New: Links to all conference tourneys

Now that one conference tournament has started (North Atlantic Conference, New England Region) and one team has already punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament (Pacific Lutheran), I updated the Conference Tournament page on the right rail to include all 40 Pool A conferences. Besides the links on that page, you can see the dates, No. 1 seeds and winners of each tourney from California to Maine. Click away.

Some conferences are better than others in terms of Web presence, so I tried to choose the most effective link for each tournament. Some conference tourney pages are forthcoming from the current links. The process has made me feel fortunate to have high-quality sports information directors in the normal coverage area of the Midwest and Central regions.

-Ricky Nelson

Maranatha falls in NCCAA regional final

No. 1 seed Lincoln Christian beat No. 3 seed Maranatha, 3-1, in the D-II Midwest Regional final of the National Christian College Athletic Association today in Grand Rapids, Mich.

North Central (MN) lost yesterday in its NCCAA D-II regional in North Dakota.

-Ricky Nelson

MIAC Tourney: St. Kate’s is odd team out

After the last ball hit the regular-season floor, there was a four-team logjam at 6-5 in the MIAC. Problem is, there was only room for three of those teams in the MIAC Tournament, and St. Catherine is the team that’s staying home come playoff time.

No. 5 Concordia had already clinched a spot via tiebreakers before today’s action, but No. 6 Saint Mary’s and No. 4 Augsburg earned the last two spots behind No. 1 Saint Benedict, No. 2 St. Thomas and No. 3 St. Olaf.

See the Conference tourneys page for links and schedules for the MIAC and other leagues in the Midwest and Central regions.

-Ricky Nelson

#2 Oshkosh downs #1 Juniata

No. 2 UW Oshkosh beat No. 1 Juniata in five sets today in San Antonio, Texas. Set scores were 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-18, 15-13. All-American middle Jacque Ray once again led the way for the Titans with 18 kills and five blocks, both match highs.

I could be wrong, but I’m 90 percent certain that this is the first time Oshkosh (34-1) has defeated Juniata (29-3). After a week off, the Titans will regain their No. 1 ranking in all the land.
Thanks to a comment, Juniata leads the all-time series against Oshkosh, 4-2.

That’s all I have so far. I’ll update with a recap and box when I see one.
EDIT: Here’s JC’s recap, which says Oshkosh was down 13-11 in the fifth set before winning the final four points on a JC attack error, a combo block, a JC attack error and a JC setting error. For anyone who remembers – to digress a bit – that reads a bit like how Oshkosh lost to Wash U at the Carthage Regional in 2007.
Complete box score.

Oshkosh swept No. 18 Trinity (TX) (25-18, 26-24, 25-18) earlier in the day.

-Ricky Nelson

St. Ben’s sweeps Concordia, wins MIAC

No. 16 Saint Benedict swept Concordia (MN) at home today to clinch the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season title, its first since 1998, with a 10-1 record. No. 10 St. Thomas also swept its MIAC match today to finish at 10-1, but St. Ben’s holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The MIAC drama does not end there. A few teams are still sweating out MIAC Tournament berths as I write.

-Ricky Nelson

#9 Carthage slips by #6 Whitewater

In a match with large regional implications, No. 9 Carthage beat No. 6 UW-Whitewater in five sets (15-13 fifth set) yesterday at the Whitewater Invitational IV. See the Whitewater box score here. Must have been a good one because Whitewater lost despite getting 74 kills (on 229 swings) and 125 digs. Anyone there who can fill us in?

The Lady Reds lost to St. Ambrose (NAIA) earlier in the day. Carthage moves to 26-5 on the year. The Warhawks (27-6) also went 1-1 on the day with a sweep over Millikin.

Another match at the invite with big regional implications:
UW-Platteville 3, Simpson 2

See the invite link above for all of the results. Lakeland, which went 1-1 on the first day, is the other team in Whitewater this weekend. A few potentially big in-region matches are on tap today.
• Carthage vs. Simpson, 10 a.m.
• Platteville vs. Carthage, noon
• Whitewater vs. Simpson, 2 p.m.

-Ricky Nelson

St. Norbert wins MWC showdown

Have to make this quick because I’m off to work, but in the battle of conference unbeatens, St. Norbert just won the Midwest Conference title in four sets at Beloit tonight (25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22). It’s SNC’s second consecutive undefeated regular-season title. With the win the Green Knights earn the right to host the MWC Tournament, which SNC won on its home court last season.

I watched the video, so I’m not sure when details of the match will be made available. Here is where you’ll find Beloit’s take on the match and a box score. If you prefer St. Norbert’s side, this is the place to go for that recap and box score.

-Ricky Nelson

Maranatha sweeps into finals

Maranatha swept two matches today to reach the D-II Midwest regional final in the National Christian College Athletic Association. The third-seeded Crusaders defeated Great Lakes Christian and Moody Bible. Moody Bible was ranked third in the NCCAA D-II.

Maranatha (12-17) will now face No. 1 seed Lincoln Christian, which swept the Crusaders earlier this season. The match begins at 1 p.m.

-Ricky Nelson

#2 Oshkosh sweeps #8 Wittenberg

In the opener of the highly anticipated Trinity (TX) National Invitational, No. 2 UW Oshkosh swept No. 8 Wittenberg. Set scores were 25-21, 25-16, 26-24. Here is a link to the Wittenberg side of things and the box score. Wittenberg was swept for the third time in the last three years.

All-American middle Jacque Ray led Oshkosh with 12 kills and four blocks while Katelyn Vara led with 33 assists, four blocks and two aces. Outside Katie Beining had nine kills on .471 hitting.

No. 1 Juniata swept the other first-day match over the host, No. 18 Trinity. Set scores were 25-15, 25-23, 25-23.

The stage is set for tomorrow’s big ones, although only the Trinity match will be counted in the all-important regional rankings. The other two matches – today’s sweep and the one against No. 1 Juniata – are important measuring sticks.

Tomorrow’s schedule:
No. 1 Juniata (28-2) vs. No. 8 Wittenberg (22-5), 10 a.m.
No. 2 UW Oshkosh (32-1) vs. No. 18 Trinity (24-9), 12:30 p.m.
No. 1 Juniata vs. No. 2 UW Oshkosh, 3 p.m.
No. 8 Wittenberg vs. No. 18 Trinity, 5:30 p.m.

Juniata swept Oshkosh in the 2008 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. This will be JC’s second 1 vs. 2 matchup of the year. Then-No. 2 Juniata beat then-No. 1 Emory, 3-1, in mid-September.

-Ricky Nelson

‘Tonight was a great way to celebrate the sport’

The quote in the title is from Calvin head coach Amber Warners. What made her say that after her 13th-ranked Knights (20-6) lost in five sets at home to No. 5 Hope (24-2)? Because there was a paid attendance of 2,725 at the match (the recap says there were even more packed in there than that). That’s a D-III single-match record, folks. Ever wonder what nearly 3,000 fans at a D-III match looks like? See this great photo gallery (by Dave DeKorne).

The Hope/Calvin rivalry is hands-down the best in D-III volleyball. There were 1,425 fans in their first matchup in September at Hope. And the previous attendance record? 2,307, Calvin @ Hope in 2007. Unreal …

-Ricky Nelson