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Unfortunate finish to the season in the opening round of the MVC tournament against 8 seed Belmont (we were the 5th seed).  We just looked out of sorts after the first set.  Even Hickey seemed like she was struggling with each service return, and wasn't in the correct spots for sets 3 and 4, and that never happens to her.  Oh well, finished 18-14 (10-8), and likely won't get an NIVC bid this season. 

Good start to the season with another 2 wins today, to take us to 5-3!

Nice write up to start the season, and it sounds like a lot of optimism around the program.  Similar to Volleyball, Women's Basketball, Men's Basketball, and Softball, the MVC is a premier conference for a mid-major.  If we do some things in the non-conference, and finish top 3 of the MVC, we have a legitimate shot at an at-large, every single season in Baseball.  Also, how cool is it that the team did not have a single transfer out?

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2021-22/21061/season-preview-valpo-baseball-poised-to-build-on-solid-finish-to-2021-campaign/

Just look at the difference in quality at this time in the non-conference season.  The HL is mostly crap, compared to the MVC:

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings

I have to assume that we've never had a Football game, where we didn't complete a pass?

As we are aware, it helps to have a coach with an athletic son!

https://horizonleague.org/news/2021/5/12/mens-basketball-patrick-baldwin-jr-signs-national-letter-of-intent-with-panthers.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3h3Z9WnR91nrSM-YcrGGxT8-m9mhTKPpfAGBIC8h-HkeDpVZpo5fJev20

Two quality wins today for the ladies!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/softball/news/2020-21/20263/softball-closes-weekend-with-pair-of-one-run-wins/

I didn't see any of these games, but look at the play-by-play for some of these games!  I felt bad about almost coughing up our lead against ISUb, but Wright State blew a 24 point lead with 6:26 left in the game, including a 4 point lead with 0:16 left.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/playbyplay?gameId=401286978 - Wright State vs. Milwaukee

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401286979 - Youngstown State vs. Oakland

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401286981 - Purdue Fort Wayne vs. Cleveland State

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401286980 - Detroit vs. Northern Kentucky

I noticed in the most recent Alumni News & Notes email, that a former classmate/project partner was highlighted.  Since we have a section dedicated towards former athletics alumni and their professional careers, I thought that it would be neat to highlight folks outside of athletics. 

I will say that Tselmuun was a joy to work with on a few projects.  I believe that it was a Finance class that we took together.  I had always been aware of Mongolia's history tied to Genghis Khan, but learned so much more about the country through having met her.  Off the top of my head, I had classmates from Mongolia, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Syria, Latvia, Angola, Czech Republic, Finland, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Honduras, China, Taiwan, Poland, Ethiopia, Senegal, Mali, Japan, Vietnam, The Netherlands/Holland, and I am sure that I am missing some others.  This experience was invaluable to me, as I was able to learn about other cultures tied to my interest in learning about their history, which has paid dividends multiple times throughout my professional career, since I end up hiring a lot of tech employees originating from all over the world (I am in HR/Technical Recruiting).  I truly hope that our international pipeline remains strong into the future!

https://www.ibtimes.sg/tselmuun-nyamtaishirof-mongolyn-alt-mak-leads-national-charity-effort-55140

Great start to the season, beating UAB 6-2!

Does anyone know if Brittany Anderson chose Softball over Volleyball, due to the similar schedules?  I noticed that she hasn't been playing in any Volleyball matches, though is listed on the roster, but played in the first 2 Softball games.

Nice 0-9 start for the Phoenix, without Darner as the HC.  I believe that it was a financial decision, but wow, what a dumb firing...

Just saw the below sad news on Jimmy Collins, from a few weeks back. 

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/30511260/ex-uic-flames-coach-illinois-fighting-illini-assistant-jimmy-collins-dies-74

We should have a solid team this season, after watching several of the games to this point.  We took 1 of 3 at Western Kentucky, and have dropped the first two at #3 Louisville.  Anyone else watching?  If so, what are our guys wearing in their belt buckle area?  It looks like a reflective screen with some paper behind it, so maybe some situational plays?

Wow, the season has already started!  We beat Fordham 5-4, which has won 7 straight A-10 regular season championships.  We then lost to Houston 9-0, and were no-hit.  I look forward to seeing how this season progresses!

With the news about Men's Soccer and Men's Tennis, I want to also thank Coach Carin Avery for her long tenure and sustained success with our volleyball program.  My guess is that she is gone after this season, now that her husband's team doesn't exist anymore.

Let's finish this season out strong, so that we can send her out on a good note!

Ok, who had Valpo being regionally ranked in Men's Cross Country, at any point in our lifetimes?  Not me!  Congrats!

http://valpoathletics.com/mcc/news/2019-20/19415/valpo-mens-cross-country-cracks-regional-rankings/

Does anyone know if Kweisi Kenyatte turned professional?  He is not on our roster for his JR year, and if you Google him, it comes up with some ITA doubles matches.

