9/1/15: Big Blue, Panthers, Stars split at Millikin tri

Let’s get another entertaining season going. Updates will be late most evenings once again this season. Collateral damage of having a job, I suppose.

St. Olaf Invite
#20 Augsburg, UW-Stout, St. Olaf, Carleton, Martin Luther, Macalester, Bethany Lutheran, Crown
UW-Stout 3, Carleton 2; #20 Augsburg 3, Bethany Lutheran 0; Carleton 3, Bethany Lutheran 0; St. Olaf 3, Crown 0; Macalester 3, Martin Luther 0; UW-Stout 3, Crown 0; St. Olaf 3, Martin Luther 0; Macalester 3, Bethany Lutheran 0.

Millikin Tri
Dominican, Millikin, Greenville
Millikin 3, Greenville 0; Dominican 3, Millikin 1; Greenville 3, Dominican 1.

Edgewood Tri
UW-Oshkosh, Edgewood, Dubuque
UW-Oshkosh 3, Edgewood 2; UW-Oshkosh 3, Dubuque 0; Edgewood 3, Dubuque 0.

Webster Quad
Webster, Fontbonne, Rose-Hulman, Robert Morris-Springfield
Rose-Hulman 3, Webster 1; Webster 3, Robert Morris-Springfield 0; Fontbonne 3, Robert Morris-Springfield 0; Rose-Hulman 3, Fontbonne 1.

Hamline Tri
UW-River Falls, Hamline, St. Scholastica
Hamline 3, UW-River Falls 2; St. Scholastica 3, Hamline 1; St. Scholastica 3, UW-River Falls 1.

MSOE Quad
Carroll, Lawrence, MSOE, Wisconsin Lutheran
MSOE 3, Lawrence 0; MSOE 3, Carroll 2; Wisconsin Lutheran 3, Carroll 0; Wisconsin Lutheran 3, Lawrence 1.

North Central (Ill.) Quad
North Central (Ill.), Concordia Chicago, North Park, Calumet St. Joseph
North Central (Ill.) 3, Concordia Chicago 0; North Park 3, Calumet St. Joseph 2; North Central (Ill.) 3, Calumet St. Joseph 0; Concordia Chicago 3, North Park 0.

Faith Baptist Tri
North Central (Minn.), Faith Baptist, Union (Neb.)
Faith Baptist 3, North Central (Minn.) 1; [North Central (Minn.), Union (Neb.)].

Nonconference
• #25 Coe 3, Augustana 1 CC had 63 K, hit .354.
• Northwestern 3, Saint Benedict 0 UNW’s Peterson: 10 K, 14 D.
• Bethel 3, Minnesota Morris 2 BU’s Hoppe: 22 K, 21 D, 5 Aces.
• Chicago 3, Concordia Wisconsin 0 UC outhit CUW .390 to -.022.
• Saint Mary’s (Minn.) 3, UW-Eau Claire 1 SMU’s Bittle, Fadness both hit 13-1-28.
• UW-La Crosse 3, Luther 0 UWL outhit LC, .378 to .076.
• Central 3, Monmouth 0 CC had 13 Aces, 10 B.
• Concordia (Minn.) 3, Valley City State 2 CC’s Beaner hit 12-1-20.
• Hanover 3, Spalding 1 SU’s Dahl hit 22-3-37 with 5 aces.
• Loras 3, Grinnell 0 LC’s Kennedy hit 10-2-17 with 4 B.
• Lake Forest 3, Illinois Tech 0 LFC’s Jespersen hit 12-1-23 with 10 D.
• Westminster 3, Stephens 1 WC’s Marshall: 15 K, 3 Aces.
• Lakeland 3, Finlandia 0 LC’s Flanagan hit 10-0-12.
• Knox, Eureka [ppd.]
• Alverno 3, Beloit 2 AC’s Wewers: 12 K
• Principia 3, St. Louis Pharmacy 0 PC’s Hathaway: 8 K.
• Northland 3, Silver Lake 1

Top 25 upset watch
• #2 Emory 3, Birmingham-Southern 0
• #4 Wittenberg 3, Otterbein 0
• #6 Christopher Newport 3, Virginia Wesleyan 0
• #10 Juniata 3, St. Vincent 0
• #12 Eastern 3, Muhlenberg 1
• #13 Clarkson 3, SUNY Cortland 2
• #13 Clarkson 3, Houghton 0
• #14 Mount Union 3, Geneva 1
• #15 Colorado College 3, Johnson & Wales (Colo.) 0
• #16 Trinity (Texas) 3, St. Thomas (Texas) 0
• #16 Trinity (Texas) 3, Huston-Tillotson 0

-Ricky Nelson

Calvin tops 2015 AVCA Division III preseason poll

Calvin, the host of this year’s championship, is listed atop the 2015 NCAA Division III women’s volleyball preseason poll released today by the AVCA.

