The Summit League 2022

[kiyoat]

#3 University of Denver
"Pioneers"

[kiyoat]

#2 The University of South Dakota (the "other" USD)
"Coyotes"



Last 5 Years' Results:

year	overall	conf	postseason	coach
2017	17-11	10-4 (#3)	Summit Semi-final	Leanne Williamson
2018	21-10	13-3 (#2)	Summit Champs/ NCAA Rd 1	Leanne Williamson
2019	31-3	16-0 (#1)	Summit Semi-final/ NIVC Finals	Leanne Williamson
2020	15-7	12-3 (#2)	Summit Champs/ NCAA Rd 1	Leanne Williamson
2021	20-10	15-3 (#2)	Summit Champs/ NCAA Rd 1	Leanne Williamson
2022	?	?	?	Leanne Williamson

The South Dakota Women's Volleyball program has a shared history with four other Current Summit League Teams: NDSU, North Dakota, SDSU and Omaha.  All of these teams were long-time members of the Division-2 North Central Conference (NCC).  USD's time in that conference 1979-2007 (28 years) was, for the most part, a rough experience.

It's not a stretch to call USD the doormat program of the North Central Conference.  Looking at all-time records, the Yotes were 45-250 in conference play, for a winning % of 0.153.  From what I can ascertain from the NCC record book, LINK, starting in the 1983 season, the Yotes were winless in conference play for eleven seasons!  Let that sink in.  They  got their first conference win in over a decade in 1994.  Then the first winning season in conference play in the same time-frame came nine years later in 2003!  This date corresponds with two major events: 
1. NDSU and SDSU's final season in Division-2, changing the makeup of the NCC conference.
2. The hiring of Brian Lamppa from D-III Loras College.

Although some credit should be given to the previous coach, Darin Weber's recruiting, The rise of the Yotes Volleyball program starts with Lamppa's first season, 2003.  Not only was it the first winning conference season in 20 years, but Norfolk, NE's Becky Olson, 6'-0" OH, earned a program-first NCC MVP honor.  This was followed by a 9-3 NCC season, #2 finish, D-II NCAA appearance and Coach-of-the Year honor for Lamppa in 2004.  Lamppa guided the team to two program-first trips to the NCAA's in 2004 and 2007, and although his overall conference record was just 27-35, he and his teams likely should be credited with doing some of the heavy lifting in building the program.  Columbus, NE's Amber Kobus, 5'-5" Libero, should also get a mention, winning NCC DPOY twice in 2006 and 2007.

Coach Brian Lamppa 2003-2007

After Coach Lamppa left for an assistant job at Washington State, A young Assistant Coach from Wisconsin-Green Bay was hired to oversee the program's first forray in Division-I.  It was his first head coaching experience at a program entering unknown territory, and a new conference (The Great West) in 2008.  Despite the challenges, Coach Matt Houk did quite well, and ended up with a 97-85 overall record (.533), the best W/L record of any Coyote VB coach up to that point.  He coached six all-conference players in two separate conferences, but his biggest contribution might have been recruiting and developing 2x HM All-American and 2013 Summit POY Kendall Kritenbrink, 5'-11" OH, Gretna, NE.

Coach Matt Houk, 2008-2013

After the 2013 season, Houk took an assistant job at Minnesota (where he still is today).  Assistant Head Coach Leanne (Felsing) Williamson was given the interim HC label, and a month later was given her first head coaching opportunity.  It's not the only thing she has in common with her predecessor.  Both Houk and Williamson are originally from the Milwaukee metro area (Waukesha & Hartland), both played scholarship sports at Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Baseball and Volleyball), and both are part of the Kathy Litzau/ Suzie Johnson coaching tree.  Houk's first D-1 Assistant coaching job was under Coach Litzau and alongside Johnson (2002-2003), and Williamson was a 2x HM All-American Setter/OH under Litzau and Johnson (2004-2007).  She led the nation in triple-doubles in 2007.  Williamson was hired by Houk as an assistant coach ahead of the 2009 season.

