necessary for performance, then why do female basketball players actually wear shorts instead of underpants? Basketball is not nearly as confined or confining a sport...
Then there's today's female track uniforms. Long sleeve, crew neck volleyball uniforms are conservative in comparison.
Well, I let it slide in the previous post, but I can't twice:
"Well, so-and-so does this-n-that" is not an acceptable argument when we're not talking about so-and-so.
If we're talking about whether Scott Brown should have done the some stupid things he did when he was younger, you can't say "Well, Ted Kennedy basically killed a girl and got away with it!" simply because they were both Massachusetts senators. It's asking your beautician to become a ginger: you're committing a red hair-ing.
(Besides, if very few people care about volleyball, even fewer give two @#% about female track. There are probably more VU football fans than women's track aficionados. Thus, I haven't seen the uniforms to even know whether to complain about them. Then again, I didn't say I wouldn't allow my daughter to run track--I said I wouldn't allow her to play volleyball on teams that declare pants to be a hindrance. See the previous paragraph.)
If volleyball "shorts" were necessary to performance, then other sports would wear them too. I've seen more coverage from a VU defensive backfield versus Grand Valley State circa 1990.
Volleyball uniforms aren't that much different than what most girls wear every day - yoga pants.
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The schedule is milquetoast at best. Twenty wins should be a given with coaching and talent.
That was my thought as well, but I also thought, maybe this schedule will enable Carin to: focus on the HL, keep the whole team fresher for the HL season by allowing her to play more kids more often and be more competitive in the tournament. Does that make sense?
Well, the Volleyball team isn't likely to make the sports "playoffs", as they did with a win over Iowa last year. Somehow consecutive wins of Campbell, Wofford and NC Central doesn't quite have the same ring.
But the slam on the program is that the season record is good, but we never seem to win the HL. There is no RPI in volleyball, so maybe this is a strategic adjustment to get to where we need to be to get into the NCAA 1st round. Just wondering.....
Actually there is an RPI ranking as well as the Pablo ranking for volleyball. It ranks all 300+ teams.
Thanks for the info. I guess I was alluding to the fact that for Valpo it's win the HL tournament or nothing NCAA-wise. RPI is not a consideration for Valpo in making the tournament (but maybe in seeding once you're in).
RPI really doesn't mean squat to Horizon League volleyball unless there's a team that's good enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAAs. Usually, the cutoff for that is somewhere in the 40s, and most of the at-large bids easily get snatched by major conference teams. HL hasn't had any at-large teams with the exception of the 1999-2000 Milwaukee Panthers. You would need an incredibly good team that nearly wins out, with a great non-conference schedule, that lays an egg in the HL finals to have a chance to sneak into the party, and even then, you need to challenge the other HL teams to schedule tough non-league matches to help the league's RPI and assist the RPI of any top team that might come around...
Valpo's RPI in 2013 was 103, right above Wake Forest and right below Fresno St.
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2013WVBrpi1.html (http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2013WVBrpi1.html)
Out of Conference teams overview: RPI average, 221 out of 332. High-106, Toledo. Low-326, North Carolina Cent., 326.
2013 Records. Overall 206-312. Average 12-18. Highs 19-12, 19-14. Lows 2-29, 3-25.
I know, too much time on my hands.
2-1 to start the season. Random thoughts: Good to see everyone played. Surprising to see a couple of freshman starting in a few of the matches. Freshman from Illinois will have a medical redshirt.
Home opener this Wednesday.
Congrats to Kelsey Berrington and Emily Campbell! Both were named to the NCCU Invitational All-Tournament team this weekend.
(http://i59.tinypic.com/2whnh8z.jpg)
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Home opener tonight with IUPUI and wouldn't be surprised to see the match go five. Very unsettled lineup with the three previous matches. Hope to see a good crowd tonight.
Well, we won, but, this IUPUI team was picked third in the Summit. We needed to win this at home. It took five but nonetheless, we won.
This IUPUI team also has won the Summit regular season each of the last two years, went to the NCAA Tournament last year and ended the year just six spots below us in RPI (103-109). Not saying it's on par with a win over a Big Ten team, but that's a solid victory, especially with lineup positions still up in the air.
