This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log for the 2021-22 season for the Medaille College men.
Player Honors
On Wednesday the conference announced the All-Conference teams and awards for Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Medaille put two guys on the All-Conference teams. Our top OH made the 2nd team, while our OPP got 3rd team.
By the numbers, both guys had a case for being placed higher, but finishing 6th doesn’t tend to help your vote count. Similarly, our Setter and Libero both had cases for selection, but neither made the cut. I nominated our one freshman for Newcomer of the Year. The fact he played a couple different positions didn’t help his numbers, though, so he was a long shot.
Recruiting
For the first time since I moved to Buffalo in the Summer of 2020 I crossed the border into Canada. I did so to attend the Ontario provincial championships to scout the 17U Boys age group (2023s). There were 32 teams playing in a 3-day format, though I was only there for the first two of them.
Let me tell you, this was old school recruiting. By that I mean I didn’t have any thing like University Athlete to provide schedules, tag players, etc. There is an app, but it’s basically for spectators. It has some roster information, but just name and number. So it came down to watching a match and noting down the #s for any interesting players to then try to find a way to connect with.
I’m heading back for the 17U girls tournament this week, then the week after for the combined 18U event. I think there are only 8 boys teams in that one. Probably not much chance of finding someone for 2022, but I’ll look. Mainly, I want to see one of the girls committed for this year, and her teammate that’s in the final phases of the decision process.
More voting
Yesterday I filled out my ballot for this year’s Division III men’s All-America team. Today, as this post goes out, we’ll have the call for the committee to finalize.
NCAA tournament
Behrend drew #1 Springfield in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Not surprisingly, they lost 3-0. first set score was close. Not so much after that.
Coming up
With the season over, I’m going to slow down the frequency of updates again. We have a call of the conference coaches on the men’s side this week. Next weekend we’re hosting an alumni match. We were supposed to do that back in early Feburary, but the covid situation then forced us to push it. Look for a file 2021-22 entry some time in May. That will wrap things up. Then it will be time to transition to focus on 2022-23.
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