NAIA 2024

[fandad]

Seeing some traffic on the NAIA 2023 thread that seems better-suited to a thread for the new season.  Looking forward to seeing more thoughts on the upcoming season.

[naiamvbfan]

Getting closer to the start of the season. Thinking about trying to do a breakdown of each conference and what teams might look like/predictions. Anyone have any sleeper teams this year?

[photogirl]

Dec 6, 2023 12:01:55 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Getting closer to the start of the season. Thinking about trying to do a breakdown of each conference and what teams might look like/predictions. Anyone have any sleeper teams this year?

It is always hard to be able to tell who might be sleeper teams without knowing who the new incoming players are (i.e. Nolan Flexon last year at The Master's).  

I do think that BenU Mesa will be right back at the top and expect them to be in the finals again this year with Landon Fuller, Dapre Rogers, Dax Tollman and John Dawson all returning.  Going to be tough to replace Tyler Watts.

Grand View is poised to make a return to the top echelon of teams (assuming the freshman setter from Brazil is any good).  They get back 2022 starting OH-Leonardo Annichini and Danny Wong returns as a grad student.

Vanguard is the defending champs but will have a tall task replacing Kyle Anema.  They do return 3 All Americans in Will Anderson, Ryan Smith and Valesis Vaisuai.  How good their new pin hitters fare will be the key to their season.

Saint Xavier returns Jan Lopuch and Oskar Krzyzak and gets Shane Ohms back after a year away.

Georgetown has a new coach but returns every starter from last year except Liam Morrisey.  This is a team that I always expect to do better than they do at Nationals.  They have been hurt by Covid in 2021 and injury and sickness last year.  If they stay healthy, they always have a shot.

The Master's had the biggest loss of any team, including back to when Felix Chapman left Grand View.  No team relied on, or has ever relied on, one player more than The Master's did during the back half of the season with Nolan Flexon.  His production loss is going to be hard to fill.  They get Will Avera "back" after getting hurt at Nationals and Diego Perez is the NAIA's best Libero and can play OH.  

I believe OUAZ got Zeo Meyer as a transfer from Grand View to replace Tyler Gardenhire at setter (getting a transfer setter worked out really well for Vanguard last year).  Not really sure who is returning but Emery Outin was only a junior last year and his return will be key.

[MVBFAN]

Exciting year for NAIA Volleyball again! New faces as coaches throughout the NAIA both with rebuilding teams and Top 15 teams from last year. Definitely know more about the west coast and midwest conferences (sorry AAC and MidSouth)

My early predictions and thoughts from each conference: 

GSAC - Obviously the top 4 of this conference will be a bloodbath this year. If I even had to take a remote stab at it probably goes something like this? I think there's a good chance at least 2-3 GSAC schools are at the NAIA National Tournament this year. Most likely at least 3. Flexen leaving affects TMU a lot, Vanguard graduated a lot too. Menlo and Vanguard head to NCAA D2 next season?

1. Vanguard 
2. Menlo
3. OUAZ
4. The Masters 
5. Arizona Christian
6. Hope

GPAC - This is a huge toss-up in my eyes. Most of Salmon's recruits are gone from Jamestown with the exception of Cox and their schedule is significantly weaker than years past. I guess Dordt or Morningside may be able to pull an upset, but I view only the GPAC winner headed to the NAIA National Tournament. I think it'll be a toss-up between Dordt and Jamestown for the conference at the end. Hoping for a new face to win the GPAC! Jamestown is headed to NCAA D2 next season? 

1. Jamestown
2. Dordt
3. Morningside
4. Kansas Wesleyan
5. Ottawa KS
6. Central Christian

CALPAC - Easy enough, BenU-Mesa will roll through conference play and take the only bid out to NAIA Nationals from this conference. Top 4-5 teams can be solid, but bottom of conference is rough. 