After losing a few valuable seniors to graduation last year, the current team apparently is still coming together, and the players are yet learning to work with one another. Nevertheless, I liked how they seemed to become better as play progressed, and I appreciated their ability to come from behind to snag a tough victory. I think winning a close contest like this one should develop confidence and prove beneficial in the future.
Also, though Emily Campbell was almost unstoppable in the closing two sets, as Coach Avery said afterwards, it was a good sign that so many players stepped up in crucial moments. By the way, the play was made even more difficult by the heat in the ARC, which felt like a sauna. It was remarkable how much energy players for both teams still displayed in the final set. This was a win that deserved celebration.
(http://i57.tinypic.com/2yv1dt3.jpg)
All the more reason to get AC then? Time to join the other 99% of D1 schools.
Quote from: original sin on September 04, 2014, 02:24:27 PM
All the more reason to get AC then? Time to join the other 99% of D1 schools.
Why? Don't the soccer players and football players play in heat too. I think it makes the volleyball team tougher to beat when they are used to playing in the sauna that is the ARC in Sept and early Oct when their opponents are used to playing in AC.
Don't quite get that logic. Soccer and football are outdoor sports. And conversely, why have heat for basketball? It would make Valpo tougher to beat when other teams are used to playing in heated facilities using your logic. The ARC is definitely not a selling point when it comes to recruitment. A very outdated facility.
The logic works.
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That's our 18th in-season tournament championship under Avery, and we have at least one in 10 of the last 13 seasons. Now, if we can only translate that into the HL championship for once!!
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Your most minimalist work yet, 'pal?
Looks like the Crusaders took 3 straight from Drake this morning.
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Just found this hysterical video put together by the five seniors from last year. Very well done and says a lot about how close these teams become and how much fun they have! Great stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz5gMi41a1c#t=11 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz5gMi41a1c#t=11)
Looks like Carin's team is starting to jell. Wow 9 straight sets to the championship. Congratulations VU volleyball!
Congratulations for such a good start. Keep it up ladies.
Avery's 19th in-season tournament championship. I assume that Volleyball has their own trophy case by now??
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Well deserved.
Quote from: VULB#62 on July 15, 2014, 06:02:56 PMThat was my thought as well, but I also thought, maybe this schedule will enable Carin to: focus on the HL, keep the whole team fresher for the HL season by allowing her to play more kids more often and be more competitive in the tournament. Does that make sense?
Has this been the case so far? Has Carin been playing some of the developing underclassmen during this stretch of victories?
Horizon League volleyball video from September 12th Interview: Carin Avery (http://www.horizonleague.org/video.html?id=12284)
Quote from: bbtds on September 16, 2014, 02:54:09 AM
Quote from: VULB#62 on July 15, 2014, 06:02:56 PMThat was my thought as well, but I also thought, maybe this schedule will enable Carin to: focus on the HL, keep the whole team fresher for the HL season by allowing her to play more kids more often and be more competitive in the tournament. Does that make sense?
Has this been the case so far? Has Carin been playing some of the developing underclassmen during this stretch of victories?
Her interview with the HL kinda points to that -- She has 10 underclassmen and has a bunch of sophs seeing significant time in her rotations. She mentions that a surprise so far is that this bunch plays calmer and she's seeing fewer unforced errors from this crew than last year when 4 seniors were the core of the rotation -- and that team got to the HL finals. BTW she handled the interview very well and represents Valpo with style and composure. She and Mike are great people and valuable assets for the university -- not just athletics. We are fortunate.
The play of the underclassmen has been one of the most encouraging elements of the success for the volleyball team. In fact, this week soph. Emily Campbell was named Tournament MVP and a Horizon League Player of the Week while soph. Morganne Longoria and fresh. Taylor Graboski made the All-Tournament Team and Longoria was on the list of Horizon League outstanding players of the week.
(http://i59.tinypic.com/k395jk.jpg)
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It is always great to see such top quality people and coaches represent VU. I hope we can continue to recruit these type of people to lead our athletic programs...GO VALPO!
Saw where Mike's soccer team got some regional and national love. How about this volleyball team -- any regional or national recognition so far? They're 9-1 with their only loss a 3-2 score and they are killing most teams 3-0 or 3-1.
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Quote from: valpopal on September 16, 2014, 07:31:47 PM
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Not to take anything away from the win, but Toledo hasn't won a match yet, including losses to IUPUI and CSU, 3-0. We had to win this and win big to advance our hopes of perhaps gaining some national recognition.