It is about time that he had his own consistent thread for information to post, similar to Peters!

https://www.mavs.com/ryan-broekhoff-sharpshooter/

Congrats to Jelena!

http://valpoathletics.com/wtennis/news/2018-19/18495/vujanic-captures-missouri-valley-conference-title-at-no-1-singles/

Condolences to his family and the Drake community.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/23965872/drake-bulldogs-broadcaster-larry-cotlar-dies-flash-flooding

In case you don't get the Crusader Report from our AD, I found this of great interest:

As we begin a new era for Valpo in the Valley, we have begun the visioning and planning process for establishing ourselves as successful members across all sports.  In mid-June the head coaches and senior staff met to begin the joint conversation of where we are, where we would like to be, and what the path looks like to reach our goals.  In the coming months, I will be sharing some of our thoughts and aspirations.
                               
While the Missouri Valley Conference may be known by most college sports fans for basketball, it is also the home of very good baseball.  This provides a stronger platform for the continued resurgence of our baseball program.  Baseball boasts more conference championships and NCAA appearances over its history than any other sport at Valpo.
             
Driven by the vision and leadership of Lloyd McClendon '81 and former MLB player, manager, and current member of the Detroit Tigers coaching staff, we have begun the process of planning for a renovated Emory G. Bauer Filed.  Teammate Dale Clapp '84, a member of the Athletics Advisory Council, is also partnering with us to build momentum and secure support for a project that will see field renovations, new stands and pressbox, and new parking.  The renovated facility will better position us to compete in the MVC while properly honoring the legacy of Coach Bauer. We are still in the planning stages, and are actively looking for additional support. Please contact John Kuka, Associate Director of Athletics, for more information on how you can be a part of this exciting initiative.

Good to see that everyone is alright. 

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18376358/butler-bulldogs-team-plane-loses-cabin-pressure-coach-says-was-scary-had-guys-crying

Let's kill all talk of an at-large, by speaking about the NIT.  What seed should we expect?  Hopefully our guys come ready to play this time, rather than the big letdown at Miami a few seasons back.  If we can get a few quality wins in this tournament, it could help recruiting.  Not as much as the NCAA would have, but it can't hurt to put up a banner with a deep NIT run.

This is how a classy coach responds to an idiotic player on their team.  From what I remember, Ray Sr. basically laughed it off as a non-issue.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14712877/bill-self-rips-kansas-jayhawks-guard-brannen-greene-last-second-dunk-rout

Definitely a good way for me to view 1-3 games this year!

http://valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2015-16/15057/baseball-releases-2016-schedule/#.Vk0htnarTIV

Definitely a good way for me to view 1-3 games this year!

http://valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2015-16/15057/baseball-releases-2016-schedule/#.Vk0htnarTIV

We improved to 4th overall this last school year, and 3rd in men's! 

http://valpoathletics.com/news/articles/2014-15/14718/valpo-finishes-fourth-in-mccafferty-trophy-race/

Tough loss at San Diego State 5-4 today.  We took the lead in the 7th 4-3, but our relievers gave up 2 in the bottom of the 7th.  We had runners on first and second with one out in the top of the 9th, but hit two soft pop-ups to end the game.  A good showing though against a team that was in the NCAA tourney last year at 42-21!

Awesome that all 3 games this weekend are on live video, as well!

...in Women's Bowling .  Look at us, we are considered a 'major' conference in one of our sports now!  There are several top teams in our new conference, including us!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/wbowling/news/2014-15/14279/valparaiso-charter-member-of-southland-bowling-league/#.VL7_jHlgOUk

Just received an email from MLB stating the below, which is pretty exciting for our Tennis programs!

I am pleased to announce another step forward for our athletic facilities. Permitting is underway and construction is expected to begin this semester on a tennis locker and restroom facility. The building will be located just beyond the left field wall of the softball field and just southwest of the new Beacon Hall dormitory. The facility will provide onsite locker rooms for both our men's and women's tennis teams, which practice and have home matches on the University tennis courts just to the east of the softball field. The facility will also provide public restrooms for softball games and a covered pavilion for tennis tournament organizers. Construction is expected to be completed before the tennis teams transition outside for the latter half of the 2015 spring season. Below you can see the general location and lay out of the facility.

Seems like a good hire, and welcome to Coach Stake!  Hofstra has a good softball program, and it seems like she has always been a part of winning programs, which is a good mentality to bring in.

http://valpoathletics.com/softball/news/2014-15/13787/valparaiso-announces-hiring-of-kate-stake-as-softball-head-coach/

UIC's women's team won the WBI tournament championship today against Stephen F. Austin.  Even though it is the third best tournament in women's basketball, any championship is a good championship!

Hunter has his GSU team in the Sun Belt championship game, with his SO son being the best player on the team.  Found this to be quite interesting.

