Boys Brackets Are Up

Here's the link.

10,000 Hours

Stanford's Garrett Werner (Nicolet '06) gets a fair amount of praise in Canyon Ceman's article about the 2010 NCAA national champions. The article's author refers often to Malcolm Gladwell's concept that "true excellence in any endeavor requires 10,000 hours of effort to achieve." Of course, if you also want to boast a 3.9+ GPA in engineering from Stanford, you might need to ratchet those hours up a little more. Well done and congrats again.

196 Kills

The recap of Cal State-Northridge's men's volleyball season includes frequent mention of first-year player John Baker (Racine Park '08) and his 196 kills.

Nicolet Alum Wins 2010 Men's National Championship!!!

Congratulations, Garrett Werner. Three kills on five swings (.600) and six block assists.

Nicolet Alum Wins NCAA Elite 88 Award

At the time of this writing, Stanford's Garrett Werner (Nicolet '06) is one set away from a national championship (the match is on ESPN2). During the last set, Karch Kiraly mentioned that Garrett was the winner of the NCAA's Elite 88 Award so we did some digging and here's the link (details are in the last paragraph). Congrats.

Inexcusably Overlooked by This Blog, Nicolet Alum to Play for National Championship on ESPN2

We've been told in the past. We've been reminded. But we've somehow still managed to overlook most of the illustrious collegiate career of Stanford senior middle Garrett Werner (Nicolet '06?).

Not cool on our part.

Well, we have one last chance to right that wrong by urging you to watch the 2010 Men's Volleyball Championship final on Saturday night as Stanford takes on Penn State at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN2. In Stanford's semifinal victory over Ohio State last night, Werner had seven kills, two block assists and hit .357.

Good luck and go Cardinal!

California Rivalry with a Wisconsin Twist

Cal State-Northridge's John Baker (Racine Park '08) is playing Stanford right now with an NCAA berth on the line. Here's the link to Gametracker.

Shorewood Alum Ethan Pheister Named AVCA Player of the Week

Here's the story. Congrats.

Wisconsin Representation on the 2010 MIVA All-Conference List

The following Wisconsinites made the list:

• First Team: Mike Hutz, Loyola (Milwaukee Marquette '06)
• Second Team: Ethan Pheister, Ball State (Shorewood '06)
• Second Team: Anders Nelson, Ball State (St. Croix Falls '06)

Congrats.

Carthage in 2010 Molten Championship Consolation Match at 5 p.m. Today

The semifinals of the 2010 Molten Championship were held last night at Carthage:

• UC-Santa Cruz defeated Nazareth
• Springfield defeated Carthage

After you check out the junior club tournament being held there today, you can see Carthage take on Nazareth in the consolation match at 5 p.m. then UC-Santa Cruz v. Springfield for the championship. If you can't make it, you can always watch the webcast of today's matches or add yesterday's to your iTunes library, which is what we just did. Ain't technology grand?

Ugh!

Still too busy to post properly (ugh!). Here's a potpourri of this, that and t'other thing:

• Zak Thompson (Racine Case '10) to UW-Oshkosh men's team. Congrats.
• Deneil Hotson (Greendale '10) to UW-Oshkosh women's team (heard credible word). Congrats.
• Wisconsin Badgers volleyball at a big tournament at Northern Iowa this weekend.
• Marquette finished a perfect spring that included a victory over Texas -- OH YEAH!
• Fourteen (count 'em) teams will participate in a junior club tournament at Carthage on Saturday and all coaches and players will get a free ticket to the 2010 Molten Men's Division III Championship. If you're there for the men, watch the junior club. If you're there for the junior club, watch the men. If you have a free weekend, go watch them all.

So what did we miss? And we're sincerely sorry each of the above didn't get a post of its own (some will soon we hope).

2010 Molten Championship at Carthage College This Weekend

Our fine state will play host this weekend to the 2010 Molten Championship. Here's the essential link. More to come, including information about a club tournament on the same day at the same location.

17 Kills on .667 Hitting

Here's something to read on a Sunday afternoon: The latest successes of John Baker (Racine Park '08) out in California.

