The Summit League 2022

[kiyoat]

Yes, this is a little early to start this thread... but I thought I'd start it while I was thinking about it.  Plus, that gives me all Summer to collect and post conference info on the teams.  I've never done a very in-depth presentation of that, so I thought I'd take my time and model it after other conference threads.

I ordered the teams in the poll after 2021 conference finish.  That makes more sense to me than alphabetical, like I have seen in other threads.  I noticed the B1G thread allowed up to 7 votes (half the conference).  That makes sense for a conference with potentially many tournament teams.  Rather than just doing one vote, I thought two might be fun.  Why not?  For the past two seasons there were four dominant teams (Omaha, USD, Denver and KC), but SDSU also had a strong season.  So it isn't a typical 1-dominant team or 2-team mid-major league anymore, like it was in the past.  Two votes makes sense to me.

I'll add more schedule/ preseason polls/ team write-ups as I find time, and as they appear.  In the meantime, feel free to comment or add your own info...
(hint, vballfan17)

Thanks!

[vballfan17]

Denver got some big transfer pickups in the off-season with Weidt (Arizona), Fidelek (Stanford) and Lockwood (Pittsburgh) so it’ll be interesting to see how they all gel at the start of the season.

Juhnke and Harms are back for USD so they’ll be good again. I just wonder who will take over setting duties.

Omaha loses Mountjoy and Limback but they have a good crop of young guns that will step up.

Renn, Brecka and Schomers are gone from KC, so they might be down a bit this season, although I’m sure Coach Posey will have them ready.

[raptor patrol]

Hoping for WIU to pick up a few more wins since the new coach has extensive DI and likely limited budget experience. Sadly, WIU is not competitive in most sports at this point.

[kiyoat]

May 25, 2022 17:28:11 GMT -5 vballfan17 said:

Denver got some big transfer pickups in the off-season with Weidt (Arizona), Fidelek (Stanford) and Lockwood (Pittsburgh) so it’ll be interesting to see how they all gel at the start of the season.

Juhnke and Harms are back for USD so they’ll be good again. I just wonder who will take over setting duties.

Omaha loses Mountjoy and Limback but they have a good crop of young guns that will step up.

Renn, Brecka and Schomers are gone from KC, so they might be down a bit this season, although I’m sure Coach Posey will have them ready.

Good summation. I’d add that SDSU got a stud setter transfer from NDSU in the off-season. Big sister of Nebraska recruit Bergen Reilly. Still has 3 years. Best season for the Jacks in a decade last year, including a semifinal appearance, so I could see them as a dark horse.

Madison Jurgens was a huge loss to graduation at setter for the Yotes, no doubt. I was told that Brooklyn Schramm looked pretty good in that role this Spring, but a lot will depend on her. Lolo Weideman will return for an extra COVID year at Libero too. So that’s good. Slaughter at OH and Weidenfeld at MB are two tall starters that will be missed.

[vballfan17]

May 25, 2022 23:42:20 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

May 25, 2022 17:28:11 GMT -5 vballfan17 said:

Denver got some big transfer pickups in the off-season with Weidt (Arizona), Fidelek (Stanford) and Lockwood (Pittsburgh) so it’ll be interesting to see how they all gel at the start of the season.

Juhnke and Harms are back for USD so they’ll be good again. I just wonder who will take over setting duties.

Omaha loses Mountjoy and Limback but they have a good crop of young guns that will step up.

Renn, Brecka and Schomers are gone from KC, so they might be down a bit this season, although I’m sure Coach Posey will have them ready.

Good summation. I’d add that SDSU got a stud setter transfer from NDSU in the off-season. Big sister of Nebraska recruit Bergen Reilly. Still has 3 years. Best season for the Jacks in a decade last year, including a semifinal appearance, so I could see them as a dark horse.

Madison Jurgens was a huge loss to graduation at setter for the Yotes, no doubt. I was told that Brooklyn Schramm looked pretty good in that role this Spring, but a lot will depend on her. Lolo Weideman will return for an extra COVID year at Libero too. So that’s good. Slaughter at OH and Weidenfeld at MB are two tall starters that will be missed.

Ah yes. I forgot about Reilly transferring to SDSU.  I agree that they will likely be top-tier this season.

Weideman coming back is definitely big for the USD backcourt. 

