Volleyball Mavs in the Postseason

 Selection for the NCAA volleyball tournament occurred this weekend and the Western Athletic Conference's tournament champions, Grand Canyon, knew they were in while Stephen F. Austin, the regular season champs, were a solid bubble team. Both teams were announced in the field, giving the WAC two teams in the tourney for the first time since 2010.

Both teams will be playing on the road as SFA goes to Fayetteville to play third seed Arkansas while GCU travels to Pullman with a date against the fourth seed Cougars of Washington State.

While I will occasionally go in the topic of the WAC, this blog is mainly a focus on the goings on of a campus in Arlington (not to be confused with the conference office now in Arlington). Nice for the conference to land those two are in the big dance, but the UT Arlington volleyball squad received an invite to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, or NIVC.

For the second time in four years and third time overall, the Mavs will play in the NIVC. In 2019, they went 2-1, defeating UTSA and Sam Houston in Arlington while losing to South Dakota in five at their place. The Jackrabbits would finish as the tourney runner-up. In 1992, the Mavs went 3-1, defeating Delaware, Fresno State, losing to Bowling Green, then ending the tournament with a win against Virginia Tech.

In this year's edition, they'll open against Florida Atlantic. The winner of that match will play the winner of UTEP and North Texas, two intriguing opponents opposite the Mavs.

But as streaky as this team has been, that is putting cart way before the horse.

Which brings up my main concern. The Mavs didn't play a tough schedule. UTRGV was 19-12 overall and 12-4 in conference play. UTA meanwhile was 20-10, but only 9-7 in conference. The teams split the season series. The Vaqueros, however, played a harder schedule, lost to good teams, 7-8 in non-conference and are 112 in the NCAA's RPI ranking. UTA, with their 11-2 non-conference record, is rated 135. The Vaqueros were a better team. I'm not sure why they aren't in, but it seems UTA cruised by beating the low end of Division I.

What it means is UTA stacked their non-conference schedule to get wins. I hope this doesn't set a precedence of scheduling cupcakes to get a postseason appearance. 

It is nice for seniors to play at least another meaningful match. They have been fun to watch this year.

First serve is six P.M. this Friday.