Class of 2020 Setter Izzy Lukens Commits to Arkansas State
Class of 2020 recruit Isabel ‘Izzy’ Lukens has committed to the Arkansas State University women’s volleyball team. A 5’10” setter from Omaha, Nebraska, Lukens will join the Red Wolves for the fall season in 2020.
Lukens attends Millard North High School, who went 27-13 this past season. As a sophomore in her second year of varsity, she recorded 1,181 assists (10.5 per set), 223 digs (2.0 per set), 89 kills (0.8 per set), 34 blocks (0.3 per set) and 30 aces (0.3 per set) according to her MaxPreps profile.
On the club side of things, Lukens plays with Premier Volleyball – specifically the Premier Nebraska 16 Gold team. Some highlights from her play both in club and high school can be seen here.
Arkansas State finished the 2017 season with a 21-12 record and a 12-4 finish in Sun Belt action. They also won a postseason match playing in the NIVC. The two setters returning to their 2018 roster will be a sophomore and senior – meaning just one current Red Wolves setter will be on the roster come Lukens’ arrival in 2020.
I am very excited to announce that I have committed to continue my academic and volleyball career at Arkansas State University! Go Red Wolves!!!! pic.twitter.com/ujnyWAi2b7
Class of 2019 recruit Eliana Chavira has committed to the Long Beach State women’s volleyball program. A 5’11” setter and right side, Chavira is a junior in high school who will join LBSU for her first season in the fall of 2019.
An attendee of Aquinas High School in San Bernardino, California, Chavira spent her third season on varsity this past year and notched high level attack numbers for her squad.
On the club side of things, Chavira plays with Rancho Valley Volleyball Club – specifically the 18 Premier team. Hitting right-handed, Chavira owns a 9’7″ approach jump.
Long Beach State collected a 10-19 finish in 2017 in which they went 7-9 in Big West play. Their 2017 roster featured three setters and a trio of opposites. Of those position groups, one setter was a senior who graduates before 2018 while two opposites were juniors and will be in their final season in 2018 before Chavira arrives in 2019.
Super excited to announce that I verbally committed to play D1 volleyball & continue my academic career at Long Beach State!!! ?? #GoBeach#Blessedpic.twitter.com/2ptXwZwVSl
Honolulu, Hawaii – Playing in front of their home crowd, the second-ranked Hawaii Rainbow Warriors made quick work of #12 Concordia Irvine by dispatching them in three. Not only was it a sweep, but Hawaii outscored Concordia Irvine 75-49 in the dominant showing.
Hawaii seemed to show up in every facet of the match, hitting .443 while holding down Concordia Irvine to a .193 mark. They also posted more aces (6-0), digs (32-22), blocks (nine to 6.5) and set assists (44-28). In fact, for the entire match, there were only seven ties and two lead changes.
Individually for Hawaii, Austin Matautia (15 kills, .440, 10 digs, three aces) put in all-around numbers with Rado Parapunov (11 kills, .556, six digs) also posting double-figure kills. Joe Worsley (39 assists, four blocks) was at the head of an attack that saw seven players reach three or more kills (with six of seven hitting .400 or better).
In the losing effort for the Eagles, Raymond Barsemian (11 kills, .269) led the way in kills with Hunter Howell (six kills, .500) and Parker Maki (five kills, .444) topping out in efficiency. Unfortunately for them though, the rest of the team totaled just five kills with seven attack errors on 41 attempts – good for a -.048 mark.
This won’t be the end of these two teams on the same court this week despite this match coming to its conclusion. They will take part in the rematch on Sunday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.
HONOLULU – The second-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team had little trouble with No. 13 Concordia-Irvine of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Friday in the first of two non-conference matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-15, 25-13, 25-21.
The Rainbow Warriors (10-2), which boasts the nation’s No. 2 ranked offense, hit .443 for the match and were led by sophomore Austin Matautia, who had a match-high 15 kills along with 10 digs for his second career double-double. The ‘Ewa Beach, O’ahu native hit .440 and served three of the team’s six aces. Opposite Rado Parapunov added 11 kills, hitting .556.