1. Benedictine-Mesa
2. Westcliff
3. Simpson
4. Saint Katherine
5. UC Merced
6. Park-Gilbert
7. Pacific Union

HEART - I think there are a ton of question marks in the Heart. Can Grand View do it again with a new head coach? Will Krause/Papes/Figy bounce back for William Penn after missing nationals last season? Will the Park transfers bring Missouri Valley back to the National scene? Mount Mercy's Auto-Bid? How will Park look losing most of their starting line-up? The Heart is going to be a bloodbath and who even knows what the full breakdown will look like. Really excited to watch the Heart this year, not loving the auto-bid being with a middle heart team though. A lot of rosters will not be up until January in the Heart, so hard to tell what new pieces everyone has. MoBAP got a transfer from Hawaii. I don't know who makes NAIA Nationals besides Mount Mercy. Would not be surprised to see the Heart get 1 At-Large on top of Conference Winner and MMU

1. Missouri Baptist
2. Park
3. William Penn
4. Grand View
5. Missouri Valley - Park MB and L both transferred to MoVal. Big 6'7" Fr. Setter. 
6. Mount Mercy - Auto Bid if W/L is over .650
7. Clarke
8. Graceland
9. UHSP
10. Culver-Stockton

CCAC - Similar to the CALPAC, this is Saint Xavier's conference to lose and will be for the foreseeable future. There really isn't much here to challenge SXU, but the top 4 teams will be pretty solid compared to the bottom 4 teams. Roosevelt heads NCAA D2 next season? Would like to see some more challenges in this conference. ONU is young, but a new head coach. Judson also has a new head coach. No additional bids out of CCAC

1. Saint Xavier
2. Judson
3. Olivet Nazarene
4. Trinity Christian
5. Calumet
6. Viterbo
7. Roosevelt
8. Saint Ambrose


WHAC - The top of the WHAC will continue to grow into a pretty solid conference. Lourdes historically very good. Bethel has Snyder who helped make Campbellsville dominant, in Year 2, does Bethel make that jump? Indiana Tech loses Shondell and has a new coach, does that affect them? MVNU, Cornerstone and Lawrence Tech continue to grow. Aquinas who didn't make the tournament last year... the WHAC is going to be interesting. Kind of like the HEART in midwest, but maybe not as good out of conference? Maybe the WHAC gets an additional bid again like a few years ago. 

1. Indiana Tech
2. Lourdes
3. Mount Vernon
4. Lawrence Tech
5. Cornerstone
6. Aquinas
7. Bethel
8. Goshen
9. Siena Heights
10. Saint Mary of the Woods

MIDSOUTH - Midsouth is constantly changing, but think it has to be a toss-up between Campbellsville and Georgetown. Georgetown does have a new coach, so that will make things interesting potentially. But it'll be the usual suspects here. No additional bids out of Midsouth.

1. Georgetown
2. Campbellsville
3. Cumberland
4. Rio Grande
5. Midway
6. Brescia

AAC - I think this is mainly going to be a battle between the Florida schools with potentially Life in there? Webber just lost their coach right before season since he went to George Mason. Don't see much shake-up with most likely no additional bids out of this conference. 

1. Warner
2. Webber International
3. Life
4. Reinhardt
5. St. Andrews
6. Truett-McConnell
7. Bluefield


12 Teams, 8 conferences and an auto-bid most likely only leaves 3 at-larges in the pool with Mount Mercy being the host. Some great teams going to be snubbed for sure this year again. 

HEAD COACHING CHANGES IN NAIA MVB (A TON):

Bluefield - AAC - Keven John - Glenville State WVB HC (D2), Northern Vermont WVB HC (D3), Western State Colorado WVB HC (D2)

Georgetown - MidSouth - Jim Dwyer - Cardinal Stritch MVB HC (NAIA), Purdue-Northwest WVB AC (D2), Robert Morris WVB HC, AC MVB (NAIA)

Goshen - WHAC - Jeff Phillips - Wawasee High School GVB HC

Grand View - HEART - Raphael Seabra - GV Alum, Grand View MVB and WVB AC (NAIA)

Indiana Tech - WHAC - Jordan Rosenberg - Carthage MVB AC (D3), William Penn MVB Grad. AC (NAIA), 

Judson - CCAC - Jacob Wallin - Judson Grad. AC (NAIA)

Morningside - GPAC - Toby Rens - A bunch of D1 WVB Experience

Ottawa KS - GPAC - Ashan Jordan - Ottawa KS MVB and WVB Grad. AC, Alum. 

