Summit League 2024

[kiyoat]

Service errors killing the Coyotes

[kiyoat]

Well, the "Cardiac Coyotes seem to be back to their old ways, creating extra-set and extra-point drama at every turn!  Got the win, at least.

Here is a revisiting of that match's performances in the serve-receive game:

Denver Serving (Ave 1.84 Ace/Set >>>got 1.75)

...............0.50 from OH Ava Reynolds >0.25
...............0.44 from S ..Briley Decker >0.25
...............0.34 from OH Cassie Davis >0.75 (3 aces)

Coytes Receiving (Ave 1.03 Ace/Set >>>allowed 1.75)

					Old			Den	New
pos	player	Sets	Er	Att	Re%	Err	Att	Re%	Re%
OH	L Medeck	32	2	130	.985	2	17	.882	.973
DS	A Wolff	32	5	127	.961		14	1.00	.965
DS/L	K Farris	32	4	116	.966	2	25	.920	.957
DS	C Hokenstad	26	3	97	.959		10	1.00	.963
OH	K Sealock	30	5	58	.914		17	1.00	.933

Obviously this is only looking as aces, not service errors/attempts or quality of passing, which would tell us much more.  But it looks like Denver maintains their reputation as a great serving team... wreaking havoc on our great back row.

[vbneber]

Ha! the "Cardiac Coyotes"... that is very accurate! Super glad they pulled out the win.

[kiyoat]

Oct 25, 2024 10:24:46 GMT -5 vbneber said:

Ha! the "Cardiac Coyotes"... that is very accurate! Super glad they pulled out the win.

Many of our fans had started calling them that in recent years, due to the numerous reverse sweeps they had been pulling off, especially in big games.  You could argue that good teams don't put themselves in a hole to begin with, but I prefer to say that Coach Williamson makes her teams mentally tough/resilient.... glass half full, and all.

[kiyoat]

Week 9 Combination Rankings

(I also track the standings and rankings on the first post of this thread)

RPI	Massey	Evollve	Standings	kiyoat (power)
28 SDSU	59 SDSU	74 SDSU	SDSU 9-0	SDSU
92 USD	83 USD	86 Oma	Oma 9-1	Omaha
118 Oma	99 Oma	95 USD	USD 7-3	South Dakota
155 Den	164 Den	143 UST	NDSU 5-5	Denver
159 UST	168 UST	163 Den	UST 5-5	NDSU
191 NDSU	177 NDSU	183 UND	Den 4-6	St Thomas
212 UND	216 UND	196 NDSU
			ORU 2-7	Kansas City
289 KC	261 KC	261 KC	KC 2-8	North Dakota
329 ORU	303 ORU	314 ORU	UND 1-9	Oral Roberts

just past the half-way point of conference play, and it looks like the RPI has caught up to, and now agrees with what Massey has shown for a while now.  All three of the computer/algorithm rankings show a lot of agreement now.  Do I think SDSU is the #28 team in the country?  No.  But they are a deserving front-runner in the League, and easily a top-100 team.

The Standings are also pretty stabilized, at least in terms of tiers.  The Yotes are two games back and two games ahead of Omaha and NDSU respectively, so they are pretty solidly in 3rd place.  I also think that NDSU, St Thomas and Denver have shown themselves to be solidly in the top-6.  I think we already have the Summit Tournament field established, unless there are some major upsets in the next few weeks.  The middle tier are fighting for seeding, at this point.

I personally think Denver has looked really good recently, so I have them a step higher in my power rankings.  Both NDSU and St Thomas have been a little less consistent recently (sorry Tommies)

[kiyoat]

Big matches this week in the Summit:

#1 SDSU @ #2 Omaha  Thursday 7PM CT

#4 NDSU @ #6 Denver  Saturday 2PM CT

[FreeBall]

Oct 28, 2024 11:17:06 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

The Yotes are two games back and two games ahead of Omaha and NDSU respectively, so they are pretty solidly in 3rd place.

I'm trying (and failing) to make sense of the part of your post quoted above?

[vbneber]

I missed the SDSU vs Denver match so went back and watched most of it. Denver has glimpses of greatness and then falls back. That Denver libero is legit. SDSU looked like they forgot that they were playing VB until they realized they were losing and figured they should start playing... ha! I don't pay attention to Omaha normally, but based on their results and stats, if SDSU plays like they did against Denver... I think the streak could be no more! USD should be in good shape this week. Speaking of great back rows.... Farris had 28 digs! nuts... as John Cook always says "Defense wins championships".  I also agree with the Massey rankings way more than the RPI.... no one in their right mind would put SDSU at 28.... I do agree they belong about 60-65 and USD is higher as well. 

