For the regular season conference crown and #1 seed in next week's tournament. Rice ranks #21 in coaches poll; WKU #22. Rice ranks #17 in RPI; WKU at #28. Both teams with only two losses on the year. Both undefeated in conference play, with each sweeping their past 5 opponents. WKU more dominant in CUSA action; Rice with the far superior out-of-conference resume (2-2 vs. Top 25, 4-2 vs. Top 50, no unranked loss). WKU with more efficient offense and edge in the block and service game; Rice with more balanced offense and edge in backline defense. WKU features elite upperclassmen in two-time conference POY, Matthews and OH Paige; Rice features elite upperclassmen in 3-time all-conference Adekunle, defending CUSA Setter of the year Graham and McCardell.

The keys IMO:
- Can Adekunle neutralize Matthews?
- Can our backline defense neutralize WKU's service game?
- Can Rice keep WKU's blocking edge to a minimum?
- Can Rice get a strong offensive match from Courtley and/or Bichelmeyer?

Time to end WKU's 4-game win streak against us and put us in the hosting discussion for the first round of the NCAA tournament. Let's get it done, ladies!

Here's the WKU preview of the match...

https://wkusports.com/news/2022/11/9/wom...nior-night

Note-- tomorrow will be their Senior Night. WKU will be putting their 57 conference match win streak (longest in D1) on the line.

Important: The match will be streamed for free on Facebook Live via the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN) Facebook page

Quote:So here are two teams you don't typically see on my games of the week, but this is certainly a must-watch game. Here is why: We are getting really close to selections.

Rice is 22-2 this season, with no bad losses. Their two losses on the season came to Oregon, who I just moved into my Power 10 rankings, and Baylor. They have wins over Houston, then-No. 17 Creighton, and LSU. Western Kentucky is ranked just one spot below them in the AVCA poll. They too have just two losses on the season to Louisville and Texas A&M. They have wins over Tennessee and Miami.

Either way, this matchup should have implications on selections. Rice, or maybe WKU, could be teams on the verge of hosting in the tournament. This outcome will likely have some big seeding implications for the tournament, especially now that the top 32 schools are seeded by the Selection Committee. Don't miss this one!

https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-wom...IoCHlVkjNI

(11-09-2022 11:23 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:So here are two teams you don't typically see on my games of the week, but this is certainly a must-watch game. Here is why: We are getting really close to selections.

Rice is 22-2 this season, with no bad losses. Their two losses on the season came to Oregon, who I just moved into my Power 10 rankings, and Baylor. They have wins over Houston, then-No. 17 Creighton, and LSU. Western Kentucky is ranked just one spot below them in the AVCA poll. They too have just two losses on the season to Louisville and Texas A&M. They have wins over Tennessee and Miami.

Either way, this matchup should have implications on selections. Rice, or maybe WKU, could be teams on the verge of hosting in the tournament. This outcome will likely have some big seeding implications for the tournament, especially now that the top 32 schools are seeded by the Selection Committee. Don't miss this one!

https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-wom...IoCHlVkjNI

Nice pic of our best defensive lineup: Graham, Adekunle and Maruska upfront; McCardell, Harris and Mansfield in the back line.

Positive publicity, but geez-- we beat current #12 Creighton and #23 Houston, and also beat LSU, Texas Tech and Kansas State. WKU's loss to A&M is a bad loss as they were swept at home by an Aggie squad that I don't believe are even ranked in the Top 50. And Tennessee, Miami and Indiana (WKU's best wins) are all ranked lower than LSU, Tech and K-State. I suppose WKU has a slim shot at hosting if they run the table, beating us twice at home to win the regular season and CUSA tourney titles, but their current RPI sits at #28, which is nowhere near hosting territory. Note-- WKU did not host last year when they were ranked #16, were undefeated and won both CUSA titles. The reason was their OOC resume was non-existent and their RPI was outside the Top 20.

(11-09-2022 11:55 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-09-2022 11:23 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  

Quote:So here are two teams you don't typically see on my games of the week, but this is certainly a must-watch game. Here is why: We are getting really close to selections.

Rice is 22-2 this season, with no bad losses. Their two losses on the season came to Oregon, who I just moved into my Power 10 rankings, and Baylor. They have wins over Houston, then-No. 17 Creighton, and LSU. Western Kentucky is ranked just one spot below them in the AVCA poll. They too have just two losses on the season to Louisville and Texas A&M. They have wins over Tennessee and Miami.

Either way, this matchup should have implications on selections. Rice, or maybe WKU, could be teams on the verge of hosting in the tournament. This outcome will likely have some big seeding implications for the tournament, especially now that the top 32 schools are seeded by the Selection Committee. Don't miss this one!

https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-wom...IoCHlVkjNI

Nice pic of our best defensive lineup: Graham, Adekunle and Maruska upfront; McCardell, Harris and Mansfield in the back line.

Positive publicity, but geez-- we beat current #12 Creighton and #23 Houston, and also beat LSU, Texas Tech and Kansas State. WKU's loss to A&M is a bad loss as they were swept at home by an Aggie squad that I don't believe are even ranked in the Top 50. And Tennessee, Miami and Indiana (WKU's best wins) are all ranked lower than LSU, Tech and K-State. I suppose WKU has a slim shot at hosting if they run the table, beating us twice at home to win the regular season and CUSA tourney titles, but their current RPI sits at #28, which is nowhere near hosting territory. Note-- WKU did not host last year when they were ranked #16, were undefeated and won both CUSA titles. The reason was their OOC resume was non-existent and their RPI was outside the Top 20.

WKU actually played Miami-Ohio not Miami-Florida. Tennessee and A&M are now ahead of Texas Tech and Kansas State, both of which have been losing and dropping. LSU has also been dropping. They just lost their two matches to Tennessee.

Didn't take long-- we overpass on their first serve attempt...and they block Anota. And Genny challenges a tip call on the very first point. She wins the challenge!

Video link: https://www.facebook.com/HSSNdotORG/vide...452743010/

7-11 Their service game really giving us trouble. 3 overpasses already. And we've got 2 service errors. Adekunle with a couple unforced attack errors. Their blocking game is already intimidating our front line.

Mansfield with several acrobatic digs already.

8-14 3 service errors already. Not a good start. They are dominating our front line.

9-16 Getting outplayed in every aspect of the game.

Half of WKU's points on our errors-- 4 attack errors, 3 service errors, 1 blocking error

14-21 WKU having no trouble with our serves.

4th service error ugh

19-25. It felt a lot worse.

19-25 WKU service game, blocking game and attack totally dominating us. They don't have an ace yet, but their serves are putting our offense totally out of system, and giving them excellent kill opportunities time and time again. They hit .294 for the match.

Ugh We start the 2nd set with our 5th service error.

0-4 Replay of the Baylor match

6-11 WKU's service game is dominating the action-- totally taking us out of system. Every WKU server is better than our best. WKU with 6 blocks already.

11-11 on a 5-0 run, fueled by some outstanding serving by Maruska. First time we have taken WKU out of their system. They've been doing it to us all match so far.

12-14 WKU now with 8 blocks.

Looks like we are going 6-2 with Harris setting now.