Siena Heights - WHAC - Parker Saenz - Adrian AC MVB and WVC (D3)

Saint Katherine - CALPAC - Sherry Clouet - San Marcos HS HC, Syracuse and FSU Alum

Webber International - MidSouth - Jordan Little - Winter Park Club Coach


NEW PROGRAMS IN NAIA MVB 2024:
Brescia
Oakland City

[franknvb]

Dec 6, 2023 14:13:09 GMT -5 photogirl said:

Dec 6, 2023 12:01:55 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Getting closer to the start of the season. Thinking about trying to do a breakdown of each conference and what teams might look like/predictions. Anyone have any sleeper teams this year?

It is always hard to be able to tell who might be sleeper teams without knowing who the new incoming players are (i.e. Nolan Flexon last year at The Master's).  

I do think that BenU Mesa will be right back at the top and expect them to be in the finals again this year with Landon Fuller, Dapre Rogers, Dax Tollman and John Dawson all returning.  Going to be tough to replace Tyler Watts.

Grand View is poised to make a return to the top echelon of teams (assuming the freshman setter from Brazil is any good).  They get back 2022 starting OH-Leonardo Annichini and Danny Wong returns as a grad student.

Vanguard is the defending champs but will have a tall task replacing Kyle Anema.  They do return 3 All Americans in Will Anderson, Ryan Smith and Valesis Vaisuai.  How good their new pin hitters fare will be the key to their season.

Saint Xavier returns Jan Lopuch and Oskar Krzyzak and gets Shane Ohms back after a year away.

Georgetown has a new coach but returns every starter from last year except Liam Morrisey.  This is a team that I always expect to do better than they do at Nationals.  They have been hurt by Covid in 2021 and injury and sickness last year.  If they stay healthy, they always have a shot.

The Master's had the biggest loss of any team, including back to when Felix Chapman left Grand View.  No team relied on, or has ever relied on, one player more than The Master's did during the back half of the season with Nolan Flexon.  His production loss is going to be hard to fill.  They get Will Avera "back" after getting hurt at Nationals and Diego Perez is the NAIA's best Libero and can play OH.  

I believe OUAZ got Zeo Meyer as a transfer from Grand View to replace Tyler Gardenhire at setter (getting a transfer setter worked out really well for Vanguard last year).  Not really sure who is returning but Emery Outin was only a junior last year and his return will be key.

Master's Can't replace Flexon, but got a starting middle from Concordia Irvine and a solid outside from LLCC and a very solid setter that has won multiple championships at open club that was signed by UCSB and transferred to the Master's

[wilbur]

Dec 27, 2023 21:29:49 GMT -5 franknvb said:

Dec 6, 2023 14:13:09 GMT -5 photogirl said:

It is always hard to be able to tell who might be sleeper teams without knowing who the new incoming players are (i.e. Nolan Flexon last year at The Master's).  

I do think that BenU Mesa will be right back at the top and expect them to be in the finals again this year with Landon Fuller, Dapre Rogers, Dax Tollman and John Dawson all returning.  Going to be tough to replace Tyler Watts.

Grand View is poised to make a return to the top echelon of teams (assuming the freshman setter from Brazil is any good).  They get back 2022 starting OH-Leonardo Annichini and Danny Wong returns as a grad student.

Vanguard is the defending champs but will have a tall task replacing Kyle Anema.  They do return 3 All Americans in Will Anderson, Ryan Smith and Valesis Vaisuai.  How good their new pin hitters fare will be the key to their season.

Saint Xavier returns Jan Lopuch and Oskar Krzyzak and gets Shane Ohms back after a year away.

Georgetown has a new coach but returns every starter from last year except Liam Morrisey.  This is a team that I always expect to do better than they do at Nationals.  They have been hurt by Covid in 2021 and injury and sickness last year.  If they stay healthy, they always have a shot.

The Master's had the biggest loss of any team, including back to when Felix Chapman left Grand View.  No team relied on, or has ever relied on, one player more than The Master's did during the back half of the season with Nolan Flexon.  His production loss is going to be hard to fill.  They get Will Avera "back" after getting hurt at Nationals and Diego Perez is the NAIA's best Libero and can play OH.  

