Weekly Recap: Week 15
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Welcome to the Evollve weekly newsletter, where every Monday we’ll take a look at some of the most impressive feats of the past week in NCAA volleyball.
The Sweet 16 is here! Make sure to check out our projections and download the FanFlare Sports app for score updates throughout the tournament!
But first, let’s recap the opening weekend of the tournement.
Biggest Upset
To the surprise of presumably no one who has been following the tournament, the biggest upset this past week was Cal Poly taking down USC to advance to the second weekend. Cal Poly had just an 18.1% chance to pull that upset, after already taking down BYU in the first round with just a 27.3% chance to win (the third-biggest upset of the tournament, behind Utah State’s win over Tennessee).
Biggest Comeback
After taking the first two sets, Utah built a 14-10 lead in set three and was two points away from the second round at 23-21. UNI wasn’t ready for their season to end, however, and came back for a 26-24 set three win before pulling out the final two sets as well.
Best Clutch Performance
Kansas State’s electrifying first-round win over San Diego saw several swings back and forth, but the Wildcats ultimately advanced thanks to Shaylee Meyers adding 0.7 wins’ worth of win probability in the clutch. Meyers finished with 26 kills on .328 hitting, including the tie-breaking point at 24-24 in the third set and the final two points of the match.
Evollve Title Chances
Rather than our top 25, since only 16 teams remain, we’ll wrap up this week’s edition with our probabilities to win the championship. Nebraska continues to be odds-on favorites, while the probability for Cal Poly, despite a magical run, still rounds to 0.0%.
