MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

I know it is not basketball, but Fontbonne defeated Loras and the top-seeded Carthage en route to the MCVL men's volleyball championship and will play in the national championship this weekend.

https://www.fontbonnegriffins.com/sports/mvball/2018-19/releases/20190413shk0x5

Yes very cool... +1 Woooopifffff
I'll plead ignorance... I wasn't sure this was even NCAA... sure enough, MCVL is the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League and this win does lead to a spot in the NCAA D3 Men's Tourney... Best of Luck to the Griffs!!

Wait... no Wash U - Font matchup during the regular season?

[Gregory Sager]

I know it is not basketball, but Fontbonne defeated Loras and the top-seeded Carthage en route to the MCVL men's volleyball championship and will play in the national championship this weekend.

https://www.fontbonnegriffins.com/sports/mvball/2018-19/releases/20190413shk0x5

Yes very cool... +1 Woooopifffff
I'll plead ignorance... I wasn't sure this was even NCAA... sure enough, MCVL is the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League and this win does lead to a spot in the NCAA D3 Men's Tourney... Best of Luck to the Griffs!!

Next year the CCIW will begin sponsoring men's volleyball, and Greenville will be joining the league as an associate member for that sport (as will Loras), since only four full CCIW members (Augustana, Carthage, North Central, and North Park) currently sponsor the sport and Millikin will add it next year.

[WUPHF]

I'll plead ignorance... I wasn't sure this was even NCAA... sure enough, this win does lead to a spot in the NCAA D3 Men's Tourney...

I happened upon my first men's volleyball game by accident, but I love it.  For various reasons, it is a perfect second sport for basketball fans.  That first game will be broadcast online on Friday at 6:30.  You should watch it.

Next year the CCIW will begin sponsoring men's volleyball, and Greenville will be joining the league as an associate member for that sport (as will Loras), since only four full CCIW members (Augustana, Carthage, North Central, and North Park) currently sponsor the sport and Millikin will add it next year.

That is very cool.

I have to think that most small schools have considered adding men's volleyball.

It looks like the MCVL has four other teams in addition to Fontbonne who will need a home if the MCVL does not have other plans.  It will be interesting to see if Fontbonne is able to join when Millikin is on board.

The St. Louis suburbs are a hotbed for men's volleyball and though many CCIW teams could schedule Fontbonne as a non-conference game, having them in the conference is a win-win in my mind.

By the way, you had to call your first season of men's volleyball.  How did that go?

[Gregory Sager]

It was interesting. It's not at all like women's volleyball, which is more worthy of the first two syllables in the sport's name. Men's volleyball, on the other hand, very rarely has volleys; points are usually over within fifteen seconds or so, and quite often they're over in the blink of an eye due to the excess of service faults. Basically, men play with such height, lift, and power that it's very difficult to defend a properly constructed attack, so it's all over very quickly.

It's thus easier to call than women's volleyball, even though it moves faster. Points are made so quickly that I don't have to worry much about interjecting my call in the midst of play; I more or less summarize at the end of the point. Women's volleyball points go on for so long that it's much harder to pick-and-choose what to say and when to say it, because, as opposed to soccer or basketball or football, volleyball's much too fast and too contained within a small area for a PBP broadcaster to verbally mark every touch of the ball. Women's volleyball is still the most difficult for me to call of the nine sports (football, men's soccer, women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's volleyball, baseball, and softball) for which I do North Park's PBP.

I wonder which sport Jay Murry finds toughest to call for Wash U.?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

MVB this year saw five of the top seven (or something like that) ranked teams not make the NCAA tournament ... because they were all upset in their tournaments and there wasn't enough bids to go around.

[Gregory Sager]

Not much room for error when your sport's D3 tournament only contains fourteen teams.

Incidentally, Fontbonne plays MSOE in the first round up at Carthage's Tarble Arena in Kenosha on Friday evening.

[hopefan]

MVB this year saw five of the top seven (or something like that) ranked teams not make the NCAA tournament ... because they were all upset in their tournaments and there wasn't enough bids to go around.

Yes...I noticed that Carthage beat Fontbonne 3-0 in the regular season... but Fontbonne beat them in the conference tourney 3-2

[WUPHF]

Notably, Fontbonne was one of three teams to finish with only two losses, but the Griffins did not crack the rankings until the final poll.  The other two teams finished ranked 1-2.

[hopefan]

Notably, Fontbonne was one of three teams to finish with only two losses, but the Griffins did not crack the rankings until the final poll.  The other two teams finished ranked 1-2.

How well we SLIAC fans are aware of those 3 nasty letters...........  S.... O...... S               

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Not much room for error when your sport's D3 tournament only contains fourteen teams.

Incidentally, Fontbonne plays MSOE in the first round up at Carthage's Tarble Arena in Kenosha on Friday evening.

Absolutely agree - and the sport is growing quickly meaning a lot of good teams.

That was certainly part of the conversation as well. Not the shock in terms of "how could that happen," but more like "shows just what can happen!"

[y_jack_lok]

Nice article on Fontbonne VB: https://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/fontbonne-takes-confidence-into-men-s-volleyball-nationals/article_799dfdcb-ca26-5058-aab5-b20a1fb3220b.amp.html

[y_jack_lok]

Fontbonne beats MSOE 3-1, plays UC Santa Cruz tomorrow.

[hopefan]

Noted on Fontbonne site:

Sullivan's Cody McKinney has announced he will be joining the Fontbonne University Men's Basketball program! Welcome to the #griffin family!!🏀

I am assuming Cody is the grandson of long-time Fontbonne Coach Lee McKinney, and nephew of long-time poster FCNews/Denny Mckinney, both passed away after years long battles with cancer... They would be so pleased/so proud... best of luck over the next four years to Cody....

Cody averaged 20 ppg, 5 rebounds, 3.5 assts per game at Sullivan.... great get for the Griffs....

[y_jack_lok]

^^^ I believe you are correct about Cody McKinney. From being friends on Facebook with Denny for many years he posted frequently about his nephew's athletic achievements. I think Cody's father (Denny's brother) is boys basketball coach at Sullivan HS. Cody should do well at Fontbonne.

[GU1999]

It certainly is very cool to hear about a SLIAC (errr MVC) team making a national championship.  Lets go FU!

In other non-basketball (basketball) news, congratulations are in order for GU multi-sport (basketball & track) senior Rakim Murphy who was the Track Newcomer of the Year in the SLIAC.  He currently sits at 38 on the performance list for d3 in the long jump as 22' 11" and has improved to a sub 10.9 100 meter dash.  At the conference meet he placed first in long jump, third in the 100, sixth in the 200 and his relay team on the 4 x 100. 

As a reminder Rakim started 7 games this season for the panthers and averaged 11.1 pts, 2.5 rebs and 1.8 assists per game.