Coach Williamson would go on to take the program to new heights, achieving many firsts in her 8 seasons so far:

2 Summit League regular-season Championships: (2016, 2019)
3 Summit League Tournament Champoinships: (2018, 2020, 2021)
1 Summit undefeated regular season (2019)

2 Summit Coach of the Year (2016, 2019)
2 Summit Player of the Year (Reeg 2016, Dotseth 2018)
2 Summit Defensive Player of the Year (Rasmussen 2018, 2019)
4 Summit Setter of the Year (Jessen 2015, 2016, 2017, Jurgens 2019)
2 Summit Freshman of the Year (Loschen 2016, Juhnke 2019)
2 AVCA HM All-Americans (Kritenbrink 2014, Juhnke 2020)
7 wins over power-5 programs

163-76 (.682) overall winning%
99-28 (.780) conference winning%


Coach Leanne Williamson 2014- present

2021 Recap:

South Dakota, as the returning tournament champion and host of the 2021 tournament, was picked #1 in the preseason coaches' poll.  Covid-19 set them back early in the season, with matches cancelled against Northwestern, Colorado State and Northern Colorado.  Then they appeared to under-perform in the next three tournaments, finishing the non-conference a disappointing 3-6.  Passing and serve-receive seemed to be the main areas they were struggling in.  Although they continued to improve through the season, inconsistent performances appeared from time-to-time.  They split the home-and-home series' with ORU, Omaha and Denver, finishing 15-3 in second place behind Omaha. 

They got a five-set scare from a resurgent SDSU squad in the conference semi-finals, and then appeared to play their most complete and dominant match when it mattered most against Omaha in the final.  That made it three tournament championships and NCAA appearances for the Yotes in the last four years, with an undefeated regular-season title in-between.  Unprecedented success in the school's volleyball history.  In the NCAA's they were swept against #11 Minnesota in front of 4280 Gophers fans, but had a good showing (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) with four ties and two lead-changes in the final set.

Statistically, This South Dakota squad generally finished between #2 and #4 in most team stats, in the top tier along with Omaha, Denver and ORU.  Their best numbers were in blocking (2.22/set #2 Summit) and blocking defense (allowed 1.67 blocks/set #1 Summit), and the worst stats were serve-receive and digs (#5 opponent aces, #6 digs/set).  Their hitting efficiency improved tremendously between the non-conference and conference play, hitting .290 in-conference (#1 Summit), and "opponent digs/set" went down to 13.93 digs/set (#2 Summit).  Also, the serving was better.

Individually the team was led by 6'-0" Junior OH, Elizabeth Juhnke and 6'-3" Junior MB Madison Harms.

#6 Elizabeth Juhnke, #7 Madison Harms

Juhnke was Summit League first-team for the third consecutive time, and led the Summit League in kills (461) and kills per set (3.97)...also contributed 37 assists, 347 digs, 23 service aces and 56 total blocks.  She equaled a Summit League tournament record with 24 kills in the three set championship victory over Omaha, and was named Summit League tournament MVP for the second consecutive time.  She had 17 double-doubles on the season.

Harms was Summit League first-team for the second consecutive season.  She ranked third on team with 257 kills, and set a single season record and ranked second in the Summit League with a .409 hitting percentage (sixth-best all-time in Summit League).  She ranked third in Summit League with a 1.19 blocks per set average, totaling 24 solo blocks, a school record in the 25-point rally era, and 97 assisted blocks.  She reached double figures in kills in 13 matches.

Graduating from the team in 2022 are 4-year starting Setter (and 2019 SOY), Madison Jurgens, 6'-2" starting MB Maddie Weidenfeld, 6'-1" starting OH Sami Slaughter, and a key serving specialist in DS Brooklyn Bollweg.  Bench MB Atley Carey also transferred out.

