Tag: Volleyball

Big Ten Dominates NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships

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On December 5th, 64 teams kicked off regional play for the 33rd NCAA women’s volleyball tournament. Teams represented 31 conferences; however, the tournament was essentially a competition between the Big Ten and the Pac 12.

There were 4 Big 10 teams and 3 Pac-12 teams in the quarterfinals. Although Penn State defeated Wisconsin in the finals, the match of the tournament saw Penn State defeat Stanford after being down 9-6 in game 5.

Michigan was the only Big Ten team that did not win a match. All other teams had winning records and conference teams won a total of 23 matches while losing 7.

Big Ten

Won

 Lost
Penn State 6 0
Wisconsin  5 1
Purdue  3 1
Nebraska  3  1
Illinois  2  1
Michigan State  2  1
Minnesota  2  1
Michigan  0  1
Conference Total  23  7

 

The Pac 12 was also well represented by 9 teams. Only ASU didn’t win a round and 5 teams won a match before bowing out. Conferences teams were 15-9 in championships.

 

PAC 12

Won

Lost
Washington

4

1
Southern California

3

1
Stanford

3

1
Arizona

1

1
California

1

1
Colorado

1

1
Oregon

1

1
Utah

1

1
Arizona St.

0

1
Conference Total

15

9

 

The Big Ten and Pac-12 teams won 38 of the 63 matches played in the championships. That is dominance!

Five of the 8 teams representing the SEC won their first round match, but lost in the second round. Overall the conference had a modest performance.

SEC

Won

Lost
Florida

1

1
Kentucky

1

1
LSU

1

1
Missouri

1

1
Texas A&M

1

1
Alabama

0

1
Arkansas

0

1
Georgia

0

1
Conference Total

5

8

 

Of the 4 ACC teams, only Florida State posted a winning record.

 

ACC

Won

Lost
Florida St.

2

1
Duke

1

1
Miami (FL)

0

1
North Carolina

0

1
Conference Total

3

4

 

The Big 12 was represented by 4 quality teams.

 

Big 12

Won

Lost
Texas

4

1
Kansas

2

1
Oklahoma

1

1
Iowa St.

0

1
Conference Total

7

4

 

There were 4 conferences that had a total of 8 teams. Each of these had representatives in either the round of 16 or 32.

School

 Conference

Won

Lost
Hawaii Big West

1

1
Cal St. Northridge Big West

1

1
UC Santa Barbara Big West

0

1
San Diego West Coast

2

1
BYU West Coast

2

1
Marquette Big East

1

1
Creighton Big East

1

1
American Univ. Patriot

2

1
Total

10

8

 

In total, the 41 teams that represented these 9 conferences had a combined record of 63-40.

Then there were the other 23 teams from 22 conferences. Generally speaking, these teams were admitted to the tournament because they were conference champions. While these teams and conferences all have solid programs, they are not competitive with the top teams or conferences.

None of the teams from these conferences won a match. In fact they only won 6 sets while losing 69 sets. Only Colorado State played a “close” match, losing 3-2 to Cal State Northridge.

 

School Conference Sets Won Sets Lost
Louisville AAC

0

3
New Hampshire America East

0

3
Duquesne Atlantic 10

0

3
Jacksonville Atlantic Sun

0

3
Idaho St. Big Sky

1

3
Charleston So. Big South

1

3
Radford Big South

0

3
UTSA Conference USA

0

3
Milwaukee Horizon

0

3
Yale Ivy

1

3
Fairfield Metro Atlantic

0

3
Ohio Mid-American

0

3
Hampton Mid-Eastern

0

3
Wichita St. Missouri Valley

1

3
Colorado St. Mountain West

2

3
LIU Brooklyn Northeast

0

3
Morehead St. OVC

0

3
Ga. Southern Southern

0

3
Central Ark. Southland

0

3
Alabama St. Southwestern

0

3
IUPUI Summit

0

3
Texas St. Sun Belt

0

3
New Mexico St. Western Athletic

0

3
Total

6

69

 

It is clear from the results that there are two if not three or four tiers of play within the NCAA Division I teams. The good news is that these 64 programs offer athletic opportunities for 600-700 of the country’s top women volleyball players.

