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Post by greatlakesvballer on Nov 21, 2022 11:03:54 GMT -5
Go Cards! 🏐💥
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Post by coachdavid on Nov 21, 2022 20:42:54 GMT -5
Buffalo fans, is your head coach always this laid back? I understand being calm and collected in the face of adversity, but I would expect him to be at least engaging with players during a dead ball. He looks very disinterested.
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Post by Bearkitten on Nov 21, 2022 22:19:36 GMT -5
In a heavyweight MAC tournament fight tonight, #1 seeded Ball State knocked out #4 Central Michigan 3-1. With the match tied at 1-1, CMU had BSU on the ropes leading 19-16. Then at the blink of an eye, CMU let BSU off the ropes with a Cardinal 5 point run and BSU stormed back to win the pivotal set 3. The Chips played the Cardinals toe to toe nearly the entire match, but the Cardinals defense and ball control was the difference when the smoke had finally cleared. In match 2, #2 seeded Bowling Green went through #6 Buffalo like a hot knife through butter sweeping the upstart Bulls 3-0. The stage is set for the top 2 teams in the MAC to collide tomorrow afternoon at 4:30, when defending MAC tournament champion Ball State meets Bowling Green for the 2nd consecutive year for the MAC tournament championship.
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Post by greatlakesvballer on Nov 22, 2022 8:44:04 GMT -5
Will Bowling Green get an at-large tournament bid if it loses to Ball State?
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Post by Bearkitten on Nov 22, 2022 9:04:00 GMT -5
Will Bowling Green get an at-large tournament bid if it loses to Ball State? No. Only the winner tonight will be invited to the “Big Dance.”
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Post by Bearkitten on Nov 22, 2022 9:29:06 GMT -5
The Mid American Conference co- champions will play for the right to play in the NCAA tournament today at 4:30 when MAC West champion Ball State collides with MAC East champion Bowling Green inside BSU’s spacious Worthen Arena. The match can be seen on ESPN+. It will be a rematch of last year’s tournament championship where Ball State defeated Bowling Green 3-2. BSU has not lost a MAC match in Worthen Arena in over 2 years and will have the home crowd including a raucous BSU men’s volleyball team raising the roof. Ball State has dominated Bowling Green the past 13 years with precision ball control and defense and tonight will likely be no different. With that said, BG played an excellent match last night sweeping Buffalo while BSU fought for their life against a dead game Central Michigan team. But this match is for the whole bowl of cherries and a real knock down drag out battle is expected. This will be Kitten’s final prediction of the season where over 80% of my predictions have been accurate. Here is Kitten’s MAC championship prediction: Ball State over Bowling Green 3-1.
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Post by Bearkitten on Nov 23, 2022 9:24:30 GMT -5
In an epic 5 set marathon between the two Mid American Conference heavyweights, Bowling Green became the 1st MAC team to take down Ball State in BSU’s Worthen Arena in 3 years defeating the Cardinals 3-2. BG will receive the MAC automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. It was the first victory for BG in Worthen Arena since the year 2013 when the Falcons came from behind to defeat BSU after the Cardinals lost their star outside hitter Mackenzie Kitchel to an ACL injury. Ironically, Kitchel was the color analyst on the ESPN+ broadcast last night. The Falcons basically willed themselves to victory in set 5 after the first 4 sets all ended 25-23. It was all Bowling Green in set 5. BG led 8-6 at the side switch and then steamrolled the Cardinals the rest of the match winning 15-8. Congratulations to BG coach Daniella Tomic and her Falcons for defeating an excellent Ball State team in front of a partisan Cardinal home crowd.
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Post by thevoiceofreason on Nov 23, 2022 9:34:37 GMT -5
After watching each of these teams I felt BG ultimately had the best talent, but Ball State is such a strong team that I knew the match would be a great one. I very much believe that, depending on the matchup, BG could give the MAC first-round wins in back-to-back seasons.
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Post by asthma92 on Nov 27, 2022 11:44:15 GMT -5
Ball state will be champs next year, witch majority of the veterans for BGSU leaving
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Post by thevoiceofreason on Nov 27, 2022 21:19:02 GMT -5
Ball state will be champs next year, witch majority of the veterans for BGSU leaving Could be. BGSU still has the Freshman of the Year that finished with a better K/S mark than the Player of the Year that's graduating. The defense could be the biggest fall off, but even there I think Coach Tomic and the staff are pretty good at developing the serve-receive / defense. 3 of the top 5 offensive players for Ball State are listed as seniors.
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Post by thevoiceofreason on Nov 27, 2022 22:06:02 GMT -5
In addition to BG and Ball State making the NCAA Tournament, FOUR others will be playing in the NIVC: Buffalo, Central, Ohio and Toledo.
Fun to see that after the year played out that the MAC gets three west and three east teams participating in the postseason!
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Post by Bearkitten on Nov 27, 2022 22:59:26 GMT -5
Great to see the MAC getting a record 6 teams into post season tournaments. Ball State may be the best ball control team in America and Bowling Green played an incredible MAC tournament and are playing their best volleyball of the season. The same can be said for Central Michigan, Buffalo and Ohio. Toledo had a good season, but faltered down the stretch, however their resume was still good enough to get an invitation. Congratulations to all 6 MAC teams. Great to see the MAC get this kind of exposure and credibility for a change!
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Post by greatlakesvballer on Nov 27, 2022 23:14:30 GMT -5
Yeeeeeeaaaah! Both BGSU and Ball State make the tournament!!
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Dec 3, 2022 12:34:54 GMT -5
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Post by Bearkitten on Dec 13, 2022 9:15:31 GMT -5
A tip of the hat to the fantastic career Ray Gooden had at Northern Illinois. A multi time MAC Coach of the Year, Ray was a class act and highly respected by coaches around the country. His teams were always tough to beat and his record speaks for itself. Congratulations to “DJ” Ray on an outstanding career at NIU!
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