2022 Roster:

#	name	ht	pos	class	hometown	prev school
9	Alaina Wolff	5-6	DS	Junior	Jackson, MN	Wayne State
10	Jadyn Jondle	5-8	DS	Soph	Clarion, IA	Clarion-G-D HS
14	Lolo Weideman	5-7	DS/L	5th	Center Point, IA	Center Point-U HS
16	Laura Petterson	5-8	DS	Junior	Sioux Falls, SD	SF Washington HS
17	Kamryn Farris	5-11	DS	Fresh	Lansing, KS	Lansing HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Brooklyn Schram	5-11	S	Junior	Papillion, NE	Papillion-La Vista HS
16	Madi Woodin	5-6	S	Fresh	Omaha, NE	Elkhorn South HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Amee Adams	6-1	OH/OPP	Senior	Breda, IA	Kuemper Cath. HS
4	Evelyn Diederich	5-8	OH	Junior	Overland Park, KS	Blue Valley HS
5	Mattie Johnson	6-0	OH	Junior	Potter, NE	Sidney HS
6	Elizabeth Juhnke	6-0	OH	Senior	Lakeville, MN	Lakeville North HS
8	Avery Beckett	5-11	OH	Fresh	Waverly, IA	Waverly-SR HS
11	Kylen Sealock	6-0	OH	Soph	Lincoln, NE	Lincoln Pius X HS
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Alexis Moses	6-1	MB	Fresh	Cedar Rapids, IA	Cedar Rapids P. HS
3	Keyauna Linwood	5-11	MB	Soph	Wylie, TX	Jacksonville
7	Madison Harms	6-3	MB	Senior	Sergeant Bluff, IA	Sergeant Bluff-L HS
13	Brynn Paumen	6-3	MB	Senior	Maple Lake, MN	Missouri/ Santa Clara

Key:

Returning Starter or Impact Player

Returning Player

New Transfer Player

New Freshman Player

Although the Coyotes lose essentially three starters (including a 4-year starting setter), they DO return an experienced and talented core of four returning senior starters.  They also brought in some transfer players at DS and MB to shore up depth, and a solid class of four freshmen.  I don't see the freshmen starting or getting significant minutes in competitive matches, because Coach Williamson likes to ride her starters (especially her Setters), and there are some good options on the team already.  So there are 3 starting spots to fill: Setter, OH and MB.  The most important one, and the one that will determine the ceiling of this team IMHO, is Setter:


#12 Brooklyn Schram - 5-11 Setter

Brooklyn Schram graduated from Papillion-Lavista High School in Nebraska as a four-year starter and the all-time assist leader with 4,055.  At South Dakota she has had to play behind another Nebraskan, Madison Jurgens, for two years.  She has been valuable as a serving specialist, though.  In 2021 she appeared in all 30 matches and 109 sets.  She produced 24 service aces to go with 40 digs and five assists.  She had three aces in two different contests.  Now she will be tested as the heir-apparent Starting Setter.  I don't think I'm being overly dramatic when I say the team will rise or fall on her performance.


#11 Kylen Sealock, 5-11 OH

Kylen is my pick to get the most time behind Juhnke and Adams, in that "3rd hitter" starting spot.  A stand-out hitter from perennial power Lincoln Pius X in Nebraska, she had 343 kills/ 233 digs as a Junior, and 276 kills/ 226 digs as a Senior.  She spent most of her 2021 Freshman season injured.  She reportedly looked good in Spring games, so I'll give her the edge for minutes.

At MB the most likely new starter will be Brynn Pauman, a 6-3 player that was originally recruited to Missouri out of High School.  OTOH, transfer players don't go to all that trouble just to sit on the bench, so Linwood will probably get a look, too.  Freshman Alexis Moses could even get a try.  She was the #2 MB in Iowa in the 2022 class, according to Prep Dig.