I believe OUAZ got Zeo Meyer as a transfer from Grand View to replace Tyler Gardenhire at setter (getting a transfer setter worked out really well for Vanguard last year).  Not really sure who is returning but Emery Outin was only a junior last year and his return will be key.

Master's Can't replace Flexon, but got a starting middle from Concordia Irvine and a solid outside from LLCC and a very solid setter that has won multiple championships at open club that was signed by UCSB and transferred to the Master's

Pat the setter is beyond solid. He was the staeting setter in 2022 & graduated with I think 2 years of eligability left due to covid and a redshirt year. He would have been the starter last year and would start at a lot of D1 schools.

[naiamvbfan]

Dec 21, 2023 1:55:59 GMT -5 MVBFAN said:

Exciting year for NAIA Volleyball again! New faces as coaches throughout the NAIA both with rebuilding teams and Top 15 teams from last year. Definitely know more about the west coast and midwest conferences (sorry AAC and MidSouth)

My early predictions and thoughts from each conference: 

GSAC - Obviously the top 4 of this conference will be a bloodbath this year. If I even had to take a remote stab at it probably goes something like this? I think there's a good chance at least 2-3 GSAC schools are at the NAIA National Tournament this year. Most likely at least 3. Flexen leaving affects TMU a lot, Vanguard graduated a lot too. Menlo and Vanguard head to NCAA D2 next season?

1. Vanguard 
2. Menlo
3. OUAZ
4. The Masters 
5. Arizona Christian
6. Hope

GPAC - This is a huge toss-up in my eyes. Most of Salmon's recruits are gone from Jamestown with the exception of Cox and their schedule is significantly weaker than years past. I guess Dordt or Morningside may be able to pull an upset, but I view only the GPAC winner headed to the NAIA National Tournament. I think it'll be a toss-up between Dordt and Jamestown for the conference at the end. Hoping for a new face to win the GPAC! Jamestown is headed to NCAA D2 next season? 

1. Jamestown
2. Dordt
3. Morningside
4. Kansas Wesleyan
5. Ottawa KS
6. Central Christian

CALPAC - Easy enough, BenU-Mesa will roll through conference play and take the only bid out to NAIA Nationals from this conference. Top 4-5 teams can be solid, but bottom of conference is rough. 

1. Benedictine-Mesa
2. Westcliff
3. Simpson
4. Saint Katherine
5. UC Merced
6. Park-Gilbert
7. Pacific Union

HEART - I think there are a ton of question marks in the Heart. Can Grand View do it again with a new head coach? Will Krause/Papes/Figy bounce back for William Penn after missing nationals last season? Will the Park transfers bring Missouri Valley back to the National scene? Mount Mercy's Auto-Bid? How will Park look losing most of their starting line-up? The Heart is going to be a bloodbath and who even knows what the full breakdown will look like. Really excited to watch the Heart this year, not loving the auto-bid being with a middle heart team though. A lot of rosters will not be up until January in the Heart, so hard to tell what new pieces everyone has. MoBAP got a transfer from Hawaii. I don't know who makes NAIA Nationals besides Mount Mercy. Would not be surprised to see the Heart get 1 At-Large on top of Conference Winner and MMU

1. Missouri Baptist
2. Park
3. William Penn
4. Grand View
5. Missouri Valley - Park MB and L both transferred to MoVal. Big 6'7" Fr. Setter. 
6. Mount Mercy - Auto Bid if W/L is over .650
7. Clarke
8. Graceland
9. UHSP
10. Culver-Stockton

CCAC - Similar to the CALPAC, this is Saint Xavier's conference to lose and will be for the foreseeable future. There really isn't much here to challenge SXU, but the top 4 teams will be pretty solid compared to the bottom 4 teams. Roosevelt heads NCAA D2 next season? Would like to see some more challenges in this conference. ONU is young, but a new head coach. Judson also has a new head coach. No additional bids out of CCAC

1. Saint Xavier
2. Judson
3. Olivet Nazarene
4. Trinity Christian
5. Calumet
6. Viterbo
7. Roosevelt
8. Saint Ambrose


WHAC - The top of the WHAC will continue to grow into a pretty solid conference. Lourdes historically very good. Bethel has Snyder who helped make Campbellsville dominant, in Year 2, does Bethel make that jump? Indiana Tech loses Shondell and has a new coach, does that affect them? MVNU, Cornerstone and Lawrence Tech continue to grow. Aquinas who didn't make the tournament last year... the WHAC is going to be interesting. Kind of like the HEART in midwest, but maybe not as good out of conference? Maybe the WHAC gets an additional bid again like a few years ago. 

