Session 6 is over, and we're halfway through the season! We get a three session reprieve from conference games, so those standings remain unchanged from the last recap.  Everyone is still chasing San Jose and Pekin for total wins (14) with a bevy of teams behind them at 12 or 11 wins (13 teams, that does constitute a bevy, right?). If this were session 8 ending this week, and the Natty and Holyoke were being set, Pekin would be our top seed, Denali holding onto 16th at 10-9, and our top three Holyoke seeds would be Carlsbad (9-9), Spokane (10-10) and St. Charles (10-10).  Of course, there are still auto bids to be picked up with conference champs and the WGM Champ, if a team wins who is not our front-runner and only top-four seed still remaining, Quincy.  It's mostly a Big 8 thing this season, with three of the four semifinalists: Quincy (#1), St. Charles (#6), Ames (#13) and the Court Crashing Cryptids as the odd ones out, which they're used to as they refuse to honor social norms, with as Spokane (#7) our sole Big East rep.  The PAC 8 had a top four seed, yet San Jose fell in the quarterfinals.  The SEC did not make a good showing this season, with the highest seed being #14 (Nashville) and none advancing past the round of 16.

For Blowouts this session, we start in Match 17, Non-Conference play, Nashville (86) @ Sheboygan (62).  The Fanged Flyers clearly had other matches to play for, like the Conference Tourney and... maybe an exhibition in neighboring Oostburg or Waldo or in the side parking lot of the Aldi on New Jersey Avenue & South Taylor Drive after it turned out that the Sheboygan Lakers' Ice Center was booked for Gabe McCulsky's 12th birthday party and nobody told John until just a few minutes before match time.  Whatever the T7 was doing, it was not making an appearance in either non-conference match this session.  Meanwhile, the Firefoxes did the exact opposite.  86 on the road, 89 at home in match 18 (more on that in a bit), and then played the lowest home score of the entire Conference Tourney round with a 64-rated team, 9 ratings points lower than the next lowest. There were only 3 road teams that played a 64 or lower for the opening tourney matches (more on Nashville's tourney opener in a bit-and-a-half as well). But back to Match 17, where the Red Pandas were the ones doing the bloodletting. Set 1 was not horrible for the home side, 25-16, with some signs of a fight. Set 2 went worse, 25-14, as the Firefoxes' relentless attack carried on. By set 3, the Bats were beat down and ready to be done. They didn't even hit double-digits, losing 25-9 as Roy's Rosy Omnivores displayed their ability to hunt down far more than bamboo for a session-opening snack. The final tally was +36 points total, our #3 Blowout of the Week! Congrats, Roy!

We'll shift to the Conference Tourneys now, match 19, where #4 seed Starkville was hosting Merritt Island. The 'Hounds played a home 92, tied for 2nd-highest home score of the session and 3rd-highest this season. The Manatees brought the SeaPups, not a full salty seadog or real pegfin amongst them. The road 61 was the 2nd-lowest of all team ratings for the conference tourney openers. 2nd highest v 2nd lowest for match 19, and our stage was well set for the reulting blowout to come, as the 31-pt ratings difference was our 2nd-largest of the weekend! It started ugly for Mark's Marauding Manatees, 9-25. They "hit" an astounding -.706 for the opener, only 2 kills to 14 hitting errors. For comparison, Eduard's lads only had 5 hitting errors all match. Starkville's servers continually picked on OH Carbonera (9 Rcv) to keep the visitor's game flow off kilter. 31 servers received (most of the match), with 7 errors, and just 13 3-rated receives, to a final 1.81 Rcv rating. Set 2 and the beat writers at the BUM report still aren't sure what happened. The Manatees went from 2 kills/14 errors in set 1 to 13 kills/4 errors in set 2, hitting .429 to keep decent pace with Starkville's .591.  They scored more points in set 2 than sets 1 & 3 combined, ending 21-25!  Clearly, this irked the 'Hounds. In case you were not aware, it's not healthy to irk a Hound. Set 3 featured multiple long Hound runs on points, finishing with a 7-25 tally, the 2nd-fewest points allowed for the season-to-date! 2nd highest, 2nd lowest, 2nd-largest gap, 2nd-fewest set points. It was as a two-riffic run for our #2 Blowout of the Week, so congrats to Eduard!

