trojansc
Legend
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Post by trojansc on Oct 3, 2014 17:20:19 GMT -5
I went to Portland last night to watch LMU play. I don't think LMU was any different than most teams in that situation. They played down and with little energy or concern that they could even lose. A dangerous mindset that plagues many teams and will bite them for sure if they do the same tomorrow at Gonzaga. Portland played scrappy with tons of energy and determined effort. They had a great little fan vib going and if they could have taken LMU to 5, it might have been enough for the win. I watched the game and would have to agree. They overmatched UP in sets one and two but slacked off, got fat and happy. Gonzaga will be a tough game for LMU
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Post by bayarea on Oct 5, 2014 16:24:32 GMT -5
Current 2014 WCC Volleyball Standings (as predicted, a bloodbath for everyone except BYU so far):
Team WCC PCT Overall #10 BYU 5-0 1.000 14-2 (Beat Gonzaga, Portland, Pepperdine, USF, Santa Clara) Pacific 3-1 .750 14-3 (Beat LMU, Pepperdine, St. Mary's; lost to Santa Clara) #22 LMU 3-2 .600 15-2 (Beat St. Mary's, San Diego, Portland; lost to Pacific and Gonzaga) #23 San Diego 3-2 .600 10-7 (Beat Portland, Gonzaga, San Francisco; lost to LMU and Santa Clara) Santa Clara 2-2 .500 12-5 (Beat Pacific and San Diego; lost to USF and BYU) Gonzaga 2-2 .500 11-4 (Beat Pepperdine and LMU; lost to BYU and San Diego) San Francisco 2-2 .500 9-7 (Beat Santa Clara and St. Mary's; lost to BYU and San Diego) Pepperdine 2-3 .400 7-10 (Beat St. Mary's and Portland; lost to Pacific, BYU and Gonzaga) Portland 0-4 .000 5-10 (lost to San Diego, BYU, LMU and Pepperdine, though 4 set loss to LMU was surprisingly close) Saint Mary's 0-4 .000 4-10 (lost Pepperdine in 5, and swept by LMU, USF and Pacific)
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trojansc
Legend
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Post by trojansc on Oct 6, 2014 16:37:01 GMT -5
Here's the WCC RPI situation
BYU 25 LMU 30 San Diego 35 Pacific 49 Santa Clara 53 Gonzaga 69 San Francisco 84
For BYU and LMU to get seeded, they'd probably have to roll through the WCC and sweep the opponent. I don't see LMU doing it - and I think BYU will get upset a couple times. Unless LMU completely collapses, they will definitely be in the NCAA's.
I don't see San Diego staying afloat much longer. They are in a range where they just need to win the easier matches and a couple of the tougher matches to squeak into the NCAA's.
Pacific and Santa Clara are completely unpredictable and directly on the RPI bubble cutoff area. They really need to both leapfrog San Diego. Santa Clara already beat the Toreros, their second meeting will be huge (@scu.
Gonzaga has a LOT of work to do - but it's possible they could squeak into bubble discussion. A win over LMU was huge-- and they really had to fight for it. Really like Savannah Blinn.
Can't see San Francisco realistically making a run into the NCAA's... Too much competition in the WCC to make up the RPI ground they are missing
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Post by bayarea on Oct 10, 2014 0:35:21 GMT -5
Congratulations to Gonzaga's Savannah Blinn, the WCC Player of the Week!
On October 8, San Diego beat St. Mary's on the road, 3-1.
On October 9, Santa Clara beat U of Portland 3-1. Portland is now 0-5, but has been right in most of those losses, and is a greatly improved team over past years. BYU over Pacific 3-1 on the road. Gonzaga beat San Francisco 3-2 AT USF, which is a pretty hostile environment, as far as WCC venues go.
BYU now 6-0. Pacific 3-2 LMU 3-2 Santa Clara 3-2 San Diego 3-2 Gonzaga 3-2 San Francisco 2-3 Pepperdine 2-3 St Mary's 0-4 Portland 0-5
Still to come: tomorrow Santa Clara hosts Gonzaga, which should be a VERY good match. and Pacific hosts San Diego...another VERY good matchup.
Saturday: BYU at St. Mary's (should be an easy BYU sweep) Portland at San Francisco (USF sweep?) and LMU at Pepperdine (LMU sweep?)
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Post by bayarea on Oct 11, 2014 17:46:24 GMT -5
After another crazy week of WCC conference play:
BYU 7-0 after a 3-1 win over St. Mary's. BYU didn't look very sharp in the first 3 sets, which were extremely close before they found their stride and won 25-14 in the 4th. They switched setters in set 3 and put in freshman Alohi Robbins-Hardy.
San Diego is now 5-2 after a close 5 set win on the road at Pacific. USD came back from a 0-2 set deficit to win 15-13 in the 5th.
Gonzaga is 4-2 and turning into the team that just won't quit. They beat both USF and Santa Clara in 5 sets this weekend, coming from a 0-2 halftime deficit to win 18-16 in the 5th set last night against Santa Clara.
LMU is 4-2 after a sweep of Pepperdine in Malibu in closely fought sets. Pepperdine is now sticking with Strehlow running a 5-1, and both teams had good hitting percentages and 4 blocks.