2022 Non-Conference Season:

date	opponent	RPI	guess
Aug 26	Louisville	1	L*
	Northern KY	59	?*
	Missouri	200	W*
Sep 2	vs Portland St	101	W
	vs New Mexico	125	W
	@ UTEP	45	L
Sep 9	CSU-Bakersfield	173	W*
	West Virginia	50	?*
	Northern CO	61	?*
Sep 16	vs Stetson	223	W
	vs Cornell	219	W
	@ USF	248	W

* home matches

The Yotes have a couple of home tournaments with some challenging opponents.  Although I think anywhere from 2 to 5 losses are possible, I do like the fact that the tough non-con matches are mostly at home.  I'll say they go 9-3.  They will lose a 5-setter to Northern Kentucky while breaking in Schram at Setter, then sweep their second home tournament.

2022 Outlook:

If Schram can produce the high level of Setter play this program has grown accustomed to, there is no reason the Yotes shouldn't be in the mix for another title shot, along with Denver and Omaha.  They might be a little unsteady to give Louisville a good game right out of the gates, but with the senior leadership on the team, that won't last long.  Coach Williamson's teams sometimes start slow and finish strong, but I think this squad will be firing on all cylinders by the time the conference season comes around.  Omaha and Denver don't appear to be going away, and SDSU is rising fast, so the path won't be easy.  But there will likely be a lot of good volleyball to watch.  And USD fans will be there to make the SCSC a tough venue.  Attendence and season ticket sales have been rising.

...but maybe I'm just biased...

[kiyoat]

#1 Omaha (formerly UNO)
"Mavericks"


Last 5 Years' Results:

year	overall	conf	postseason	coach
2017	10-18	7-7 (#5)	Summit Quart-final	Rose Shires
2018	17-12	12-4 (#3)	Summit Quart-final	Rose Shires
2019	19-14	10-6 (#4)	Summit Final	Matt Buttermore
2020	13-6	12-4 (#4)	Summit Semi-final	Matt Buttermore
2021	20-10	16-2 (#1)	Summit Final	Matt Buttermore
2022	?	?	?	Matt Buttermore

The Omaha Women's Volleyball program has a shared history with four other Current Summit League Teams: NDSU, North Dakota, SDSU and South Dakota.  All of these teams were long-time members of the Division-2 North Central Conference (NCC).  Omaha was in the NCC from 1979-2007 (28 years), just like UND and USD.  Unlike those two programs, Omaha was a consistently dominant team, alongside NDSU.  Omaha claims eight NCC championships in the 80's and late 90's, and finished in the top-3 in most years.  They also won the 1996 D-II National Championship, with an elite-8 appearance the following year.

Omaha has been blessed with long-tenured, successful coaches through it's D-II and D-I history.  Right out of the gate when joining D-II and the NCC in 1979, Coach Janice Kruger had the team winning, going 5-1.  In her nine seasons, she attained a sparkling record of 352-96-6 (.783) and led her squad to NCAA Division II semifinal appearances in 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1987, as well as five consecutive North Central Conference championships from 1983-87. Twice during her career at Nebraska-Omaha, Kruger was named the AVCA Division II National Coach of the Year (1983 and 1986.).  She played College ball at Nebraska (1977) where she was a 4-year starter and team captain.  During her time in Omaha her most successful player might have been 3-time first-team All-American Middle, Ruth Evans, although there were a lot to choose from.

Coach Janice Kruger (1979-1987)

After Coach Kruger left for the head coaching job at Maryland (where she coached for 20 years), Coach Karen Uhler was hired from the Illinois staff.  She left after just two decent seasons for the Virginia head coaching position.  Perhaps the most notable thing from Uhler's tenure was the young Texan assistant coach she brought in from UTEP...

