Lewis at Ball State Game

[DaRookie]

Lewis takes it in 3.

[DaRookie]

Wow! Congrats to midwestfan. He beat my post by 14 seconds. Now that's being on the ball on his part because I just had someone call me from the locker room after the game.

Hat's off to the midwestfan, the fastest poster in the midwest that I have seen!

[VILI]

What happened tonight? I am confused, anyone see this match? Perhaps I was correct anyone can win the MIVA....

[midwestfan]

Aweeee, I got lucky!!

[vballfan4]

What a game. Ball State, pardon my language, literary s$#% their pants. They looked scared and as if not ready to play the game. They started the match with kill and three straight blocks from Grabovac (Escalante went down first, then some unknown outside and Berreto was third). After that they pretty much got their butts kicked around all night long. Not much to say except Lewis outplayed them in every aspect of the game. It will be interesting to see what happens at Loyola on Friday.

[babyborn]

Go flyers!!!!! ;D

[Smooth "954" Mike]

To quote our buddy Roofan. "Its not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”

Lewis still has a lot of work to do especially after their
0-3 trip to the west coast. I don't care who Cal Bapt had, there is no excuse to drop a match to an NAIA team.

[lalalaluuuke]

As bad as Lewis has been this year I think their post season experience they gained at last year's Final Four is a big advantage for them in big matches. This was a big match for them and they rose to the challenge. Playing more west coast teams than most other non-westcoast teams helps them a great deal too. I didn't pick them to win but not surprised that they did. Jeff Soler finally had a great match and took his game up a notch. Fabiano has been great all year but by his numbers last night it sounds like Ball State keyed on him. He is having a year worthy of POY consideration. His team wouldn't be nearly where they are (as mediocre as that is by their record) without him. Don't count Lewis out yet.

[VILI]

RedYukon, I doubt Fabiano gets POY consideration. I don't care about his numbers, from what I know about the MIVA this years top candidates for POY should be Matt from FW and Keith from BS, anyone familiar with the MIVA tell me if I am wrong.

[midwestfan]

I think you are right VILI. It is between those two unless something really bad happens to either one of them. I would have to give Keith, Ball States setter, the advantage at this point (he's a fifth year senior).

[lalalaluuuke]

I'm going to stick to my guns. If not for Fabiano his team would have maybe 3 wins all year. Remember, I said CONSIDERATION, I am not giving out the award. By his play and the way he steps up when his team needs him he will get consideration. He has been doing it for 3 years. He may not be a 5th year senior but he has been around playing at a high level. You don't think numbers matter for POY? You are crazy. How do you think Costas got Ntl. POY twice? He didn't get it because his team won it all, he got it because he put up huge numbers. Just because someone is a 5th year senior or you think they "should" get consideration, doesn't mean they will get it. What I am saying is justify your claims, don't just say they will get it cause they "should" or you think they will. Obviously Ball State's setter wasn't playing like the POY last night. Lewis spanked them on their own court. Who is on Lewis? Fabiano Barretto. He was in the top 2 for kills on his team hitting for .400 with 4 blocks. He did what was necessary to win, which as the score indicates, wasn't much.

[roy]

RedYukon said:

I'm going to stick to my guns. If not for Fabiano his team would have maybe 3 wins all year. Remember, I said CONSIDERATION, I am not giving out the award. By his play and the way he steps up when his team needs him he will get consideration. He has been doing it for 3 years. He may not be a 5th year senior but he has been around playing at a high level. You don't think numbers matter for POY? You are crazy. How do you think Costas got Ntl. POY twice? He didn't get it because his team won it all, he got it because he put up huge numbers. Just because someone is a 5th year senior or you think they "should" get consideration, doesn't mean they will get it. What I am saying is justify your claims, don't just say they will get it cause they "should" or you think they will. Obviously Ball State's setter wasn't playing like the POY last night. Lewis spanked them on their own court. Who is on Lewis? Fabiano Barretto. He was in the top 2 for kills on his team hitting for .400 with 4 blocks. He did what was necessary to win, which as the score indicates, wasn't much.