WI Players on NCVF All-Tournament Teams

If you absolutely need to know the details of every last point in the recently completed 2010 NCVF tournament, this 75-page link is for you. If, however, you're more interested in who from Wisconsin made the various all-tournament teams, the list below should be much more helpful.

MENS DIVISION I

FIRST TEAM

• Avdo Omerbegovic, Lakeland College
• Mitch Wiskirchen, Lakeland College
• Joe Julkowski, Lakeland College

SECOND TEAM

• Mark Haertle, UW-Whitewater (Racine Horlick '06)
• Andrew Cheever, Lakeland College (Greendale '08)

HONORABLE MENTION

• Nate Sederberg, UW-Oshkosh (Racine Horlick '04)

MENS DIVISION II

FIRST TEAM

• Alex Cloutier, UW-La Crosse (Racine Park '05)
• Erik Neuens, UW-La Crosse

SECOND TEAM

• Dave Maternowski, UW-La Crosse (Pius XI '09)
• Tim Bomgren, UW-Eau Claire
• Brad Mikulice, UW- La Crosse

HONORABLE MENTION

• Jake Butler, UW-Stout
• Clay Van De Bogart, UW- Eau Claire
• Kevin Balk, UW-La Crosse

MENS DIVISION I-AA

HONORABLE MENTION

• Kyle Ullsperger, UW-Milwaukee

MENS DIVISION III

FIRST TEAM

• Jordan Mattingly, UW-Oshkosh (Kaukauna '07)
• Bob Hall, UW-Oshkosh (Appleton West '09)
• Nick Mueller, UW-Oshkosh (Kenosha Tremper '09) Most Valuable Player

WOMENS DIVISION I

SECOND TEAM

• Amy Deelo, Marquette

HONORABLE MENTION

• Taylor Lindl, UW-Madison (Wauwatosa East '09)
• Molly Aikins, Marquette

WOMENS DIVISION II

HONORABLE MENTION

• Amy Weber, UW-River Falls

Congrats to all of the above. Any help with Wisconsin high school affiliations, where applicable, would be much appreciated.

NCVF Wrap (To Be Updated)

We'll improve this post throughout the evening, but here's a start:

• Story about Lakeland's runner-up Division I finish at the NCVF Championships in Louisville -- and another
• Story about UW-Oshkosh II's Division III championship and other Wisconsin finishes

We know of at least a few Wisconsin players who made all-American (these are what we've pieced together from here and there, but we'll have a better read on things once names appear on the NCVF site).

DIVISION I

• Joe Julkowski, Lakeland (1st team)
• Avdo Omerbegovic, Lakeland (1st team)
• Mitch Wiskirchen, Lakeland (1st team)
• Andrew Cheever (Greendale '08), Lakeland (2nd team)
• Nathan Sederberg, UW-Oshkosh I (HM)

DIVISION III

• Nick Mueller, UW Oshkosh II (1st team and MVP)
• Jordan Mattingly, UW Oshkosh II (1st team)
• Bob Hall, UW Oshkosh II (1st team)

You're Just One Click Away from a Complete 2010 NCVF Update

Our sole purpose in this here post is to send you to this here site for a complete NCVF update. Enjoy and good luck to everyone tomorrow.

You Know Where to Go for NCVF Updates, Don't You? (Hint: It's Not Here)

For the latest on the NCVF championships, you'll wanna go here. Sounds like one of the best matches of the day was a three-set thriller between Northland International University and California Polytechnical University-San Luis Obispo. Don't you love how volleyball can connect two schools that are 2,352 miles apart?

NCVF Starts Tomorrow

Here's a link. And here's another. More coverage tomorrow.

Nicely Done, Tomas Goldsmith: Wisconsinite Helps Rutgers Defeat Penn State

Tomas Goldsmith (Kenosha Tremper, '09) is number 18 (the libero in the black jersey) in the above video. Here's the story. Congrats.

A Volley Talker Is Saying Oshkosh I Won the MIVA Championship

Here's the link. We'll post confirmation when we get it. Also looks like Oshkosh II was runner-up in JV. Congrats and congrats.