Santa Clara is 3-3 after splitting their Thursday/Friday matches with a 3-1 win over Portland and then suffering a heartbreaking 5th set loss to Gonzaga the following night.
Pacific is 3-3 after a tough Thursday/Friday home schedule, losing 1-3 to BYU and then also suffering a heartbreaker 2-3 loss to San Diego.
San Francisco is now 3-3 after 2 home matches. They lost in 5 sets to Gonzaga on Thursday, and then escaped an extremely close contest with Portland, with a comeback 15-13 win in the 5th set on Saturday.
Pepperdine is now 2-4. They had only one match this week, a closely scored 3 set home loss to LMU.
St. Mary's is off to a 0-6 start after 1-3 home losses to both San Diego and BYU. They fought hard in both matches, but couldn't perservere.
Portland now 0-6, but they are fighting to stay in every match. They lost to Santa Clara Thursday, but looked like they were going to notch their first conference win of the season on Saturday, taking a 2-1 set lead over USF and then a 12-9 lead in the 5th set, before allowing USF to comeback to a 15-13 win.
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Post by bayarea on Oct 14, 2014 11:50:16 GMT -5
Congrats to Alexa Gray, the WCC Player of the week, from BYU. She got off to kind of a slow start this season, but now is playing spectacularly, and regularly hitting right over her blockers to tattoo the floor. She had 40 kills, hitting .419 against Pacific and St. Mary's, along with 3 digs and 5 blocks.
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Post by bayarea on Oct 15, 2014 20:17:10 GMT -5
This week's WCC matches: THURSDAY 10/16/14 Pacific @ Gonzaga Spokane, Wash. TheW.tv 6:00 p.m. PT Saint Mary's @ Portland Portland, Ore. 7:00 p.m. PT Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/up/and Live Stats: stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=60698San Francisco @ Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. 7:00 p.m. PT Video at www.lmulions.com/collegesportslive/?media=459757Gametracker at www.lmulions.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=1341366&school=loyo&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&Santa Clara @ Pepperdine Malibu, Calif. 7:00 p.m. PT Free Video: www.pepperdinesports.com/collegesportslive/?media=459532Gametracker www.pepperdinesports.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=1345469&school=pepp&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&FRIDAY 10/17/14 BYU @ San Diego San Diego, Calif. TheW.tv 7:00 p.m. PT SATURDAY 10/18/14 St. Mary's @ Gonzaga Spokane, Wash. TheW.tv 12:00 p.m. PT Santa Clara @ Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. 12:00 p.m. PT Video at www.lmulions.com/collegesportslive/?media=459758Gametracker at www.lmulions.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=1341367&school=loyo&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=& and Pacific @ Portland Portland, Ore. 1:00 p.m. PT Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/up/Live Stats: stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=60699San Francisco @ Pepperdine Malibu, Calif. 1:00 p.m. PT Free Video: www.pepperdinesports.com/collegesportslive/?media=459533Gametracker www.pepperdinesports.com/gametracker/launch/gt_wvolley.html?event=1345470&school=pepp&sport=wvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&(I'm going on record as believing Pepperdine is going to be a much improved team over the remainder of the season, now that they have a healthy Katie Messing, who is pounding kills, and have Strehlow running a 5-1. Defense is probably their biggest weakness, but I think they will start winning quite a few matches.)
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Post by Mocha on Oct 18, 2014 0:32:37 GMT -5
San Diego upset BYU tonight in five.
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Post by vballfreak808 on Oct 18, 2014 16:32:21 GMT -5
St.Mary's defeats Gonzaga in 5
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Post by bayarea on Oct 18, 2014 16:34:02 GMT -5
Santa Clara just knocked off LMU in 5.
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Post by bayarea on Oct 18, 2014 18:15:01 GMT -5
Pacific swept Portland and USF beat Pepperdine in 4
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Post by bayarea on Oct 18, 2014 18:18:54 GMT -5
This week's WCC Pick The Winner matches were both upsets. BYU was an 83% favorite over San Diego and LMU was a 93% favorite over Santa Clara. It continues to be a weekly crap shoot in the WCC
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Post by bighitter on Oct 19, 2014 12:17:56 GMT -5
Whats worse for LMU then the loss SC is Cait Dewitt went down with an ankle injury. Looked to be pretty bad. If she's out for the season that could dramatically impact LMU's chances in the WCC and making the tourney.
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Post by kidfree on Oct 19, 2014 21:32:29 GMT -5
Their chances are looking slim. BYU is playing LMU at home after a tough loss to San Diego. Unless LMU can come up with a quality bench player they are in a tough spot.
Nice win for USD though.
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trojansc
Legend
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Post by trojansc on Oct 19, 2014 22:48:54 GMT -5
Whats worse for LMU then the loss SC is Cait Dewitt went down with an ankle injury. Looked to be pretty bad. If she's out for the season that could dramatically impact LMU's chances in the WCC and making the tourney. LMU was up 14-3 i think when Dewitt went down in set 3. They eventually won that set, but lost the next two to Santa Clara. Kristie Hewko only played 3 matches last season but had to come in off the bench. Terrible terrible loss for LMU. It's very sad because Dewitt's previous injury limited her last season and bluntly, she was not that great. This season she has been outstanding. So sad to see a SENIOR 6-rotation OH who had battled injuries previously to end her career with an injury in the middle of conference play.
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