Pretty decisive sweep:
Valparaiso (3) 25 25 25
Toledo (0) 17 17 19
Nine players rotated into all three sets. 4 others rotated into 1 set
We would need to be 15 or 20-1, before gaining any national recognition. We don't have any solid wins
Preview of this weekend's Valpo tournament in the order Valpo will be playing:
Murray State: 9-0 with 6 sweeps, beat Wright State (3-8) 3-0
Sacrament State: - 4-8
George Washington: 7-3, In their last 4 matches have gone 2-2 including losing to Illinois State and beating Georgetown. (ISU, BTW swept UIC and beat Oakland 3-1)
Murray looks to be the top opponent and Valpo faces them in the opener, which I think is good. Might as well start off facing the toughest (by record at least).
Massey has them at #94 in Division I, and #116 in all of college volleyball. With their schedule, they are expected to win everything except the @ Milwaukee and @ IPFW matches. To move up much, they would need to win those matches, and sweep most other teams. This is about the same ranking as in past years.
http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cvol&sub=NCAA (http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cvol&sub=NCAA) I
http://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=8361&s=265415 (http://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=8361&s=265415)
Quote from: covufan on September 17, 2014, 10:45:42 AM
Massey has them at #94 in Division I, and #116 in all of college volleyball. With their schedule, they are expected to win everything except the @ Milwaukee and @ IPFW matches. To move up much, they would need to win those matches, and sweep most other teams. This is about the same ranking as in past years.
http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cvol&sub=NCAA (http://www.masseyratings.com/rate.php?lg=cvol&sub=NCAA) I
http://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=8361&s=265415 (http://www.masseyratings.com/team.php?t=8361&s=265415)
Looking at some of the D-II teams (Concordia - St. Paul???) ahead of us and some of the records of some of the D-Is and what conferences they play in, I have a hard time believing we are so far down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj3pcP2Gt0I#t=81 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj3pcP2Gt0I#t=81)
CU-SP seems to have one of the better teams in D-II. 7-1 record.
They are the team in white. Somebody forgot to tell Rolla the other uniforms were in the laundry. Missouri S&T has the stripe on the side.
Only lost 7 sets so far and three of those were to #2/#19 Tampa in Denver.
They beat #4 BYU-Hawaii in Denver 3-0 and that is the match that has shot the Golden Bears up the rankings.
Quote from: valpotx on September 17, 2014, 03:32:57 AM
We would need to be 15 or 20-1, before gaining any national recognition. We don't have any solid wins
Nor will we even if they run the table, as per my earlier post on strength of schedule.
CAVEAT: I don't know squat about modern volleyball. I don't even know what the statistical columns represent in the box score .
But then, maybe Carin has figured out that ranking doesn't matter. It's all about winning the HL and getting the NCAA bid.
She seems to be bringing along the underclassmen and building on each match.
Valpo beats previously undefeated Murray State 3-1! We are now 11-1 on the season (10 W in a row), and have a good chance to win our own tournament, which would be our third in-season championship this season. It seems like if we have any chance at getting back to the NCAA tournament, that this year's team is very much poised to keep on rolling! Per usual, regardless of UWM's record, they are always the team to beat, until they show otherwise in conference. We have Sacramento State (lost 3-0 to GW), and George Washington on Saturday. If attendance figures are correct, this Marketing program is working, as 550+ attended again!
Took down SSU. GW beat MSU 3-1. Show down with GW in the night cap.
Be nice to win v. GW and make a sweep of the team sports weekend. Men's Tennis is doing well at Purdue too.
Valpo wins its third in-season tournament of the season, 3-0 over GW! Now a program record start of 13-1 heading into conference. That is now 20 in-season tournament trophies for Avery, wow!
The level of performance by the team seemed to increase as the tournament moved forward this weekend, especially when tested by the good play of their opponents. In addition, the naming of Ketcham (a freshman) as MVP with Beil and Victor on the all-tournament team, displays the depth of the squad. In previous tournaments Campbell, Graboski, Longoria, and Berrington received such honors. It was a pleasure to watch the three matches this weekend, and the championship was well earned by the team.