1. Indiana Tech
2. Lourdes
3. Mount Vernon
4. Lawrence Tech
5. Cornerstone
6. Aquinas
7. Bethel
8. Goshen
9. Siena Heights
10. Saint Mary of the Woods

MIDSOUTH - Midsouth is constantly changing, but think it has to be a toss-up between Campbellsville and Georgetown. Georgetown does have a new coach, so that will make things interesting potentially. But it'll be the usual suspects here. No additional bids out of Midsouth.

1. Georgetown
2. Campbellsville
3. Cumberland
4. Rio Grande
5. Midway
6. Brescia

AAC - I think this is mainly going to be a battle between the Florida schools with potentially Life in there? Webber just lost their coach right before season since he went to George Mason. Don't see much shake-up with most likely no additional bids out of this conference. 

1. Warner
2. Webber International
3. Life
4. Reinhardt
5. St. Andrews
6. Truett-McConnell
7. Bluefield


12 Teams, 8 conferences and an auto-bid most likely only leaves 3 at-larges in the pool with Mount Mercy being the host. Some great teams going to be snubbed for sure this year again. 

HEAD COACHING CHANGES IN NAIA MVB (A TON):

Bluefield - AAC - Keven John - Glenville State WVB HC (D2), Northern Vermont WVB HC (D3), Western State Colorado WVB HC (D2)

Georgetown - MidSouth - Jim Dwyer - Cardinal Stritch MVB HC (NAIA), Purdue-Northwest WVB AC (D2), Robert Morris WVB HC, AC MVB (NAIA)

Goshen - WHAC - Jeff Phillips - Wawasee High School GVB HC

Grand View - HEART - Raphael Seabra - GV Alum, Grand View MVB and WVB AC (NAIA)

Indiana Tech - WHAC - Jordan Rosenberg - Carthage MVB AC (D3), William Penn MVB Grad. AC (NAIA), 

Judson - CCAC - Jacob Wallin - Judson Grad. AC (NAIA)

Morningside - GPAC - Toby Rens - A bunch of D1 WVB Experience

Ottawa KS - GPAC - Ashan Jordan - Ottawa KS MVB and WVB Grad. AC, Alum. 

Siena Heights - WHAC - Parker Saenz - Adrian AC MVB and WVC (D3)

Saint Katherine - CALPAC - Sherry Clouet - San Marcos HS HC, Syracuse and FSU Alum

Webber International - MidSouth - Jordan Little - Winter Park Club Coach


NEW PROGRAMS IN NAIA MVB 2024:
Brescia
Oakland City

Solid breakdown of the conferences. Curious as to reasoning when looking at Heart though. Mo Bap being the top? Park will be park and compete. Same for Grand View. William Penn returns majority of roster. Also not a fan of Mount Mercy auto bid. I’d expect them to 4-6 in Heart and non conference schedule is a cupcake schedule (to make sure qualify for auto bid).

[MVBFAN]

Dec 29, 2023 1:22:13 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Dec 21, 2023 1:55:59 GMT -5 MVBFAN said:

Exciting year for NAIA Volleyball again! New faces as coaches throughout the NAIA both with rebuilding teams and Top 15 teams from last year. Definitely know more about the west coast and midwest conferences (sorry AAC and MidSouth)

My early predictions and thoughts from each conference: 

GSAC - Obviously the top 4 of this conference will be a bloodbath this year. If I even had to take a remote stab at it probably goes something like this? I think there's a good chance at least 2-3 GSAC schools are at the NAIA National Tournament this year. Most likely at least 3. Flexen leaving affects TMU a lot, Vanguard graduated a lot too. Menlo and Vanguard head to NCAA D2 next season?

