MIVA-geddon Part 3... The Final Act... maybe

[01grad]

So if we get the #1 seed and bye, am I correct in thinking that will be 3 straight years in the final four?

[25yearstreak]

The key was the 6'11" freshman Ricky Gevis. I don't think he played in the first two Lewis games which we lost. His height and blocking ability somewhat neutralized a play in the first two games we could not stop.
Great move by Shane to bring Gevis along slowly. He had 13 kills and several blocks.
Also after the first game we were able to dig the Lewis potential kills out to set up several return kill plays.
Great coaching by Shane and his staff.

[vuster4]

I also want to thank the cross court line judge for making the correct touch call on Lewis very late in the 3rd set. Dan Friend lost it just a bit but it seemed to be enough to help turn the tide a bit towards Loyola. Surely it wasn't the only factor. I'd say it helped us by 10% (random number with a margin of error +/- 100, yeah that's right).

[RamblerSam]

Well...don't get me wrong, I agree with the previous comment re: Ricky. He was the absolute best player on the court versus Ohio State and critically important against Lewis. I predict he will be one of the best players in the country and may end up Player of the Year by his senior (or even junior) year. BUT, he's got to stop the service errors. All year he's been bad, but in the conference finals, you can't hit the net 4 times. He still makes a decent amount of freshman errors (reminds me of Ben Richardson in basketball; GOD I love him, but a lot of silly turnovers and mistakes) and plays out of his element sometimes. The he blocks 3 and kills 2 and all is forgiven. Yep, it's called being a freshman and thankfully he's our Freshman.

[vuster4]

Good thing I put "maybe" in the subject line.