(http://i61.tinypic.com/5dqwsm.jpg)
I have posted a gallery with more than 25 game photos from the team's championship in the Crusader Crossroads of America Classic at the following link: enjoy! https://www.flickr.com/photos/96208998@N05/sets/72157647433750709/ (https://www.flickr.com/photos/96208998@N05/sets/72157647433750709/)
In addition to being named the tournament MVP, freshman Allison Ketcham has been selected a Horizon League Player of the Week. As I mentioned in a previous post, the underclassmen have been looking impressive.
(http://i60.tinypic.com/kar7dk.jpg)
Volleyball just completely blew a great comeback attempt. We were down 2 sets to 0, won the next 2 to tie it at 2-2. In the 5th set, we were up 8-2, only to let Milwaukee go on a 7-1 run to tie it at 9-9, with a bunch of mishits by us, and then another 6-3 run to win it for Milwaukee...
Quote from: valpotx on September 27, 2014, 06:19:15 PM
Volleyball just completely blew a great comeback attempt. We were down 2 sets to 0, won the next 2 to tie it at 2-2. In the 5th set, we were up 8-2, only to let Milwaukee go on a 7-1 run to tie it at 9-9, with a bunch of mishits by us, and then another 6-3 run to win it for Milwaukee...
It was hard to watch.
On the road. Second match of the weekend. Lots of underclassmen. Can't let UWM beat us at home.
After dropping the first set, the VB team won the next three to beat YSU. their HL record improved to 2-1.
Cleveland State comes in tomorrow at 4.
The VB team beat Cleveland St., 3-1! Improving to 16-2 on the season, and 2-1 in league play. Great work, Ladies!!
They are 3-1 in league play
An unfortunate 3-1 loss at Oakland today. Hopefully we can rebound against a poor Wright State team.
VB rebounded with a sweep of Wright State. They are now 4-2 in the HL.
Another disappointing loss tonight at home against UIC, losing 3-1. All 4 sets went down to the wire. We need to right this ship ASAP, as a VERY promising season is again faltering in the conference season. That hard fought loss at Milwaukee was understandable, but losses at Oakland and home against UIC, are not games we should be losing.
http://www.valpoathletics.com/volleyball/news/2014-15/14011/crusaders-fall-at-home-to-uic/#.VEH_bHnQOUk (http://www.valpoathletics.com/volleyball/news/2014-15/14011/crusaders-fall-at-home-to-uic/#.VEH_bHnQOUk)
Beating up on +200`s RPI teams pre conference IMO does not get you ready to play at another level.
Well darn, another bad loss to NDSU today. We fought hard, but went down 3-2 (15-13). NDSU is now 8-14, but 2-6 in the Summit League...
Quote from: valpotx on October 19, 2014, 08:16:50 PM
Well darn, another bad loss to NDSU today. We fought hard, but went down 3-2 (15-13). NDSU is now 8-14, but 2-6 in the Summit League...
Agree. The wind is coming out of the volleyball team's sails. I'm thinking it is similar to last year's basketball team where the freshman hit the wall and never fully recovered. Of the seven players mentioned in the recap, only two were seniors while two are freshman, two are sophomores and one a junior.
Back on the winning track with a 3-0 win at Chicago State. CSU has never been good at volleyball, so this was a confidence builder game.
At anything, really
Chicago State, really!?
Ugh. :(
I watched most of the UWM match. Valpo just doesn't have the spikers or the setters to get enough hard hits at the net. The Crusaders do a lot more dinking and off-the-wrong-foot pats to win matches right now. They will have to find more talent on the front line than they have now.
Such an unfortunate turn of events as soon as we hit conference, that even led to a loss against an NDSU team holding up the rear of our old conference. Hopefully we can manage a top 4 finish, but if this keeps up, we might get our lowest finish since joining the HL...
We can't blame our recent home losses on attendance, as we had 953 for this game, and are averaging 520 per game!
valpotx, the Crusader Scholarship Challenge is definitely skewing the attendance figures. A great marketing scheme is paying off in people at games, but wins help get more people than gimmicks like points leader gets a free year of tuition.
Quote from: valporun on October 25, 2014, 07:52:32 AM
valpotx, the Crusader Scholarship Challenge is definitely skewing the attendance figures. A great marketing scheme is paying off in people at games, but wins help get more people than gimmicks like points leader gets a free year of tuition.
FYI, the code word was "Bruinsma" do I get points?
