Posts Tagged ‘ college volleyball ’

This Summer is Too Crazy, Yo

I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been so busy actually watching sports. Some things that I’ve watched certainly are worthy of recaps, but I just don’t have time for it. Just take a brief glance of what has happened recently/what is going to happen soon.

This past May/early June

  • College tennis, college men’s volleyball, college track and field championships. Pretty much all of the finals were thrilling for even the casual fans. The track and field championships might have been the craziest, but that championship is more likely to be a circus. I’ll have to say the men and women’s college tennis finals may be the best we’ll see in a while.
  • French Open. Novak’s streak, Fognini dramatics, first Asian slam winner, Federer still not beating Nadal ever at the French Open
  • Diamond League + Lukas Verzbicas. A dramatic come-from-behind victory for Bolt against Powell one week, Gay almost nips Mullings at the line after 3 false starts, Mo Farah being badass in a 10k, Lukas breaking the 2-mile prep record and going sub-4 in the mile, Blanka Vlasic losing the high jump and not clearing 1.94 m. The League is heating up this year because of World Champs, which will be awesome of course.
  • Soccer everywhere. Pretty much. Leagues finishing up, UEFA Champions League, more EURO 2012 qualifiers. Barcelona vs Madrid was crazy this year and the stuff that came from all those clashes could be a 100-page post.
  • NBA finals. Mavs win. That’s all I know.
  • Other sports that I didn’t pay attention to like NHL happened. Horse racing, golf, something else…

Now the action is just heating up. In the next few months we have

  • Wimbledon. It starts Monday. Another chance for Novak to capture the #1 ranking. The Williams sisters are back playing in a slam. Then hardcourt stuff until the U.S. Open at the end of August.
  • More Diamond League + World Championships at the end of August. The men’s 100 m is probably the best race for casual people, but I expect crazy stuff in pretty much every race. The 110 m hurdles (men) and 100 m hurdles (women) are also going to be crazy, and distance races will become shoving matches or something. I’m sure someone will be spiked at least.
  • FIFA Women’s World Cup. Starts in about a week or two. Germany is at home and won the last one, so heavy favorites. Still a great chance to watch some awesome ladies, especially with the rise in the level all around. England and Mexico are definitely teams to keep your eyes out for.
  • FIFA youth World Cups for the boys. The U-20 in 2007 might have been one of my favorite tournaments I ever watched (CBC coverage was awesome). Not sure how great the coverage will be in the U.S., though, with the U.S. boys not qualifying this time around.
  • Copa America. Can you really ever get enough of Argentina vs Brazil in men’s soccer/football? I don’t think so. Add in the rest of the South American teams who have something to say plus a fun-times Mexican team, and you have flares going all around.

These are the things I know about for sure. I believe U.S. Nationals for gymnastics will be in August but I’ll probably post on that when the time gets closer. In volleyball, the World League is going on but I can’t give much commentary for something I’m not watching. I’m sure it’s good stuff.

So yeah. There’s really too much going on for me to focus on all of it. It’ll be pretty evident what I’m following if you just look at my twitter (www.twitter.com/anonfangirl) and I’ll try to post when I have coherent thoughts.

2011
06/15
CATEGORY
college sports
soccer
tennis
track and field
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Fangirly Thoughts on the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Semis

So I’m too lazy for the traditional write-up, which you can surely find somewhere else. I rather just say “VOLLEYBALL IS AWESOME!” If only I could play it…

First Semi – UC Santa Barbara vs University of Southern California (4 vs 1; UCSB just won the last meeting to get the auto bid and USC is the at large but ranked #1)

  • Sometimes I forget just how huge volleyball players are. If I actually met any of these guys in real life, I might pee in my pants… (Chris Menzel is scary haha)
  • Murphy Troy! What a guy. He really does look like a football player.
  • Hawaiian-born/raised players are awesome. And yes, Erik Shoji is awesome. (I miss him)
  • USC’s shirts really are ugly.
  • And the serve hits the net…again
  • Or Troy bombs it out…again
  • Tony Ciarelli being doucheful again. He just attracts hate (like from me)
  • USC is falling apart… Troy’s not having a good game either, poor guy. And the libero… Erik would have saved all of that for sure.
  • UCSB – what a run! They are HOT!