The 'Rose Shires Era' at Omaha started with a thud.  After over a decade of the Mavs dominating NCC opponents, her two first seasons were losing ones, finishing 7th in both 1990 and 1991.  This was followed by an upward trajectory that brought the Mavericks their most successful D-II era from about 1993-2000.  In that 8-year time-frame she coached:

1 National Championship (1996)
3 NCC Championships
1 National Coach of the Year (1996)
10 AVCA All-Americans (including 5 first-team)

This was followed by a few re-building seasons in the early 2000s, and some moderate success in the late 2000's.  Shires won her second NCC COY award in 2005.  In 2008, when USD and UND left the NCC conference for the Great West and Division-1, the Mavericks chose a different path.  They stayed in D-II, but switched to the MIAA conference, based mainly in Kansas and Missouri.  Their three seasons there were fairly average.  When Omaha finally decided to move up to D-1 in 2011, they had no conference, and were independent for that first season, before finally re-joining their old NCC rivals in the Summit League in 2012.  Through all of this turmoil, keeping Coach Shires on the sideline had to have provided stability to the program.

In her final 7 seasons coaching in the Summit League, she was 'starting over' for the third time in her career.  Like before, she started slow, getting just one conference win in 2012.  And like before, she pulled the program back up, finishing 12-4 (#2) just three years later in 2015, and appeared in the Summit League Tournament championship match.  She had another good season in 2018, and decided to hand the program off on a good note, retiring after 29 seasons.

There are really too many standout players on her 29 teams to name just a handful, but here are her D-II first-team All-Americans:

Amy Steffel (1996)
Tanya Cate (1997)
Tracy Ankeny (1999, 2000)
Nikki Mastny (2000)

And All-Conference players in D-1:

Kimberly Bailey (2015) ....................DPOY
Sydney O’Shaughnessy (2015, 2017)
Megan Schmale (2015)
Sydney Case (2018) ........................FOY, SOY
Isabella Sade (2018, 2019) ..............FOY


Coach Rose Shires, 1990-2018

While Coach Shires' overall win-loss record wasn't stellar, her late-90's era accomplishments stand out, as well as her navigation of the D-II/ D-1 transition period.  She also recruited quite well for her replacement, Coach Matt Buttermore.

Buttermore came to Omaha from Hastings College, where he coached for seven seasons. (2011-2017) While there, he led the team to an NAIA National Championship (2016), and has coached 37 all-conference honorees, three GPAC Players of the Year and a two-time NAIA Libero of the Year (2016-17). He also has had 12 of his players achieve All-America status.  

In his first year at Omaha (2019), Buttermore led the Mavericks to the Summit League Championship game for just the second-ever appearance since Omaha joined the Summit League, upsetting the undefeated 1-seed Coyotes in the semifinals. The team finished with a 19-14 overall record, and placed 5 on the All-Summit team.

In 2021, Buttermore picked up Coach of the Year as he led the Mavericks to becoming the Summit League regular season champions for the first time in program history. In his third year as Omaha volleyball's head coach, Buttermore guided the team to a 20-10 overall record and a 16-2 conference record.   The team saw nine all-league honors by six different Mavericks including Setter of the Year (Sami Clarkson) and Player of the Year (Sadie Limback). The team also saw Sadie Limback pick up AVCA All-American Honorable Mention and Second Team Academic All-America, the first Maverick volleyball player to do so in the Division I era.


Coach Matt Buttermore 2019 - present

2021 Recap:

The Mavs were picked #3 in the 2021 preseason poll, behind South Dakota and Denver.  Early in the season the Mavs were getting some attention by taking #4 Nebraska to five sets on their home court, then beating Georgia a day later.  Some of that attention waned when the non-conference win-loss record went south.  They finished the non-con 3-7, with most prognosticators ranking them 3rd or even 4th in the Summit.  The thing that gets lost at that point was just how daunting a schedule they created.  Two ranked teams and six Power-conference opponents made for a challenging SOS.  Coach Buttermore apparently wanted to challenge this team, and it paid dividends.