And now to take up the afore-mentioned Nashville match 18, non-conference play, with the Firefoxes (89) rated 35 higher than the visiting Carlsbad ColorChangers (54). Phil's Lazy-Eyed Lizards were just a point off from tying the season #3 low for away ratings, so it is little surprise that this one was our largest talent gap of the weekend. While the highlights are often on the hitting for good reason (Nashville doubling up Carlsbad, 42 kills to 20), the servers on this one were so disparate they were almost in different leagues. Nashville's servers varied from Srv ratings 15-18. Carlsbad's were 7-13, with three under 10. The Firefoxes jump served their way to 15 aces, and a final .973 serve rating, scoring 49 of their 75 points while serving and only hitting 2 service errors all match. Team HyperColor had 6 errors on just 34 serves, and scored only 8 points all match when serving. When Nashville served, OH Gamache took the brunt of the bruising, with 10 receive errors to just 7 perfect passes. Despite that, Nashville only won set 1 15-25. Set 2 is where the damage was done, 8-25, and the 2nd-lowest set of the weekend and tying the 3rd-lowest of the season. By set 3, there was no camouflage that could save the Chameleons, and they went down 10-25, for a final tally of +42 pts by the Red Pandas, our #1 Blowout of the Week, and giving Roy two of the top 3 as they also tied our 2nd-biggest Blowout of the Season-to-Date!

Sometimes, Olmec is kind to the BUM Report's writers and editorial staff. The match results don't have to be record-breaking or earth-shattering. They just have to be there, in small little ways that let us know that Olmec cares. Take match 20, WGM Quarterfinals, with Spokane (84) @ Mendon (86). The Fightin' Fungi didn't put up the best WGM numbers for the weekend (that was Quincy's home 91), and in fact would have been the less-favored team against road teams Portland or Ames. Still, they were a tad better than what The Backwoods Bigfeet Boys crooned out in 7-part harmony. Instead, and you know where this is going, in what by the match order was the last and final chance for the session, Olmec has given us six straight sessions with an Upset Sweep! It was tight the whole way, befitting the close ratings, with match scores of 25-22, 25-23, and 25-23. It was not the cleanest match, with a combined 33 services errors across just 3 sets, including a run of 3-straight and 4-in-6 serves at different points, yet if I had to pick an area where the Follically Endowed Ones had an edge over the Spore Spewing Spikers, it was in digs, 15 to 8.  And how they played out mattered.  In set 1, Spokane had 5 digs lead directly to a kill, while Mendon had 3. That's a 2-pt swing in a match settled by 3 pts.  They were tied 2-2 on dig/kills in set 2.  In set 3, Spokane again took the match on the smallest of edges, with 5 dig/kills to Mendon's 2, and won by 2 points. L Augustin had 9 digs on the match, more than Mendon's whole team had, while also having a perfect day at serve subbing in for MB Collins, 9 serves, 2 aces, no errors. While he didn't crack the teams of the week this session, he was certainly the unsung hero of our Upset Sweep of the Week! Congrats, Jason!

For our regular-type Upsets, we'll start with a (dis)honorable mention: Match 18, non-conference, Spokane (68) @ St. Charles (63). Neither team really wanted it.  Both were in the WGM Quarters, and both also put out very respectable road teams for the conference tourney openers (Spokane 84 & St. Charles 83), with only Mat-Su and Portland playing better-rated away squads. That left the backups and younglings to scrimmage here, and St. Charles got the favorable bounces en route to a -5 4-set Upset.  Why does this matter?  Because St. Charles wasn't done.  Match 20, #6-seed St. Charles (83) at #3-seed San Jose (89). Vick's Aquatic Amuse-Guelule held form in the opening set, though they had to first rally back from down 3 at 21-18, and then survive a set point at 24-23 to earn it with three straight points and finish, 24-26.  Not to be outdone, because that's how Max rolls, the GourdHeads came right back in set 2 and out-did the extra points, winning 28-26! The Crusty Crew had their chances in the set, none better than serving for their second set point at 25-26, only to hit a service error, followed by Scarecrow ace, and then a hitting error for San Jose gave 3 straight points to the visitors! Set 3 saw St. Charles take the early lead and hold a 5-pt lead as late as 18-13, only for the Shrimpies to use all ten legs to claw back into it and tie it up at 21-21, then took the lead on a dig/kill, expanded it on a dig/counterdig/countercounterdig/kill, and never looked back, swapping points and winning by 2, 23-25.  Now staring down a must-win set, St. Charles started fast, going up 4-0 and 8-2, only to watch the lead slowly shrink.  Closing within 2 at 23-21, San Jose's rally fell short when OH Venkman got the net on an attempted block, and at 24-21 San Jose's continued defensive efforts fell short, 25-22, and we have a 5th set, just the 2nd of the tourney matches for the weekend! The set was tied at 7-7, when San Jose's morale seemed to break. It was a great rally point, with both teams having two digs, only for San Jose to then have a hitting error, with all the great defensive effort lost. The Scarecrows responded with an immediate ace, and then a block, and 7-7 turned to 10-7 in less than a minute. While San Jose didn't quit, the effort was renewed a point too late, after closing to 14-13 only to watch a tool kill bounce too far out of bounds to reach, and Max and St. Charles pull the -6 Upset, our #3 of the week and TWO significant upsets for the GourdHeads this session! Congrats, Max!