Congratulations to Penn State on their championship season!

 

 

Buffs Volleyball Attendance on the Rise

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The University of Colorado became a member of the PAC 12 Conference in 2010 and began competition in 2011. In most sports, the Buffs demonstrated they were not ready for prime time. Volleyball was no exception.

The Lady Buffs won only 1 of 22 matches in their first season. The home court was marginally more friendly to the Buffs than the road. They lost eight matches by a score of 3-0 and won a total of 5 sets in the friendly confines of the Coors Event Center. On a positive note, they won their only conference match at home.

Only once during the season were more than 1,000 people in attendance at the matches in 2011.

 

Date Opponent Score Attendance
Sep-13 Utah

0-3

508
Sep-23 Oregon

0-3

507
Sep-24 Oregon State

0-3

483
Sep-30 USC

0-3

923
Oct-2 UCLA

0-3

710
Oct-14 Arizona

0-3

923
Oct-15 Arizona State

0-3

643
Nov-3 Stanford

1-3

686
Nov-5 California

1-3

2,060
Nov-18 Washington State

3-2

635
Nov-19 Washington

0-3

876
Home Conference Record

1-10
Conference Record

1-21
Average Attendance

814

The 2012 season was marginally better. The Lady Buffs lost all their road matches, but won 4 home matches. Through increased promotional efforts and greater interest in the team, attendance surpassed 1,000 on four occasions.

Date Opponent Score Attendance
Sep-19 Utah

3-0

415
Sep-22 California

2-3

704
Oct-5 Washington State

3-0

757
Oct-7 Washington

0-3

712
Oct-12 Arizona State

3-2

3,117
Oct-14 Arizona

1-3

2,851
Oct-26 Oregon

0-3

701
Oct-28 Oregon State

3-1

607
Nov-9 UCLA

0-3

1,257
Nov-10 USC

0-3

1,140
Home Conference Record

4-6
Conference Record

4-16
Average Attendance

1,226

On the court, the 2013 season was a breakthrough year as the Lady Buffs posted a winning home record.

Date Opponent Score Attendance
Sep-27 UCLA 3-2

2,777
Oct-4 Washington 3-1

873
Oct-6 Washington State 3-1

851
Oct-25 Arizona 3-0

784
Oct-27 Arizona State 3-1

618
Nov-8 Stanford 0-3

1,562
Nov-9 California 1-3

1,127
Nov-22 Oregon State 3-0

863
Nov-24 Oregon 1-3

1,270
Nov-27 Utah 3-2

967
Home Conference Record

7-3
Conference Record

9-11
Average Attendance

1,169

The Lady Buffs have made progress; both on the courts and in the promotion of the program; however, the University of Washington has set a benchmark for CU and other conference members.

In addition to winning the 2013 PAC-12 title, the Huskies average attendance was over 3,800. Only twice was their home attendance less than 2,000.

Date Opponent Score Attendance
Oct-11 Arizona 3-1

4,589
Oct-13 Arizona State 3-0

2,188
Oct-16 California 3-0

1,525
Oct-20 Stanford 3-2

4,914
Nov-1 Utah 3-1

2,115
Nov-3 Colorado 3-0

2,880
Nov-13 UCLA 3-0

1,734
Nov-15 USC 3-1

4,274
Nov-27 Oregon State 3-1

2,139
Nov-29 Washington State 3-0

3,811
Home Conference Record

10-0
Conference Record

18-2
Average Attendance

2,842

Best wishes to the Buffs for a productive offseason and for continued improvement in 2014.

