With two at large bids in the NCAA tournament, it's worthwhile to keep an eye on the men's volleyball RPI. The latest one just came out on April 6, after Loyola lost for the second time to Lewis. The Ramblers are #2 behind Lewis in the RPI, ahead of Hawaii and UC Irvine, who top the MPSF standings.

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-men/nc

If Loyola wins out, but can't get past Lewis in the finals of the MIVA tournament, Loyola will probably get one of the two at large bids for the NCAA tournament.

Assuming Hawaii wins the MPSF (they have an incredible home court advantage with 3000+ fans at every match), Lewis wins the MIVA, and Penn State wins the EIVA, the at large bids right now would almost certainly go to Loyola and UC Irvine. It would probably mean that Loyola would face the Conference Carolinas or EIVA auto bid team in the first round of the tournament.

Interesting development out West on Wednesday night. Pepperdine lost at home to UC-Santa Barbara. UCSB is a dark horse in the MPSF race. Pepperdine losing helps Loyola's case for an at-large if we were to lose in the Conference Tournament. The top three teams out West are Hawaii, UC-Irvine, and Pepperdine. In my opinion, Pepperdine would have to at least make it their conference final to get that at-large assuming Loyola gets to at least the Final. Before this loss, Vinnie Lopes give Loyola a slight edge in an at-large battle over Pepperdine. Pepperdine's RPI will likely go down as well.

NCAA RPI as of last Monday (before Pepperdine lost). http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-men/nc

Vinnie Lopes Tournament Projections as of last Monday (before Pepperdine lost). http://www.offtheblockblog.com/2015/04/ ... riteria-7/

Vinnie Lopes Bracketology Team Comparisons as of last Tuesday (before Pepperdine lost). http://www.offtheblockblog.com/2015/04/ ... tology-10/

All this being said, Loyola has to take care of business tonight vs. McKendree (Senior Night), especially tomorrow night against An Ohio State, and get back to the MIVA Tournament Final.

With #1 Hawaii losing twice at #BYU, things have loosened up a bit for whoever loses the MIVA between Lewis and Loyola. I am still assuming that these two teams will take care of business and reach the Final. A bit of a tougher road for Loyola having to potentially face Ohio State in the Semifinals. With Hawaii falling back a bit, things are tighter out west for the automatic. Hawaii lost the number #1 seed and will likely have to travel to Irvine for the Semis and Final. No more home-court. The more those top teams lose, the better the case for Lewis or Loyola for an at-large.

The 3-0 win over Ohio State Saturday was a big one. Coach Davis went with a very tall lineup inserting Ricky Gevis in with Nick Olson and Jeff Jendryk. I wonder if this will be the lineup he uses when the MIVA playoffs begin this week?

I noticed that lineup did a lot better on the service game, only nine service errors vs. 11 aces, which is a fantastic ratio. That is such a huge and undervalued part of the game, and something that hurt Loyola in the two losses to Lewis (a combined 35 service errors and 8 aces, against Lewis' 30 errors with 11 aces). With rally scoring, every service error is a gift-wrapped point-- IMO every bit as valuable to points and momentum as a dramatic tomahawk kill. Loyola actually outhit Lewis in the home loss, where the service disparity was a more significant factor in giving Lewis the win in four sets.

Compared to last season, Loyola's aces per set are down from 1.72 to 1.57. That's the flashy stat that gets all the attention. But more important and less acknowledged, errors are up from 3.58 to 4.24 per set. Taken together, that's a major falloff in the service game. If the lineup used against Ohio State can shore up that gap, there's a good chance to make a run in the MIVA tournament and Palo Alto.

Was Plaisted dressed to play? He did not participate in either of the last two matches. Matt Phillips started on Friday (presumably being a Senior Night privilege against a weak team). Gevis didn't show much early in the year and just seems to be slower but Plaisted has been inconsistent with flashes here and there. Both are freshman. Whoever they decide to go with, I still hold that Caldwell is the wildcard and the passing has to be on. Without Smalzer, it's been easier for teams to key in on Caldwell and Jaeschke. Despite that, Jaeschke is hitting nearly .400. Caldwell has been up and down all year, though. Hopefully he is healthy and bring his A game going into these playoffs.

Plaisted has not been the server or hitter that Smalzer was. Far fewer aces, slower speed, and seemingly more errors and some poorly timed ones. Those are big shoes to fill but I do commend his effort to this point. He's just a freshman after all and still needs more court time to get that experience. Smalzer had a lot of errors his freshman year if I remember correctly. If he can be a more consistent server and better adjust to sets, he can be a great player. That goes for anyone really.