Second semi – Ohio State vs Penn State (3 vs 2 but really they are pretty much even)

  • Darn, who to root for…Bryn Kehoe 😀 (yes, I am not hiding my Stanford volleyball love)
  • If only more MPSF volleyball was on TV. Still, better than the last OSU vs PSU match I watched
  • Failhawk and I still don’t like Tomkins hair cut. Sorry.
  • What an error by Kehoe on set point. Isn’t he a senior?
  • That’s a pretty good OSU crowd. Still would love to see more people.
  • Goas just rubs me the wrong way. Ciarelli is still the worst.
  • I randomly like Scott Keggeris. I don’t even know how to spell his name. I thought he was someone else for the longest time. Whatever.
  • Well, time to get a new volleyball champ! I guess this is the best result for the neutral/person who likes to spread the love around.
  • I still miss Stanford 😀
2011
05/06
CATEGORY
college sports
volleyball
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Busy, Busy First Week of May

Today is Star Wars Day. Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, commemorating a battle in the Mexican war against France. Two days ago it was Dos de Mayo, a Madrid holiday commemorating their uprising against the French and the subject of an amazing painting by Goya along with the execution aftermath Tres de Mayo which is an even more haunting and famous painting. Sunday was May 1 (May Day). This next Sunday is Mother’s Day in the U.S.

In the sports world we have a few big things to talk about. There is the new Pac 12 TV deal and a new sports network which I hope means more coverage of the sports I love besides football (not sure if that will happen though…). There is UEFA Champions’ League semis that occurred yesterday and today, and a racist incident(s) that have caused a big storm. There is the college tennis draws that came out yesterday. There is NCAA men’s college volleyball semis tomorrow and final on Saturday. There is the first meet of the Diamond League series on Friday. There is also NBA and NHL playoffs.

So, what to catch on TV:

  • NCAA men’s volleyball – one semi live on ESPN2, the other shown on Friday, and the final is live on Saturday. UCSB just beat USC in the final of the MPSF tournament to book their spot in the semis and will face USC again. Penn State and Ohio State are the other semi and they split the regular season meetings. Home court at Penn State, which gives them an advantage.
  • Diamond league – first meet of the Diamond league which should include Allyson Felix. Shown on tape delay on Universal Sports and streamed live (I think). This is a world championship year so the athletes (who are usually serious) will be serious for sure.
  • Madrid Open – professional tennis and the highest level tournament besides the “Slams” for the men this week. Novak Djokovic is still undefeated and Rafael Nadal is undefeated so far on clay. Watch on Tennis Channel or online at espn3.com.
2011
05/04
CATEGORY
tennis
track and field
TV
volleyball
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What To Look For This Weekend

Of course while I’m too busy with “real life” this weekend (my sister’s graduation), a ton of stuff that I’m interested in happens. Here’s what to look for (at least in the sports I am into right now)

COLLEGE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS – We have the Pac 10 Tournament, consisting of singles and doubles play for men and women down in Ojal, CA. It’s a 32-singles & 16-doubles draw with singles starting Thursday (double duty) and doubles starting Friday. Not sure what kind of media coverage there will be. We also have more traditional, dual-match style tournaments in power conferences like the Big 12, the Big 10, the Big East, etc. The Big 12 goes from Friday to Sunday and the Big 10 goes from Thursday to Sunday. TV coverage for the Big 10 tournament via Big 10 network will be shown the following weekend I think.

PRO TENNIS – Estoril, Serbia Open (with Novak), Munich for the men. Estoril and Barcelona for the ladies. You’ll find better coverage of those events on other blogs.

MEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENTS – Semis and finals of the MPSF, EIVA, and MIVA are this weekend. The MPSF semis (the tournament I care about) starts on Thursday. Video/audio coverage here http://www.mpsports.org/sports/m-volley/spec-rel/042611aaa.html. This weekend will determine the auto bids from the three conferences and leave a headache to figure out the at large, maybe. (I have to root for USC, Ohio State and Penn State to win in order for Stanford to have a chance at the at large bid. Argh…)

TRACK AND FIELD – Penn Relays, Drake Relays, Payton Jordan Invitational. Big name events with big stars showing up. Penn Relays is the famous “USA vs the World” event and has some TV coverage on Saturday. A lot of distance stars on the professional level will be at Drake or at Stanford for the Payton Jordan. Also, an awesome dual meet that I am sad to miss is the UW-WSU meet this Friday. It’s going to be the last one ever hosted in Husky Stadium.

Of course, if you are still not satisfied, there are plenty of more popular sports in season right now. NBA playoffs, MLS, WPS and European football, baseball and softball, lacrosse… You can even watch spring football over some of my favorite sports…

2011
04/27
CATEGORY
college sports
tennis
track and field
TV
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Conference Reshuffling – What it means for those “other” sports – Part 1

If you have had one ear open to general American sports news, you surely know about the conference reshuffling that will take place next year. In big news, Nebraska heads to the “Big 10” while Colorado and Utah head to the “Pac 10” which becomes the “Pac 12”. I’m not sure if the “Big 10” and “Big 12” are going to be renamed but whatever. The Big 10 already had 11 teams so it was failing in that sense.

