VCU's win over JMU was pretty good. Here is a look at the Massey Rating resumes for Dayton and VCU.
Dayton:
H against #38 Tennessee
H against #45 Ohio State
N against #72 Kennesaw
N against #76 Col. of Char.
H against #101 Ball State
H against #103 Miami OH
Dayton's losses are: @#6 Pitt, #11 Washington, @#21 Kentucky, #42 Kansas
VCU:
N against #60 Oklahoma
H against #91 James Madison
R against #143 Southern Miss.
VCU's losses are: #6 Pitt, #22 Wash. St., home vs. #54 Wich. St., @ #62 NC State, @ #70 Florida St., @ #117 Virginia Tech, and @ #202 Seton Hall.
VCU definitely played some tough road matches, so I see why they may not have the same quantity of wins. But Dayton doesn't have any bad loses. The Seton Hall loss really jumps out as a huge disappointment. Maybe it was still a hangover from a tough loss to Wichita State at home. The Oklahoma match looks pretty good. Its a neutral victory against a team just outside of the top 50. Its kinda similar to Dayton's wins against CoC and Kennesaw.
Based on the non-con results. I think Dayton is the favorite to win the regular season and the tournament. But that doesn't mean Dayton won't still have a tough road match against VCU. With the tournament at VCU and Dayton's injuries, still a long way to go.
I hope we continue to see Sierra Pla improve that slide attack. She will need to be able to keep opposing blockers honest and be able to score consistently from the right pin. I'm also very encouraged by our serving. Dayton's serving was awful the first weekend, but it was one of our strength in the 4th weekend. Dayton got big aces. There's no way the Flyers win if they weren't able to get Ohio State out of system. The Buckeye hitters were too good in system, but Dayton's serve helped win sets 4 and 5. It came up big against Tennessee too.
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