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Post by fandad on Jan 22, 2022 18:42:20 GMT -5
The Oak Invitational tournament is being held at Menlo this Saturday and Sunday. With Campbellsville unable to attend, this will be a de-facto CalPac-GSAC Challenge! Here is the schedule. Saturday 11:30 a.m. #3 Vanguard vs. #15 UC Merced 2:00 p.m. #7 Menlo vs. Simpson 4:30 p.m. RV Hope International vs. #2 Benedictine-Mesa 7:00 p.m. #7 Menlo vs. #15 UC Merced Sunday 11:30 a.m. RV Hope International vs. Simpson 2:00 p.m. #3 Vanguard vs. #2 Benedictine-Mesa 4:30 p.m. #15 UC Merced vs. RV Hope International 7:00 p.m. #7 Menlo vs. #2 Benedictine-Mesa All matches will be livestreamed at www.gsacsportsnetwork.com/menlo/A near upset in the first match of the tournament. Vanguard survives in 5 sets over Merced (21-19 in the 5th). It may have come at a price, though. Anema went down with what looked like an ankle injury about midway through the last set. He couldn't put any weight on it coming off the court. It didn't look good. Wow! There must be some kind of curse over the Oak Invitational. Menlo leads Simpson 2 set to 1 right now, but near the end of set 3, a second pre-season AA suffered what looked like another pretty serious lower leg injury. Ibrahimovic went down hard after a back row attack and had to be assisted off the court. Just like Anema in the previous match, he didn't look very happy. The balance of power in the NAIA may have changed pretty significantly today. We'll see.
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Post by fandad on Jan 22, 2022 19:04:01 GMT -5
Menlo closes out Simpson in 4.
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Post by fandad on Jan 22, 2022 19:37:23 GMT -5
My source in the gym at Menlo thinks Anema and Ibrahimovic both broke their ankle. And he believes Ibahimovic's was a compound fracture. That information is in no way confirmed, but... I don't know what to say. That would be a huge loss for the entire NAIA this season.
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NAIA 2022
Jan 23, 2022 7:37:20 GMT -5
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Post by WildwoodVB on Jan 23, 2022 7:37:20 GMT -5
That would be a huge hit for those teams. Menlo is slightly better set up for it, but that’s a drastic loss to both groups. Both are still top-15 teams but, if they’re out, it will take some luck to reach the Final Four.
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NAIA 2022
Jan 23, 2022 8:08:34 GMT -5
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Post by Dakota on Jan 23, 2022 8:08:34 GMT -5
William Penn is good. Just ask Saint Xavier. Saint X struggled a bit yesterday with losses to WPU and Quincy but I think the combination of Krause (the Lewis Transfer) and Papes is going to be tough to stop.
That Vanguard/UC Merced match was wild. Anema had 25 kills before he went down late in the 5th. Merced got rolled after but they could be tough.
I expected a little more fight from Siena Heights, they snagged a set but Indiana Tech looks awfully good.
New look BenMesa looked solid last night - Stearman and Pollnow both strong.
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NAIA 2022
Jan 23, 2022 12:48:19 GMT -5
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Post by beachbum86 on Jan 23, 2022 12:48:19 GMT -5
My source in the gym at Menlo thinks Anema and Ibrahimovic both broke their ankle. And he believes Ibahimovic's was a compound fracture. That information is in no way confirmed, but... I don't know what to say. That would be a huge loss for the entire NAIA this season. I’ve heard rumors floating around that Anema’s ankle is a dislocation and Ibrahimovic’s is a compound fracture. Hoping that’s not the case for the sake of those two young men. Two of the best volleyball players at any college level.
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Post by Dakota on Jan 23, 2022 21:25:51 GMT -5
Woah. A day after losing their star, Vanguard was the verge of being swept by Benedictine Mesa. But pulled the reverse sweep without Kyle Anema to take down BenMesa in 5!
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NAIA 2022
Jan 24, 2022 0:02:18 GMT -5
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Post by beachbum86 on Jan 24, 2022 0:02:18 GMT -5
Menlo makes quick work of Ben-Mesa 25-18, 25-19, 25-21. Even without Ibrahimovic Menlo is very very good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2022 0:50:33 GMT -5
Woah. A day after losing their star, Vanguard was the verge of being swept by Benedictine Mesa. But pulled the reverse sweep without Kyle Anema to take down BenMesa in 5! BenU looked to be playing without their AA, Landon Fuller, so I am having a tough time judging this BenU team right now. Regardless, that is a big win for Vanguard to show them they can compete without one of the best players in the country. Also...Menlo is very good without Ibrahimovic. It sucks they won't have him for the foreseeable future, but even without him playing I thought they looked like one of the best teams in the NAIA, if not the best.