Buffs volleyball attendance on the rise
Nicole Edleman sets Kerra Schroeder in warmups

NCAA Volleyball – 33 Years in a Row for Stanford and Penn State

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There was a time when baseball fans hollered, “Break up the Yankees.” At the time, it was an understatement to say that the Bronx Bombers were dominant.

If these anti-Yankee folks were women’s volleyball fans today they would say, “Break up the Penn State and Stanford programs.”

The first NCAA championships were held in 1981. In the 33 championships, including this season, Penn State and Stanford are the only two teams to appear in every NCAA tournament. That type of dominance makes the New York Yankees look as inept as the Chicago Cubs.

Over the past 33 seasons, Stanford has won 6 NCAA national championships and was runner-up on 8 occasions. As well, they had three undefeated conference seasons.

Since 1981, the overall winning percentage for the Cardinal fell below 65% twice. Their conference winning percentage dropped below that mark only once.

Penn State has been equally as impressive. They won 5 national championships and were runner-up on 3 occasions. They won the national championship four consecutive years (2007 – 2010) and were undefeated in two of those seasons.

As well, they were undefeated in conference play 14 times. Only once did the Penn State overall season winning percentage drop below 65%.

33 years in a row
Sunday evening Texas was announced as the number one seed for the 2013 NCAA tournament. They are the outright favorite to defend their title.

Penn State was seeded second and Stanford was seeded seventh. If they both win their first three matches they will face off in the quarterfinals.

Here’s to an exciting NCAA tournament!

 

Lady Buffs Volleyball Makes Headway with Mix of In-State and Out-of-State Players

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The 2013 Lady Buffs Volleyball team posted its first winning season since 2006, by winning 17 matches and losing 13. In conference play, they were only 9-11; however, one of those wins included an upset of Washington, the eventual conference champion.

In 2006 the team was 17-12 overall and 12-8 in the Big 12 Conference. That year they were the only blemish on Nebraska’s record. The Cornhuskers were both Conference and National Champions.

The 2006 Lady Buffs featured a mix of talented out-of-staters (Alex Buth, Lauren Schaefer, Callie Webster, Ashley VenHorst, Austin Zimmerman, and Mallori Gibson) and Colorado residents:

  • Kaitlyn Burkett – Colorado Springs
  • Lara Bossow – Vail
  • Kristin Karlik – Colorado Springs
  • Amber Nu’u – Aurora
  • Ashley Nu’u – Aurora
  • Amber Sutherland – Glenwood Springs.

    lady buffs volleyball
    Nicole Edelman sets Nikki Lindow.

The team closed out the season with a loss to the Washington Huskies in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

There have been six very long years for Buff fans and players between 2007 and 2012. Overall, they won 29.9% of their matches, 52-122. Their conference record was abysmal, 18-104; they won 14.8% of their matches.

Major contributors to the 2013 Lady Buffs team also included a mix of out-of-state players (Kerra Schroeder, Elysse Richardson, Alexis Austin, Joslyn Hayes, and Neira Ortiz Ruiz) and top Colorado players:

  • Emily Alexis – Brighton
  • Jessica Aschenbrenner – Denver
  • Nicole Edelman – Boulder
  • Kelsey English – Colorado Springs
  • Nikki Lindow – Erie
  • Cierra Simpson – Colorado Springs
  • Taylor Simpson – Colorado Springs

It is great to see a Colorado D1 program have success on and off the court, but it is even more special when it includes so many in-state players.  Go Lady Buffs Volleyball!

Age Breakdown of Sports Participants

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Recreation departments, sports manufacturers and retailers, coaching and trade associations, and athletic departments are interested in the age breakdown of sports participants. This information helps them develop customized equipment, services, programs, and coaching techniques to the sports participants in each age group. As well, age breakdown information provides valuable marketing insight that is used to promote goods, services, and the various sports.