UH held CUI to .193 hitting for the match and tallied nine blocks. Setter Joe Worsley, the shortest player on the court, had a match-high four blocks along with middle blocker Dalton Solbrig, who also posted six kills, hitting .462.
In Set 1, the Warriors reeled off five straight points, including consecutive overpass kills by Patrick Gasman, for an 8-3 lead. The lead stretched to 15-9 at the media timeout and after a pair of Matautia kills, Hawai’i led 20-12. The sophomore finished with nine kills in the set as UH recorded only two errors in 32 attempts, hitting .531 as a team.
The Hawai’i lead was 6-2 to start Set 2. A 5-0 run made it 13-7 and a 6-0 run gave UH a 22-10 lead. The Warriors posted four blocks and three aces in the set while hitting .458 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
In Set 3, the Warriors used a 10-1 run, including Matautia’s second and third aces of the match during an eight-point surge, for a 16-6 lead. The Eagles pulled within 22-19 but the Warriors closed out the match with back-to-back kills by Brett Rosenmeier, who finished with five kills in only one set of action.
HONOLULU, Hawaii – The No. 13 Concordia men’s volleyball team (8-7, 3-3 MPSF) took a midseason non-conference road trip to the islands of Hawaii where they faced No. 2 Hawaii (10-2, 1-1 Big West) for the first-time ever in a first of a two-match series on Friday night. The Eagles held in there with the Rainbow Warriors, but it was Hawaii who came out with the win by a score of 25-15, 25-13, 25-21.
As one of the top teams in the nation, Hawaii was able edge Concordia in each statistical category. But, that did not prevent the Eagles from putting on a show where Raymond Barsemian led with 11 kills and Hunter Howell went errorless with six kills and hit .500 with three blocks. Parker Maki emerged off the bench with five kills and hit .444 while Jacob Weiser led Concordia with seven digs.
Hawaii got out to a fast lead in the first set, jumping ahead 7-3 and forcing Concordia into an early timeout. The Eagles crept back into the set by ways of three Barsemian points to cut the Warriors’ lead to four at 11-7. Coming out of the media timeout, Josiah Bergt ended the Hawaii run at 15-10 with a kill. Concordia then came close to losing a point on a Warriors block, but the Eagles scrappiness kept the ball alive allowing for Howell to push the ball into the open court for a kill, making the score 17-12. Hawaii used a 7-1 run behind their hot hitting to earn set point at 24-13. The Eagles responded by fighting off two set points by ways of a Howell kill and a Gibb solo block, but the Warriors ended the set with their 19th kill.
Concordia saw themselves down early at 4-0, but Barsemian delivered a kill for his team’s first point. Down by four again, the Eagles got a spark from two kills from Jonathan Predney and one from Barsemian to bring them to 8-7. Hawaii responded with a run of their own, but two kills by Predney out of the backrow slowed the Warriors down and made the score 14-9. Tough serving from Hawaii gave themselves an advantage, forcing free ball opportunities and targeting their opponent which led to a 12-point lead. Maki and Howell each collected kills before teaming up for a block to make it 23-13, but Hawaii put the set away with a kill and an ace.
The third set started out tight with Concordia getting their first lead of the match at 3-2 and teams trading points from there on. Maki collected three kills for Concordia, but Hawaii put up a 7-0 run to gain separation at 16-6. The Eagles returned the favor with a 7-2 run behind the distribution of Isaiah Kaaa to come closer at 19-14. Concordia then came within three following a Barsemian put away and two Hawaii errors at 23-20. Perched at Warriors’ match point, Concordia fought off one point on a Hawaii error but the No. 2 team in the country clinched the match with a kill.
Next Up: Concordia will get have a rest day before facing Hawaii again on Sunday at 7 PM (PT).
MATCH STATS
#1 LBSU Def. #16 CSUN 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20)
#1 LBSU 15-0 (1-0 Big West); #16 CSUN 8-6 (0-1 Big West)
Northridge, California – In each team’s Big West opener, top-ranked Long Beach State took care of business with #16 Cal State Northridge in a three-set sweep. All three sets were close, but in the end the 49ers lack of mistakes pushed them to victory.