The reshuffling was because of college football and football money. However, the football teams aren’t the only ones that switch, and these schools don’t just have football teams that fight for conference titles and national championships. In this first part, I’m going to look at the effect of adding Nebraska to the “Big 10” in the sports that I actually know something about – gymnastics, volleyball, tennis, cross country/track and field, and soccer.

CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK AND FIELD

So, I have to admit to knowing almost nothing about Nebraska’s cross country program. Which probably means they aren’t at the top. The Big 10 is stronger than the Big 12 was overall in cross country, despite the presence of Colorado and Oklahoma State which are pretty much distance-oriented schools. On the men’s side, the Big 10 has Minnesota, Indiana, and Wisconsin as pretty traditional distance powerhouses, while Michigan would be there if they didn’t let their program suck recently. On the women’s side there will also be more depth, though I’m blanking on other powerhouses in the conference besides Michigan (hard to keep all the sports straight sometimes). The conference only comes together for the conference meet, so Nebraska is probably not going to do much here.

In track and field, Nebraska moves from the sprint-heavy Big 12 to the more distance-heavy Big 10 in both the men’s and women’s side. There are a few dual meets but Nebraska is probably not going to be part of it. Instead it will probably just join in during the championships where they might not do so hot considering their strengths match up with Minnesota’s. Though I don’t have the numbers to verify whether Nebraska’s field event performers are better than Minnesota’s. They will probably do much worse in the distance events and much better in the sprints, especially since they don’t have to deal with Texas & Texas A & M.

GYMNASTICS

Nebraska has both a strong men’s and women’s gymnastics program. The men currently compete in the MPSF, the women in the Big 12. The Big 10 conference may be stronger than the MPSF in terms of men’s gymnastics, especially if the Cal program is sacked. While Stanford and Oklahoma may be stronger than any of the Big 10 teams right now, the Big 10 has powerhouses in pretty much every program. Many Olympians and World Championship team members have come out of the Big 10 conference. I don’t know that much about Iowa gymnastics, but Minnesota, while not that strong right now, has a lot of tradition. Illinois, Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State have U.S. national team members and/or internationals.

The women’s team is also very strong. The Big 10 is getting better but it’s still mostly Michigan and sometimes Penn State. Nebraska will probably be near the top, but they will have more teams to compete against within the conference.

However these teams already compete yearly against Big 10 teams so it probably won’t affect much besides the conference championship.

SOCCER

Nebraska only  has a women’s team and I don’t know that much about women’s college soccer compared to men’s. Nevertheless I think the Big 10 has a bit more depth. Either way it looks like Nebraska wasn’t winning that much before and it will probably not win much now.

TENNIS

Nebraska has both men’s and women’s tennis. I really know very little about women’s college tennis, but I believe the Big 10 is pretty strong in both men’s and women’s tennis. There is less parity in women’s tennis compared to men’s, and the strong schools are in the ACC, SEC and Pac-10. The Big 10 is alright, I think. Michigan usually has a decent team. Um, yeah, I really don’t know.

On the men’s side, the Big 10 and Big 12 are structured similarly, but the Big 12 is stronger overall. It does help that there are only 7 teams in the Big 12 that participate and 11 in the Big 10. Both conferences have a top team or two (OSU and Illinois for the Big 10, Baylor, Texas and Texas A & M for the Big 12) and some other guys who can play it close (Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana for the Big 10; Texas Tech, Oklahoma for the Big 12). The Big 10 is improving with better Minnesota and Indiana teams. Nebraska will probably be middle of the pack in the Big 10 as well.

VOLLEYBALL

Nebraska only has a women’s team. A very strong women’s team (though they got beaten up by UW, which was awesome. I kind of root against Nebraska so…) It is only moving to a conference where the 4-time defending champs Penn State play. I think that’s an automatic step up in level. The Big 10 is pretty deep though with teams improving everywhere in Indiana and Iowa. Michigan, Purdue, and Minnesota are definitely a step up from the teams underneath Texas in the Big 12. I actually am not sure which schools have volleyball teams in the Big 12 because I don’t get a Big 12 network and a lot of them haven’t made noise. People in the Big 10 who are fans of volleyball will definitely enjoy having Nebraska in the conference.

So there’s my summary. I think Nebraska’s addition to the Big 10 will make it a stronger conference overall. As for the other things, like cost for travel, TV money, etc., I have no clue. So much is by plane anyway, so I’m not sure how it will all shake out.

