Which match result this past week caught your eye the most?
Lindsay: Baruch over NYU for a few reasons. 1) If we’re talking about the CUNY, it’s only good for the game because they haven’t had much attention recently. 2) I think some people had NYU as a potential top of the UVC team. Maybe this was just a bad night but I see Springfield-Stevens-Vassar coming up and those teams won’t make things easy 3) Baruch turned around and struggled in Boston this weekend, winning just 1 set in 4 matches. Hopefully they can grow from the tough outcome.
Harvey: Emmanuel over New Paltz?!? Emmanuel has some nice size and athleticism, but this result caught me off guard. Honestly, most of the New Paltz results in Boston caught me off guard. Not sure they will be a player in the UVC race when it heats up in April.
Ramius: Loras over Cal Lutheran. I didn’t expect the Kingsmen to go undefeated on their midwest trip, but our T100 forecaster had Loras as the largest underdog of all the teams they were going to play that weekend. Loras has been building a foundation over the last few years to compete nationally, and this win should be a sign they’re a player for the CCIW Championship come April.
Given the results of the first month of D3VB action, what are your thoughts regarding the state of play across the country. Has parity finally been achieved in D3VB?
Ramius: I don’t know if its true parity, but talent has definitely diffused across the regions. More programs are competitive now than at any other time I’ve been covering the sport, which is a good thing. The “strongest programs” remain the ones with deep D3VB histories, but over the last few years we’ve seen new programs burst onto the national scene behind quality recruiting and strong coaching to contend with the blue bloods of D3VB.
Harvey: Parity, no. The best programs are still ones with history. For example: Southern Virginia, while a newer program, has Tom Peterson at the helm – and that dude has forgotten more about volleyball than I’ll ever know. What I will say is that more schools/programs are investing in men’s volleyball and that has shifted who some of the major players are. But overall, parity has not been achieved.
Lindsay: I haven’t followed for long enough to really know that answer. As a consumer of vb in general (like Div I women with Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Penn st. to name a few) many of the same teams seem to be in the national conversation every year. I think an interesting study would be to look at poll rankings over the last few years, who is represented and maybe where in the top 15 those teams spent time?
For me, I just enjoy good matches vs two good teams. I wish we could see even more Midwest/East coast crossovers.
Who do you have as your too-early-MVP candidate so far?
Ramius: As of this moment, Taylor Marks of Cal Lutheran. He’s had the most individual impact of all the players I’ve seen so far; Cal Lutheran has a resume most programs build throughout the year, they did it in January.
Harvey: Taylor Marks. I know that Cal Lutheran finally dropped a match, but they have taken down 7 nationally ranked opponents in their first 9 DIII matches. I don’t care who you are, that is tough to do. So he has my early vote.
Lindsay: Every #1-2 option for the top 5 has had 1-2 matches this year where they’ve been somewhere between okay and not-so-MVP like. It’s impossible to be great all the time so it’s no slight to anyone. You know who hasn’t had a bad statistical night? Andrew Kim. Has there ever been a 2x player of the year?
What matches do you have on your radar this upcoming week? Who is on upset alert?
Ramius: I’ll personally have my eyes on every game happening in Huntingdon this weekend. The inaugural FrogJump Invitational is set to be hosted by Juniata, with our first ever match set to kick off on Thursday; Carthage vs. Juniata. Stevens and Mount Union will join us on Friday and Saturday, and it’s a weekend of games I’m thoroughly looking forward to covering in person. See you there.
Harvey: MIT vs. Lasell on Wednesday is a big match. These two New England schools have both had less than ideal starts – grabbing a win here will be important.
Another juicy matchup (and potential upset alert) is Hobart vs. St. John Fisher. Steve England taking on the squad he played a large role in shaping, but with a twist – the reigning National Player of the Year on his side. All eyes should be on this match for a variety of reasons.
Lindsay: Springfield vs Vassar is at the top of my list. This rivalry was heated last year. I think we haven’t talked about either team enough yet this season and I bet 1 or both will be heavily featured next week in this space.
Ramius and Harvey were picking on little me for not choosing upsets. I don’t know why. Look at my track record last year. It was sooo bad. But here we go. Hunter is probably the underdog on paper vs Randolph Macon, especially only having played 1 match. I talked about CUNY at the beginning so I’ll finish with it too.
Who are your personal top 5?
Ramius: Wentworth, Stevens, Cal Lu, Southern Virginia, Vassar
Harvey: Wentworth, Stevens, Southern Virginia, Cal Lutheran, St. John Fisher
Lindsay: Wentworth, Stevens, Southern Virginia, St John Fisher, Cal Lutheran