1. Vanguard 
2. Menlo
3. OUAZ
4. The Masters 
5. Arizona Christian
6. Hope

GPAC - This is a huge toss-up in my eyes. Most of Salmon's recruits are gone from Jamestown with the exception of Cox and their schedule is significantly weaker than years past. I guess Dordt or Morningside may be able to pull an upset, but I view only the GPAC winner headed to the NAIA National Tournament. I think it'll be a toss-up between Dordt and Jamestown for the conference at the end. Hoping for a new face to win the GPAC! Jamestown is headed to NCAA D2 next season? 

1. Jamestown
2. Dordt
3. Morningside
4. Kansas Wesleyan
5. Ottawa KS
6. Central Christian

CALPAC - Easy enough, BenU-Mesa will roll through conference play and take the only bid out to NAIA Nationals from this conference. Top 4-5 teams can be solid, but bottom of conference is rough. 

1. Benedictine-Mesa
2. Westcliff
3. Simpson
4. Saint Katherine
5. UC Merced
6. Park-Gilbert
7. Pacific Union

HEART - I think there are a ton of question marks in the Heart. Can Grand View do it again with a new head coach? Will Krause/Papes/Figy bounce back for William Penn after missing nationals last season? Will the Park transfers bring Missouri Valley back to the National scene? Mount Mercy's Auto-Bid? How will Park look losing most of their starting line-up? The Heart is going to be a bloodbath and who even knows what the full breakdown will look like. Really excited to watch the Heart this year, not loving the auto-bid being with a middle heart team though. A lot of rosters will not be up until January in the Heart, so hard to tell what new pieces everyone has. MoBAP got a transfer from Hawaii. I don't know who makes NAIA Nationals besides Mount Mercy. Would not be surprised to see the Heart get 1 At-Large on top of Conference Winner and MMU

1. Missouri Baptist
2. Park
3. William Penn
4. Grand View
5. Missouri Valley - Park MB and L both transferred to MoVal. Big 6'7" Fr. Setter. 
6. Mount Mercy - Auto Bid if W/L is over .650
7. Clarke
8. Graceland
9. UHSP
10. Culver-Stockton

CCAC - Similar to the CALPAC, this is Saint Xavier's conference to lose and will be for the foreseeable future. There really isn't much here to challenge SXU, but the top 4 teams will be pretty solid compared to the bottom 4 teams. Roosevelt heads NCAA D2 next season? Would like to see some more challenges in this conference. ONU is young, but a new head coach. Judson also has a new head coach. No additional bids out of CCAC

1. Saint Xavier
2. Judson
3. Olivet Nazarene
4. Trinity Christian
5. Calumet
6. Viterbo
7. Roosevelt
8. Saint Ambrose


WHAC - The top of the WHAC will continue to grow into a pretty solid conference. Lourdes historically very good. Bethel has Snyder who helped make Campbellsville dominant, in Year 2, does Bethel make that jump? Indiana Tech loses Shondell and has a new coach, does that affect them? MVNU, Cornerstone and Lawrence Tech continue to grow. Aquinas who didn't make the tournament last year... the WHAC is going to be interesting. Kind of like the HEART in midwest, but maybe not as good out of conference? Maybe the WHAC gets an additional bid again like a few years ago. 

1. Indiana Tech
2. Lourdes
3. Mount Vernon
4. Lawrence Tech
5. Cornerstone
6. Aquinas
7. Bethel
8. Goshen
9. Siena Heights
10. Saint Mary of the Woods

MIDSOUTH - Midsouth is constantly changing, but think it has to be a toss-up between Campbellsville and Georgetown. Georgetown does have a new coach, so that will make things interesting potentially. But it'll be the usual suspects here. No additional bids out of Midsouth.

1. Georgetown
2. Campbellsville
3. Cumberland
4. Rio Grande
5. Midway
6. Brescia

AAC - I think this is mainly going to be a battle between the Florida schools with potentially Life in there? Webber just lost their coach right before season since he went to George Mason. Don't see much shake-up with most likely no additional bids out of this conference. 

1. Warner
2. Webber International
3. Life
4. Reinhardt
5. St. Andrews
6. Truett-McConnell
7. Bluefield


12 Teams, 8 conferences and an auto-bid most likely only leaves 3 at-larges in the pool with Mount Mercy being the host. Some great teams going to be snubbed for sure this year again. 

