State Volleyball, Day 1

Here is a couple of things from the S.D. State Volleyball Tournament:

• As I was covering the Wagner-Winner match in Class A, one of the Winner coaches looked familiar to me. After the match I found out why. Head coach Jaime (Schuyler) Keiser started her collegiate career at MMC, later transfering to the University of Sioux Falls. I hadn’t seen her since she completed her career there, so it was no surprise my brain didn’t figure it out right away.
• The Rapid City Central fans not only rolled across the street — Central is located across the street from the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center — but rolled out of bed for their opening round match with Aberdeen Central. About 30 of the Cobbler faithful came to the match dressed in their pajamas.
• The South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association will be starting its Hall of Fame with four inductions this weekend, including former Viborg head coach Connie Nyhaug. I hope to catch her for a column/blog for Saturday’s paper.
• I am sharing a hotel with what I believe is the entire city of Chester. Other than a few retirees playing “Mexican Rummy” in the lobby this morning, every person I’ve seen in the hotel has been sporting the Flyer red & white.

State Volleyball Picks

Thought I would chime in with my predictions on the state volleyball tournament before things start in about 3 1/2 hours.

I’ll start with Class A, where I will be covering the Wagner Red Raiders.

FIRST ROUND: Wagner over Winner; Sioux Falls Christian over St. Thomas More, Milbank over Miller, Harrisburg over Sisseton

SEMIFINALS: Wagner over SFC; Milbank over Harrisburg; CONS.: St. Thomas More over Winner; Sisseton over Miller

CHAMPIONSHIP: Wagner over Milbank; THIRD: SFC over Harrisburg; FIFTH: Sisseton over STM; SEVENTH: Miller over Winner

I won’t be covering either AA or B, because we have no area teams in either class. But that does not mean I haven’t seen a little volleyball in either class.

Here are my picks in the big-school class:

FIRST ROUND: Aberdeen Central over Rapid City Central; Watertown over Pierre; Rapid City Stevens over Sioux Falls Lincoln (I really wish this matchup was further in the tournament. It should be a great one); and Sioux Falls Roosevelt over Sioux Falls Washington.

SEMIFINALS: Aberdeen over Watertown; Stevens over Roosevelt; CONSOLATION: Pierre over RC Central; Lincoln over Washington

CHAMPIONSHIP: Stevens over Aberdeen; THIRD: Watertown over Roosevelt; FIFTH: Lincoln over Pierre; SEVENTH: Washington over RC Central

On to Class B. My room in Rapid City is pretty close to the Chester Area fan club, but I won’t let that sway my picks.

FIRST ROUND: Chester Area over Faulkton; Philip over Mount Vernon; Kimball over Arlington; Northwestern over Harding County

SEMIFINALS: Chester Area over Philip; Northwestern over Kimball; CONSOLATION: Mount Vernon over Faulkton; Arlington over Harding County

CHAMPIONSHIP: Northwestern over Chester Area; THIRD: Kimball over Philip; FIFTH: Mount Vernon over Arlington; SEVENTH: Harding County over Faulkton

Just a quick commentary on the seeding formula. Under SDHSAA rules, a win is a win, no matter how good or how bad the team is. You get the same points for beating a 25-1 team as a 0-26 team. You also get extra points for playing up, which I don’t have a problem with, but the quality of team isn’t factored in.

Chester Area is the top seed in Class B for the sole reason that they play in a Class A conference. They have played as many Class B schools in the post-season so far (3) as they did during the regular season. But most of those ‘A’ schools they played this year were not very good. (Chester went 1-1 against state tournament teams, losing to Class A Harrisburg and beating Arlington)

Northwestern plays a predominantly Class A schedule as well, going 5-0 against Class A state qualifiers: Milbank (3-0), Sioux Falls Christian and Wagner. The Wildcats also beat Faulkton.

I took a look at these teams using the Nebraska formula, which does take quality of opponent into account, and No. 2 Wildcats were by far the top seed over No. 1 Chester Area.

The only sport in South Dakota that currently factors quality of opponents into post-season seeding is football, the only sport in the state where you have to qualify. I believe that, if a team goes out of its way to play other quality teams, they should be rewarded in the seeding formula.