A majority of the team stats showed how close the two sides really were despite the sweep. LBSU posted just one more ace (4-3) on the same amount of serve errors and one more dig (30-29) while CSUN slightly won the block total (6.5 to six). The biggest difference was that on six more attacks, LBSU posted four less attack errors and seven more kills in a .340 to .242 advantage in efficiency.
Maybe the biggest proponent of the difference was the play at the setter position. While Sam Porter (36 assists) had a strong outing for CSUN, the ball placement from Josh Tuaniga (38 assists) continued to be top-notch.
That may not have been the biggest contributor to the difference though, as the 49ers showed their balance with the three-headed monster in Kyle Ensing (18 kills, .371, five digs), TJ DeFalco (10 kills, .364, seven digs) and Bjarne Huus (nine kills, .400). Flip that over to CSUN, who has the bonafide star in Arvis Greene (16 kills, .323, eight digs), but saw everyone else hit a collective .200 for the match. It also helped that Jordan Molina posted a match-best nine digs in the back row for the Beach in keeping a few extra balls off the court.
From here the location will move on to Long Beach, California as the 49ers play host in a rematch with CSUN visiting on Sunday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The No. 1 Long Beach State men’s volleyball team notched its first-ever Big West Conference victory with a 3-0 [25-22, 25-23, 25-20] road win over No. 12 CSUN on Friday night. Long Beach State has now won 15 straight matches.
The Beach (15-0, 1-0 Big West) hit .340 in the contest against the Matadors (8-6, 0-1 Big West) and were led offensively by junior Kyle Ensing’s 18-kill performance. TJ DeFalco also contributed as he added 10 kills to go along with seven digs and three service aces. Junior setter Josh Tuanigacontrolled the offensive effort with 38 assists.
Jordan Molina paced the back row with nine digs, while Nick Amado dominated the net with three solo blocks and three block assists.
The Beach opened the match with a 3-0 lead highlighted by back-to-back kills by Ensing and Bjarne Huus. Long Beach State never trailed as it utilized a balanced attack to push its lead to 15-10 on a kill by Ensing. Ensing was dominant as he recorded nine kills in the first set leading the Beach to a 25-22 victory.
Long Beach State hit .485 in the frame and knocked down 18 kills while committing just two attack errors. The Beach took their momentum into the second set as they hit .355 in the frame and pounded out 15 kills.
LBSU broke an early tie and jumped out to an 11-8 lead on a kill by DeFalco and eventually took a 16-12 advantage on a kill off the hands of Simon Anderson. However, CSUN chipped away at Long Beach State’s lead and eventually came back to even the score at 23-23. DeFalco gave the Beach back the lead with a kill and Ensing put the game away as he knocked down a kill giving LBSU a 2-0 edge heading into the intermission.
The Matadors came out of the break playing hard as they took a 3-1 lead to start the third set. But Long Beach State would not back down and the Beach battled back and used a 4-0 run to take a 5-4 advantage. The Beach took an 11-9 lead on a Matadors attack error as CSUN called a timeout to regroup. The Matadors came out of the break in action and evened the score, but Long Beach State put together another 4-0 run to go back up 15-11. With the match in their favor, the Beach never relinquished the lead as they went on to complete the sweep with a 25-20 set win.
CSUN received a solid performance from Arvis Greene who tallied 16 kills and eight digs. Meanwhile, Sam Porter dished out 36 assists.
Long Beach State and CSUN will meet each other once again on Sunday, March 4 at 7 p.m. inside the Walter Pyramid.
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – Three tightly contested sets all went to Long Beach State as the top-ranked 49ers swept No. 12 CSUN 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 in the Big West opener for both teams Friday night at The Matadome.
The win keeps Long Beach State unbeaten at 15-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big West while the loss drops the Matadors to 8-6 overall and 0-1 in conference.
Senior Arvis Greene matched the 49er hitters kill for kill throughout as he led CSUN with 16 kills, hitting .323 on 31 attacks. Greene also added eight digs, two blocks and one ace.