For our #2 Upset, we rewind to match 17, non-conference with Albuquerque and the Trash Pandas headed west to Ames, where Colin's crew were well-set to handle the visitors despite saving their best line for the conference tourney and WGM quarters. Mike's Masked Bandits (65) did not hit well on the match (.156 total, no set topping .300). The Artichokes had 3 sets over .300, two over .400, yet still had 25 errors to 71 kills.  Instead, this match featured fantastic defense! Or maybe it was just mediocre defense against really lousy hitters. Either way, there were digs to be had by everyone (47 'Coons, 62 'Chokes) and where the match hinged was on the Bandit blocking. A very impressive 39 blocks (and just 2 blocking errors) later, Albuquerque's defensive front tripled the blocks of Ames (13, with 4 errors) to keep the Trash Pandas serving despite weaker overall talent. The opening sets showed how tight this competition was, 24-26 & 29-27, and despite Ames flexing some might in the 16-25 set 4, they ended up losing set 5 15-11 and Albuquerque pulls off our #2 Upset of the Week, a -7 5-setter! Congrats, Mike!

And topping our topsy-turvy topic, we stay in match 17, non-conference, with the Vermilingua headed west to San Jose. We already saw Vick take the tourney upset at #3. I'm sure he'd rather trade this one for a WGM victory. Olmec saw fit to give and take away otherwise though, so Vick will have to be content with winning our top upset this week after suffering it the prior weekend! Arlington (76) didn't have much to hold back for their tourney match against BIG 8 top seed Pekin, so they played stronger in the non-conference matches. San Jose had two home tourney matches to host, so the Popcorn Shrimps played here (68). The first two sets went as the bookies planned, 25-14 for a dominant opener, and a respectable 25-22 in set 2. Set 3 went the way of San Jose, though it took a handful of extra points before Vick's Crusty Crew pulled out the 26-28 win to give the home fans something to cheer about. Set 4 was equally close, though in standard scoring norms, 23-25. That led to a 5th set, of course, where all things seem possible! Arlington's hitting kept getting worse as the match went on. Perhaps it was jet lag. Perhaps it was all the salt and sand getting on their long tongues. In any case, the drop off in hitting was clear. Set 1: .480 (15 kills, 3 errors). Set 2: .409 (13k,4e). Set 3: .250 (14k,7e). Set 4: .233 (12k,5e) and then with the match on the line, it dropped even more: .053, 7 kills, 6 errors in the match-making set 5. San Jose didn't hit great themselves (.231, 2nd-worst set for them, only 5 kills) yet they just had to weather the serves long enough for the Anteaters to hit themselves out of this one, and as the final whistle blew it was set 5, 11-15 to San Jose, and our #1 Upset of the Week, at -8 rating, and while being outscored by a total of 6 points to also make this our Reverse Blowout of the Week! Congrats, Vick, you're at least #1 in the BUM Report!

