NAIA 2024

[nslot]

Jan 11, 2024 19:37:33 GMT -5 photogirl said:

Jared Goldberg (The Master's) and Luke Bentley (William Penn) have posted a 2024 NAIA Season Preview. Very good listen.

After listening to the preview show, plus what I know of returners/transfers and how teams performed last year, this is my initial Top 15. Not sure how accurate it will be to the preseason rankings due to how conference rankings go (coaches tend to rank by just how teams finished last year) but this is how I think it might shake out as the year goes on. The weekend of 1/25-1/27 will tells us a lot. The following week of 2/1-2/3 will help solidify who the top teams are.
1. BenU Mesa
2. Grand View
3. St. Xavier (based off of some of the transfers they mentioned)
4. Vanguard
5. OUAZ
6. Missouri Valley
7. The Master's
8. Georgetown (this preview show mentioned many top players graduating but their roster only has them losing opp-Liam Morrisey from last years starters)
9. William Penn
10. Menlo
11. Park
12. Indiana Tech
13. Missouri Baptist
14. Westcliff
15. Jamestown

Way, way too early Nationals qualifying teams (*At large teams)
Cal-Pac (1)- BenU Mesa
Heart (3-4)- Grand View, *Mount Mercy, *Missouri Valley,
GSAC (2-3)- Vanguard, *OUAZ, *The Master's
CACC (1)- St Xavier
AAC (1)- Warner
GPAC (1)- Jamestown
Mid South (1)- Georgetown
WHAC (1)- Indiana Tech

A little perspective on the East coast team: 

Georgetown is still the team to beat, they bring back all starters except Morrisy but the back up the past few years Swan Bohler is bigger, 6'8 more athletic and has a higher floor, and a lower celling then Morrisy did. The biggest question mark will be the new coach trying to lead a bunch of strong proven athletes past what they could do the last few year but i anticipate Gunn to be the player of the year once again in the Mid South. 


Next Best time is the region is likely Campbellsville, like they said its kind of a question mark as to what they have or don't have and until they  prove otherwise im going to assuming the resources they have allowed them to gain some solid international athletes. They will be young freshman setter for sure but to me OH1 is the question mark if they rely on Jariel Daiz to go head to head with Gunn i think they are at a huge disadvantage. 


I would then jump over to the AAC for the next best team in the area, this team could be better then Campbellsville and the question markers will be can they finish when they need to and do they play a tough enough schedule to be ready come post season. Campbellsville and Mount Vernon will be the toughest team these guys see out of conference which I don't think does justice to what NAIA volleyball is.  Reinhardt is returning all 3 pins there starting libero and starting setters so compared to the other ACC teams there will be a ton of continuity. 

Cumberland, Webber, Warner, St. Andrews, Life are in that next tier for me, i would be surprised if any of the teams won the conference for the ACC Florida teams a ton of turnover and normally really small 18 games schedules and for St. Andrews and Cumberland's and Life idk if they have the talent to break through on a consistent basis 

Bluefield, Rio, Brescia, - Are all programs still developing they have some talented athletes , Bluefield grabbed Candria strich best pin, Brescia took 3 from bethel including the starting middle and Rio added two international pins to the roster this year so lets see if they can make the jump into the next tier. 

Truett, Midway, Oakland city- These program had coaches changes with poor roster previously and show no major changes, for Oakland city there are questions as to if they will even field a team. Theses teams should have a chance to beat each other but no one else unless they massively improve over the course of the season. 

[photogirl]

Jan 11, 2024 23:53:30 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Jan 11, 2024 19:37:33 GMT -5 photogirl said:

Jared Goldberg (The Master's) and Luke Bentley (William Penn) have posted a 2024 NAIA Season Preview. Very good listen. 

After listening to the preview show, plus what I know of returners/transfers and how teams performed last year, this is my initial Top 15. Not sure how accurate it will be to the preseason rankings due to how conference rankings go (coaches tend to rank by just how teams finished last year) but this is how I think it might shake out as the year goes on. The weekend of 1/25-1/27 will tells us a lot. The following week of 2/1-2/3 will help solidify who the top teams are.
1. BenU Mesa
2. Grand View
3. St. Xavier (based off of some of the transfers they mentioned)
4. Vanguard
5. OUAZ
6. Missouri Valley
7. The Master's
8. Georgetown (this preview show mentioned many top players graduating but their roster only has them losing opp-Liam Morrisey from last years starters)
9. William Penn
10. Menlo
11. Park
12. Indiana Tech
13. Missouri Baptist
14. Westcliff
15. Jamestown

Way, way too early Nationals qualifying teams (*At large teams)
Cal-Pac (1)- BenU Mesa
Heart (3-4)- Grand View, *Mount Mercy, *Missouri Valley,
GSAC (2-3)- Vanguard, *OUAZ, *The Master's
CACC (1)- St Xavier
AAC (1)- Warner
GPAC (1)- Jamestown
Mid South (1)- Georgetown
WHAC (1)- Indiana Tech

In past years, Grand View having an auto bid was not a big deal. Even last year, they would have been a bubble team. This year with Mount Mercy getting the auto bid, I fell that t really does take away one deserving at large bid.