“Arvis hit .323 but I still think he could probably have hit .400, he had a couple of poor swings towards the end,” said Matador head coach Jeff Campbell. “But he’s getting better. His serving was better tonight, his defense was better and his blocking was better.
“Ultimately it doesn’t matter how well we do right now, what matters is that we’re getting better week to week and keep building towards the Big West Tournament in April.”
CSUN played from behind for much of the night, beginning in set one when the visitors took a 3-0 lead. After trailing by as many as six (10-4), the Matadors battled back to within two at 20-18 following a Greene kill.
A TJ DeFalco kill following a 49er timeout pushed the lead back to three and Long Beach still led by three at 24-21. Greene’s eighth kill of the set saved one set point but Kyle Ensing connected on the ensuing point to seal the 25-22 win.
After scoring on the first play of set two, CSUN would not lead again but did manage to knot the score at 23 late in the set. Ensing’s hitting error capped a late 3-0 Matador run that tied the score, but kills from DeFalco and Ensing gave the Beach at two set lead.
A block by Ptaszynski and Eric Chance gave CSUN its largest lead (4-1) early in the third set. CSUN still hung on to a 9-7 lead when the 49ers rallied for four straight points to force a Matador timeout at 11-9.
Trailing 17-13, CSUN mounted a pair of late rallies to get within one at 17-16 and again at 19-18. But following a 49er timeout, the visitors took advantage of an Ensing kill and a Ptaszynski hitting error to give them the margin they needed to take a 25-20 decision.
Ensing’s match-high 18 kills led Long Beach State while DeFalco added 11 kills on .364 hitting.
The same two teams close out the season series Sunday night at the Walter Pyramid. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Class of 2020 recruit Alexa Rousseau has committed to the Northwestern University women’s volleyball team. A native of Michigan, Rousseau is a setter that stands at 6’3″.
A sophomore at Bloomfield Hills High School, Rousseau helped the Black Hawks to a 35-12 season in which they fell in the District Semifinal round.
Individually, playing in her second year of varsity, Rousseau totaled 833 assists (6.9 per set), 282 kills (2.4 per set) on a .470 mark, 155 digs (1.3 per set), 94 aces (0.8 per set) and 59 blocks (0.5 per set) according to her MaxPreps profile.
In the club ranks, Rousseau plays for the Legacy Volleyball Club and the Legacy 16 Elite squad. She becomes the fourth commit from her team headed to play Division I volleyball come the fall of 2020.
Northwestern is coming off of a 14-18 season in which they went 4-16 in Big Ten action. The only setter who would be on pace to return come 2020 and join Rousseau at the position group based on collegiate eligibility would be Britt Bommer, who was a freshman in 2017.
Congrats to Alexa Rousseau @alexaarousseau for committing to play volleyball and attend Northwestern University in the fall of 2020! Way to go Lex, we are so proud of you!! pic.twitter.com/b5rWH93PE7
Provo, Utah – The current leaders in the MPSF came close to dropping their first league match of the year to a red-hot #7 Pepperdine bunch, but in the end #6 BYU pulled off the reverse sweep. Not only does it give them a two match lead over Pepperdine, but it maintains their one match lead over UCLA, who just lost to Pepperdine a week ago.
In terms of the match itself, BYU’s offense was great throughout until a lackluster fifth (which they still won). Pepperdine’s was just better in the opening two before hitting just .185 in the third and .000 in the fifth, with a strong .364 in the fourth being outdone by BYU’s .500 in that game. In total, BYU hit .355 to Pepperdine’s .258.
What contributed to the difference in hitting percentage was mostly floor defense and a few missed opportunities by Pepperdine to be terminal. That led to a 33-24 edge in digs for the Cougars, who also had the slight advantage in blocks (15.5 to 13.5). Pepperdine earned their big lead on serving and would go on to notch four more aces (10-6) with the same amount of serve errors (22), but the majority of them came in the opening games.
Individually, BYU setter Leo Durkin (56 assists, six blocks, five digs, three kills) found a three-headed monster in Gabi Garcia Fernandez (18 kills, .242, seven digs, three aces), Brenden Sander (17 kills, .467, four blocks) and Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga (13 kills, .348, four blocks, two aces). That was enough to overcome a libero change, as the Cougars struggled in serve receive at times but were great in the exchange between second and third contact.