The U.S. Statistical Abstract publishes sports participation levels by age groups using National Sporting Goods Association data. The 2012 publication provides 2009 NSGA information.

Key findings from the data show:

  • Soccer, baseball, basketball, and volleyball are predominantly youth sports.
  • Swimmers are split between two groups. Almost 42% are under 25 and about 45% are in the 25 to 54 age category.
  • Almost 57% of tennis players are in the 25 to 54 age group. A small percentage of tennis players are over the age of 55.
  • The breakdown of alpine skiers is similar to tennis; however, there are a higher percentage of older skiers than tennis players.
  • The sports of aerobic exercising, yoga, exercising with equipment, golf, and exercise walking have the highest percentage of older participants and the lowest percentage of youth participants. For each of these sports the percentage of participants in the 25 to 54 age category is between 54% and 65%.

sports participants

Sports Participation Rates by Gender

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From a business perspective it is important to understand the breakdown of sports participation rates by gender. This information can be used for everything from developing equipment and coaching techniques that are gender specific to marketing goods and services to the players and teams.

The U.S. Statistical Abstract publishes sports participation rates by gender using National Sporting Goods Association data. The 2012 publication provides 2009 NSGA information.

Overall, the split between participants in all sports and leisure activities measured by NSGA is 49.1% male and 50.9% female. This is similar to the gender breakdown for the U.S. population.

The data shows the following sports have a higher percentage of male participants:

  • Baseball
  • Golf
  • Basketball
  • Alpine skiing
  • Soccer
  • Tennis.

On the other hand, the following sports have a higher percentage of female participants:

  • Exercising with equipment
  • Swimming
  • Volleyball
  • Exercise walking
  • Aerobic exercising
  • Yoga.

More current information will be available in the 2013 Statistical Abstract or it can be purchased from NSGA; however, variances from the 2009 data are likely to be minimal.

 

Volleyball No Longer a Sport for Less Athletic and Older Men

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In 1895 William Morgan invented the sport of volleyball to provide the less athletic and older male members of the YMCA with a sport that required a lower level of athleticism and effort. His intent was to give them an opportunity to participate in an activity that wasn’t as rough and rigorous as basketball. In his initial demonstration of the sport, Morgan played on a 6’6″ net with 5 players on each team.

In 1900, Spalding produced the first ball specific to the sport. Twenty years later the 3-hit and back row attack rules were put in place. Volleyball was first played as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo summer games in 1964. Since then the popularity of the sport has increased dramatically because of Title IX, which was passed in 1972. Today about 23% of adolescent girls play volleyball on an organized team.

Data produced by the National Sporting Goods Association shows that about 60% of the players are women and the majority of participants are younger players. When a comparison is made between the age categories for volleyball and all sports and leisure activities, it is evident volleyball participation drops off when players reaches their 30s.

In fact, 41.8% of players are between the ages of 7 and 17 and another 18.4% are between 18 and 24. Combined, slightly more than 60% of players are under the age of 25. At the other end of the spectrum only 4.3% of all volleyball players are 55 years or older.

The remainder, 35.5%, are between the ages of 25 and 54 years.

If William Morgan was alive today, he probably wouldn’t recognize the sport he invented and the demographics of its participants, but given the sport’s popularity and its original intent, that is probably a good thing.
volleyball

Lady Buffs Volleyball Deserves Better Attendance!

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Historically, University of Colorado Lady Buffs volleyball fans have been spoiled. The lady spikers have been a member of the Big 8, Big 12, and PAC -12, arguably the best volleyball conferences in the country.

Most years the Buffs have fielded a competitive team, on occasion they have upended nationally ranked teams, and they have infrequently paid a visit to the NCAA championships.

Given the competitiveness of the program it seems only logical that attendance at home matches would be strong. Unfortunately, Boulder is a town that loves sports, but in the case of volleyball, the locals would rather play it than watch it.

