NCAA volleyball: Goodbye to the double; WSU promotes; Loyola beats Hawai’i
NCAA Men
Lee Feinswog
January 6, 2024
BYU’s Miks Ramanis attacks in the Cougars’ NCAA men’s volleyball match against Ball State/BYU photo
The NCAA will allow doubles, two liberos and nose rings in women’s volleyball, Washington State hired a head coach, and Loyola Chicago knocked off Hawai’i in Honolulu in the only upset among Friday’s nine NCAA men’s matches.
All that follows, but first a look at Saturday’s seven-match men’s schedule.
Two teams that have started 2-0 go at it at UC Santa Barbara when the No. 15 Gauchos play No. 7 Grand Canyon.
No. 11 Ball State gets another crack at No. 9 BYU after losing there Friday and No. 16 Lewis goes to No. 6 Penn State.
USC, ranked No. 12, is home for Morehouse and No. 17 CSUN plays No. 20 George Mason and UC San Diego plays NJIT at UCSB.
It’s the most contentious rule in the sport, the double by the setter. Some love it and others think the rule should be abolished. The latter appear to have gotten their way. From the NCAA news release Friday:
The NCAA Women’s Volleyball Rules Committee, which met this week in Indianapolis, recommended allowing players to contact the ball more than once with any part of the body in a single attempt on a team’s second contact when the ball is played to a teammate.
However, if the ball is played over the net in this type of scenario, it would be ruled a fault, and the team would lose the point.
All rule recommendations must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is tentatively scheduled to discuss women’s volleyball proposals Feb. 20.
Committee members debated the topic thoroughly before deciding to propose this change.
Through the years, officiating double contacts has sparked intense debates between coaches and volleyball officials during matches. Committee members think the proposed elimination of this judgment call can bring more consistency to the game.The committee also feels that it will promote the continuation of play, which would make the game more entertaining for the players and fans.
Data collected from an experimental rule in the spring of 2022 showed it will change only a small number of calls.
The NCAA also will allow teams to designate two liberos per set with just one on the court at at time.
Read the entire news release here that includes a few other minor rules changes, including allowing “snug-fitting nose rings.”
Washington State promotes Schroeder
The school, which lost its coaching staff and its conference, has promoted Korey Schroeder to head coach.
Schroeder joined the WSU staff last spring. After the best season in WSU history, coach Jen Greeny and husband/assistant Burdette left for West Virginia. Top assistant Shannon Hunt took the job at Nevada. And Washington State and Oregon State, the last two members of the Pac-12, will compete in the West Coast Conference next season.
Schroeder, previously was an assistant at Green Bay for five seasons, takes over a team that finished 26-8 and made it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. He faces a massive roster rebuilding job after the graduation of star players Iman Isanovic, Pia Timmate and Magda Jehlarova and the transfer of setter Argentina Ung to Arizona State …
Lamar hired Ariel Apolinario. He has been the head coach at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. He takes over a program that finished 2-27 last year, 2-16 in the Southland Conference.
Men’s recaps
Tenth-ranked Loyola Chicago came away with a 18-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 15-13 victory at No. 3 Hawai’i two days after getting swept by the Rainbow Warriors. Parker Van Buren led the Ramblers with 20 kills, hit .410, and had four of his team’s six aces, four blocks and two digs. Daniel Fabikovic had 13 kills, hit .417, and had an assist, a block and six digs. Jake Read had 12 kills with one error in 27 attacks to hit .407 and had a solo block and five digs. Cole Schobel had two kills, 37 assists, an ace and nine digs. His team hit .310. Hawai’i, which lost despite hitting .469, got 22 kills from Spyros Chakas. He hit .500 and had four assists, two acess, two blocks and seven digs. Alaka’i Todd had 12 kills in 22 errorless attacks and Chaz Galloway and Guilherme Voss had 11 kills each …
UCSB had to pull off a reverse sweep to beat George Mason 15-25, 18-25, 26-24, 25-21, 15-10. Geste Bianchi, who played in just four of the five sets, had 30 kills, hit .479, and had an ace, a block and three digs. Ben Coordt had nine kills, hit .333, and had two assists, an ace, eight digs and two blocks, one solo. Jack Walmer had 50 assists and 10 digs. The Gauchos hit .320 and had three aces and 21 serving errors. Mason’s Omar Hoyos had 15 kills, hit .357, and had an assist, three aces, two blocks and seven digs. Jack Bolz added 13 kills and had one error in 29 swings to go with two blocks and three digs, and Liam French had 12 kills, three blocks and five digs. Troy McDonald had two kills in three errorless tries, 40 assists, an ace, a block and 13 digs. His team hit .316 …
Pepperdine hit 698 in a 25-3, 25-8, 25-9 sweep of visiting Morehouse, which played its second match in a row in which the opponent set a program record for hitting percentage. Nine Waves had kills as Pepperdine had 32 kills with two errors in 43 attacks. The day before, UCLA hit .822 against Morehouse. Jake Olson led Pepperdine with eight kills in nine errorless attacks. Morehouse hit minus .169 …
BYU swept visiting Ball State to win its season opener 25-19, 25-21, 25-20. Luke Benson led the Cougars with 17 kills and hit .762 after having one error in 21 attacks to go with a block and seven digs. Noa Haine had three kills, 30 assists, an ace and three digs. Ball State’s Patrick Rogers had 16 kills with one error in 21 attacks to hit .714 and Vanis Buckholz had four kills in seven errorless swings. Their teammates combined for 11 kills and 12 errors …
USC hit .550 and opened its season with a home sweep of Fort Valley State. Jack Deuchar had 11 kills and hit .529 in the 25-12, 25-17, 25-12 victory … Grand Canyon swept UCSD 25-19, 26-24, 25-16 as Jason Hickman had 11 kill and hit .444 and Camden Gianni and Cameron Thorne had sevn kills each. Gianni had an assist, five of his team’s seven aces, a block and a dig … CSUN beat NJIT in four at UCSB as Jalen Phillips and Kyle Hobus had 12 kills each in the 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23 victory …
Purdue Fort Wayne opened its season with a sweep of visiting Thomas More by hitting .466. Jon Diedrich led with 14 kills, hitting .571 to go with three aces and three digs … Lewis opened its season by sweeping Central State at Penn State as 12 Flyers had kills. They hit .536, while Central hit minus .121.