Here's my preseason rankings:
1. USD
2. Denver
3. Omaha
4. SDSU
5. KC
6. ORU
7. NDSU
8. WIU
9. St Thomas
10. UND

[mervynpumpkinhead]

This seems like an off-brand conference for Denver and where they're trying to go. I could be wrong.

[kiyoat]

May 26, 2022 9:41:00 GMT -5 mervynpumpkinhead said:

This seems like an off-brand conference for Denver and where they're trying to go. I could be wrong.

No, I think you are spot on.  AFAIK, most Denver fans would much rather be with the other privates in the WCC.  The sports profile of the school is closer to that, or the Big East or Ivy League.  Geography is a problem, though.  I'd guess they like the Summit a little better than the WAC where they came from.

They are emphatically a hockey school.  And a couple of their primary rivals in hockey happen to reside in the Summit as well (North Dakota & Omaha).  So that probably helps keep them in the fold.  That and the fact that the WCC isn't interested in adding Denver.  That's my take, anyway.

Also, the addition of St. Thomas in Minneapolis adds another high-endowment private school that plays hockey.  That changes the "brand" of the conference a little.  The assumption is that UST will improve all their athletics quite soon with better recruiting (they went straight from non-scholarship D-III to D-I).  One more thing, the new Commisioner of the Summit was previously a Hockey-League commish.  We could see Summit Hockey at some point.  Denver might be on board with that... Or they could just leave with UST to the Big East in another decade...

[mervynpumpkinhead]

May 26, 2022 11:59:00 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

May 26, 2022 9:41:00 GMT -5 mervynpumpkinhead said:

This seems like an off-brand conference for Denver and where they're trying to go. I could be wrong.

No, I think you are spot on.  AFAIK, most Denver fans would much rather be with the other privates in the WCC.  The sports profile of the school is closer to that, or the Big East or Ivy League.  Geography is a problem, though.  I'd guess they like the Summit a little better than the WAC where they came from.

They are emphatically a hockey school.  And a couple of their primary rivals in hockey happen to reside in the Summit as well (North Dakota & Omaha).  So that probably helps keep them in the fold.  That and the fact that the WCC isn't interested in adding Denver.  That's my take, anyway.

Also, the addition of St. Thomas in Minneapolis adds another high-endowment private school that plays hockey.  That changes the "brand" of the conference a little.  The assumption is that UST will improve all their athletics quite soon with better recruiting (they went straight from non-scholarship D-III to D-I).  One more thing, the new Commisioner of the Summit was previously a Hockey-League commish.  We could see Summit Hockey at some point.  Denver might be on board with that... Or they could just leave with UST to the Big East in another decade...

That all makes sense. They are an odd fit for being so far west yet having good hockey and lacrosse.

[kiyoat]

OK,  I think schedules, transfers and rosters have calmed down enough by now to start doing some individual team evals.  I'll go in reverse order of their 2021 finish.  So, starting with North Dakota:

#10 the University of North Dakota


Last 5 years finishes:

year	Overall	Conf	League Tourney	Coach
2017	30-8	12-4 (#2)	Big Sky Champs	Mark Pryor
2018	14-18	6-9 (#5)	Summit QF	Mark Pryor
2019	12-18	4-12 (#6)	-	Jeremiah Tiffin
2020	2-16	2-14 (#9)	-	Jeremiah Tiffin
2021	1-29	0-18 (#10)	-	Jeremiah Tiffin
2022				Jesse Tupac

After reclassifying to Division-1 in 2008, North Dakota had some early success in the Great West and Big Sky conferences under Head Coaches Ashley Hardee and Mark Pryor, culminating in a program all-time best season in 2017, capturing back-to-back Big Sky titles and NCAA tourney appearances in 2016 and 2017.  All of that changed rapidly after joining the Summit in 2018, and Pryor stepping down after the 2018 season to spend more time with family.  They have quickly become the worst program in the league, finishing last in the previous two seasons, and going winless in 2021. 

New coach Jesse Tupac comes to Grand Forks from New Mexico, where he served as Assistant HC and Recruiting Coordinator.  He has also been on the staffs at Penn State and Iowa State in the past.