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Post by fandad on Jan 24, 2022 1:27:14 GMT -5
Woah. A day after losing their star, Vanguard was the verge of being swept by Benedictine Mesa. But pulled the reverse sweep without Kyle Anema to take down BenMesa in 5! BenU looked to be playing without their AA, Landon Fuller, so I am having a tough time judging this BenU team right now. Regardless, that is a big win for Vanguard to show them they can compete without one of the best players in the country. Also...Menlo is very good without Ibrahimovic. It sucks they won't have him for the foreseeable future, but even without him playing I thought they looked like one of the best teams in the NAIA, if not the best. Yeah, Stoklosinski is a pretty good facsimile of Ibrahimovic. Losing Ibrahimovic will surely suck, but his replacement is not a significant step down. I'm not sure the same can be said for who Vanguard has available to step in for Anema. They are still a very talented team, but being without Anema is going to hurt them far worse than Menlo will be hurt by Ibrahimovic's absence. As for BenU, it is true that Fuller did not play, so I agree it is very hard to judge how they good they will be. I don't know what's up with Fuller right now, but I can say their performance this weekend indicates they can afford to be without him far less than either of those other two teams. As for the other teams at the tournament, I thought Merced made a decent showing for themselves, taking Vanguard to 5 in the first match of the tournament. And that was with Vanguard having Anema for essentially the entire match. Merced is going to need some other players besides Steele and Morikawa to show up consistently though to have a chance at anything this year. Hope, on the other hand, didn't fair well at all. The only match they won was a reverse sweep over Simpson this morning, in which Simpson dominated Hope early. Hope didn't win a set otherwise in the tournament. I still don't think we should expect anything from Simpson this year, but they are a bit of a mystery to me. I don't quite understand why they only had 7 players who were actually dressed to play. They had a pretty full bench of other players who were apparently ineligible to play. But with 7 guys, they took a set from Menlo and should have beaten Hope. I hope they don't have to play with 7 all year.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2022 16:53:23 GMT -5
The next set of rankings come out tomorrow, and this is how I think they will look (not what I personally believe is the top 15). This first poll is a tough one because all of the conference jockey to get their teams rated, and that is reflected in the conference rankings. This whole thing could be way off, but here is my go:
1. Grand View 2. Menlo 3. Vanguard 4. Park 5. Benedictine 6. Lourdes 7. Jamestown 8. Missouri Valley 9. Indiana Tech 10. Missouri Baptist 11. Georgetown 12. Ottawa (AZ) 13. UC Merced 14. Campbellsville 15. Aquinas Last teams out: William Penn, Saint Xavier, The Master’s
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NAIA 2022
Jan 25, 2022 23:36:22 GMT -5
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Post by WildwoodVB on Jan 25, 2022 23:36:22 GMT -5
I think it’s obvious Grand View isn’t the best team in the country but they’ll likely hold that top spot until someone dethrones them. Here’s my crack at what the voters will end up with:
1) Grand View 2) Menlo 3) Vanguard 4) Park 5) Lourdes 6) BenMesa 7) Jamestown 8) Indiana Tech 9) Missouri Valley 10) Missouri Baptist 11) Ottawa AZ 12) William Penn 13) Georgetown 14) UC Merced 15) Aquinas
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Post by fandad on Jan 26, 2022 13:45:15 GMT -5
Here is the new poll www.naia.org/sports/mvball/2021-22/Releases/1_National: RANK LAST TIME TEAM [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] RECORD POINTS1 1 Grand View (Iowa) [12] 2-0 252 2 7 Menlo (Calif.) [2] 5-0 242 3 3 Vanguard (Calif.) 2-1 228 4 4 Park (Mo.) 2-0 221 5 5 Lourdes (Ohio) 1-0 199 6 2 Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.) 1-2 197 7 6 Jamestown (N.D.) 0-0 178 8 8 Missouri Valley 1-0 169 9 9 Indiana Tech 7-0 159 10 11 Georgetown (Ky.) 2-0 138 11 12 Missouri Baptist 2-0 136 12 13 Ottawa (Ariz.) 4-0 128 13 14 Campbellsville (Ky.) 1-1 93 14 10 Saint Xavier (Ill.) 2-5 89 15 15 UC Merced (Calif.) 2-2 87 Receiving Votes: William Penn (Iowa) 78, Aquinas (Mich.) 72, The Master's (Calif.) 47, Siena Heights (Mich.) 26, St. Ambrose (Iowa) 16, Life (Ga.) 12, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 9, Hope International (Calif.) 6, Ottawa (Kan.) 3, Fisher (Mass.) 3, Webber International (Fla.) 3
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NAIA 2022
Jan 27, 2022 21:29:17 GMT -5
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Post by WildwoodVB on Jan 27, 2022 21:29:17 GMT -5
Watching Park/Jamestown and there isn’t much impressive about either one of them… Chagas is solid, but there isn’t much beyond him a d Jamestown looks rough.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2022 21:45:26 GMT -5
Master's takes down Benedictine in four. Diego Perez with 19K.
BenU really having a tough start to the year, and Master's with their biggest win in their short history. The GSAC is going to be fun to watch this year!
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