There’s one conference tournament final tomorrow that could really shake up the bids, so I will wait until tomorrow night to make my predictions. There are actually four finals tomorrow, but the Centennial is the only one that should affect at-large teams (I think both NESCAC finalists are already in; the other two are one-bid leagues). The handful of teams on the bubble should be Haverford fans for at least one day.

-Ricky Nelson

Introductions are underway. Soon the UAA Championship match will be too. Follow that up with Saint Benedict vs. St. Olaf later tonight? That’s my plan, at least.

-Ricky Nelson

I’ll be updating the Conference Tournament page throughout the night. Refresh that page to see the latest winners.

Central/Midwest teams securing NCAA bids so far today are (all in sweeps, by the way):
IIAC: Simpson
MWC: St. Norbert
WIAC: UW-Whitewater
CCIW: Carthage

You have to be pleased with the results so far if your favorite team is on the bubble.

Later tonight or tomorrow morning I will make my Pool B and Pool C predictions. Here’s how I did last year. If you don’t feel like checking, I got 20 of the 23 combined Pool B and C bids correct in 2008.

-Ricky Nelson

Heads up, regional opponents. UW-Whitewater is primed for a run, if the WIAC Tournament is any indication. We’ll find out Monday morning whether the Warhawks will be on display in Oshkosh, St. Louis or Holland, Mich. Wherever it may be, this team may be the favorite.

Whitewater swept UW-Eau Claire today to win the title and the WIAC automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The win was convincing enough for the WIAC commissioner to unbox the trophy when Whitewater was up 10-5 in Set 3.

Warhawk setter Alyse Karls was outstanding in leading an offense with so many talented hitters who have a grab bag of shots. With Karls at the controls, Whitewater had a crisp, quick attack. Combine that with Whitewater’s net D and the points came in bunches.

The championship match will be televised (on tape-delay, of course) on FSWisconsin, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

UW Oshkosh eked out a five-set win (16-14 in Set 5) over UW-Platteville to take third place behind yet another great performance by libero Christina Cahoon on D and Andrea Smith and Jacque Ray on O. Setter Morgan Liebetrau ended the match when her on-2 push fell near the 10-foot line.

Also today, the WIAC honored Oshkosh’s Jacque Ray with the Player of the Year award. Oshkosh’s Brian Schaefer was named Coach of the Year and UW-La Crosse’s Brianne Stankus took home the Scholar-Athlete award.

-Ricky Nelson

Here are the matchups for today’s finals in the Central and Midwest regions, complete with links to live coverage that I could find. Nothing from the other conference finals around the nation stuck out to me. The biggest guns are still shooting. See the Conference Tournament page for all of the other conferences in the country.

IIAC: #1 Simpson vs. #3 Wartburg, 2 p.m.
MIAC: #1 Saint Benedict vs. #3 St. Olaf, 7 p.m. (webcast)
SLIAC: Semis and finals are today, 2, 4 and 7 p.m.
UAA: Pool play, place matches today (video of championship at 4 p.m.)
UMAC: #1 Northwestern vs. #2 St. Scholastica, 7 p.m. (video)
CCIW: #1 Carthage vs. #2 North Central, 2 p.m. (video, stats)
MWC: #1 St. Norbert vs. #2 Beloit, 1 p.m. (video)
Northern AC: #1 Dominican vs. #2 Lakeland, 7 p.m. (video, stats)
WIAC: #2 UW-Whitewater vs. #4 UW-Eau Claire, 2:30 p.m. (scoring)
3rd-place: #1 UW Oshkosh vs. #3 UW-Platteville, noon (scoring)

-Ricky Nelson

I’m assuming everyone has read about the WIAC Tournament matches last night or you saw it in some form or another.

The UW-Whitewater vs. UW-Platteville opener was all about Whitewater’s relentless pressure in all phases and Platteville’s inability to dig and pass with any consistency.

The UW Oshkosh vs. UW-Eau Claire nightcap was one of those you were happy to have been around for. Both teams struggled mightily to terminate, and if it was an attempt with pace off of a 2-ball, chances are it wound up on the other side of the net. What a battle. Huge serves from both sides (UWEC’s Lindsey Smith, UWO’s Andrea Smith). Huge momentum swings. Huge Eau Claire net D. Oh, and the better team tonight won.

Anyone else see the match and think it was called rather loosely? Strange to see that this time of year, but maybe it was just me who thought it was loose.