2021 Recap:

After being picked #8 preseason, they finished last (#10) and winless.  Looking at team stats, their offense, and serve-receive was poor, finishing last in the league in hitting %, assists, kills, and aces.  The only positive team stat was digs/set, where they ranked second in the league with 16.46 digs/s.  This effort was led by Senior DS/L Madi Hart's 4.55 (#3 Summit), and Freshman OH Maddy Hornyak's 3.05 (#11 Summit).  Another stand-out player, Senior MB Lexi Ahrens, led the team in Blocks (1.12 #4 Summit), Kills (2.42 #21 Summit), Points (3.21 #14 Summit), and had the second-highest number of service aces (16).  Lexi transfered to Texas A&M in the Spring to play two seasons of Beach Volleyball, utilizing her extra Covid year.

2022 Roster:

#	name	ht	pos	class	hometown	prev. school
7	Izzy McCormick	5-7	Libero	Fresh	Bloomington, IL	Normal Comm. HS
19	Olivia De Jong	5-9	Libero	Fresh	Surrey, BC (Can)	Ecole Salish Sec.
8	Jocelyn Julson	5-8	DS	Soph	Bismarck, ND	Century HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Peyton Sewell	5-9	Setter	Senior	Belvidere, IL	Belvidere HS
4	Elizabeth Norris	6-0	Setter	Junior	Corunna, MI	Corunna HS
3	Kortney Carney	5-9	Setter	Senior	Moorhead, MN	NDSCS (JC)
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Maddy Hornyak	5-10	OH	Soph	Lakeville, MN	Lakeville North HS
9	Ashlyn Olson	6-0	RS	Soph	Spicer, MN	New Lnd-Spicer HS
17	McCallister Gayle	6-2	OH/RS	Junior	Henderson, NV	Coronado HS
13	Taylor Pribyl	6-0	OH/MB	Senior	Omaha, NE	Jacksonville State
12	Sierra Ward	5-11	OH/RS	Grad	Belle Fourche, SD	Black Hills State
15	Paige Barber	6-0	OH	Fresh	Brecksville, OH	Brcks.-Brd Hts HS
18	Katy Riviere	5-9	RS	Fresh	Wayzata, MN	Wayzata HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Erika Lindqvist	6-2	MB	Grad	Angelholm, Swed.	Delaware State
11	Marissa Stockman	6-2	MB/RS	Grad	Clear Lake, WI	Florida State
5	Maddie Lipetsky	6-0	MB	Fresh	Shakopee, MN	Shakopee HS
10	Sophia Ortquist	6-0	MB	Fresh	Las Vegas, NE	Nevada State HS

Key:
Returning Starter or Impact Player
Returning Player
New Transfer Player
New Freshman Player

They will need one of the three young defensive specialists to step up in order to have a complete team.  It would be hard to guess at the impact of freshmen, but the two grad-transfer Middle Blockers look promising:


Marissa Stockman, 6-2 Middle Blocker (Florida State)
LINK TO BIO

Although her minutes have gradually decreased over three seasons for the Seminoles, her freshman year at Illinois State looked promising for mid-major play:
-MVC all-freshman team
-led the league in hitting% (.355)
-first in blocks (1.00/s), second in points (320), third in kills (259) on team.


Erika Lindqvist, 6-2 Middle Blocker (Delaware St)
LINK TO BIO


2022 Non-Con Schedule (unconfirmed):

date	opponent	2021 RPI	guess
Aug 26-27	@ Montana	225	?
	vs UC-Davis	251	W
	vs UT-Arlington	214	L
Sep 2-3	vs Indiana St	126	L
	@ W Michigan	110	L
	vs Wright St	69	L
Sep 8-10	Montana St	153	L
	Coppin St	242	W
	Fordham	267	W
Sep 16	@ Green Bay	224	?
	vs. SIUE	290	W

Last year UND scheduled too tough, and ended up only winning one non-con match.  Looks like the new coach did a good job of scheduling a more managable slate.  A home tournament is always a win-win, too.  I'd guess they end up around .500 with that schedule.  Getting a few wins right before the conference season is a bonus for confidence.

2022 Outlook:

Not only did they have a terrible 2021 season and fired their coach, they lost a lot of players to the transfer portal, including your two best players. Also, the two positions that had OK stats (DS/Lib and MB) have been completely cleaned out (all new players).

On the bright side, they do have Some returning starters at Setter and Hitters.  They ran a two-setter system last year with Sewell and Norris, who are now experienced upper-classmen.  I'd guess at least one of those two might be someone to lean on in a coach's first year.  With all the newcomers, some could have an immediate impact.