Unfortunately, they decided to cancel our home series versus UWM.  I always thought that it was complete crap when a home series was canceled, and not made up within conference.  It makes it an uneven competition if you lose home games, and/or play less or more games than the rest of the conferece.

http://valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2013-14/13516/baseballs-weekend-series-cancelled/

We are now 10-3, and beating teams we would have lost to in the last few years (even the non-D1 teams we have played).  We also played both Northwestern and Purdue much closer than we would have in the past, with both being ranked teams!  This top 35 recruiting class appears to be legit!

This is driving me crazy that I can't watch my former team play in my own state, especially since this is the first trip ever for Valpo baseball in Texas (according to the Valpo website).  Luckily, I get the Longhorn Network for the baseball game tomorrow, so I can have that on TV, while watching Valpo basketball on my computer.  With my wife about to burst any day now, I just couldn't risk the wrath of my significant other by leaving for yet another Valpo thing .  Hopefully we represent well! 

Augie is a great guy if any of you have the chance to meet him.  I was fortunate to meet him when he was recruiting my HS team for my teammate to play at UT, and he treats everyone with respect.  A true legend in college baseball, if not THE legend.  The Texas, Texas State, and Incarnate Word games are fairly close in location, but I don't envy the drive down to CC and back up to San Antonio.  You never realize how large this state is until you drive around.  I think that it is 12 hours East (Texarkana) to West (El Paso), and around 12 hours from North (Amarillo) to South (Rio Grande Valley).

@ Texas - 3/4
@ Texas State - 3/5
@ Texas A&M CC - 3/7
@ Texas A&M CC - 3/8
@ Texas A&M CC - 3/9
@ Incarnate Word - 3/11 (new to D-1 this year)

We are up 4-0 after the top of the 1st!!

I went to another Mavs game tonight, completely forgetting that little Ray was on the Kings.  Let me tell you, it was a complete pleasure watching his butt plastered to the Kings bench all game as the
Mavs went on to victory .  I do have to give him some positive feedback though, as he was the first guy to slap the hands of his teammates during every single stop in play, even coming from the end of the bench to do so.  Enough positive feedback now, as I feel gross just saying that lol.  I was telling my wife who he was, and she definitely remembers me ranting about him 2 seasons ago after that dunk .

For anyone in DFW, we are hosting President Heckler at the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum on 2/19/14 from 6-9 pm.  Cost is $30 per person, but $15 for any 2003-2013 graduates.  The event is a reception plus 'State of the University.' 

You should have received a postcard in the mail, but if not, you can register at http://alumni.valpo.edu/s/1347/index.aspx?sid=1347&gid=1&pgid=1023&cid=2248&ecid=2248&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=1962.  Deadline to register is 2/13/14.  Hope to see you there!

I didn't realize that Amanda was involved in so many sports!  She was very friendly in the classes we had together, and apparently, very deserving of this honor, along with the others in this class!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/news/archives/2013-14/13236/valparaiso-athletics-announces-hall-of-fame-class-of-2014/

Sounds like some solid additions for softball as well!  It helps that our baseball and softball programs have been to back-to-back NCAA tournaments, and showed progress by each winning a game in their last regional, while being competitive in the other games.

http://valpoathletics.com/softball/news/2013-14/13177/valparaiso-softball-announces-nine-signees/

Sounds like 4 fantastic additions!  Good job coaches!!

http://valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2013-14/13169/baseball-inks-four-for-2014-15/

This is one heck of a non-conference schedule to begin the season!!  Count me in to see us beat my friends from UT, I will definitely make that long drive to Austin .

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/news/2013-14/13115/2014-baseball-schedule-released/

http://www.valpoathletics.com/baseball/schedule/

Thought that this deserved it's own thread.

The men drew with both Jacksonville and North Florida over the last few days, 0-0 and 1-1 respectively.  They sit at 0-0-2.

Wow, a loud 'sigh' goes through the US as the NCAA Football series by EA Sports goes to the wayside, as NCAA Basketball and NCAA Baseball did before it:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9486048/ncaa-not-renewing-contract-ea-sports-video-games

Too bad for our guys, being involved in their third 5-4 game of the tourney, coming on the losing end.  The big inning was the 7th when we left the bases loaded with one out.  Great effort this season, and I look forward to more positives next season!

Sounds like 6 great additions!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/wbowling/news/2012-13/12763/crusaders-announce-six-newcomers-for-2013-2014-season/

We should be getting these types of recruits every year in this sport, in looking at the other schools that have D-1 Women's Bowling.  Our academics place us near the top of schools that offer this sport.

Things are going well right now, up 7-2 in the 6th on UIC.  Yesterday, WSU beat YSU.

Edit:  We are now up 8-2 after a SF.  We have been wearing out the RCF gap!

It looks like our men's soccer team has taken over the international flair from the basketball program!

http://www.valpoathletics.com/msoccer/news/2012-13/12742/crusader-mens-soccer-announces-six-more-additions-for-2013/