Emory is ranked second, defending champion Hope third, Wittenberg fourth and Cal Lutheran fifth. Rounding out the top 10 are sixth-ranked Christopher Newport, followed by Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Washington-St. Louis and Juniata.

Calvin received 42 of 63 first-place votes. Hope claimed 17 top votes, Emory three and Cal Lutheran one.

Other Central and Midwest region teams in the AVCA top 25: No. 11 Carthage; No. 17 St. Thomas; No. 19 Elmhurst; No. 20 Augsburg; No. 21 Nebraska Wesleyan; No. 22 Cornell; No. 24 Wisconsin-Whitewater; No. 25 Coe.

Central and Midwest region teams receiving votes in the preseason: Wisconsin-Oshkosh; Chicago; Northwestern; Saint Benedict; Millikin.

As part of my yearly preseason top 25 (plus 10 others) posted in early July, my top 10 was: Calvin; Cal Lutheran; Emory; Washington-St. Louis; Wittenberg; Hope; Colorado College; Christopher Newport; UW-Stevens Point; Carthage.

Think preseason polls are pointless? I tend to agree, but you may want to take the AVCA’s version of the tea leaves seriously. Last season AVCA pollsters had a preseason top four of Calvin, Emory, UW-Stevens Point and Hope. Those just happened to be the final four teams playing in 2014.

-Ricky Nelson

UMM announces new head coach

Tricia Melfy was named the new head coach at Minnesota Morris last week. Melfy was most recently an assistant coach at Minot State.

-Ricky Nelson

2015 preseason conference polls

Conference preseason polls have been trickling in. Coach and/or SID picks are listed for Central and Midwest region conferences. My conference hunches are in parentheses.

CCIW: Carthage (Carthage)
GSAC: Has not done preseason polls traditionally (UC Santa Cruz)
IIAC: Buena Vista (Buena Vista)
MIAC: Augsburg, Bethel (Augsburg)
MWC: Cornell (Cornell)
NACC: Dominican (Dominican)
SLIAC: Greenville (Westminster)
UAA: Has not done preseason polls traditionally (Emory)
UMAC: Northwestern (Northwestern)
WIAC: Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-Stevens Point)

-Ricky Nelson

Blackburn hires new coach

Jordan Barton is listed as the new coach on the Blackburn website. Barton was most recently the head coach at Suffolk. So recently that she is was still listed as Suffolk’s coach. Barton was announced as the Suffolk head coach in January.

UPDATE: Blackburn published a release, which states Barton will also be the Beavers’ softball head coach.

-Ricky Nelson

Central, Midwest well represented on AVCA award list

A record 140 Division III teams earned the AVCA Team Academic Award, the association announced this week. By my count 37 teams from either the Central or Midwest region made the grade:

Augsburg, Bethel, Carleton, Central, Chicago, Coe, Concordia Wisconsin, Cornell, Dominican, Dubuque, Edgewood, Fontbonne, Greenville, Grinnell, Lakeland, Luther, Macalester, MacMurray, Maranatha Baptist, Martin Luther, Monmouth, Nebraska Wesleyan, Northland, Northwestern, Principia, Saint Benedict, Saint Mary’s, Simpson, St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Wartburg, Webster, Wheaton, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Wisconsin-Stout.

The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

-Ricky Nelson

Central, Midwest players make cut for NCAA Woman of the Year

Several Division III volleyball players from the Central and Midwest regions have been nominated by conferences for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Kelly Foley, St. Thomas
Jenny Howard, Webster
Olivia Krejcarek, St. Scholastica
Alyssa Stanek, Nebraska Wesleyan
Bailey Wilson, Wartburg

A record 480 student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions were nominated by their schools for 2015 Woman of the Year consideration. Conferences and independent schools narrowed the list to its current 147 nominees – another record – in July. The Woman of the Year selection committee will name 10 finalists from each of the three divisions in early September. The selection committee will then choose and announce the nine finalists (three from each division) at the end of September. The top 30 will be honored and the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual ceremony in Indianapolis on October 18.

Of the 147 conference nominees, 57 are from Division I institutions, 39 are from D II and 51 are from D III.

Now in its 25th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.

-Ricky Nelson