In the losing effort for Pepperdine, David Wieczorek (20 kills, .351, eight blocks, four aces) continued to be a star with Robert Mullahey (47 assists, nine digs) nearing a double-double. While others like Michael Wexter (six kills, .500) were efficient, they didn’t take enough swings, as the other high-volume options made it so everyone on the Waves outside of Wieczorek hit .217 in what wasn’t their best day.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier after this one for BYU, as they play host to #3 UCLA with another battle for first in the MPSF on the line. For Pepperdine, they stay on the road as they look to rebound and match-up with #20 Stanford.
PROVO, Utah – No. 5 BYU men’s volleyball powered past No. 8 Pepperdine in five sets (22-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-22, 15-11) Thursday night at the Smith Fieldhouse.
“I’m proud of the guys for sticking to it,” BYU head coach Shawn Olmstead said. “Down two sets is not the most ideal place to be in a volleyball match, but we were able to rebound and play better than in the first two sets.”
A Storm Fa’agata-Tufuga kill and Fernandez service ace opened the fifth set and helped push BYU (13-4, 6-0 MPSF) ahead 5-2. Another Fernandez ace maintained a 10-6 Cougar lead, forcing Pepperdine (9-4, 3-2 MPSF) into a timeout. The Waves answered the momentum with blocks to tie the set at 10-all. A save by Erik Sikes and a block by Durkin, Ferreira and Sander pulled BYU ahead 13-10. Another Durkin and Ferreira block brought the Cougars to set point and a Miki Jauhiainen and Sander block closed the set 15-11 to bring BYU to a 3-2 match win.
Pepperdine jumped to a 4-1 lead early in the first set, but a kill and service ace by Fernandez brought BYU back in the game, down by just one at 4-3. While the Waves remained ahead, kills by Ferreira and Sander pulled the Cougars back within one, 15-14. BYU called a timeout down 20-18 and came back to score the next two points to tie the game, 20-all, with a Sander kill and Wil Stanleyservice ace. Errors from the Cougars allowed the Waves to jump ahead, and a Pepperdine kill solidified the set, 25-22.
A Fernandez kill opened the second set giving BYU the edge, but Pepperdine answered with kills to tie the set 3-all. A Sander kill and Wave errors helped BYU jump ahead 7-4 early in the set. A kill by Fa’agata-Tufuga and back-to-back Cougar blocks kept BYU in the lead 12-9. The Waves came back in the set and both teams were within two of each other, exchanging leads at the end of the set. Tied at points 24 through 27, the Cougars had four-straight set points, but the Waves ultimately took the set with a 29-27 win.
With Pepperdine opening the third set with an edge, a Sander kill and Fa’agata-Tufuga service ace tied the score at 4-all. Both teams stayed within a point of each other until Pepperdine took at two-point lead, 13-11, forcing BYU into a timeout. A block by Jauhiainen and Fernandez helped BYU back in the set at 15-all. Due to Pepperdine errors and another Jauhiainen and Fernandez block, BYU took an 18-15 advantage after a 5-0 run. The Waves chipped away at the Cougar lead, but a Fernandez kill brought BYU to set point and Sander closed the set, 25-23, with a kill.
Both teams were within a point of each other early in the fourth set until Pepperdine slipped ahead 9-6. A Sander and Ferreira kill then helped BYU tie the set 10-all. Back-to-back kills from Durkin pulled the Cougars ahead 13-11. A block by Fa’agata-Tufuga and Ferreira helped BYU get ahead 20-16 after a 7-1 run. A Sander kill brought the Cougars to set point, 24-21. BYU took the set 25-22 after a Pepperdine service error to take the match into a fifth set.
The Cougars remain at home to play No. 3 UCLA Saturday, March 3, at 7 p.m. MST. Live stats are available on the men’s schedule page and the match will be streamed on TheW.tv.
