Dec 8

Dec 8 VB Survives Scare, Starts Sweet 16 Sthursday

2021, NCAA Tournament, Volleyball

Two sets into Friday’s second-round match against Dayton, it looked like Bad Purdue had shown up at the worst possible time.

Five sets into Friday’s match, it was clear that Good Purdue was tournament-ready, as the Boilers erased an 0-2 deficit and blew the Flyers off the court in five, closing it out 25-15, 25-6, 15-5. No, that’s not a misprint. Dayton played well the first two sets, but not as well the rest of the way, and Purdue played outstanding volleyball in those last sets.

To put their performance in perspective, if you give up 60 points in three sets, you’ve probably won three fairly close sets, but you had a decent margin in each one. Giving up 45 in three sets means you routed the opponents. Purdue was on pace to give up about 30 in three full sets. That’s normally the kind of performance you’d see in an August tournament against a clearly overmatched opponent - this was against a team that just knocked out a decent Marquette team in four sets. Dayton may not be great, but they were definitely tournament-caliber.

Tournament results below - teams in bold are my picks, with the whole score bolded if I got the score correct also. Michigan was the lone Big Tenteen team to fall, losing to Ball State in the first round in five sets. All five seeded teams won - Ohio State was the only other one to drop a set, beating Tennessee in four - and Illinois upset Kentucky in Lexington to end the defending champs’ run in the second round. The Illini will play Nebraska in the Sweet 16, ensuring at least one Big Tenteen team will make it to the Elite 8 (Wisconsin and Purdue should join them, Ohio State is basically a tossup, and Minnesota will face a talented Baylor squad but can pull off the upset).

Creighton was the other seeded team to fall, losing to Kansas in the second round; the Jayhawks face Pitt while BYU meets the Boilers. Penn State looked like they might move the regional to West Lafayette, splitting the first two sets, but the Panthers held on and took the next two to retain home court Thursday and Saturday.

Purdue is the lone morning match, which means if you’re headed there, you should have left Wednesday, as you don’t want to be heading out at 4 AM or so on Thursday. There is the normal 30-minute break between matches for cleanup, warmup etc, so if the opening match in a regional runs long, it’ll push the start of the home team’s match. (Except in Austin, where the Longhorns play the earlier match for some reason, probably to make the time difference harder on Washington State.)

No times have yet been set for Saturday’s regional finals. I’ll update when they are set, even if that happens Friday. UPDATE: regional final times are set (the NCAA bracket still doesn’t have them), and the Pitt regional will be first.

Pitt Regional

Schedule

Thursday 11:00 AM - 11 BYU vs 6 Purdue (ESPNU, live stats) Purdue wins 3-2
Thursday 1:00 PM - Kansas at 3 Pittsburgh (ESPN+) Pitt wins 3-0
Saturday 4:00 PM - 6 Purdue at 3 Pittsburgh (ESPNU) Pitt wins 3-1

West Lafayette results

Dayton 3, Marquette 1
6 Purdue 3, Illinois State 0
6 Purdue 3, Dayton 2

Pittsburgh results

Penn State 3, Towson 1
3 Pittsburgh 3, UMBC 0
3 Pittsburgh 3, Penn State 1

Provo results

Utah 3, Utah Valley 1
11 BYU 3, Boise State 0
11 BYU 3, Utah 1

Omaha results

Kansas 3, Oregon 0
14 Creighton 3, Mississippi 0
Kansas 3, 14 Creighton 1

Louisville Regional

Schedule

Thursday 1:00 PM - 16 Florida at 1 Louisville (ESPNU) Louisville wins 3-0
Thursday 3:00 PM - 9 Ohio State vs 8 Georgia Tech (ESPN+) Georgia Tech wins 3-0
Saturday 6:00 PM - 8 Georgia Tech at 1 Louisville (ESPNU) Louisville wins 3-1

Louisville results

Ball State 3, Michigan 2
1 Louisville 3, UIC 0
1 Louisville 3, Ball State 0

Columbus results

Tennessee 3, North Carolina 1
9 Ohio State 3, Howard 0
9 Ohio State 3, Tennessee 1

Gainesville results

Miami FL 3, South Alabama 1
16 Florida 3, Florida A&M 0
16 Florida 3, Miami FL 0

Atlanta results

Western Kentucky 3, South Carolina 0
8 Georgia Tech 3, The Citadel 0
8 Georgia Tech 3, Western Kentucky 0

Wisconsin Regional

Schedule

Thursday 3:00 PM - 12 Minnesota vs 5 Baylor (ESPNU) Minnesota wins 3-2
Thursday 5:00 PM - 13 UCLA at 4 Wisconsin (ESPNU) Wisconsin wins 3-0
Saturday 8:00 PM - 12 Minnesota at 4 Wisconsin (ESPNU) Wisconsin wins 3-0

Madison results

Florida Gulf Coast 3, Texas Tech 2
4 Wisconsin 3, Colgate 0
4 Wisconsin 3, Florida Gulf Coast 0

Minneapolis results

Stanford 3, Iowa State 1
12 Minnesota 3, South Dakota 0
12 Minnesota 3, Stanford 0

Waco results

Washington State 3, Northern Colorado 0
5 Baylor 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
5 Baylor 3, Washington State 0

Los Angeles results

Central Florida 3, Pepperdine 1
13 UCLA 3, Fairfield 0
13 UCLA 3, Central Florida 2

Texas Regional

Schedule

Thursday 7:30 PM - 15 Washington at 2 Texas (ESPNU) Texas wins 3-2
Thursday 9:30 PM - 10 Nebraska vs Illinois (ESPNU) Nebraska wins 3-0
Saturday 10:00 PM - 10 Nebraska at 2 Texas (ESPNU) Nebraska wins 3-1