2/11/25
THE Schedule
This is the time of year when weather can play a big part in the game schedule. If matches do get cancelled, they may or may not be made up. Conference matchups will always find a way back to the schedule in the future. Non-conference? Not so much.
The schedule can be a bear to manage, and we spend a good chunk of time reconciling records to team websites to make sure of our accuracy. This past week, several games were missed including Eastern’s win over Carlow, and 2 Sage Gator games. Maintaining 128 teams game scores can get out of hand quickly if not reviewed timely. We always appreciate our fans, players, and coaches who give us a heads up on a missing game. You can always email us at insidehitter@gmail.com.
Conferences
We have added two additional conferences into our standing presentation. There may be some additional sub-conferences out there. If so, let us know and we will include. The NJAC has been added under subconferences on the bottom of the presentation. The ECAC has also been added and represent teams eligible for the annual year end tournament. Top teams who make the NCAA tourney will not participate.
Conference records are sometimes challenging to maintain. Our program language matches teams in the same conference and translates all games as “conference” games. There are times when conference opponents do not play an official conference game. Those have to be adjusted manually. So there is room for error there and we appreciate any input on potential mistakes.
Data
Teams that remain undefeated at D3 are #1 Southern Virginia at 9-0, #2 Vassar at 10-0, 33 Springfield at 8-0, #5 NYU at 10-0, #23 Elmira at 11-0, and #101 Lehman at 5-0.
Best set win-loss records to date are SVU 27-0, Vassar 30-2, NYU 30-4, Hobart 39-7, Juniata 35-7, Springfield 24-5, and Wentworth 28-7. These seven teams all have set win percentages greater than .800. SVU remains the only team in the country to not lose a set.
Largest average set margin of victory has SVU leading at 10.2 points per set followed by Springfield at 6.6, Juniata at 6.1, Vassar at 6.0, and NYU at 5.5.
Nine teams have schedule strength over a 22 rating. They are Baldwin Wallace, Dominican, Carthage, Hunter, St, Joe’s LI, Benedictine, Edgewood, MSOE, and NJCU.
Surprises for 2025:
Messiah rises into the top 10: It was pretty much business as usual for the Falcons with some close wins against solid opponents early on. They dropped a 4-setter to NYU and were 9-1. They then headed to Huntingdon for a Friday night match-up against Juniata. The team scrapped for a 5-set win against the undefeated Eagles, despite getting outscored 111-95. It was a signature win for what could be a magical season. Junior Alex Kagoro has had an incredible season thus far. In his first 2 matches this season, he smoked 57 kills and hit .340. And All-American Ryan Givens is having another stellar year as a senior middle. They visit #2 Vassar this weekend which should be a beauty.
Elmira undefeated on 2/10: Life in the UVC means top level conference matchups and very competitive landscape. For Elmira, IH picked them 8th in the conference during pre-season. They may still end up there, but an 11-0 start is certainly surprising. The highest ranked teams that Elmira has defeated thus far is Marymount, SUNY Poly, and Buffalo State. The rating formula has them in the top 25. In 10 days, they will face St. John Fisher in their first UVC match up. This game will set the barometer and let us know if the Eagles can hang with the big boys. Stay tuned.
Nichols with 9 losses: What a rough start for the Bison. IH had them in their pre-season ranking in the top 10. The most glaring stat that sticks out is that they are hitting .215 overall while their opponents are hitting .249. And yes, they have had a tough schedule losing to NYU, Messiah, Springfield, Vassar, Wentworth, and Stevens. But they also lost to Kean and MIT and even dropped a set to 0-13 Drew. The good news is they should be well prepared for their NEVC schedule and certainly will be once again in a great spot to obtain an auto-bid for the NCAA’s.
Wabash success and upsets wins: It was hard to get a read on the Wabash Little Giants early in the season. They accumulated some wins against NAIA squads and D2 teams and even took on D1 Ball State in a scrimmage game where they held their own. This weekend they earned their 8th win in a row with a rather convincing victory over Benedictine. They then lost the streak in a hard fought 5-set loss to upstart Illinois Wesleyan. BawiBawi Thang has been a superstar and has continued his dominance shown in his freshman year in 2024. Thang is averaging just under 5 kills/set and he has yet to make a receive error after 131 attempts.
Marymount with 7 losses: Unusual year so far for the Saints. Their 4 wins this season have been against St. Norbert and three first year teams. They have losses to Randolph-Macon (2x), Stevenson, Endicott, SJF, Nazareth, and Elmira. They are averaging 17 serve errors per match which could be part of the problem. But unlike Nichols, they have SVU and Juniata in their conference. Meaning entry into the NCAA tourney at this point is statistically negligible.
Other data points:
We have recorded 606 matches thus far this season.
Highest set score recorded this season was Bryn Athyn defeating Immaculata 40-38 in the second set of their match on 1/28/25.
North Central has the highest point total in any match for 2025 with 121 against Concordia Wisconsin on 1/18/25.
Penn State Schuylkill has the lowest point total in any match with 27 vs. Wilkes on 1/26/25.
Biggest Upsets this season so far according to our rating system:
Mount Union defeating Cal Lutheran, Westminster defeating Misericordia, Penn State Altoona’s win over Thiel, Warren Wilson beating Hilbert, Buffalo State beating Wittenberg, Messiah winning over Juniata, Wabash defeating Benedictine, and Illinois Wesleyan beating Dominican.
What do you think? What was the biggest upset this season?