UW-Oshkosh Men's Volleyball Adds Two

We'll have time this holiday weekend to catch up on various national club tournaments. While you're waiting for us to get around to getting around to it, however, please read up on two 09s who will be part of UW-Oshkosh men's volleyball in the upcoming 2010 season:

• Bob Hall (Appleton West '09) is an all-state honorable mention setter who was the MVP for the Terrors last season
• Marcus Taylor (York, Illinois) is a libero who played most recently at the College of DuPage in Illinois

We've added Bob to our master list of men's 2009 recruits. Congrats to both.

"One of the Best Matches in the 25-Year History of the Event"

We just found some footage of UW-Oshkosh men's volleyball team finishing a very, very, very, very, very close second to Fresno State at the 2009 NCCS Championships awhile back. Check it out when you have nine minutes to spare. And congratulations to the Titans on a fine season.

Wauwatosa's 5'10" All-American

When it occurred earlier in the week, we didn't give this story the attention it was due so we're gonna try to correct that now: Lewis University senior Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa West) was named 2009 AVCA second-team All-American, a feat all the more impressive by the fact that he's a 5'10" outside hitter going up against much taller blockers.

Here's a still-too-brief, year-by-year rundown of just some of Drew's accomplishments:

• 2009 MIVA Player of the Year
• 2008: Ranked 12th in nation in aces per set (0.38) and 9th in digs (2.53)
  
• 2007: All-MIVA Second Team and 4th in nation in aces per set (0.51)
• 2006: All-MIVA Second Team and top freshman in conference for kills per set (4.29)
  
• 2004-2005: Recorded 20 kills and hit .326 to help lead Wauwatosa West to the WIAA semifinals

Huge congrats from Cheese & Volleyball.

Drew Pickering, All-American

Seriously we don't have time, but Lewis University's Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa West) has been named second-team AVCA All-American. Congrats.

Ball State Defeats Lewis in MIVA Semifinals in Five

Hard to feel one way or the other when Wisconsinites are playing key roles on both sides of the net, but here's an article about the epic match that occurred earlier today.

Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Men's Semifinals Tonight

Here's a good article from Ball State's perspective that features Lewis University's Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa West) quite prominently. And here's our earlier post that outlines all of the Wisconsin connections in tonight's matches. 

MIVA Volleyball Semifinals on Thursday Have Wisconsin Connections

The MIVA semifinals will occur this Thursday at Ohio State. And every team except for the host school will have Wisconsinites on their roster:

• Lewis University has David Kelnhofer (Catholic Memorial), Alex Vigansky (Kenosha Tremper) and Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa West), 
• Ball State has Ethan Pheister (Shorewood) and Eric Schulte
• Loyola has Michael Hutz (Milwaukee Marquette), Daniel Leis (Brookfield Central) and Matt Hogan (Milwaukee Marquette)

Meet Your 2009 MIVA Player of the Year (and Two Other Recently Honored Wisconsinites)

Congratulations to Lewis University's Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa West) on being named 2009 MIVA Player of the Year. Another Wisconsinite at Lewis, Alex Vigansky (Kenosha Tremper) was named second-team all-conference. Ball State's Ethan Pheister (Shorewood) was also a second-team all-conference selection. Congrats to all. You done our state proud.

Cardinal Stritch in NAIA Semifinals

They'll play at 7 p.m. tonight against Lindenwood. Live video is available. Go, Wolves, go.

Watch Cardinal Stritch Live Tonight in the 2009 NAIA Men's Volleyball National Invitational

Here's your Cardinal Stritch press release. Here's your live video link. Here's your chance to join us in shouting, "Go, Wolves, go!!!"

Oh, So Close (As in 17-15 in the Third)

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Titans came within two points of winning the 2009 NCCS National Volleyball Championships in Kansas City. Lakeland finished tied for third. Congrats to all of the teams and players participating.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh Advances to 2009 NCCS Volleyball Final

UW-Oshkosh defeated No. 1 seed Illinois 25-23, 23-25, 15-13. They'll play No. 2 seed Cal State University-Fresno at 8:30 p.m. CSUF defeated Lakeland 2-1 in the other semi. Here's the link for details. Good luck, Titans.

UW-Oshkosh and Lakeland in Semifinals at 2009 NCCS Championships

UW-Oshkosh will play No. 1 Illinois in one semifinal and Lakeland plays No. 2 Fresno State in the other. Here's a link. Go, Wisconsin teams, go.

Today's Report from Kansas City

It's online at the UW-Oshkosh site. It's worth reading. And several Wisconsin teams are in the gold going into tomorrow's action. Go, Wisconsin club teams, go.

This & That from Hither & Yon

Unmotivated at the moment, but please check out these links:

• Excellent, Wisconsin-focused, day one report from the 2009 NCCS Championships
• UW-Parkside goes 4-1 at its first spring tournament
• Video highlights from the Wisconsin Badgers-North Dakota State spring match

Tomorrow, we'll finally give Mariska VanDenBergh a congratulatory post for her signing with IIT and we'll take a closer look at the Wisconsin Badgers schedule to identify returning Wisconsinites (and there are more than a few). Until then, have a wonderful evening. 

Hitter on Twitter: Another Way to Follow the 2009 NCCS Championships

To get results (hopefully) in something approaching real time, why not follow MiddleHitter.com on twitter. We're gonna be.

It All Starts in Just a Very Few Hours

If you're following the club volleyball championships in Kansas City over the next three days (and why wouldn't you since there are so many Wisconsin club teams participating) here's an official link for schedules and results. The UW-Oshkosh site will also provide daily updates, courtesy of UW-Oshkosh alum and Wisconsin Volleyball Conference advisory board member, Eddie Zelhofer. Go, Wisconsin teams, go. 

25-21, 21-25, 15-11

Now that's what we call a close Wisconsin Volleyball Conference championship final: UW-Oshkosh over Lakeland in three incredibly close sets. Here's the story on the UW-Oshkosh site.

Both teams will compete this coming weekend at the 2009 NCCS National Volleyball Championships in Kansas City, Missouri. If you check out the complete list of participating teams, you'll find a whole lot of other men's and women's club teams from Wisconsin.

Good luck to each and every one.

What We Know (And What We Wish We Did)

In this weekend's spring volleyball action:

• Wisconsin split with North Dakota State (which had several returning Wisconsinites on their roster)
• Marquette went 3-3 at the Three Wise Men Tournament in Illinois. They picked up wins against UW-Milwaukee, Eastern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago, then lost to UW-Milwaukee (in a second match), Northern Illinois and Southeast Missouri State

What we don't know (but really wish we could find somewhere) is how the Wisconsin Volleyball Championship turned out. If you know, please let us know and we'll let everyone else know. Thanks.

Complete List of 2009 WVC Players of the Week

The WVC Championships are going on whilst we post, but some results are already in. We're referring, of course, to the complete list of 2009 Wisconsin Volleyball Conference Players of the Week. Congrats to everyone who made the list.