NCAA | December Delirium—2014 volleyball tournament underway

Pac-12 teams are 3-0 on first day; Beals injury identified

• #21 Duke vs. #23 Hawai’i | Fri, Dec 5 | 5PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• New Hampshire @ #3 Washington | Fri, Dec 5 | 7PM | Alaska Airlines Arena
• NCAA Second Round | Sat, Dec 6 | 7PM | Alaska Airlines Arena

With one day in the books, the 2014 NCAA D1 Volleyball Tournament field of 64 has been reduced to 54. 10 First Round matches were played Thursday, with 10 Second Round and 22 more First Round contests on tap Friday. A few notes from around tourney:

Pac-12 perfect so far

• In Tucson, #14 Arizona swept Yale 3-0 in the Seattle Regional and will now face #12 BYU
• In Austin, #22 Arizona State beat Texas A&M 3-1 in the Minneapolis Regional, with #6 Texas up next
• In Eugene, #16 Oregon swept Santa Clara 3-0 in the Minneapolis Regional; LSU is next

Friday's First Round matches involving Pac-12 teams:

Washington reports that setter Katy Beals
injured her ACL last week
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

• SEATTLE REGIONAL: #3 Washington vs. New Hampshire in Seattle; #20 Utah vs. Kansas St in Lincoln
• MINNEAPOLIS REGIONAL: USC vs Coastal Carolina in Chapel Hill; #19 Colorado vs. Northern Colorado in Fort Collins
• AMES REGIONAL: #1 Stanford vs Bakersfield in Palo Alto; Oregon State vs. Creighton in Topeka
• LOUISVILLE REGIONAL: #17 UCLA vs. LIU Brooklyn in Westwood

Colorado Quad

In the competition to see which subregional draws the biggest crowds, Fort Collins should be in the mix. Tonight’s subregional features four teams from the Centennial State: #9 Colorado St vs. Denver and #19 Colorado vs. Northern Colorado.

RPI predicted this one

Of the 32 first-round matches, the paired teams with the lowest combined RPIs was Marquette (25 RPI) and Illinois State (29 RPI). Sure enough, the Louisville Regional match in Madison went five sets, with Illinois State overcoming a 2-0 deficit to prevail 15-13 in the fifth. Two sets went 25-22, another went 25-23.

Will AVCA predict this one?

Of the 32 first-round matches, only one features two teams ranked in this week’s AVCA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. That contest is right here in Seattle, as #21 Duke takes on #23 Hawai’i.

Injury update

• Washington setter Katy Beals appears to have played her last match of the season. A University of Washington press release and a report by Terry Wood for the Seattle Times say Beals has an ACL injury to her knee, suffered in the waning moments of last Friday’s match against Washington State in Pullman. Redshirt freshman Jade Finau—who’s worked with the UW offense for a handful of matches and two years of training sessions, will fill in for Beals in the Huskies’ two-setter offense. Finau is a graduate of Juanita High School. She was a three-time First Team All-KingCo selection and was named to the All-State team as a senior. Her brother, Jarrett, plays defensive end for the UW football team.
• Crissy Jones, who injured her ankle two weeks ago and has not played since, is back at practice.