With just three weeks left in regular season WAC play for volleyball, two in men’s soccer and one in women’s soccer, a handful of awards and placings are soon to be decided. But, throughout the fall sports season, who has been a winner, a loser, an improver and what’s next?
Just as each fall sport has heated all the way up, we’re going to add our own spice by switching up the categories and going with teams only as nominations. A bit of a change from the previous winners, losers, improver and this time no blame. Let’s go!
Winners
Let’s go ahead and get the good stuff out of the way first with winners. In volleyball the obvious winner is New Mexico State. The Aggies remain undefeated in WAC play and boast the top hitting percentage as well. NMSU remains the favorites but have three teams behind them still within striking distance in Grand Canyon, Kansas City and Utah Valley.
A winner in women’s soccer is very obvious at this point, with California Baptist in first place. CBU was projected to finish tied for seventh in the WAC preseason coaches poll. Needless to say, they’ve already exceeded that in a major way. But, the Lancers still have three teams trailing close behind in Seattle U, UT Rio Grande Valley and UVU.
The men’s soccer winner is just as obvious as the women’s, with UVU in second place by just one point. The Wolverines were projected to finish in seventh place out of 12 teams and were once in first place for the first five games of WAC play. It’ll be a close finish between them and SU, with Air Force narrowly hanging on behind the two.
Losers
Anytime there are winners it means there are going to be some losers to follow. Our first loser is Chicago State for volleyball. The Cougars are winless in WAC play at 0-8 and still have yet to win a game on the road as they’re 0-8 there as well.
You know the team mentioned above, CSU? They’re our women’s soccer loser this time around too. The Cougars are 0-5 in the WAC, 0-16 so far this season and have not won a game since Aug. 25, 2017. They also recently lost to UVU at home on Oct. 18, by a score of 10-0.
A moment of silence here for the CSU Cougars athletics before you read on. Thank you.
The loser for men’s soccer is a bit of a surprise in GCU. The Lopes were picked to finish tied for third in the WAC preseason coaches poll after winning the 2018 WAC tournament. However, they currently sit in ninth place in the standings and are right at .500 overall at 4-4-4. With a handful of games still left to play GCU can make up some ground, but have been a bit of a disappointment thus far to say the least.
Improvers
Who’s going to be the lone improver this time around? That would be UVU volleyball. The Wolverines had an abysmal non-conference record of 3-9, losing most matches pretty handily in straight-sets. But, as we all know, if you rebound and play well in your conference, it can still get you a potential NCAA tournament berth.
Since WAC play began UVU is 5-3 and currently sits in fourth place, just one game behind both second and third place. Yes, the Wolverines weren’t quite playing up to that preseason projection of second place, but they’re now slowly climbing back to it. Don’t be surprised if they do make it back into the second spot in the WAC and put themselves in a good position for a potential NCAA tournament berth.
What’s next?
In three weeks’ time all postseason tournaments will have either just begun or come to a close for all fall sports. So, keep an eye out for more continued success from these winners, some possible success for our losers and potential success from the improver.
With either a handful or just a couple games left in each sport, there will be more winners, losers and improver(s) to be seen and noticed. To be able to notice these potential WAC performances be sure to go here.