Ba dum tssshhh: http://youtu.be/bcYppAs6ZdI (http://youtu.be/bcYppAs6ZdI)
Unfortunately, we blew a great opportunity in set 3, when we had several chances to win. That long set doomed us in set 4, where we lacked motivation. This conference season is a big disappointment. Luckily, that means we should still be the 3 seed if we beat UIC.
Our team is struggling. Won is 5 over a 13-16 IPFW team. We won't get past the first round of our tourney with performances like this. Hard to say why they are faltering. :(
Looking at our roster, we only have 3 Seniors and 2 Juniors. A bunch of FR and SOs are getting playing time this season, which hopefully bodes well for the next 2 seasons.
Quote from: valpotx on November 12, 2014, 01:42:45 AM
Looking at our roster, we only have 3 Seniors and 2 Juniors. A bunch of FR and SOs are getting playing time this season, which hopefully bodes well for the next 2 seasons.
Two of the frosh are starters, and are really good.
We beat UIC 3-0 to clinch 3rd place in the regular season. Hopefully we can do some damage in the tourney, as we can beat any of these teams.
Emily Campbell has been selected a Horizon League Co-Player of the Year. Other team members honored include the two Kelseys, Victor and Berrington, who were chosen for the All-League Team. Also, Allison Ketcham and Taylor Graboski made the All-Freshman Team.
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Quote from: valpopal on November 17, 2014, 03:47:16 PM
Emily Campbell has been selected a Horizon League Co-Player of the Year. Other team members honored include the two Kelseys, Victor and Berrington, who were chosen for the All-League Team. Also, Allison Ketcham and Taylor Graboski made the All-Freshman Team.
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A well deserved award. Emily is an awesome Volleyball player.
Yes, she has a great future. I hope that she sticks with our program, and doesn't pull an Amy Palash, as she could play at a larger school too.
We beat UIC 3-0 to move to the semis against our archrival in volleyball, Milwaukee! Let's go ladies!!
We go down 3-0 to Milwaukee. We just can't ever beat them. Good season Seniors, and let's win a title again someday!
We were picked to win it but somehow we either don't quite have the talent or aren't able to play together. Lots of wins again but not enough against the talent in the Horizon. Lots of talent returning so hopefully next year will be the charm! Congrats on a very nice year.
Not sure what "we were picked to win it" refers to, but we were picked second behind Milwaukee in the pre-season poll and narrowly ahead of Oakland. I'm sure everyone thought we had a shot at Milwaukee today, but they've been tough when they need to be.
Another great recruiting class for Volleyball. Hopefully this class can help us get back to the NCAA tourney!
http://valpoathletics.com/volleyball/news/2014-15/14177/crusaders-announce-trio-of-volleyball-signees/#.VH9hsjHF8Xg (http://valpoathletics.com/volleyball/news/2014-15/14177/crusaders-announce-trio-of-volleyball-signees/#.VH9hsjHF8Xg)
I know we never had a shot at Tionna Williams from Concordia Lutheran here in Fort Wayne. Some are calling her the best player in the country and she committed to Wisconsin a couple of years ago, but there are several other young ladies who are underclassmen on the 3A state championship team that are getting looks from other D1 programs. In the past Concordia has sent a number of players to D1 schools and it would be interesting to know if Avery has tried to pursue this Lutheran connection.
(http://www.thebraziltimes.com/photos/22/24/85/2224858-L.jpg)
They never had a chance as Concordia's 6'3 Tionna Williams leaps for the kill.
Since one of the recruits is Sydney Bronner from Frankenmuth, MI she could very well be related to the family that owns the famous Bronner's Christmas Wonderland store in Frankenmuth.
http://www.bronners.com/?&utm_campaign=lv14&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=gad (http://www.bronners.com/?&utm_campaign=lv14&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=gad)
This is the biggest Christmas store in the world and was started by a famous Michigan Lutheran named Wally Bronner.
http://www.bronners.com/category/about/history+of+bronner%27s.do#.VH-JUjTF_h4 (http://www.bronners.com/category/about/history+of+bronner%27s.do#.VH-JUjTF_h4)
http://www.bronners.com/category/about/wally+bronner.do?nType=2 (http://www.bronners.com/category/about/wally+bronner.do?nType=2)
Interesting thoughts on this season.