MG, KM and Tom1: Happy Red Wine/Aloha Friday to you. Go Kings! I’m getting my volleyball fix tonight at Santa Monica High School at 7 PM. One more time still find it odd that Karch Kirayl is the head coach for Team USA. Alex Klineman - what you two think of her? When I saw her play for Stanford I thought…really?
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Dan1 and Eric9: It’s still Ride Your Bike to Work Day. I may rent a bike and go for a ride around Santa Monica before watching the U.S. Women’s National volleyball team at Santa Monica High…for free! Call me if you wanna meet up. See where I’d go after the match at 4th/Arizona nearby 3rd St Promenade.
(L-R): Tama Miyashiro, Kayla Banwarth, Alix Klineman and Courtney Thompson will be four of 25 U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team members competing in the Red-Blue scrimmage on May 17 at Santa Monica High School (Calif.) http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Features/2013/May/16/US-Womens-Roster-for-May-17-Scrimmage.aspx
Dan1 and Eric9: It’s still Ride Your Bike to Work Day. I may rent a bike and go for a ride around Santa Monica before watching the U.S. Women’s National volleyball team at Santa Monica High…for free! Call me if you wanna meet up. See where I’d go after the match at 4th/Arizona nearby 3rd St Promenade.
pic credit goes to flickr member garyridesbike
JohnRG: i run, i go to senior citizen aerobics water classes(or whatever they’re calle)…it’s only $5 a class and always, always…beach volleyball. This is my gym. Have a good day.
My indoor volleyball picture for today not taken by me. Go UC Irvine Anteaters!
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-ncaa-volleyball-20130503,0,5683217.story
UC Irvine’s Scott Kevorken (11) and Zack La Cavera (17) defend against a shot by by Loyola Chicago’s Thomas Jaeschke in the third set of the Anteaters’ sweep of the Ramblers, 26-24, 25-18, 29-27. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press / May 2, 2013)
Rainbow Runners: I know volleyhball ain’t your thing and you’d rather do a mud run, but wanna meet up this Saturday at UCLA and watch a volleyball match at this venue(see the attached picture). Call me and if you prefer…text me.
spiker2: just tweeted my reaction to byu defeating penn st in 3 sets, i think that the match is gonna very loud with extra byu and uci fans, meet up with me this saturday at ucla, 5 pm, match is at 6 pm
spiker2 and TPoutsidehitter: penn st still hanging in but byu is coming back strong, hope the penn st and loyola visitors are enjoying the sunny l.a. weather
spiker2: one thing about byu…they have fans everywhere and get this - right now they’re tweetin on ncaachampionships.com…they’re just like everyone else when they’re tweetin - no manners and being cocky
rice cakes and spker2: another reason why I love to cheer against byu especially their volleyball teams - their loyal fans and a good number of them behave like eagles and raiders fans
spiker2 and dougIPlayMiddle: wow that byu team is on a roll and hitting .383 as a team
VicV: it’s time for a margarita. why wait till tomorrow? JH and Sherman Way is makin’ some before the second set. I’m on JH’s computer and they’re on their iPads(not iPad but iPads!!).
This BYU men’s volleyball team is loose, confident, on a scoring spree, blocking like crazy. Can they be stopped? Anything can happen and Penn St may win the match. Match is not over but the first set is almost over.
Rainbow Spiker2: second vball match just started between Penn St vs BYU. I’ll tweet/tumble my order of what I wanna eat. ;-) Let’s post and watch this match. I’m pickin’ BYU to win.
Rainbow Spikers: wanna meet up this Saturday at UCLA to watch the men’s final in volleyball? Anyway the first semi-final is over. Here is what Bev Oden sent out yesterday.
NCAA Men: Final Four Teams Set
By Beverly Oden, About.com GuideMay 1, 2013
After a weekend of epic conference tournament matches, it is clear that this year’s field of men’s volleyball teams is intensely competitive. No. 1 BYU was the clear favorite and last week I said there was a decent chance they’d get upset in the MPSF Conference tournament. I was wrong about that, but it was close. The Cougars went five sets with No. 8 Hawaii in the MPSF quarterfinals. In the semi against UCLA they lost the first two sets and the Bruins were leading 7-1 before BYU turned it around and took the match in five. Both of those matches could have gone either way.
The final was the only three set match of the weekend as BYU took down Long Beach State. But it was certainly not an easy win. Long Beach was playing very steady, leading for most of the first two sets and hanging with BYU even when they were playing their best. But BYU always managed to catch up and finish the set the way only a championship-caliber team can. That kind of solid play bodes well for BYU’s chances to win the school’s first title since 2004. But this Final Four will be no cakewalk.
UCI received the at-large bid and earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Though they lost to Long Beach State in a thrilling five set match that ended at 22-20 in the fifth. Though they lost both regular season matches to BYU in four and five sets, the last time the two met was in early March. A lot has changed since then and UCI has a chance to knock the Cougars off and become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since UCLA pulled it off in 1995 and 1996.
UCI will meet MIVA champs Loyola Chicago, a team making its first ever appearance in the NCAA semifinals. Loyola beat Lewis, the midwest favorite in another back and forth five set match but ran away with set five behind the play of Joseph Smalzer, the MIVA Conference Player of the Year who was also named the Most Outstanding Player in the conference tournament. This should be an interesting match. These two teams will meet for the first time this season so we should see an interesting match up that both teams have to figure out as they go.
Penn State easily won its EIVA Conference tournament by beating both Princeton and Harvard in three sets each. The Nittany Lions aren’t as strong this year as they have been in previous seasons, but they are obviously playing well right now and feeling good about the way they disposed of their conference opponents as they head into the semis against No. 1 BYU. I don’t think the Nittany Lions have what it takes to compete with a team like BYU, but that’s not to say they can’t win. It would be the upset of the century if they did though.
The matches begin this Thursday at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. Saturday’s final will air live on ESPNU.
Matches to Watch:
Thursday, May 2nd
All Matches Held at UCLA
6 PM - No. 2 UCI vs. No. 3 Loyola-Chicago
8 PM - No. 1 BYU vs. No. 4 Penn State http://volleyball.about.com/b/2013/05/01/ncaa-men-final-four-teams-set.htm?nl=1
Rice Cakes, Rainbow Spikers and Coffee Fix: Here’s a suggestion from Bev Oden’s About.com weekly article:
