WVB: Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference

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Final:

Edgewood over MSOE in 3
    (25-21. 25=18. 25-14)

WI Eagles:  Palmer  -- 12 kills
Raiders:      Collingbourne -- 17 digs

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Shifted to CUW/Marian:

This one's going to 5 --

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Marian wins this one at home
     (25-20, 25-13, 18-25, 23-25, 15-10)

       Sabers go on an 11-4 run to end this match
         Marian;   Zutz 14 kills

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Maranatha beats CUW on the road in 5

    Per CUW stats   Maranatha's DeLozier  --  32 kills

     Benedictine and Dominican figure to be key matches for the Crusaders down the road --barring the unforeseen.

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Dominican/Edgewood going to a 5th set as I post:

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Dominican pulls it out on the road:
           (25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 20-25, 15-8)
                Dominican:  Dezelski  10 kills  16 digs
                Edgewood:  Palmer  21 kills  18 digs

Should the Stars beat Benedictine and Maranatha, they figure to be in a great position in the NAthCon.

Speaking of the Crusaders, they took CUC in 4 at home, Benedictine beat Marian on the road, and MSOE got a 3 set to 1 win at Alverno.

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Some 10/1 results:

Dominican over Maranatha on the road in 5:
WLC over CUW in 4

Stars are beginning to distance themselves some.

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NAthCon update:

Top 8 squads get in:  Marian (3-5) currently holds the 8th spot.  Dominican and Benedictine have already clinched playoff spots. One more WLC win or a Marian loss, and the Warriors are in.  Edgewood gets in with one win coupled with a Marian loss:

Top 4 remaining schedules:

Dominican:  @ Aurora, vs. Benedictine, @ Rockford
Benedictine:  @ Rockford, @ Dominican, @ WLC
WLC:  @ CUC, vs. Maranatha, vs. Benedictine
Edgewood:  vs. CUC, vs. CUW, @ Alverno

Barring unforeseen events, on paper per in-conference records, the WI Eagle squad would appear to have the easiest of the 4 schedules --WLC the toughest (Benedictine has only had one road in-conference loss --and that was early against Aurora).  Below Edgewood's spot it's still quite a dogfight.

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NAthCon site indicates WLC & Edgewood have clinched conference tournament playoff spots:

Key match-ups for teams jockeying for 5-8

WLC @ CUC  (Cougars can help themselves big-time with a home win here).

MSOE @ Maranatha
Benedictine @ Rockford
            (Both Crusader and Regent squads at home, Maranatha (on paper) figures to have a better shot than Rockford).

CUW @ Edgewood
Alverno @ Aurora   
             (Must-win matches for Spartans and Falcons -latter squad will have a tougher go of it-given WI Eagles are shooting for a higher seed)
                 

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10/18 winners:

WLC
Benedictine
Edgewood
Maranatha
Aurora

          (Just a bit more distance between top 4 and 5-8 with those results).

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Remaining schedules for NAthCon teams that haven't clinched a conference playoff spot:

Maranatha;  @ WLC, vs. Alverno, vs. Marian
CUC:           vs. CUW,  @ Alverno
Rockford:     @ Marian, @ Lakeland, vs. Dominican

(5 other squads are still alive, but appear to need a lot of help at the moment to get in).

Biggest conference match of the weekend:  Dominican vs. Benedictine-winner would hold tie-breaker advantage.
         

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Joining Edgewood/Alverno in progress:

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Edgewood completes regular season in-conference play by taking Alverno in 3
            (25-18, 25-20, 25-12)

Edgewood:  Manske and Palmer  10 kills each, former also had 12 digs
Alverno:      Owen 10 digs, Stuckey 9 digs

   If my calculations are correct, the WI Eagles will have at least 1 playoff match at home in the NAthCon tournament--could finish in 3rd if they get help from Maranatha and Benedictine. 

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Other NAthCon winners last night:

Lakeland
Maranatha
CUW
Rockford

With those results, Marian and CUW will be eliminated if they lose their last conference matches.

Maranatha and Rockford are in. 

   (Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the locker rooms and during time-outs during Benedictine-Dominican match at Igini this evening--)

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Turns out Dominican beat Benedictine in 4 to clinch the top seed.

Per NAthCon standings Lakeland landed a spot as well.

2 teams still in contention for the last spot:

CUC:  A win over Alverno on the road and the Cougars clinch
CUW: A win over MSOE at home and a CUC loss, and CUW gets the 8th spot, having beaten CUC
                 (Marian and CUW have equal records, but since the Cougars beat Marian, if CUC and the Sabers tied, CUC would get the nod. I don't know how Marian would come out in the event of a CUC/CUW/Saber tie for the last spot.)

At the top, things get interestinng after Dominican.

Benedictine:  Win and clinch 2nd seed, lose and fall into a tie with Edgewood and WLC
Edgewood:    Scoreboard watch-can finish no lower than fourth.
WLC:           A win over Benedictine forces a 3 way tie for 2nd, a loss and wins by Maranatha in their last 2 matches (Alverno and Marian) and the Warriors fall to 5th.

Lakeland:      6th seed regardless of how Rockford does in Regents' last in-conference match (Muskes beat Regents)

There you have it.