One slightly mor than mild upset occurred when NACC squad Wisconsin Lutheran upset #18 Wartburg last week. Not only did the Warriors come back from 2 sets down, it was their first win ever against a ranked NCAA D3 squad since joining D3 from NAIA in 1995. That win will at least be a positive feather in the cap, regardless of how the rest of the Warrior season goes. A bit more on them later.
AMCC squad Hilbert broke a 76-consecutive match losing slump a week or 2 back. Alverno and Luther-IA also ended losing runs, neither of which were anywhere near the magnitude of Hilbert’s.
Denison took a gamble, scheduling a bunch of highly ranked non-conference opponents-but only ended up winning 1 of those matchups to this point. A strong in-conference showing is still possible for the Big Red, however. St. Benedict-MN ended up in a similar boat in Fall of ’21, but still managed to make a bit of noise in the MIAC conference tournament before bowing out.
Back to the NACC: Wisconsin Lutheran starts in-conference play this week. The Warriors lead off with Lakeland at home and St. Norbert on the road. The Muskies have been down in-conference the last couple of seasons and St. Norbert’s best libero from ’21 graduated. The Warriors’ next in-conference matches are: Alverno and IIT at home, Marian, Edgewood and Benedictine-IL on the road and Rockford at home. This is a key stretch for them, because with powers Concordia-WI and Aurora later on, the earlier the Warrior in-conference wins come, the better their chances for post-season play.
Volleyball and other Athletic Underdog Talk 