In our More notes for the week, random stats abound. Carlsbad showed us once again that they only care about the PAC 8 conference play, dropping a home 58 in their match 17 non-conference game, lowest of the session, and tying their own #3 mark for lowest of the season. In an evenly rated match 17 non-conference clash between Denali (67) and Portland (67), we had a thrilling set 2, going out to 33-35 before the 'Jacks won and ended up taking the match in 4 sets. That tally is good for our third-highest-scoring set of the season! Topping it though, we had a Conference Tourney Quarterfinal, match 19, Portland @ Ames.  Set two was ridiculously fun to watch, since we had no team in this fight, as Portland desperately rallied after losing the first set and trailing 4-9 early in the second.  After battling back to tie it at 11-11, the teams traded points to 22-22. The 'Jacks won a pair to have first set point at 24-22, only for Ames to get a kill and then defend with a dig/kill to tie it at 24-24. Two set points survived. Ames then served an ace to get their own set point! Only to serve it out (opposite of exclamation point). And then we had everything but the kitchen sink. In the net. Block. Kill. Dig/kill. Back-to-back serve errors. Ames had 10 tries at set point, and Portland survived them all. Portland had 4 set points, finally winning the last one (because that's how sets end; see: rules), serving an ace at 36-35 to win set 2 37-35, our highest-scoring set of the season!  Portland would go on to win the 5-set thriller, needing extra points in set 5 as well, taking it 18-16 and claiming the #5 over #4 seeding upset in the BIG 8. As an extra for the match, with three sets going to extra points including that great set 2, they combined to score 245 points, easily taking the mark for highest-scoring match of the season-to-date! For the match, Portland's road rating of 88 (which they also matched in the WGM @ Quincy) was the highest away rating of the session. No doubt, Pekin is on notice and will not be playing the B-team this coming weekend.

In other thrilling finishes, hats off to non-conference clashes in match 17, Merritt Island @ Spokane, and match 18, Columbia @ Schenectady, for needing extra points in set 5 to settle the matter, with both matches going out to 19-17 before the higher-rated road teams finally were able to escape. The Squirrels in particular had a great rally after dropping the first set 25-10(!) then battling back to win sets 3 & 4 and having a chance at the -10 upset. Alas, they fell just short of that finish line, their little legs peaking out at around 20 km/hr (per Google the top ground speed of an Eastern Grey Squirrel). We heard from the Alton camp that they can go faster, however we're pretty sure that the Eagles were referring to terminal velocity if dropped from high altitude, and that rate is likely dependent on how many nuts they have stuffed into their cheeks prior to launch, thus increasing mass, though also surface area, and that's too many maths to do so we'll leave it at congrats to Mark & Steve for the fun 5-set wins!

If you recall from way back at the start of this column, we noted that all three of Nashville's matches were worth a mention. Having recapped the Blowouts!, we now turn to another running column item: our TOoT of the Week! Match 19, conference tourney quarterfinals, Teutopolis @ Nashville. T-Town, perhaps fearing the Red Pandas' formidable T7, threw out the Dust Devils as sacrificial elementals, with their road 56 the lowest of all the tourney matches by a full 5 ratings points. Roy though? We're not sure if he diabolically planned on seeing the worst C-Ball could muster, or just didn't care about this one, and played a home 64, 9 ratings points lower than the next-lowest home team! The combined 120 was the lowest-rated match of the whole session, so the opposite of congrats to C-Ball & Roy for The Opposite of Trying Match of the Week!

On the opposite end of the opposite of trying spectrum, take a gander at match 20, WGM Quarterfinals, Portland (88) @ Quincy (91). While the Rabbids ended up sweeping Antione's Axemen, it wasn't for lack of effort by the Flanneled Fellsmen, with the Mules needing every bit of their rabidity to overcome the attack, and the resulting combined 179 rating is our highest of the week and good for tying #3 on the season to date! Congrats to Al on the win, and Antione for making him earn it in a tourney-worthy clash!

Who else is currently running on all cylinders? Tourney powers flexing their might include Alton (92) and Starkville (92) at home, tying the #3 home rating of the season, and Columbia tying their own #1 mark at 95! Upcoming opponents, Sheboygan, N'Orleans, and Dallas, are forewarned, though with lineups like that, I'm not sure it matters if you know they're coming or not!