HEAD COACHING CHANGES IN NAIA MVB (A TON):

Bluefield - AAC - Keven John - Glenville State WVB HC (D2), Northern Vermont WVB HC (D3), Western State Colorado WVB HC (D2)

Georgetown - MidSouth - Jim Dwyer - Cardinal Stritch MVB HC (NAIA), Purdue-Northwest WVB AC (D2), Robert Morris WVB HC, AC MVB (NAIA)

Goshen - WHAC - Jeff Phillips - Wawasee High School GVB HC

Grand View - HEART - Raphael Seabra - GV Alum, Grand View MVB and WVB AC (NAIA)

Indiana Tech - WHAC - Jordan Rosenberg - Carthage MVB AC (D3), William Penn MVB Grad. AC (NAIA), 

Judson - CCAC - Jacob Wallin - Judson Grad. AC (NAIA)

Morningside - GPAC - Toby Rens - A bunch of D1 WVB Experience

Ottawa KS - GPAC - Ashan Jordan - Ottawa KS MVB and WVB Grad. AC, Alum. 

Siena Heights - WHAC - Parker Saenz - Adrian AC MVB and WVC (D3)

Saint Katherine - CALPAC - Sherry Clouet - San Marcos HS HC, Syracuse and FSU Alum

Webber International - MidSouth - Jordan Little - Winter Park Club Coach


NEW PROGRAMS IN NAIA MVB 2024:
Brescia
Oakland City

Solid breakdown of the conferences. Curious as to reasoning when looking at Heart though. Mo Bap being the top? Park will be park and compete. Same for Grand View. William Penn returns majority of roster. Also not a fan of Mount Mercy auto bid. I’d expect them to 4-6 in Heart and non conference schedule is a cupcake schedule (to make sure qualify for auto bid).

Truthfully, I think the top 4-6 of the Heart could be interchangeable depending on the night. I think we've seen Grand View on a bit of a downtick since Donan left. The recruiting just isn't the same, Donan got some insane internationals. Park lost a lot of the starters after the season last year including libero, middle, opposite who all transferred out. Maybe others. Park is always Park. I think MoBap returns a good chunk of starters and has a lot of depth. A big part of MoBap being successful will come down to if Bonte can hold it together. With William Penn, they lose a good chunk of starters, Middle, Outside, Libero. All 4 year starters, so replacing those pieces is going to be a huge question mark, especially after missing nationals last year. It'll be exciting to watch the Heart as always! 

[photogirl]

GSAC should get 3-4 teams at Nationals again and Heart of America should get 2-3. I can't really see any other conference getting an at large bid. I just hope that Mount Mercy actually "deserves" to be at Nationals if they do get in (if they fail, it does open up another spot). Their non conference schedule is an embarrassment and obvious that they are just trying to schedule some wins to meet the win percentage threshold.

Speaking of Nationals, the NAIA really did a disservice to the limited fans that they do draw and to men's volleyball in particular. If they truly cared about the sport, they would have scheduled it in conjunction with one of the many boys tournaments that take place all over the nation. Even use it as a draw to create a new one. This would have the side benefits of a built in fan base and an opportunity to show these boys that NAIA volleyball is a viable option for them, potentially driving up enrollment numbers.

Having Nationals so far from a decent sized airport is fine for the teams and fans that would be driving to play/watch, but for anybody that will be flying (half the teams from last years field flew in Vanguard, BenU Mesa, The Master's, Menlo, OUAZ and Webber), the Cedar Rapids airport only has about 20 flights a day and most routes only occur once a week with very few routes being offered every day. It is 127 miles to the Des Moines airport, 245 miles to Chicago, 275 to Minneapolis and 285 to St Louis.

[gofaster88]

Dec 29, 2023 14:32:19 GMT -5 photogirl said:

GSAC should get 3-4 teams at Nationals again and Heart of America should get 2-3. I can't really see any other conference getting an at large bid. I just hope that Mount Mercy actually "deserves" to be at Nationals if they do get in (if they fail, it does open up another spot). Their non conference schedule is an embarrassment and obvious that they are just trying to schedule some wins to meet the win percentage threshold.