A total of only 12,261 people attended all 10 home PAC-12 games during the 2012 season. By comparison, the record number of people to attend a single men’s basketball game is 11,363. The individual game attendance for 2012 was:

  •    415                  Utah
  •    704                  California
  •    757                  Washington State
  •    712                  Washington
  • 3,117                  Arizona State
  • 2,851                  Arizona
  •    701                  Oregon
  •    607                  Oregon State
  • 1,257                  UCLA
  • 1,140                  USC

In 2012, CU was 4-16 in PAC-12 play; however, they were very competitive at home, winning 4 of the 10 matches in the Foam Dome, aka the Coors Event Center.

Average attendance was 1,226 spectators per home PAC 12 game, including two extremely popular promotional nights (In the photo below players hand out goodies to fairies and princesses prior to a Halloween promotional game). Without the promotional nights average attendance was 787 people.

There are still plenty of opportunities in the 2013 season to watch the Buff spikers compete against the best teams in the country. Go Lady Buffs Volleyball!

Lady Buffs Volleyball

 

Kerri Walsh Jennings and Daughter Scout give Clinic at King of the Mountain Tournament

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The 41st annual King of the Mountain Volleyball Tournament kicked off with a junior clinic directed by AVP stars Kerri Walsh Jennings, Angie Akers, Ryan Mariano, Dax Holdren, and USAV Director of Sport Development, John Kessel.

As part of the event, Walsh-Jennings, along with newly born daughter Scout, provided the group with the following words of advice:

  • People ask me what my strength is and I always tell them it is my heart. I take that from my dad.
  • To become a better player it is necessary to play outside your comfort zone. Be vulnerable.  Play smart, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. When you are learning you have to try hard when you are on the court, try making plays you are not great at, that is how you learn.
  • Walsh indicated that her toughest opponents were the Brazilians and Chinese players.  The Brazilians are very tough, aggressive, and competitive. The Chinese players are young, they’re hungry, and they don’t make mistakes. kerri walsh jennings and daughter scout
  • Learn the fundamentals. Learn the whole game. When I was young the doctor told me I was going to be 5’8″ tall.  I started crying because I wanted to be as tall as my dad. As a result, I learned to set, hit, and pass the ball. I learned all aspects of the game. That made me a much better player.
  • If you want to play like the best, then watch the best and learn from them. I like to watch Kobe Bryant and the way he moves. When I was a junior my idol was Misty May. I learned how to move from watching her cover the court.
  • When you are playing big points where there might be a tendency to get nervous, stay positive, and focus on one thing. At first it can be easy to think about too many things. As I got better I learned to focus for awhile then turn my brain off and let my body take over.
  • To become a really good player, the most important thing you should think about is footwork.
  • There’s a reason you have teammates. When you play poorly, hopefully they will cover your mistakes. And when they are struggling, hopefully you can cover for them.
  • Everyone likes to spike and hit the “fun” shots when they practice.  It is important to practice all the shots you will hit in a match, even the ones some people think are boring. Those are the shots that win you points, games, and matches.
  • When warming up and practicing, remember that every time you touch the ball, it is a chance to get better.
  • Be nice to yourself on the court.  Great athletes are driven and they are often hard on themselves. I was very tough on myself. I was never as tough on my friends as I was on myself. Be kind to yourself.
  • Confidence comes from within. You’re the one who builds confidence in yourself.

These are great words of advice whether you are a world champion or junior learning to play the sport.

Is Sand Volleyball on the Horizon for CU and CSU?

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In 2012 sand volleyball became an “emerging” women’s sport for the NCAA. Fifteen schools kicked off the inaugural season.  Another 15 teams were added this season (2013), with the National Championships on tap the first week in May.

On Friday April 26 CU and CSU put on a sand exhibition at Oasis Sports in Broomfield to increase awareness for the sport along the Front Range.  It appears that it is only a matter of time before the Rams and Buffs will be competing on the sand as part their respective NCAA athletic programs.