By the time conference play started, the Mavs were steamrolling opponents with a combination of Star Opposite, Sadie Limback's Left Arm and twin Liberos Jaiden Centeno and Clair Mountjoy serving up pancakes.  In another surprising coaching move, Buttermore switched from 5th-year Libero and 2020 DPOY (and all-time digs leader) Mountjoy to Iowa State transfer Centeno as the primary Libero just before the conference season started.  Mountjoy still got plenty of court time and stats, but Centeno was the primary Libero.  It appeared to pay off.  The Mavs lost only two conference matches (to South Dakota and Kansas City) en route to their first conference regular season title in the D-1 era.

#8 Claire Mountjoy

Although the Mavericks lost in straight sets to South Dakota in the Championship Match (mirroring the semifinal upset in 2019, and adding some fuel to a budding rivalry), Omaha DID secure hosting for the 2022 Tournament by winning the regular season.  Surprisingly, the school did not pursue postseason opportunities in the NVIC, despite an effort from the coach and boosters (my sources tell me) to raise the necessary funding.  That is a shame, IMHO, as this team would have done well.

For team stats, I'm going to focus mainly on conference-only, because their non-con was so difficult.  The Mavs were in the top-two of every team stat other than aces (#3), indicating a balanced effort.  They also were #1 in nearly every defensive category other than blocking (#2).  So it is not a stretch to call them the best defense in the league.

Standout players starts with the 2021 Summit Player-of-the-Year and HM All-American, 6'-0" Senior Right-Side Hitter, Sadie Limback.  In 2021 she totaled 451 kills, 14 assists, 16 aces, 230 digs,and 76 blocks.  She recorded 10 or more kills in 25 matches this season which included a 12-match streak with 10 or more.  She recorded nine double-doubles and a season-high 22 kills on two occasions.  She was a 4-year starter, and three-time All-league player.  She finished her career with 1,444 kills, #6 all-time at Omaha.


#10 Sadie Limback

Limback and Mountjoy graduated in 2021, along with another starter, leading blocker, 6'-1" MB Rylee Marshall, and bench OH Alexa Blase.

#13 Rylee Marshall

Two young middles also left:

Abbey Plouzek (Soph MB) > ?
Lakyn Graves (6-2 Fresh MB) > Milwaukee

Graves was getting the 4th most blocks on the team, second-most among middles behind Marshall, who graduated.  That left ZERO MBs on the team, so this will hurt the Mavs at that position, I would think.

2022 Roster:
(LINK)

#	name	ht	pos	class	hometown	prev school
5	Kenedy Schaecher	5-4	DS	Junior	Omaha, NE	Northern Colorado
6	Brilee Wieseler	5-8	DS	Soph	Elkhorn, NE	Elkhorn S HS
14	Jaden Centeno	5-7	DS	Senior	Omaha, NE	Iowa State
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Olivia Curry	5-10	S	Junior	West Des Moines, IA	WDM Valley HS
15	Sami Clarkson	5-11	S	Senior	Omaha, NE	Concordia
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Kali Jurgensmeier	6-1	OH	Fresh	Wahoo, NE	Bishop Neumann HS
7	Brynlee Arnold	6-3	RS	Fresh	Glenwood, IA	Glenwood HS
11	Shayla McCormick	5-11	OH	Soph	Omaha, NE	Omaha Skutt HS
17	Rachel Fairbanks	6-1	OH	Senior	Lansing, KS	Lansing HS
23	Marriah Buss	6-0	OH	Junior	Lincoln, NE	Wichita State
-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	McKenna Ruch	6-2	MB	Junior	Omaha, NE	Millard North HS
8	Morgan De Bow	6-2	MB/RS	Fresh	Overland Park, KS	Blue Valley North HS
33	Mariah Murdie	6-3	MB/RS	Senior	Meriden, KS	Omaha WBB team

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

The big question for Omaha: Where are the Middles?  Last year they had a conference-leading blocking game, led by MB Marshall, RS Limback, OH Ruch and MB Groves, with Setter, Clarkson, chipping in.  This year they had zero middles due to graduation and transfers, and Limback is gone, too.  So McKenna Ruch has moved over to MB, and they brought in a freshman and a 5th year Omaha WBB player in Mariah Murdie.  6-3 Freshman RS Brynlee Arnold (PrepDig #11 Iowa) will probably see playing time as well, I would guess.