I get what your saying. Barretto is definately a good player, but without a really strong push near the end of the season, he may only be considered for a moment before the committee moves onto the next person. The same argument could be made about a lot of players, in that their team wouldn't have been the same without him. An example would be Brook Billings from USC. He was a great player and helped USC tremediously, but his team as a whole didn't compete well and didn't make the MPSF play offs in his last 2 years.

Generally speaking, the POY will come from a top 5 team and Lewis dropped out of the rankings. I don't see Barretto getting the award. But as I said in another post, I don't see a clear cut POY for this year.

[VILI]

;D Well RedYukon, I am going to stick to my guns. Because your guns suck. So Fabiano for POY? Well I admit I do not know a whole lot about the MIVA, so unlike you and run my mouth, I did some research. You think Fabiano should be POY because of his numbers? Well my friend on the season he is hitting an incredible .214 (WOW) This is good enough for fifth best on his own team (Incredible!!!) You are right Costas did put up numbers, and he got POY because he was a four time first team all american! So if you want to talk numbers, know them before you bust your guns.

FYI-Matt got his second MIVA POW of the year this week, keith already has one and a National POW. And both of those guys are leading their young teams to great success. You say Fab. leads his team when they need him? You don't think they needed him in any one of their 10 losses this season in 19 games? Thanks for the backup midwestfan

[Roofan]

Smooth Mike

Good call..it is a Marathon and NOT a sprint!!!

However, before everyone starts getting too crazy, it was only 1 win. Lewis is still not a very good team at all. I can't believe Red Yukon actually thinks Fabby is a POY canidate, much less a MIVA POY canidate. 11st off Vili is dead-on, his hitting numbers have been mostly atrocious all year. Just to add 1 more number, he is only in the top 5 in the MIVA in kills per game behind not onle quality hitters like Matt Z and Alesch, but not so deadly guys like Boyd (Quincy) and Jim D of FINDLAY!!! Also, Lewis does have 9 wins, but you have to throw at least 4 out the window...George Mason (who until last week or so was WINLESS), and MIVA patsy's Findlay, Mercyhurst, and Clarke. Many of my MPSF brethren would also say to throw out wins over USC and UCSD, so really they have beaten 3 teams...Penn St., Ball St., and OSU. Sorry, but with a sub .500 team with only 5 decent wins and an abysmal hitting percentage to go along with only decents kills per game, he wil be LUCKY to even repeat as a 1st team All MIVA member much less a POY CANIDATE!

On a side note, I DO think Fabby is still one of the best 2-3 hitters and top 4-5 players in the conferance, but he isn't nearly as effective as he has been in his Freshman-Junior years. Much of that has to do with losing his pal JR, but also his advancing age and the fact that he KNOWS no matter how good he plays personally he isn't going to war with anything resembleing the teams he has had in the past 3 years. Facts are facts...the Sisk's and Bergman's of the world are nowhere near as good as the likes of JR, Gusty, Kevin Miller, Jeff Getz, and Jorge Alifonso's of the world who have been his teamates over his 1st 3 years.

Roofan

[lalalaluuuke]

OK VILI, that's backing up your claims. FYI you were running off your mouth. You were making claims with no explanation. I appreciate you backing up your claim. It now makes sense why you think the way you do.

Your beloved Costas did put up great numbers, he of course was later stripped of his awards, but he did put up great numbers. That's why he was rewarded. Did you research anything else or just Fabiano's hitting average?

Apparently you didn't read what I wrote very clearly. I said he should be CONSIDERED for POY. When did I give him the POY award? I think he is a workhorse. He may be hitting .214 but he takes a lot more swings than everyone else. Teams know if they focus their defense on him they have a chance, which is why teams have been successful. Of course his team needed him in their losses VILI, those are usually the games where he gets no help from his teammates and has 20+ kills. Before you start shooting off your mouth and telling me my guns suck, please read more carefully what is written.

Roy you make a good point about Billings. His team did not win and it probably limited his awards. At least Barretto's team is in the running for the conference championship and just beat the 2nd place team convincingly on the road. Lewis will definitely have to have a strong finish for any awards to be GIVEN to them or their team members, but without a strong finish they will still be CONSIDERED.