Let's face it, North Dakota is NOT going to be competing for a title in 2022, or even a spot in the 6-team SL Tournament. The goal for them is growth. They need to move ahead of St. Thomas and Western Illinois. They need to get an upset win or two over a middle-tier team.  5 non-con wins and 5 conference wins would get them to approximately 10-20 (5-13).  That's a reasonable goal, IMO.  Can they get there? Maybe.  It would be hard to be worse, so I think this coach will get a grace period.  If he can recruit and coach, UND has the fans and resources to support a winner.  Just not this year...

[vballfan17]

Jul 14, 2022 17:22:53 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

OK,  I think schedules, transfers and rosters have calmed down enough by now to start doing some individual team evals.  I'll go in reverse order of their 2021 finish. 

This is amazing!

[raptor patrol]

Jul 14, 2022 17:22:53 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

OK,  I think schedules, transfers and rosters have calmed down enough by now to start doing some individual team evals.  I'll go in reverse order of their 2021 finish. 

Looking forward to reading your analysis.

[kiyoat]

Jul 14, 2022 18:06:16 GMT -5 raptor patrol said:

Jul 14, 2022 17:22:53 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

OK,  I think schedules, transfers and rosters have calmed down enough by now to start doing some individual team evals.  I'll go in reverse order of their 2021 finish. 

Looking forward to reading your analysis.

Ha, my analysis might disappoint, fair warning. I’m mainly just a fan. Although I do enjoy finding and presenting data. My reading of it might be… flawed. Fun exercise anyway!

[AmeriCanVBfan]

Well, their season this upcoming fall can't be much worse than last year's result.
Hoping for some success for this squad.

[kiyoat]

#9 the University of Saint Thomas

Last 5 years finishes:

year	All	Conf	post	coach
2017	25-7	10-1 (#1)	MIAC finals/ NCAA at-large	Thanh Pham
2018	25-9	9-2 (#3)	MIAC semi/ NCAA at-large	Thanh Pham
2019	30-5	11-0 (#1)	MIAC champs/ NCAA 2nd rnd	Thanh Pham
2020	3-2	0-0	-cancelled season-	Thanh Pham
2021	3-25	2-16 (#9)	(first D-1 season)	Thanh Pham
2022				Thanh Pham

Coach Pham has been at UST for 20 seasons, and they have been perennial D-III powers in that time-frame.  Over his 18 years in D-III, the Tommies have one national championship (2012), three elite-8 finishes, 12 MIAC titles, 14 NCAA Tournament berths, and he coached 19 All-Americans.

2021 recap:

Last season was their first at the Division-1 level.  Their first (and only) non-con win came in 5 sets vs Incarnate Word.  Their two conference wins both came in 5-sets vs North Dakota.  They were picked #10 and finished #9.  Most of their conference matches were sweep losses, however, towards the end of the season they did improve.  They won sets against South Dakota State, South Dakota and Western Illinois, all in the last two weeks of the regular season.

Statistically, they were bottom-three in all team stats except one: Opponent Digs.  I don't really know the significance of that stat.  Individually, 5'-10" Freshman OH Lauren Galvin was their best player, hailing from Woodbury, Minnesota (less than 10 miles from campus).  She led the team in kills (3.42 #6 Summit), points (3.97 #5 Summit), and Aces (0.35/s #6 Summit), making the Summit All-freshman team.