Eau Claire recap
Whitewater recap

All-WIAC players among those on semifinal teams were announced last night. I think Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Scholar-Athlete are announced today. The WIAC does not have a 2nd Team all-conference. Last season there were 12 first-teamers, 11 HMs and four All-Defense.
1st Team
Melissa Hillebrand, UW-Platteville
Caitlin Hogan, UW-Whitewater
Keri Klotzbuecher, UW-Whitewater
Mellisa Zuleger, UW-Whitewater
Kristen Moore, UW-Eau Claire
Katie Beining, UW Oshkosh
Christina Cahoon, UW Oshkosh
Jacque Ray, UW Oshkosh
Katelyn Vara, UW Oshkosh

Honorable Mention
Briana Kaiser, UW-Platteville
Ali Sikic, UW-Platteville
Alyse Karls, UW-Whitewater
Danielle Lucia, UW-Eau Claire
Rachel Ver Voort, UW-Eau Claire
Emily Zupon, UW-Eau Claire

All-Defense
Abby Carey, UW-Platteville
Alyssa Bauer, UW-Whitewater
Christina Cahoon, UW Oshkosh

I don’t recall all of the Sportsmanship Team honorees, but I know UW Oshkosh’s Megan Fischer was one of them.

-Ricky Nelson

I just got home from UW-Eau Claire’s highly entertaining five-set win over UW Oshkosh tonight, but the job awaits me in 11 minutes. I will have more later this morning. In its stead, UWO loses at home for the first time in nearly forever, Eau Claire saw the return of libero Lindsey Smith, who was huge tonight, and what a great match in the nightcap. I hope everyone got to see it.

I have most of the All-WIAC teams, which were announced tonight.
I’ll have a few sentences to write about the WIAC semis.
I’ll also provide updates from conference tourney from around the nation.

Until then, I’m off to work.

-Ricky Nelson

Of the Midwest and Central teams in action tonight, I could find live links only for the WIAC.

No. 2 seed UW-Whitewater vs. No. 3 seed UW-Platteville will have live scoring at 5 p.m.

No. 1 seed UW Oshkosh vs. No. 4 seed UW-Eau Claire will have live video, live audio and live scoring at 7:30 p.m., depending upon whether the UWW/UWP match goes crazy long.

Live links for tonight’s WIAC Tournament semifinals

-Ricky Nelson

It’ll be No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the Northern AC final Saturday night at Dominican. Dominican beat Lakeland, 3-1, at home earlier this season. Lakeland has won the last two Northern AC tournaments.

No. 1 seed Dominican beat No. 4 seed Concordia (WI) in four tonight.
No. 2 seed Lakeland defeated No. 6 seed Edgewood in four tonight.

Follow the Northern AC final and all of the other conference tournaments from this page.

-Ricky Nelson

It will be a battle of nationally ranked teams in the MIAC Playoff final as No. 1 seed Saint Benedict (16th nationally) will host No. 3 seed St. Olaf (21st) on Saturday night for the MIAC automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. St. Ben’s swept St. Olaf in their only match this season.

St. Ben’s dispatched visiting No. 5 seed Concordia in four sets tonight.

St. Olaf outlasted No. 2 seed St. Thomas (9th nationally) in five sets (16-14 fifth set) tonight in what sounded like controversial fashion, according to the audio feed. St. Olaf survived numerous match points in the fifth set, including an overruled line call at 14-13 14-12. Read the recap from the MIAC Playoff page for more details, which will include another 20+ kill performance from St. Olaf’s Kim Smisek, the national leader in kill per set.

Follow the MIAC final and all of the other conference tournament action around the country from this page.

-Ricky Nelson

The NCAA updated the D-III stats. Here is the latest leaderboard among players in the Midwest and Central regions. Stats are through 11/1.

Aces/Set, player: (None in top 50)
Aces/Set, team: (None in top 50)
Assists/Set, player: 11.49 (1st), Marilee Fisher, Washington freshman
Assists/Set, team: 13.56 (1st), Washington
Blocks/Set, player: 1.28 (8th), Liz Amici, UW-Eau Claire sophomore
Blocks/Set, team: 2.48 (6th), Carleton
Digs/Set, player: 6.16 (16th), Stephanie Ryding, North Central (IL) senior
Digs/Set, team: 22.30 (1st), St. Thomas
Hitting Percentage, player: .378 (15th), Erin Albers, Washington senior
Hitting Percentage, team: .249 (19th), Saint Mary’s
Kills/Set, player: 4.93 (1st), Kim Smisek, St. Olaf junior
Kill/Set, team: 14.64 (1st), Washington
Winning Percentage: .971 (2nd), UW Oshkosh

-Ricky Nelson

The only confirmed webcast I could find for tonight is in the MIAC: No. 5 seed Concordia (Minn.) at No. 1 seed Saint Benedict. Just in time for the playoffs, dynamic double-double machine, OH Jenna Green, recently returned for the Cobbers. The senior-laden Blazers have a diverse attack thanks to a trio of all-conference stars: S Beth Hanson, OH Emma Jaynes and RS Kayli Schumacher.

Go to the MIAC Tournament site for the link. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.

-Ricky Nelson