[boxcariii]

Oct 28, 2024 13:16:22 GMT -5 FreeBall said:

Oct 28, 2024 11:17:06 GMT -5 kiyoat said:

The Yotes are two games back and two games ahead of Omaha and NDSU respectively, so they are pretty solidly in 3rd place.

I'm trying (and failing) to make sense of the part of your post quoted above?

The Yotes are two games back of Omaha and two games ahead of NDSU. This puts the Yotes solidly in the 3rd place at this moment in time. 

[kiyoat]

Oct 28, 2024 13:39:47 GMT -5 vbneber said:

I missed the SDSU vs Denver match so went back and watched most of it. Denver has glimpses of greatness and then falls back. That Denver libero is legit. SDSU looked like they forgot that they were playing VB until they realized they were losing and figured they should start playing... ha! I don't pay attention to Omaha normally, but based on their results and stats, if SDSU plays like they did against Denver... I think the streak could be no more! USD should be in good shape this week. Speaking of great back rows.... Farris had 28 digs! nuts... as John Cook always says "Defense wins championships".  I also agree with the Massey rankings way more than the RPI.... no one in their right mind would put SDSU at 28.... I do agree they belong about 60-65 and USD is higher as well. 

Yeah, there seem to be a lot of teams who have a certain level of potential, or talent level, and sometimes fall below that level, usually with the number of errors.

I suppose that’s true in most leagues. It’s a volleyball thing.

I feel like Denver was playing below potential in the early part of the conference season, and SDSU and St Thomas were meeting or exceeding potential, due to clean, in-system VB.

I honestly don’t know what to make of NDSU. They have swung up and down in consistency. Wild card.

[JT]

Tommies trend-line (see the end of the 2nd post) is positive...
St Thomas vs Denver | Thu, Oct 31, 7pm CT (6pm MT) | SLnet

[kiyoat]

Another Jackrabbit makes is into Michella Chester's weekly "Starting Rotation". This time it is OH Sylvie Zgonc

[boxcariii]

Local station interviewed Coach Buttermore this morning. 

Direct link (maybe): p.ftur.io/koznam/28862

Segment 8 here (it will disappear by Friday morning): 1620thezone.com/sharp-and-handley-radio-replay/

[JT]

Saturday's Tommie / Mavericks match - St Thomas vs Omaha | Sat Nov 2, 3pm CT | SLnet

[kiyoat]

Week 10 Combination Rankings

(I also track the standings and rankings on the first post of this thread)

RPI*	Massey	Evollve	Standings	kiyoat (power)
28 SDSU	51 SDSU	69 SDSU	SDSU 11-0	SDSU
92 USD	86 USD	87 Oma	Oma 10-2	Omaha
118 Oma	106 Oma	93 USD	USD 9-3	South Dakota
155 Den	164 Den	144 UST	NDSU 6-6	NDSU
159 UST	166 UST	161 Den	UST 6-6	St Thomas
191 NDSU	181 NDSU	185 UND	Den 5-7	Denver
212 UND	216 UND	207 NDSU
			ORU 2-9	North Dakota
289 KC	263 KC	264 KC	KC 2-9	ORU
329 ORU	308 ORU	313 ORU	UND 1-10	Kansas City

*RPI not yet updated

The picture is becoming clearer and clearer.  Although the RPI and  Massey now are in a lot of agreement, I think both of them put too much emphasis on past results.  "Recency bias" is a good thing at this point of the season, I think.  Teams have grown and evolved past what they were in the non-conference season.  So the standings are probably the best indication.... "you are what your record says you are" - this is reflected by my Power Rankings matching the standings more.

The Mavs missed their chance to challenge for a one-seed, and with only four or five conference matches left, the Rabbits look to be off to the races.  Denver also missed a chance to lead the middle tier, getting upset by the Tommies.


I still can't make heads or tails as to which bottom tier team has the best shot to get into the conference tournament...

... OH, I forgot to mention.... I was wrong about the Tommies being able to participate in the Summit Tournament, so that means one lucky bottom-tier team can get in.  Who has the golden ticket?  Right now I think North Dakota has the most potential, but ORU's coach is sneaky good, too.