PROVO, Utah – The No. 8 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team went ahead 2-0 to start the match against No. 5 Brigham Young at the Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday, but the Cougars countered with three set wins of their own to secure the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win.
BYU (13-4, 6-0 MPSF) took the five-set win with 22-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-22 and 15-11 set wins over the Waves (9-4, 3-2 MPSF) to remain undefeated in the league and sit atop the standings.
BYU hit for 61 kills on a .355 hitting percentage against the Waves, while Pepperdine was good for 55 smashes and a .258 clip on the offensive. Although the Waves were good for 10 aces to the Cougars six, BYU put up 60 assists, 33 digs and 15.5 team blocks compared to Pepperdine’s 52 assists, 24 digs and 13.5 blocks.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K-E-TA (Pct)1. 13-2-26 (.423)
2. 13-6-25 (.280)
3. 11-6-27 (.185)
4. 12-4-22 (.364)
5. 6-6-20 (.000)
TOTAL: 55-24-120 (.258)
BYU ATTACK BY SET
Set K-E-TA (Pct)1. 13-4-23 (.391)
2. 14-7-26 (.269)
3. 13-4-25 (.360)
4. 16-4-24 (.500)
5. 5-3-12 (.167)
TOTAL: 61-22-110 (.355)
NOTABLES
BYU broke the Waves five-match winning streak, including two wins over top-five ranked teams.
The Waves have posted two top-five upsets in the past two weeks, with a 3-0 sweep over #2 UCLA and a 3-1 win over #4 UC Irvine.
David Wieczorek leads the conference in points/set, aces/set and kills/set and is second in hitting percentage. Robert Mullahey is second in the conference in assists/set.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves came out ready to play in the first set, pulling ahead 4-1 on a pair of Colby Harriman smashes and hitting for a perfect 1.000 success rate through the first 16-points of the match. The Cougars stayed close throughout the match, coming within one-point several times and tying the set at 21’s late in the action. Pepperdine gained the early edge, though and kills from David Wieczorek and Max Chamberlain closed things out in the Waves’ favor with a 25-22 set win.In the second set, the opposition came out strong intent on evening the score. After a 9-9 tie early in the set, BYU worked ahead to a 15-12 advantage with a pair of blocks. The Waves had some blocks and smashes in their arsenal as well, though, and stayed close in the match towards an 18-18 tied score. The Cougars still had the momentum, however, and advanced to a set-point opportunity first at the 24-23 mark. The Waves fought off four set-point options to tie the score once again at 27’s . A block from Colby Harriman, Alex Harthaller and Chamberlain gave Pepperdine their first set-point opportunity and after a BYU timeout, the Waves succeeded 29-27 on Wieczorek’s second ace of the night.
With a 2-0 lead in the match, the Waves came out strong with a 13-11 lead. The set would turn into another see-saw battle, though, as the Cougars tied the set at 15’s and go back-and-forth with the Waves onto the 23-23 mark. Despite some solid Waves’ attack efforts, BYU held on to the set and won 25-23 to force a fourth.
Pepperdine came out big again in the fourth set, amassing a 9-6 lead, but the opposition was quick to work back and tie the set at 15’s. Despite a 20-17 Waves’ advantage late in the set courtesy of kills and aces from Wieczorek and big blocks from Chamberlain, BYU came back to take the 25-22 set win and force a fifth.
With the momentum in the home team’s court heading into the fifth, the Cougars broke out to a 4-1 lead early on. Although Pepperdine countered to tie the set 10-10, BYU came out of a timeout with aggressive energy and picked up a 15-11 set win to complete the reverse sweep.
NEXT UP
The Waves continue life on the road with a match-up at Stanford in Palo Alto on Saturday at 7 p.m. Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @PepperdineWaves. Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.
Class of 2018 recruit Mion Weldon has committed to the Marshall University women’s volleyball program. Standing at 5’10”, Weldon can play both middle blocker and right side.
A native of Michigan, Weldon is a senior at Walled Lake Central High School. As part of a team that went 18-12, Weldon notched just under three kills per set on a .400 mark to go with 0.7 blocks per set according to her MaxPreps profile.