2011
04/20
CATEGORY
college sports
gymnastics
soccer
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volleyball
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Oh, Stanford

The actual point of this post was to lament the fact that Stanford men’s tennis won while Stanford men’s volleyball lost. I really wish those results were reversed. With the loss, Stanford’s at-large chance at the NCAA Championships decreases. I might not get to see Erik Shoji 😦

Anyway, I might as well make an actual post out of this, so here goes. I played hooky today and went to the following tennis match between UW and Stanford. It was a great, albeit cold, day to be outside playing tennis. The bonus of outside matches is having tons of space to chill out in (as a spectator). The downside = the fences.

(#1 doubles match. For Washington – Kyle McMorrow (L) and Jeevan Neduchezhiyan (R). For Stanford – Bradley Klahn (L) and Ryan Thacher (R). Klahn/Thacher won 8-4. Quick tip – Klahn is the shorter Stanford player.)

It was a fun to watch more live, top-quality men’s college tennis once again. I was well equipped with a fully-charged camera and took 40 photos that weren’t all fuzzy!  I would think the players are used to people taking photos of them and I was at least separated by a fence. It was kind of awkward when I went to the courts further down and I was pretty much only 10 feet or so from the fence because I couldn’t comfortably stand anywhere else. I felt too close at that point.

After the second sets were underway in the singles, I began my wanderings down towards the lower numbered courts where only a few park benches were located. As I walked along, there was this other guy who seemed to be following me. When I settled at a bench eventually to watch the end of the #4 singles (the match that Stanford won and clinched the win), he was sitting on the bench next to mine. Maybe he thought I had good taste in matches? He didn’t follow me to the standing-room only area of court #6 where I went afterwards, but soon the Stanford team gathered nearby. I felt awkward but I was also trying to overhear their gossip and not self-impose. You don’t eavesdrop well if they know you are there, after all 🙂 Way to sound creeper, self. But really, it’s like catching random gossip at a restaurant or something. I didn’t pester them because I couldn’t pester someone who wasn’t a professional athlete who is expected to give back to fans, even though I could have gotten some really clear, non-fence photos of the Stanford team right then. But if I really wanted nice photos, I could just go to their official website. It’s not like I actually have camera skills.

Anyway, gossip. It wasn’t like the boys were really saying things that people who are fans of college tennis didn’t know. Kyle McMorrow, a UW player who grew up in California, was talking to his buddy/friend/former and current rival? Denis Lin about previous matchups with UCLA and about Oregon with interspersed cheers for their respective teammates. I didn’t hear the other stuff too well. Besides, there was just a lot of texting going on, like most people do. Bradley Klahn gets props for showing extra competitiveness or leadership or whatever it is by trying to encourage his teammate still playing on court 6.

I thought about wishing the Stanford players before I left (had an eye exam to make) luck against Oregon, but I wouldn’t have really meant it. I would have meant it if I told them “great job today”, but alas I didn’t talk to them at all. I hope they don’t actually remember me as the creeper who stood by them as the matches finished up. I believe in my relative power of anonymity and invisibility, but I suppose you never know…

Tomorrow is another great home tennis match – UW vs. Cal-Berkeley. I might post about it, I might not.

Also related but not really to this post – Henrique Cunha lost in singles today at Georgia Tech. I stop crushing on him and he loses, haha. What a weird coincidence.

2011
04/08
CATEGORY
college sports
tennis
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This is no April Fools’

According to this link http://www.pepperdinesports.com/genrel/033111aaa.html, Pepperdine is going to withdraw from postseason play in men’s tennis, volleyball, and baseball. I found this out via the forums at Volleytalk and while Pepperdine isn’t ripping it up in the MPSF for volleyball, it is certainly a very, very good tennis team.

I really suck at understanding all these rules but it appears that Pepperdine has not quite withdrawn from NCAA Championships, just the WCC championships. Either way, I’m rather sad for these guys since it’s obviously not the athletes’ fault that their school screwed up their accounting. But I can understand why the program is punished despite how it affects the kids. If you were working at a large company and the CEO of the company decided to mess around, you get screwed over by losing your job and/or money in company stock. I just wish there was some way those people who majorly screw up at the top could really pay back the people they hurt besides just going to jail or paying some measly fine…

Anyway tomorrow is not only April Fool’s Day (in the U.S. at least) but also a Friday, which means college tennis and college volleyball galore! I am hoping for the best for my current favorite college tennis player Henrique Cunha as he and his teammates take on Virginia. (I have to admit that I watched Reid Carleton’s senior profile because I knew Cunha would be in it for a bit…) Also on Big 10 network there is men’s college gymnastics and on ESPN2 there is men’s professional tennis live from the Sony Ericsson Open. So this Friday will have a lot of TV and knitting.