#7 Brynlee Arnold

As for the rest of the team, I feel pretty good with Sami Clarkson and Jaden Centeno holding down the Setter and Libero duties, and even with the loss of Limback, both Marriah Buss and McCormick had great performances last year.  I really thought Shayla McCormick should have won FOY, as she is a 6-rotation type player, and did great for being so young.  Look for big things in her Sophomore year.  Also, Freshman OH Kali Jurgensmeier was listed as a MB in High School (PrepDig #3 MB NE), so maybe they will be just fine in the front-court.  They certainly have a lot of length there.

#11 Shayla McCormick

2022 Non-Conference Season:

date	opponent	RPI	guess
Aug 26	Winthrop	184	W
	south Carolina	41	L
	Sacred Heart	131	W
Sep 2	Wichita State*	71	?
	Northern Colorado*	61	?
Sep 9	Florida State*	20	L
	Creighton*	11	L
Sep 16	Central Florida	22	L
	Lipscomb	165	W
	@ Kansas	31	L

* home matches

Wow, looks like another Buttermore Special**.  They went 3-7 last year in the non-conference, and with this lineup I think they might only slightly improve on that.  Maybe 4-6 catching Wichita State or UNC in Baxter Arena.  I guess if it 'aint broke...

**Copyright pending

2022 Outlook:


*under construction*
(hint, I think they finish 2nd or 3rd)

[lesmizuno]

Aug 5, 2022 15:33:33 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

#1 Omaha (formerly UNO)
"Mavericks"

Appreciate what you're doing for the thread. What could I bribe you with to finish? 

[kiyoat]

Aug 8, 2022 10:02:19 GMT -5 lesmizuno said:

Aug 5, 2022 15:33:33 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

#1 Omaha (formerly UNO)
"Mavericks"

Appreciate what you're doing for the thread. What could I bribe you with to finish? 

No need to bribe, I think I'll pick up the pace... Just busy at work.  Maybe I'll go a little leaner on the research-intensive parts, like the team history stuff.  Interesting but not super relevant to this season.  Just nice to have a little backstory...

[kiyoat]

Thanks, vballfan17 , for putting together the Kansas City piece! It's awesome.

[vballfan17]

Aug 8, 2022 17:56:58 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

Thanks, vbfan17, for putting together the Kansas City piece! It's awesome.

vballfan17

[kiyoat]

Brand new podcast and Twitter account covering Summit Women’s Volleyball!

@7throtationpod

Also, finished the SDSU write-up.

[vballfan17]

Matches for Weekend of August 26th

Friday 8/26 Matches

NDSU	v.	Jackson State	10am
SDSU	v.	Illinois-Chicago	10am
Omaha	v.	Winthrop	11am
Denver	v.	Western Michigan	11am
UND	@	Montana	11am
St. Thomas	v.	Grand Canyon	1:30pm
WIU	v.	Lindenwood	3:30pm	Stats
KC	v.	Miami-OH	4pm
ORU	v.	Central Arkansas	4pm
St. Thomas	v.	San Francisco	5pm
UND	v.	UC Davis	5:30pm
SDSU	@	Northern Illinois	6pm
Denver	v.	Green Bay	6pm		Watch
Omaha	@	South Carolina	6:30pm
NDSU	@	SEMO	7pm
USD	v.	Louisville	7pm	Stats	Watch

Saturday 8/27 Matches

NDSU	v.	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	11am
UND	v.	UT Arlington	11am
SDSU	v.	NJIT	12pm
ORU	v.	Tennessee Tech	12pm
Omaha	v.	Sacred Heart	12pm
WIU	v.	Canisius	12:30pm	Stats
KC	v.	Western Kentucky	1pm
St. Thomas	@	Montana State	2pm
KC	@	Bradley	6pm
WIU	@	Purdue Fort Wayne	6pm	Stats
USD	v.	Northern Kentucky	6pm	Stats	Watch
Denver	@	Colorado	7pm		Watch

Sunday 8/28 Matches

USD	v.	Missouri	1pm	Stats	Watch
ORU	@	Missouri State	1pm

*Will update with links as they become available

[kiyoat]

finished the USD piece... 3 left...

