2022 Volleyball

[justducky]

BTW, illinois state offered free admission to that match... thus 3200 showed up.   

Free tickets or not, I am still impressed with that attendance. I'm not sure if we could hire 3200 people to show up for our men's basketball games anymore. 

Looks like several players who logged major non-conference minutes are now mainly watching from the sidelines. That isn't surprising considering the strength of Valley play.

I've only caught parts of a few contests so could anybody comment on Foster, the local small HS (Kouts) freshman? She seems to be finding some kind of role.

[vu72]

Free tickets or not, I am still impressed with that attendance.

3200 at Illinois State followed by 207 at Bradley! That was on a Homecoming weekend as well.  Clearly our Volleyball team has an increased following. We had 800 at the Friday night game for our homecoming.

[vu84v2]

As of yesterday, Valpo's women's volleyball team has an RPI of 63. The UIC loss is not as bad as we probably thought, as UIC has an RPI of 64 (and the other team that beat Valpo, UNI, has an RPI of 72). MVC has four programs in the top 100 for RPI.

[justducky]

3-0 sweep over Murray! We had solid bench play and I think 14 girls saw action. We are deeper than I thought.

[vu84v2]

Two good wins this weekend. I know that I commented before on the weaker non-conference schedule, but 17-2 is an impressive record regardless.

[vu72]

A win is a win but these ladies might give me an ulcer!  They have now had 5 5 set matches and are 4-1 but...they need to get that killer instinct going.  Up two sets and then get too comfortable and the next thing you know they are into the 5th.

[IndyValpo]

Two good wins this weekend. I know that I commented before on the weaker non-conference schedule, but 17-2 is an impressive record regardless.

Despite the non-conference schedule as of last week we had the best RPI in the MVC.

[valpotx]

Winning matters and breeds confidence for the conference season, so scheduling as we did was very smart, with the amount of key graduations we had.  We are also in the race for the top here at 17-2 (5-2)!

[vu84v2]

Two good wins this weekend. I know that I commented before on the weaker non-conference schedule, but 17-2 is an impressive record regardless.

Despite the non-conference schedule as of last week we had the best RPI in the MVC.

True (by one spot). I would just like to see a schedule that gave them a shot at an at-large NCAA birth if they do not win the conference title. They would need to be in the mid-40s to have a shot, and that seems unlikely given that they will not play any top 50 teams. Please note that I am not taking anything away from their accomplishments.

[vu84v2]

Two good wins this weekend. I know that I commented before on the weaker non-conference schedule, but 17-2 is an impressive record regardless.

Despite the non-conference schedule as of last week we had the best RPI in the MVC.

True (by one spot). I would just like to see a schedule that gave them a shot at an at-large NCAA birth if they do not win the conference title. They would need to be in the mid-40s to have a shot, and that seems unlikely given that they will not play any top 50 teams. Please note that I am not taking anything away from their accomplishments.

Valpo's RPI is now 67, one spot behind UNI at 66. Four teams at 88 or above from the MVC, all others teams at 174 or below. Valpo is tied for second in the nation for wins (17) - one behind Towson (18)

[RiderJake]

Winning matters and breeds confidence for the conference season, so scheduling as we did was very smart, with the amount of key graduations we had.  We are also in the race for the top here at 17-2 (5-2)!

The excitement is very strong! So many wins - it's amazing! And it really inspires confidence, that's why wins are important.

[valpotx]

Someone needs to inform the Murray State announcer that we are not "Valparaisio," if he is also going to be doing announcing for more Murray State/Valpo games in other sports

[IndyValpo]

Senior night coming up and it looks like 3 of our 7 seniors are not participating which is good for next season.

[historyman]

Someone needs to inform the Murray State announcer that we are not "Valparaisio," if he is also going to be doing announcing for more Murray State/Valpo games in other sports

Scott Kopacz  https://goracers.com/staff-directory/scott-kopacz/439

Here is Murray State's Director of Multimedia & Production (Scott handles all of the creative video content for Racer Athletics in addition to providing support for the department's ESPN+ livestreaming productions and maintaining the department's video archives.)

PHONE (270) 809-6184

EMAIL: skopacz@murraystate.edu

[valpotx]

Wow, 6'6"!!  I have to believe that Liz Mikos was our previous tallest player in program history, and she was a beast at the net, during my time on campus.

https://www.valpoathletics.com/volleyball/news/2022-23/21662/volleyball-signs-three-incoming-freshmen/

[chgovalpofan]

Great first round win for the ladies!!  I always think having the one series under your belt gives you an advantage. You have your tournament jitters out.  Let's beat UIC.  This tournament is anyone's for the taking.

[FWalum]

What is the injury/depth situation in the tournament? Seems like we are missing some girls from earlier in the season.

[vu72]

Two regulars out, Kuckkan and Swistek.  Both Outside hitters.  We are really showing our depth, playing very solid last night.

[vu84v2]

Valpo's hit percentage was .268 against Murray State. That is an impressive hit percentage with two outside hitters sidelined (it is pretty darn good regardless).

[valpotx]

Lost for a third time against UIC.  Each of those matchups was not close this year, so they just had our number.  My guess is that we receive and accept another NIVC invite, which is a just reward for a pretty solid season, when losing a lot of talent off last year's team.

[talksalot]

Gotta believe NIVC liked the game atmosphere in the ARC and how it came across on the video....from last year... 22-10 should be worthy of the bid.

[FWalum]

Was really impressed with UIC's hitters last night. They have 3 girls that consistently hit the ball harder than anyone we had on the floor last night. They also blocked a lot better than we did. VU has a reputation as a defensive team, but we were just overwhelmed last night. It will be interesting to see if getting the 6'6" girl from Carmel next year will help with our attack and blocking.

[valpotx]

Interestingly, the MVC only received our automatic bid with UNI taking on Florida State in the first round of NCAA.  I had thought that Drake would get consideration, but they ended up in the NIVC.  Surprisingly, we are the other MVC team in the NIVC, versus the MVC seeds #3 through 5.  Our wins in the non-conference, in tandem with our performance in the NIVC last season, must have given us the edge for the 2nd MVC team consideration.  We play Ohio University at their place.

https://www.valpoathletics.com/volleyball/news/2022-23/21692/valpo-volleyball-earns-bid-to-2022-nivc-faces-ohio-in-first-round/

Edit: I looked up the RPI rankings, to see why we would be considered over #3 through #5, and it makes sense that the others were not invited, except for UIC.  Even though Valpo finished as the 6 seed, we still had the 4th best RPI in the MVC at 123 (UNI, Drake, UIC, Valpo) - https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1/ncaa-womens-volleyball-rpi

[FWalum]

Very surprising that we would get chosen before UIC. They completely dominated us in the MVC Tournament, and statistically are the #1 hitting team in the MVC. Are we getting any of our injured players back before Thursday?

[IndyValpo]

Drake has made the NIVC final four.