And now we turn to Brian's Nuthouse, favored after-match dive for the Squirrel faithful, and Home of the Walnut Milkshake(TM)! This weekend we found Brian consoling the fans over the current three-match losing streak, having lost a nailbiter to Columbia at home, and getting swept in both road matches. On the bright side, they get a home non-conference match in the upcoming session against Santa Clara, though those following biological trends in general will note that dogs don't like squirrels, as the classic joke from the movie Up goes, "A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, 'I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead.' Ha! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead." Despite this, we like Brian's chances in this one, as the Pursecarried Pooches weigh in at just a few ounces more than the Squirrel's top line, and the Arboreal Rodents still have some confidence after almost getting the -10 upset over this season's top T7 this past weekend. Prepping for that upcoming non-conference throw down, we found Brian at the bar with none other than the current Non-Conference Standings leader (3-0, only 1 set lost), Matt Fowler of the Kentucky Panthers! Knowing the BUM-reading faithful would relish the opportunity to hear made-up lines about how the team was doing, we took the opportunity to ask all sorts of non-sensical questions while simultaneously attributing responses to questions we'd later make up.  How are the Panthers doing this season, you ask? 7-11 at this point, which is a far cry better than their 3-15 record at the same time last season. They're also sitting at 6th in the SEC, and were in last last season. How is the team developing? They are currently reloading at a key position, which makes winning a challenge, as they have two freshman Setters on the roster looking to replace a graduating senior after this season, and nobody in between. 4* Percival is the more well-rounded of the two, though 3* Silverthorn was one skill point better at the critical SET stat.  As both will need coaching and playing time to build up the stat lines, Senior de Souza may see less playing time as the season progresses.  Where else is progress being made? Junior L Santana is the best-rated player on the roster, and has A-potential So Knauer right behind him. The Libero rotation is set. At MB, Sr Hibbard can hold his own against most lines, and there are three players at Jr & So who also have B-potential. If they can also get their coaching and a bonus somewhere from XP, middle blocker will be a Panther strength next season, at least in depth, without having to play any D-rated players even when resting a starter or in a 3- or 4-game session. OH is currently weak, with just one B-rated player, a senior, on the team. At the same time, Freshamn Francis has A-rated potential and is getting coached every session while also playing often. He should develop fully, and will pair well with the already-recruited 5* OH Tigerbandit that will join the team next season.  While another season of growing pains may occur as the setters and OH develop, by season 18, if Matt keeps up the development plan, half the team will be in positions of power at OH, S & L.  The Panthers have over 1400 RP available to still pick up a quality recruit at either RS or MB this season, and both positions need a talent infusion. A pair of 4* guys at auction, with a walk-on for depth at S or L if wanted, and the Panthers would be in a great position for team development. That puts more pressure on the SEC powers to stay ahead on T7 themselves and makes a road trip to The Litter Box for SEC play all the more pressing. We haven't had an easy match there in a few seasons, and it looks like it's only going to get worse for the rest of us. Where is there room for improvement? Fit planning needs some help. Resting a starter early, or using CP for the freshmen would help. All 4 OHs and the top 4 MBs are not at +1 Fit yet. It's rather easy to work out a rotation in 3-match sessions to rest one at a time and be fully Fit for the starters by session 4. It's harder at RS and L when you only have two players.  Fortunately for Matt, he's facing just a 2-match session this weekend, and will have a chance to rest half the roster if he wants, without giving up too much manpower and still having a chance to beat St. Charles in the non-conference match and move to what would be a league-leading 4-0 in that competition. Can the Panthers do better than last season? Absolutely! They are already on pace to topple the 10 wins they had in season 15, and perhaps the team's all-time 14-win mark is in reach. We're halfway through, and they're halfway there! Will they set any new records this year? It seems unlikely, as the strengths at setter and OH are at least a season from fruition, however their recent 3-match win streak bodes well for continuing to stalk and take down prey around their skill level. This won't be a season for them to make their first-ever National Tourney appearance, as they're 3 games off-pace with just two sessions to make up that difference and six teams above them with a better shot, however they're currently closer than at any time since season 9. Good work on the recruiting and youth development, Matt, and we look forward to seeing these current Kittens grow into Feisty Felines alongside the other SEC powers!

That's all we have for this session, folks! Apologies for the later-than-hoped-for posting time, as the delay in results made match analysis difficult (we can only afford our best stats guy for a limited time period, which is currently for 12.5 minutes during the Sunday Night Football halftime break). We will strive to do better, though we doubt we can achieve such consistent success as Starkville's or Burlington's current 6-match win streaks! Inquiring minds are curious as to when those two teams are going to start making a recruiting splash as well, with both topping 2200 RP (Starkville at 2800!). Perhaps next session will see some recruiting bullying take place off court in addition to the current on-court dominance. Happy Olmec'ing, and we look forward to the tourney & WGM upsets to come this weekend as the powers-that-be clash and somebody ends up as the power-that-was! May it not be you (well, not all of you, 'cause someone has to lose, but those of you who know which 'you' I'm you-whoing know who you are)!