On the club side of things, Weldon plays with Legacy Volleyball – specifically the Legacy 18 National Team. She owns a 7’10” standing reach, a 9’8″ block jump and a 10’2″ approach jump.
Marshall is coming off of an 11-19 season in 2017 in which they went 6-8 playing in the Conference USA. In terms of returners to their 2018 roster, the Herd bring back two middle blockers and zero opposites to join Weldon at the position groups.
Congrats to Mion Weldon @boom_________ for committing to play volleyball and attend Marshall University in the fall of 2018! Way to go Mion, we are so proud of you!! pic.twitter.com/Fxcqf5yCou
Class of 2020 recruit Audrey Pak has committed to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) women’s volleyball program. Pak is a five-foot-eleven setter from Moraga, California.
A sophomore at Campolindo High School, Pak helped her team to a 29-10 and 10-0 district finish in 2017. On the club side of things, Pak plays for Vision volleyball – specifically the Vision 16 Gold team.
UCLA is coming off of a 21-11 season in which they ended the year 12-8 in Pac-12 action before making the Sweet 16. Of their three setters on the 2017 roster, one graduates while the other two will progress to sophomore and junior in 2018, meaning just one will be back to join Pak at the position come 2020.
The California Golden Bears beach volleyball team is starting its 2018 campaign with a bit of a disadvantage as senior captain Teya Neff is out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury.
According to The Daily Californian, the student newspaper for University California, Berkeley, Neff “won’t be getting closer to the sidelines for a while because of an injury”. The article, written by Surina Khurana, also notes that Neff’s leadership will still be felt on the Golden Bears as the team captain.
Standing at six-feet-tall, Neff is a native to Novato, California. As a freshman in 2015, she rotated in and out of the lineup at the number four and five spots. She was more of a regularity in the lineup as a sophomore in 2016 when she went 13-15 playing primarily as the number four. Most recently in 2017 as a junior, Neff went 16-10 in the number five spot.
Cal opened its 2018 season this past weekend in Stockton, California, as they lost 2-3 against Saint Mary’s and won 4-1 at Pacific for a 1-1 start. They are currently receiving votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll, with the season continuing on Thursday against Santa Clara.
The Big West was the last conference to begin league action, as it kicked off play this past week. Some schools are still awaiting their first match in the new Big West, and there are not a ton of data points, but there are still some notable aspects to the early part of the league so far.
With new story-lines emerging and a new season of sorts in league play commencing, VolleyMob will be giving conference updates. Below is analysis as well as the weekly EIVA table, awards, matches of the week and power rankings:
The 49ers are the only undefeated team left in the entire country, and although they don’t sit atop the standings, it’s because they have not played yet. It’s safe to assume they are the league favorite, as they are the national favorite right now as well. With so much balance, a dynamic setter and strong serve reception, the 49ers have it all. Beyond the question of if someone can take them out in the league is if anyone can even down them once, as their two wins over then-second ranked UCLA showed there may be more of a gap than once thought.
ELITE AS WELL
#2 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors & #4 UC Irvine Anteaters
Both of these teams are the top contenders for Long Beach State, and at the very least have great shots at making the NCAA Tournament as at-large bids. They even battled this past weekend and split the pair of matches in Honolulu. In the first, UC Irvine was a bit uncharacteristic in making some errors while Hawaii was fantastic on offense. The Rainbow Warriors offense continued in the second, but UC Irvine was back to playing a clean match and earned the victory. Only time will tell if these teams though can take out LBSU with teams that look ready for the challenge.
THE FIELD
Everyone Else
The question arises to who can be the other team to challenge the top? Can anyone else usurp the big three right now, or at least cause chaos? It’s not just about if CSUN or UCSB can finish in the top three, but can they pull an upset over LBSU or Hawaii or UC Irvine here or there? If any were to reach up, it looks to be UC Santa Barbara, who has already been a giant killer of sorts and has knocked off BYU and Pepperdine. The issue has been consistency, as they sit at 5-5, but the potential is there. Meanwhile CSUN and UC San Diego have some star-level talent, but need to find more balance to make an impact on the league race.