[kiyoat]

95% done with the Omaha write-up, let me know if I have any errors....

[Steve vb]

Aug 19, 2022 16:37:58 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

95% done with the Omaha write-up, let me know if I have any errors....

Very good write-up.  Two things to add:

1. Regarding the middle blocker position, Rauch replaced Lakyn Graves in the starting line-up at the beginning of conference season in 2021, although the roster only recently changed her position to MB.  She became a good offensive weapon at the MB position.

2. Ari Winters likely retired from volleyball after announcing her transfer to Omaha.  She wasn't with the team in the spring season.  

[kiyoat]

Aug 19, 2022 20:07:43 GMT -5 Steve vb said:

Aug 19, 2022 16:37:58 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

95% done with the Omaha write-up, let me know if I have any errors....

Very good write-up.  Two things to add:

1. Regarding the middle blocker position, Rauch replaced Lakyn Graves in the starting line-up at the beginning of conference season in 2021, although the roster only recently changed her position to MB.  She became a good offensive weapon at the MB position.

2. Ari Winters likely retired from volleyball after announcing her transfer to Omaha.  She wasn't with the team in the spring season.  

Perfect, thanks for the insight!

[kiyoat]

Preseason coaches' poll just dropped:

2022 Summit League Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll

Rank School ...............Points (1st) 2021 Record (SL)

1. ....Denver .................75 (6) ........23-6 (14-4)
2. ....South Dakota ........74 (3) ........20-10 (15-3)
3. ....Omaha .................68 (1) ........20-10 (16-2)

4. ....Oral Roberts ..........53 .............18-11 (11-7)
5. ....South Dakota State 51 .............19-12 (10-8)
6. ....Kansas City ...........42 .............21-10 (12-6)
7. ....North Dakota State 35 .............12-18 (6-12)

8. ....North Dakota .........22 ..............1-29 (0-18)
9. ....St. Thomas ............20 ..............3-25 (2-16)
10. ..Western Illinois .......10 ..............5-24 (4-14)

Interesting that three schools got 1st place votes!  Western Illinois and UST were picked 10th and 9th by all 10 voters.  I separated tiers based on voting points...

[lesmizuno]

Aug 24, 2022 11:56:21 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

Preseason coaches' poll just dropped:

2022 Summit League Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll

Rank School ...............Points (1st) 2021 Record (SL)

1. ....Denver .................75 (6) ........23-6 (14-4)
2. ....South Dakota ........74 (3) ........20-10 (15-3)
3. ....Omaha .................68 (1) ........20-10 (16-2)

4. ....Oral Roberts ..........53 .............18-11 (11-7)
5. ....South Dakota State 51 .............19-12 (10-8)
6. ....Kansas City ...........42 .............21-10 (12-6)
7. ....North Dakota State 35 .............12-18 (6-12)

8. ....North Dakota .........22 ..............1-29 (0-18)
9. ....St. Thomas ............20 ..............3-25 (2-16)
10. ..Western Illinois .......10 ..............5-24 (4-14)

Interesting that three schools got 1st place votes!  Western Illinois and UST were picked 10th and 9th by all 10 voters.  I separated tiers based on voting points...

I'm sure both South Dakota and Omaha are happy Denver was voted 1st. Takes all the pressure off them and they get to have a chip on their shoulder. Especially going into conference play. I think ORU and SDSU should be flipped in the poll.