Bubble teams-
William Penn, Park, Menlo, Missouri Baptist

Just watched and lots of good info and I feel like I could go on about it for awhile with comments. I will stick to mainly talking about the HOA since I am midwestern and follow that the most. I think Mount Mercy will for sure get auto bid given very friendly schedule. Interesting to hear Luke Bentley say he doesn’t believe Grand View would have been in last years tournament. Also interesting to hear him say he believes it will be new winner in HOA this year.
- Grand View returns a lot of experience with Valdez, Wong, Galili. Libero Dencklau has been around and will step right in. Bring back Annichini from injury last season. Some transfers as well. New setter will be what determines them.
- Park lost a lot but returns one of the potential players of the year in Joao Friedrich. I still refuse to say they will take a step back as Talamantes will bring in new and still contend.
- William Penn obviously has Krause and also Papes and Figy. Lose Herro and not sure about Libero? Not sure what could have been added but still think the are just outside of winning conference and sit 2-4
- Missouri Valley will be completely different with all the additions from Park. Who knows what it looks like so I’d put them 2-5
- Missouri Baptist added Mendic so is that the missing piece to be contender? Until they get rolling I’d say 2-5 in conference
- Mount Mercy will be at nationals. I think this program continues to grow but I think other teams took a step to improve so might be hard to crack top 5 in conference.

Until it doesn’t happen I have a hard time not picking Grand View and Park to be battling for conference title. Maybe Luke Bentley is right but just can’t go against it at this point.

Other thoughts:

Saint Xavier is a huge question mark to me and just might be the surprise team that causes problems. Really liked the Polish duo last year at nationals. Shane Ohms and transfer in middle. JUCO transfer at OH2? Could be a solid line up.

One prediction I have and could be wrong very quickly but think maybe GSAC took a small step down for this year but also it was just very very good last year. I still think Vanguard will be the team to be there with OUAZ right behind. I don’t know if Masters can be the same team with Flexon as go to. I think Menlo rounds out the 4 there.

My attempt of ranking;
1. Benu (Landon Fuller player of the year prediction)
2. Vanguard
3. Grand View
4. OUAZ
5. Saint Xavier
6. Masters
7. Park
8. Georgetown
9. William Penn
10. Missouri Valley
11. Menlo
12. Missouri Baptist
13. Indiana Tech
14. Jamestown
15. Lourdes

After this first weekend I’m sure this will be completely upside and all over but my gut for now!

I think HOA gets a 3rd team in this year will champ, mount mercy, and at large. GSAC gets the other at large bids. I don’t think any major upsets happen to keep out top 10 teams

Great recap.  I think last year, it would have come down to William Penn (2nd in regular season, lost to Grand View in conference semis, beat GV twice. Selection member Bentley is coach) and Grand View (3rd in regular season and beat WP in semis but lost twice in regular season) for the last spot if Grand View didn't have the auto bid.  To me, Grand View should have won that spot over WP.  Both teams were hurt by injuries throughout the year.   IMO, WP played themselves out of a chance at an invite on their California trip.  Loses to Vanguard and The Master's were to be expected, but the loss to Westcliff did them in.  As is was, I think it came down to Menlo and WP and that comparison wasn't even close.

Mount Mercy looks like they went through their conference schedule and figured out all of the loses and then added a bunch or matches against weaker opponents to get their win percentage up.  The have scheduled 4 days where they are playing the same team twice in back to back matches which appears to be just to pad wins.  Twice against Maranatha Baptist and one time each against Simpson and St Ambrose.  32 total matches.

[naiamvbfan]

Anyone know how the Vanguard vs Springfield exhibition went tonight?

[photogirl]

Jan 14, 2024 0:17:26 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Anyone know how the Vanguard vs Springfield exhibition went tonight?

Wondering the same thing. Was hoping to watch but they only broadcast their championship ring ceremony and not the match.

[naiamvbfan]

Jan 14, 2024 11:22:40 GMT -5 photogirl said:

Jan 14, 2024 0:17:26 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Anyone know how the Vanguard vs Springfield exhibition went tonight?

Wondering the same thing. Was hoping to watch but they only broadcast their championship ring ceremony and not the match.

