D1 Championships and Future

[Phil]

Just wondering what people thought of Championships? All League? etc.

More importantly, how are teams looking for next year? I feel like the league is losing A LOT of talent:

Peter, Robbie, Mitus, and Chasin for NU

Jake, Dan (rs), Casey (libero), Rob (setter) etc for BC

And I'm not sure exactly who BU is losing, but I'm pretty certain they are losing a couple.

Rene from UMass.

What are other people losing and who thinks they will be good next year?

I think BC has a very solid shot at repeating next year, possibly even another undefeated season considering who everyone else is losing (and yes, I do feel the bullseye on our back now).

Just as a heads up I'll be back and playing next year.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Nice job in the Championships, especially to BU. Parker played the best tournament I've seen a middle play in my 5 years in the league (minus some sketchy serving). I think Jake deserved the MVP for this season, especially since he hadn't won one over the past four years, which was a bit of a travesty considering he has been widely considered the best all around player in the league for probably the last 3 years (aka the kobe of the league, all the way down to the fact that he's mildly psychotic on the court). But props to Parker for basically carrying his team to the finals.

About half way through our game with yale I mentioned to our team that Yale is probably a year away at least (in very different terms). I think they'll be legit next year, but had pretty much no experience.

anyone else?

[YaleCPT]

Congrats BC on the championship.

Well, unfortunately, I think we will likely be worst next year. We are losing our tall middle (all-tournament Larry Wise--the offensive horse we ride every match), libero, RS (last years captain), and our (very) old OH. That's losing 4 starters!

Myself (setter/captain) and Jarrett (all-tournament 5'9" OH) will be leading the team next year. We will be in desperate need of a new middle. After we lose those four, I think we'll have one person over 6'0" (the other middle).

The only way I think we can be a top 4 team next year is if we find a middle. Although, in our law school there is a former stanford varsity player (6'5"-ish OH/M) who I desperately tried to get to play for us this year, but to no avail. If I found a way to get him on the court next year, I'd be surprised if we didn't place in the top 4.

Concerning our disgusting and terribly embarassing game against BC...(I don't even want to think about it), we played awful and BC played great. Don't get me wrong, BC, you all are a much, much better team than we are, and I think if we played 10 times, you guys would probably win 8 or 9 times. But we are better than how we played. I think part of the problem is that I couldn't get my guys to go to the larger tourneys (BU and NU tourneys) and the only decent competition we saw for most of the year was at URI. More than that, Yale has sucked for so long that all of the people who have been w/ the team for a number of years (the four starters we're losing) were happy just to make the top 4. After the BC game I felt embarrassed, pissed, etc, while most of my team was just kind-of like "oh well, 3rd/4th, that's pretty good." And when you're not hungry to win it's tough to compete at your highest level.

And I too played terribly against BC--probably the worst I've played all year. After that game I didn't feel like I deserved my all-tourney designation.

Those are my thoughts about Yale. All in all, though, this year was a vast improvement from last year. We went 29-13, and last year I think we were significantly below 500.

BC and BU, I definitely think you two are the best in our league. Again, congrats. Also, NU, URI, Fairfield, nice work this year too. UNH, I wish we got a chance to play. Clerc, better late than never to write a post.

I actually haven't seen the all-tourney list (I only know which of our players made it because Jung gave us the shirts), so I can't really comment on that.

It's been really tough this year w/out a coach, too. And I don't believe myself to have the best of volleyball minds (I'm probably a better general athlete than volleyball player), so that was tough w/ running the team.

I'd be really interested to hear some thoughts from people around the league about Yale. Specifics would definitely be appreciated...perhaps some last minute tweeks before nationals.

Once the all-tournament stuff is posted I'll add some more comments.

If I don't comment before next Wed., everyone, good luck at nationals.

-Matt Nehls

[ChrisUNH]

(This is the setter from UNH, #4)

As far as next year is concerned, I think our team will benefit greatly from the amount of talent leaving next year. We're losing our captain Matt (10) and our red head middle (7). We return our top middle Jeff Aucoin (freshman), who hopefully we can move outside to his natural position. He played great for us all semester in the middle and can really play anywhere on the floor. Coming back we have a strong junior outside (3), Jeff, myself (soph.) and an up and coming freshman middle who's got a ton of height and has improved greatly all year. We're losing one of our two liberos who have been interchangable for the most of the year. So we're returning a relatively young team.

The only thing I have to say about regionals was that we didn't play our best. Not to say we played terrible but we had a few matches in hand and let them slip away in third games, which has happened way too much over the last two years. I've felt that we're right on the brink of becoming a top team in this league and our matches against BU and BC all year proved that. Hopefully a run at nationals can get us over that hump and set ourselves up to contend next season. We'll be playing in 1-AA next weekend and are looking forward to it.

[Rene Umass #4]

I agree with Phil in that the league is losing alot of talent this year. The league looks good for nationals and I think some teams will be representing us well or at least I hope so. I was surprised with Yale this year, good job on your defense, you guys always had a touch on the block or on the defense which helped you out through every match especially against us. Also, I want to give some ups to Fairfield for stepping up to D1 and actually putting up a front against teams, you have talent and potential that you can work for next year unless you lose some key players. BTW don't ever lose that will to win, its hard for me to go on a screaming competition against you guys hahaha. I was susprised by NU this year, they made a good run but for the first time in my 5 years in the league I saw NU not giving a final push when the game is on the line, like the third game against BU. I expect NU to make a good run in nationals especially with their consistent defense lead by Robbie aka Nothing Drops haha. Congrats to BC for an undefeated season and taking home the league title. You guys keep being consistent and I'm sure that you'll have a good run in nationals as well. That sucks for you guys that you are losing all those players but good luck next year. BU played very consistent through the tourney and they probably put up the best block in the league at least from my perspective. No other team sets blocks like they do. However, I do think that there only weakness is defense, the offense runs smoothly, but they don' get that many digs. They do make it up in getting touches in their blocks though. As for my team, this year was sort of a repeat of last year. Our offense lacks consistency, but we did get alot better in defense and if we keep the defense as it is right now I think we might make a good run in D1-AA at nationals but I never know with my team. Everyday of play a different team shows up so hopefully the UMASS that wants to win will show up for 3 days in a row.

BTW, I got into BU's grad school and might be going there so don't be surprised if you see me in the league next year playing for BU and making a run for the league title.

Good luck in nationals and i'll see you over there. Peace