I Can Haz Vollyball?

I am sure that many of you aren't exactly intrigued when you hear men's volleyball, but I am trying to keep track of something I need to submit for rankings when we (Iowa Men's Volleyball) travel to Kansas City for Nationals next Wednesday - Sunday.

It's been an up and down semester at times, but this past weekend we placed 5th of 30 at the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Championships -- the best placement by Iowa since the team took top eight at Nationals in 2000.

Despite the development of a rotator cuff injury to my swinging shoulder, I keep telling myself just one tournament is left.

This is how the National Championship Tournament is played out: Division I-A is the top 48 teams in the country. The next 48 teams comprise Division I-AA, and another 36 teams complete Division II.

Last year, we were miserable. Mainly all sophomores, we didn't even qualify for Division I-A. In fact we were somewhere between the rankings of 24 - 36 in Division I-AA. However, we finished up 15th overall for Division I-AA.

Seventy-five percent juniors now, we are the most improved team in the Midwest, and maybe even the country. We earned Honorable Mention in the top-25 rankings in the month of March, and after this past weekend's showing, we will be top-25 at Nationals in the Division I-A level, likely making us a No. 2 seed in a pool of four teams.

Although we travel and play first semester, it is just like a warm up season. But it was at Michigan State that we picked up a HUGE win over #16 Penn State, and realized we had a lot of potential. Since then, a massive turnaround led us to our 5th place finish at MIVA's. Here's how the weekend went:

(MIVA Champ Pool) Iowa v.Central Michigan W 25-18, 25-23
(MIVA Champ Pool) Iowa v. UW-Milwaukee W 25-27, 25-23, 15-11
(MIVA Champ Pool) Iowa v. Miami (OH) L 26-28, 21-25
(MIVA Champ Pool) Iowa v. Northern Illinois W 17-25, 25-21, 17-15
(MIVA Champ Gold Bracket) Iowa v. Kentucky W 25-14, 26-24
(MIVA Champ Gold Bracket) Iowa v. Dayton W 25-23, 22-25, 17-15
(MIVA Champ Gold Bracket Quarter-Finals) Iowa v. Lakeland L 14-25, 14-25

Yes, the showing against No. 5 Lakeland was just horrific. We were exhausted, and just didn't show up. Anyhow, they are last years national champions, so there isn't too much shame.

Here is a recap of how the season (second semester) shaped out. Sorry it's not showing larger.

If you have made it this far, maybe this post interested you. Maybe you're just bored. The bottom line is, Nationals (last year) was the best time of my college career so far, it's going to be even better this year as we shoot for a top-12 finish in the gold bracket.

I mean, who can complain about five days of playing the game you love, with about 1,000 other deserving athletes (thanks title-9, you God-awful law) between the men's and women's divisions. Unfortunately I can't give the full gist of what the week entails, but just know it's unlike any normal five day period you could experience in college.