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So much for quiet a weekend when several top-10 nationally ranked teams had bye weeks.
Check out the top five things to take away from this weekend’s action.
1. Hawai’i shocks Pepperdine twice — After opening conference play 0-4, Hawai’i swept a two-match home MPSF series against No. 2 Pepperdine during the weekend. Outside attacker Sinisa Zarkovic led Hawai’i with a combined 34 kills in the two matches, including match-high 15 in a sweep against the Waves on Sunday.
2. Harvard pushes Penn State to five games — Harvard with all-conference outside attacker D.J. White sidelined because of an injury lost to No. 4 Penn State in five games Saturday. This was the second consecutive year that Harvard forced Penn State to five games in a match. With the win, the Nittany Lions extended their conference winning streak to a record 60 matches.
3. Undefeated teams go down — Five teams — Coker, Harvard, Rutgers-Newark, Mount Olive and Lindenwood — this weekend suffered their first losses of the season. Ball State (5-0, 0-0 MIVA) and Princeton (0-0, 0-0 EIVA) are the only remaining undefeated teams left in the nation.
4. Stanford’s offense rolling — No. 5 Stanford had a .322 attack percentage as it swept No. 10 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday for its second straight conference victory. The Cardinal has at least a .300 attack percent in its first eight matches to open the season.
5. UC Irvine’s Tillie finds offensive groove — Outside attacker Kevin Tillie had a match-high 21 kills to help No. 3 UC Irvine defeat No. 8 Long Beach State in five games Friday. This is the first time this season the All-American senior had more than 20 kills in a match.
BONUS HITS
Lindenwood makes MIVA debut — Lindenwood opened its inaugural MIVA season during the weekend with two home losses to Ohio State. The Lions, which joined the conference in the summer after successfully transitioning from NAIA to NCAA Division II, was swept in both matches but lost five of the six games by less than five points.
Mount Olive undefeated in conference — Mount Olive defeated Lees-McRae in four games Saturday to remain in first place and a perfect 4-0 in Conference Carolinas play.
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Was at bsu-moc. The long break after 2nd game destroyed moc momentum and quieted rowdy crowd of 400 in an ice storm. MOC 3 frosh tanked out and BSU experience then turned the big MO to BSU hitting down the middle and with better overall passing.
How the hell did Penn State get a first-place vote in this week’s AVCA poll? I don’t see how it’s possible not to have BYU #1 right now, but if by some miracle it were, it would surely have to be Stanford or (I guess) UCI nipping one. As I understand it, it’s death, taxes, and Penn State coming out of the EIVA, so for them to nearly lose a home conference match is a pretty bad result for them.
Good on Hawaii, definitely. I figured Brook Sedore would be named MPSF Player of the Week. It actually went to Siki Zarkovic. Can’t go wrong either way. I’ll be looking for them not to suffer a letdown this week, especially remaining at home. Still, you’d have to say a split with Stanford would be a win, wouldn’t it? I certainly felt they could have lost Sunday’s match and still felt good about their weekend. Not that /they’ll/ feel that way, of course. This could be the start of something really nice from them.