WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[Dark Knight]

Congrats to Rebecca Kamp, the first ever freshman to be selected as MIAA MVP in volleyball. If her numbers hold up, she looks like a good bet for All American as well.

Have any MIAA athletes in any sport made league MVP and All American as freshmen?

[oldknight]

There's a post on the MIAA men's bball site that Hope is now closed through at least Wednesday a.m., with 400 confirmed cases of norovirus (and the poster was dubious that the campus would open even Wednesday).

Anyone know whether Hope athletes have been isolated and/or allowed to practice elsewhere?  It would be a shame if all their seasons ended prematurely.

No practices have been occuring, affecting fall and winter sports teams.  Word "on the street" is that there are a number of athletes who have been infected.

This virus is a really tough break for Hope. I'm wondering what the athletes (presumably on their own) have been doing to prepare for the NCAA?

Word "on the street" at Knollcrest is that a Calvin student visited friends at Hope last week ( ), and after returning to the Calvin dorms, a resident got sick over the weekend. The volleyball coaches were so spooked by the news that they ordered the entire team off campus. I understand the ill student was tested and norovirus was not implicated.

[OshDude]

If anyone's interested in the D-III regional volleyball tournaments, I have a fairly extensive blog that covers the St. Thomas and Oshkosh (where HC and CC will be) regionals. It's not bad in national terms, either. Stop by and tell me what you think.

[sac]

Well done OshDude.

[OshDude]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Kamp and Calvin this year. I covered the Carthage Regional last year and went away really impressed with Krikke, Zondervan and another huge hitter (whose name escapes me ... Kalb sound right?). At least in the first match. Second one? Not so much, but in that opener Zondervan directed an incredible offensive machine.

Anyway, I didn't think Calvin would be back after losing those three players. Can't wait to see what Kamp can do against a young and talented Whitewater team. Can't wait to see Kamp, period. Lots of accolades for her already.

I have not seen Hope this year, either. But I've seen them a few times in the past. Anyone have any info to prepare me for what I'll see? Still running the same offense? Read and heard all about the virus situation. Hope (no pun intended) they'll be prepared to play their best. Hard to imagine they would be after not practicing and all of the other restrictions.

Best of luck, MIAA-ers. Anyone going to Oshkosh?

[Dark Knight]

Best of luck, MIAA-ers.

Thanks! You too.

This regional of 8 teams has 6 ranked or RV teams, according to the AVCA:
Calvin  (#14) v. Whitewater (#11)
Carthage (#10) v. St. Norbert
Heidelberg (RV) vs. Hope (#22)
Lakeland vs. Oshkosh (#7)

Massey Ratings has volleyball ratings, which are a bit different:
Calvin (#15) vs. Whitewater (#3)
Carthage (#7) vs. St. Norbert (#67)
Heidelberg (#28) vs. Hope (#29)
Lakeland (#54) vs. Oshkosh (#10)

If Massey is to be believe, Calvin has the toughest initial match and Whitewater is the favorite to win the sectional.

[OshDude]

One more angle. Pablo rankings, which have been an incredible predictor in the past. Rankings are national:

at Oshkosh
#10 Calvin vs #30 Whitewater
#14 Carthage vs #47 St Norbs
#13 Heidelberg vs #18 Hope
#79 Lakeland vs #15 Oshkosh

[OshDude]

New AVCA poll released today.
This regional of 8 teams has 6 ranked or RV teams, according to the AVCA:
Calvin  (#14)(#12) v. Whitewater (#11)(#15)
Carthage (#10) v. St. Norbert
Heidelberg (RV) vs. Hope (#22)(#19)
Lakeland vs. Oshkosh (#7)

[Dark Knight]

One more angle. Pablo rankings, which have been an incredible predictor in the past. Rankings are national:

at Oshkosh
#10 Calvin vs #30 Whitewater
#14 Carthage vs #47 St Norbs
#13 Heidelberg vs #18 Hope
#79 Lakeland vs #15 Oshkosh

I think I like this Pablo system!    Thanks for posting the results.

On the other hand, I checked Massey again and realized that he hasn't put in any games from this year. The rankings above are for last year. Oops.

Has anyone here looked into how these ranking systems work? I wonder if a hidden markov probability model wouldn't be better than the MOV averaging often used. Are there any ranking systems using HMMs?

Hmmm, a fun project for a cold winter's evening?

[OshDude]

Much of what you wrote was over my head (I'm not surprised), but here's how Pablo is calculated, if you're interested. It's based on individual set scores more than overall match results. However Pablo is figured, it has regularly outperformed regional rankings and NCAA seeds.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Hope's opener against Mt Union on Saturday has been cancelled.  Mt Union is not allowing there team to come to Hope over concerns about the virus

[WWWRHH]

This is very disppointing news, and I think an over reaction considering the pro-active steps that Hope took to address the situation, the relatively low infection rate within the broader Hope community, the health department's monitoring and the noro-virus method of transmission.  The Raiders would not need to visit any campus buildings other than DeVos and I am sure even the visitors locker room has been sanitized a couple of times.

Contact on the basketball court does not seem to transmit the virus.  Some of the players became sick, but not all.  There have been no reports of GVSU players becoming ill after last Wednesday's scrimmage when some of the Dutch players were likely already infected.

Hopefully Mount Union is just being cautious rather than using the situation as an excuse to avoid opening the season with a long bus ride to face a bigger, highly ranked opponent.

[hope81]

At this point there is still a women's jayvee game Saturday at 5 pm.  Morehouse is also searching for a possible scrimmage opponent, but time is short.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

hope81 - just checking - the JV schedule on the Hope website says the game on the 15th is at 1pm.  Has it been changed to 5pm?

[hope81]

You are correct that the schedule says 1 pm.  However, the game became part of the night activities with Mount Union.  It still will be at 5 pm as of right now.