Speaking of Nationals, the NAIA really did a disservice to the limited fans that they do draw and to men's volleyball in particular. If they truly cared about the sport, they would have scheduled it in conjunction with one of the many boys tournaments that take place all over the nation. Even use it as a draw to create a new one. This would have the side benefits of a built in fan base and an opportunity to show these boys that NAIA volleyball is a viable option for them, potentially driving up enrollment numbers.

Having Nationals so far from a decent sized airport is fine for the teams and fans that would be driving to play/watch, but for anybody that will be flying (half the teams from last years field flew in Vanguard, BenU Mesa, The Master's, Menlo, OUAZ and Webber), the Cedar Rapids airport only has about 20 flights a day and most routes only occur once a week with very few routes being offered every day. It is 127 miles to the Des Moines airport, 245 miles to Chicago, 275 to Minneapolis and 285 to St Louis.

Boys tournaments aren't taking place in eary May.  That's still HS Season for most states and State Playoffs for them as well.

Definitely a disservice placing it in such a remote location but it is a bid system isn't it?  So, blame some of these other schools for not stepping up and trying to host.

[Badger Alum]

There has been a boys tournament at the NAIA finals the last two years. The problem is, it’s not very well attended because most high schools are still in season. There were teams from Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin there. They did a really nice job at the tournament giving all of the boys who participated tickets to the NAIA finals. It is really a nice event. I don't know if it will continue at the new location....I hope it does. I wish more teams could represent.

[ndodge]

Hi, I'm not real familiar with NAIA. I mostly follow women's but try to hit up men's events when I can, such as when traveling (Lewis, Loyola a few times). How does average NAIA level generally compare to decent Lewis/Loyola teams? My travels may take me to St. Louis which has a crazy number of NCAA teams, but that'd be out of my way, so I may see about seeing some NAIA teams instead (e.g., Heart of America conference). I did an adult volleyball camp a long long time ago in Lamoni (Graceland), which triggered some ideas. Thanks for any input.

[franknvb]

Dec 31, 2023 17:13:24 GMT -5 ndodge said:

Hi, I'm not real familiar with NAIA. I mostly follow women's but try to hit up men's events when I can, such as when traveling (Lewis, Loyola a few times). How does average NAIA level generally compare to decent Lewis/Loyola teams? My travels may take me to St. Louis which has a crazy number of NCAA teams, but that'd be out of my way, so I may see about seeing some NAIA teams instead (e.g., Heart of America conference). I did an adult volleyball camp a long long time ago in Lamoni (Graceland), which triggered some ideas. Thanks for any input.

The top NAIA teams match up pretty well with Lewis. I think looking at last year, a couple of NAIA teams would be in the top 15 in D1 level

[gofaster88]

Jan 1, 2024 8:39:19 GMT -5 franknvb said:

Dec 31, 2023 17:13:24 GMT -5 ndodge said:

Hi, I'm not real familiar with NAIA. I mostly follow women's but try to hit up men's events when I can, such as when traveling (Lewis, Loyola a few times). How does average NAIA level generally compare to decent Lewis/Loyola teams? My travels may take me to St. Louis which has a crazy number of NCAA teams, but that'd be out of my way, so I may see about seeing some NAIA teams instead (e.g., Heart of America conference). I did an adult volleyball camp a long long time ago in Lamoni (Graceland), which triggered some ideas. Thanks for any input.

The top NAIA teams match up pretty well with Lewis. I think looking at last year, a couple of NAIA teams would be in the top 15 in D1 level

Skill wise yes, but it seems overall they are usually physically smaller all around than your top 15 teams.

[franknvb]

Jan 1, 2024 9:12:40 GMT -5 gofaster88 said:

Jan 1, 2024 8:39:19 GMT -5 franknvb said:

The top NAIA teams match up pretty well with Lewis. I think looking at last year, a couple of NAIA teams would be in the top 15 in D1 level

Skill wise yes, but it seems overall they are usually physically smaller all around than your top 15 teams.

Just an example. Last year Master's went 3-0 in a tournament at usc. They had a 6'10 and 6'4" outsides, 6'10" and 6'6 middles, 6'7" oppo. Thet matched well against the D1 programs. Overall, the NAIA teams are smaller, but some of the top teams matched up physically also