2011
03/31
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Stanford volleyball will kill me…

…but I will die happy if so. I don’t know what it is about the Stanford teams. It usually starts with me fangirling certain players. Therefore I have to see them on TV, so they also have to be on a team that gets far enough to be on TV, which biases me towards the first team I see on TV when I get into a sport. Therefore it makes sense sort of for the Stanford women, since my first women’s college volleyball match was the NCAA semifinal between UCLA and Stanford. I pretty much fell for Foluke and Cynthia at first site, and then there was the awesomeness the next year of Alix, Gaby and Cassidy joining. But for the men… I’ve watched USC, Penn State, UC Irvine, etc., and then last year I saw Stanford men and wow. Maybe it was their story, but I think I was a little bit obsessed with Erik Shoji for a bit… 🙂

Anyway, tough loss to my boys tonight. It’s pretty hard to replace Kawika Shoji and Evan Romero so I shouldn’t expect a ton (besides USC is dominating this year so far) but I want to see them on TV again so go go go!

2011
03/26
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college sports
volleyball
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This Friday for the Anonymous Sports Fangirl

Let’s see what I’m doing right now…

  1. Following 3 different men’s volleyball matches via GameTracker (Go Stanford!)
  2. Have the TV on with March Madness playing.
  3. Checking up on college tennis results and pro tennis results.

What I also did today was watch some women’s college gymnastics in the morning and some live college tennis after work (UW vs Arizona). After the basketball finishes I will watch some soccer (Spain vs. Czech Republic EURO  2012 qualifiers) off my DVR. I think I covered most of the sports I follow except for track and field.

I’m pretty good at marathoning certain sports, especially if it’s during a tournament, but I prefer just doing a little bit at a time. It keeps me fresh and I feel like I’m somewhat in the loop for multiple sports and not completely lost on most of them.

Also, I pretty much rely on my DVR to watch most of my sports, since so many events happen while I’m at school or working or sleeping. I could be a super fangirl and find a way to watch everything live, but being an anonymous fangirl doesn’t require me to be super or crazy, so I’ll just stick to what let’s me watch the most I can comfortably.

2011
03/25
CATEGORY
basketball
college sports
gymnastics
tennis
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Men’s College Volleyball – Too Far Away, Never Enough

One of my favorite sports to watch is volleyball. Something about all the spiking, crushing, blocking, digging, shouting, fist pumping… It’s one of the most aggressive sports out there without actual physical contact between opposing teams required, and it is super fast, when done right. Being a rather short person, I could never aspire to be a good enough volleyball player to be spiking over the net, but maybe in a future life I could be that awesome?

It was a pretty random tangent from watching a bit of women’s college basketball to thinking about men’s volleyball, though the fact that a lot of tall women athletes will play volleyball instead of basketball and that is not the case (at least in the U.S.) on the men’s side is probably how it all happened. Either way I found myself looking for forums and anything other than official team websites that discuss the sport that I find incredibly awesome but barely get to watch.

The thing is, if I had been awesome enough to get into Stanford I could be close to my favorite volleyball teams and also get to watch a lot of awesome teams come and play. Some other schools with good volleyball programs are USC, BYU, Hawaii, Penn State. I remembered suddenly today as I was looking through rankings and such that I only applied to UC Irvine because I knew they had men’s volleyball and men’s soccer. It’s actually pretty sad that I considered a school because of things like that, but then again I’m crazy 😀

Anyway, to add a bit of randomness to the post, I have to say despite all the spiking and blocking and overall aggression of men’s volleyball, my favorite players are the liberos. I fangirl Eric Shoji like whoa. He is pretty much amazing. Hopefully Stanford makes it back to the NCAA Championships (which are coming up in early May) so I can watch him be awesome. Otherwise I will have to search for footage on YouTube. I had an adventure with YouTube yesterday, but I’ll tell you that story later…

So yes, I go to a school right now that doesn’t have a NCAA level men’s volleyball team. There are not so many of them around and there’s barely any TV coverage save for the championships, a four-team event with 2 semis and a final. There are so many college volleyball players I will never see play except if they happen to be on TV and I happen to watch that broadcast, or if they are lucky enough to make it to the Olympics.

There are quite a few good things about the place I’m at right now, but today after getting all pumped up about men’s volleyball, I kind of wonder how it would have been like being at UC Irvine. Or maybe I should have applied to UCLA or Penn State. Hmm…

2011
03/23
CATEGORY
college sports
volleyball
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