I watched it not realizing it would end before match started. Correct me if I’m wrong but I didn’t see Valesis Vaisaui? Also don’t recall seeing him at scrimmage with Masters?

[baller13]

Vanguard swept, not sure of exact score but kept Springfield under 20 each game. Doesn't look like Vaisaui is on the squad this year.

[photogirl]

According to their schedules, The Master's and Vanguard have a scrimmage scheduled for Friday at 7 local time. Neither team is showing a "Watch" link on their schedule but hopefully one of the teams will stream the match on a social media account. If you see one posted anywhere or know a player account that might be streaming, please post here.

This is the last week before the season starts full force and we will have multiple watching options on an almost daily basis. First rankings also come out next week.

[naiamvbfan]

Jan 16, 2024 18:24:19 GMT -5 photogirl said:

According to their schedules, The Master's and Vanguard have a scrimmage scheduled for Friday at 7 local time. Neither team is showing a "Watch" link on their schedule but hopefully one of the teams will stream the match on a social media account. If you see one posted anywhere or know a player account that might be streaming, please post here.

This is the last week before the season starts full force and we will have multiple watching options on an almost daily basis. First rankings also come out next week.

I’m not expecting a stream to be available but hoping something pops up! I’m curious who will set for Masters. In the fall scrimmage looks like Bryce Jones played some against Vanguard. Also interested to see if Diego Perez will be back outside or Libero.

I hate how NAIA does preseason poll. Such a waste of a poll. I’d rather coaches actually vote on expected roster changes versus looking back at finishes from last season.

[franknvb]

Jan 16, 2024 18:24:19 GMT -5 photogirl said:

According to their schedules, The Master's and Vanguard have a scrimmage scheduled for Friday at 7 local time. Neither team is showing a "Watch" link on their schedule but hopefully one of the teams will stream the match on a social media account. If you see one posted anywhere or know a player account that might be streaming, please post here.

This is the last week before the season starts full force and we will have multiple watching options on an almost daily basis. First rankings also come out next week.

Doubt it will be streamed. They were going to play at one of Vanguard's alternate sites, but switched to their student center. Hardly enough room to seat any fans

[franknvb]

Jan 16, 2024 22:23:43 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

Jan 16, 2024 18:24:19 GMT -5 photogirl said:

According to their schedules, The Master's and Vanguard have a scrimmage scheduled for Friday at 7 local time. Neither team is showing a "Watch" link on their schedule but hopefully one of the teams will stream the match on a social media account. If you see one posted anywhere or know a player account that might be streaming, please post here.

This is the last week before the season starts full force and we will have multiple watching options on an almost daily basis. First rankings also come out next week.

I’m not expecting a stream to be available but hoping something pops up! I’m curious who will set for Masters. In the fall scrimmage looks like Bryce Jones played some against Vanguard. Also interested to see if Diego Perez will be back outside or Libero.

I hate how NAIA does preseason poll. Such a waste of a poll. I’d rather coaches actually vote on expected roster changes versus looking back at finishes from last season.

Probably Patrick Paragas will be the starter

[naiamvbfan]

More rosters have been posted past few days. Park, William Penn, and Mount Mercy are up. Still haven’t seen Vanguard or OUAZ.
Park- Friedrich and Faquin still around. Transfer Libero Bonanoni came from Mo Valley. Return 1 of the middles. They need someone else to step up and help Friedrich. Not sure what happened to Manana who had transferred there but he isn’t listed.

[photogirl]

NAIA men's volleyball could learn a lot from NCAA men's volleyball with what they are doing this weekend. They are actually partnering with a boys tournament in Austin with the First Point Collegiate Challenge. Showcasing some of their top teams. That is how you grow the game.

[naiamvbfan]

If anyone is at or knows Vanguard vs Masters scrimmage updates would be great!

[coachk2]

Jan 10, 2024 18:42:32 GMT -5 ManapuaSurprise said:

Jan 2, 2024 9:42:31 GMT -5 coachk2 said:

Missouri Baptist Spartan 2024 MVB schedule is on their web site.  Not sure about others.  Would post a link but CK is a low tech man in a high tech world. 🫣

Aleksa Mandic transferred from Hawaii to Missouri Baptist before the season started. Please keep us updated how he's playing

Went by Mo Bap Thursday afternoon to watch some of their practice. 🏐🎤  Lefty Mandic looks like an immediate contributor as an Opposite based on his serve and back row attacking, given my brief time watching. 👀 We shall see. 😃

[franknvb]

Jan 19, 2024 22:36:25 GMT -5 naiamvbfan said:

If anyone is at or knows Vanguard vs Masters scrimmage updates would be great!

Masters won 4 sets to 2. A scrimmage