2022 Roster:

#	name	ht	pos	class	hometown	previous school
5	Carrie Rutlege	5-9	DS	Grad	Hayfield, MN	Hayfield HS
3	Rylie Rios	5-10	DS	Junior	Fridley, MN	Totino-Grace HS
4	Payton Willman	5-7	DS	Soph	Lakeville, MN	Lakeville S HS
6	Ella Wheatcraft	5-7	DS	Soph	Lakeville, MN	Lakeville N HS
19	Isabella Halcomb	5-6	DS	Soph	Franklin, WI	Catholic Mem HS
18	Maria Chapman	5-6	DS	Fresh	Woodbury, MN	East Ridge HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Eva Fitzgerald	5-6	S	Soph	Katy, TX	Cinco Ranch HS
7	Hannah Pham	5-9	S	Soph	Lincoln, NE	Pius X HS
13	Keya Luta Win Hunt	5-11	S	Fresh	Minneapolis, MN	Breck HS
22	Allie Kopp	5-7	S	Fresh	Champlin, MN	Champlin Park HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Lauren Galvin	5-10	OH	Soph	Woodbury, MN	East Ridge HS
11	Claire Ricard	5-11	RS	Junior	Benson, MN	Benson HS
12	Libby Mattila	5-10	OH	Soph	Plymouth, MN	Robbinsdale-Arm. HS
10	Liv Anderson	5-11	OH	Fresh	Ankeny, IA	Ankeny Cent. HS
15	Tezra Rudzitis	5-11	OH/RS	Fresh	Anoka, MN	Legacy Christ. Acad
21	Ava Wild	6-0	OH	Fresh	Fargo, ND	Davies HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Ellie Dammann	6-0	MB	Junior	Waconia, MN	Waconia HS
17	Lander Friederichs	6-1	MB	Soph	Fargo, ND	Shanley HS
8	Emma Honsa	6-1	MB	Junior	St. Paul, MN	Cretin-Derham Hall HS
16	Emma Goerger	6-4	MB	Fresh	Plymouth, MN	Wayzata HS
23	Megan Wetter	6-0	MB	Fresh	Monticello, MN	Monticello HS

Key:

Returning Starter or Impact Player

Returning Player

New Transfer Player

New Freshman Player

St Thomas seems to only be losing one starter to graduation, 5-8 Setter, Grace Anetipa.  She led the team in assists (6.16), and was 3rd in digs (2.16).  There seems to be a nice balance of returning starters and incoming players at every position.  While that will keep the roster stable, the big question is how soon will they upgrade the roster with D-1 level talent?  The current class of freshmen is large and balanced as to position.  Although I don't know how talented these current freshmen are, conventional wisdom would say that St. Thomas is in a good location (MSP metro area) to naturally attract the attention of a higher caliber recruit or two.  Coach Pham doesn't really even need to expand his recruiting area to upgrade quality.  There are lots of options locally.

2022 Non-Con Schedule:

date	opponent	RPI	guess
Aug 26-27	vs GCU	83	L
	vs San Fran	306	W
	@ Montana St	153	L
Sep 2-3	vs Cent Michigan	196	L
	@ St Louis	189	L
	vs YSU	307	W
Sep 9-10	@ Loyola Chicago	65	L
	vs Rutgers	205	L
	vs KSU	54	L
Sep 16-17	vs W Michigan	110	L
	vs IUPUI	304	W
	@ Bradley	116	L

When you consider that they only got one non-con win last year, I think that this schedule allows them to grow on that a little bit, possibly picking up a trio of wins.  Steady growth.

2022 Outlook:

Stability and slow growth.  That's the theme I keep seeing in this program.  Stability in a 20-year successful and veteran coach.  Stability in being located smack dab in the middle of a recruiting hotbed.  Stability in gaining Summit League membership immediately, after being D-III just a year ago.  Stability in being a well-heeled private school with a a large endowment.  But stability will only get you so far when trying to build up to a competitive Division-1 program.

That's where the "slow growth" comes in.  Money is great, but it still takes time to build D-1 level facilities.  And time to build a fan base.  And time to build up athletic programs with better athletes.  And that is the question.  How quickly can they get there?  I think it is only a question of when, but they are a long way from putting up Summit League banners.  I watched the USD-UST match at the Sanford Pentagon live, and there was a large discrepancy in athlete.  They played disciplined, no doubt.  But they need the "Jills and Janes".

So I'll predict incremental growth in the win column, both in non-con and Summit matches.  Maybe 3 non-con wins, and three Summit wins, including a mid-level upset.  More importantly, will any of you budding UST fans on this board go to any matches?  Should be fun!

[AmeriCanVBfan]

Jul 14, 2022 23:57:30 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

Jul 14, 2022 18:06:16 GMT -5 raptor patrol said:

Looking forward to reading your analysis.

Ha, my analysis might disappoint, fair warning. I’m mainly just a fan. Although I do enjoy finding and presenting data. My reading of it might be… flawed. Fun exercise anyway!

For UND I will add,
Katy Riviere although slightly undersized, was a really good hitter at the Club level. Very smart selection of hits. imo
Maddie Lipetsky can be a blocking machine. Has had some impressive games at both the High School and Club level.