2/28/22
We took a look at some of the intricate details and data collected over the first two months of the season. There have been just over 1,400 games played so for for the men’s college season at D1, D2, D3, and NAIA.
Note these season facts thus far:
4,744 sets have been played.
Of the 1,406 games played, 242 have been inter-division matches.
Records of each division are as follows:
Interesting to note the dominance of D1 teams against other divisions as they win 80% of matches against D2 teams, 86% of matches vs. D3 teams, and 100% (thus far) of matches against NAIA teams. NAIA teams are certainly making a statement against D3 teams, winning about 2 out of every three matches. The lone win by a D3 or NAIA team against a D1 team was #1 Springfield’s win over first year program LIU.
Using the home team as a guide, we analyzed sets played by each division:
For D1 teams, 48% of their matches went more than 3 sets showing the immense parity between teams while two-thirds of D3 matches were completed in the set minimum. 44% of D2 matches went 4 or 5 sets. D1 and D2 teams had 18% and 19% of their total matches going 5 sets. Only 9% of D3 matches have gone to 5 sets. See the analysis below:
Some additional data:
Of the 186 five-set matches, 97 or 52% were won by team wining the 4th set. The highest total points in a fifth set this season was a 27-25 win by Lees-McRae over Barton. The lowest losing score in a set 5 was six by 6 different teams.
The highest individual game score this season was a 42-40 win by Grand Canyon over Pepperdine in game 1. In a game 2, Concordia Wisconsin outlasted UC Santa Cruz 34-32. For a game 3, Endicott defeated Emmanuel Mass 37-35 and the highest score for a game 4 was Ottawa over Mount Mercy 36-34.
Springfield (13-0) and North Central (10-0), both from D3, remain the only undefeated teams in the country.
Hawaii holds the highest point differential per set in the country thus far this season at 7.12.
The ten toughest schedules by team according to our algorithm is as follows:
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