The resumes for the WGM semis are impressive.

Top remaining seed Pekin. Best current T7. 7 time Big East champ. Former Nat'l Champ. And in the WGM? First time ever making it past the Sweet 16!  Really!

Who is their challenger? St. Charles. Lowest remaining seed (#15), yet a 4-time Nat'l Champ and has a boneyard of upset tourney wins over the years.  In the WGM?  4-time semis, twice in the finals, yet never won!

On the other side of the bracket, it's the #12 seed Starkville Bloodhounds, and their #2 T7 rating, winner of 8 of their last 10 matches (tossing two road non-conf matches for freshmen XP), prior Nat'l Champ, and in the WGM? 2nd time in the semis, never made the final!

And our 4th competitor, dark horse #8 seed, mid-tables T7, and the only team with a prior WGM trophy (season 5), it's the Squirrels! Despite being at home, they'll be the under-rodent on their own turf if the 'Hounds bring the T7.

It's that kind of topsy-turvy, squirrelly season all around as pass the mid-season 18 point and recap session 6!  Hide the women, children, and any fans of the Kentucky Kittens this session, as we're back with the BUM Report!

We'll start with Blowouts as typical, and with two non-conference matches and the conference tourney at play, we knew we would not be disappointed!  There's always teams out there that say, "It's a road non-conference, which means No Contest!" Others say, "We're the 7 or 8 seed in the tourney for good reason. Let's play for more sets and a possible win in the non-cons."  It's a rarer team that says, "We're going all-out elsewhere, so let's throw the home matches and keep 'em all guessing!"  We're watching out for all of it here at BUM HQ, and we'll start with a peek into the here and there habits of the elusive Shrimp of San Jose.  Match 18, non-conf, and Vick was at home playing a top line (90) in anticipation of Eduard being able to bring the second-best T7 in the league should the 'Hounds so desire. Eduard, meanwhile, was playing as the #1 conf tourney seed and also going for a road upset against familiar SEC foe Nashville in the WGM quarterfinals, so there was little from the A-team available to match the redeye to the west coast.  The pups went instead (road 69), and fared as expected. It started bad, and improved only slightly as the match went on, with the Crusty Crew taking them down 13-25, 14-25, 18-25, for a combined +30 blowout, good for #4 on the week!  Why start with a #4 and throw off the usual top 3? Because we're feeling a little squirrelly as well, and to highlight the hither-thither effect that non-conf play has on the league!

We'll stay with San Jose, who in match 17, non-conf, went on the road to Portland. Wanting to bring a top line in the conference tourney, Vick's Aquatic Appetizers were served up with cocktail sauce on a tray road-rated at 61, a far cry from the top line. The Flanneled Fellsmen left nothing to chance, viewing this chance for a win and three more CP for use in further honing the top lines. Home 91. The resulting +30 rating difference was just outdone by the final score, as Vick ends up on both ends of a blowout this session, and Antoine fells another top 10 team with a tally of 13-25, 19-25, 12-25, saving the best set for last, and a resulting +31 total blowout, good for #3 on the weekend (tied)!

Who did they tie? Another PAC 8 staple, this time from match 19, the conference tourney openers.  Tucson, the 4-seed, was hosting San Diego, the 5-seed. Perhaps Matt was banking on another massive upset. Perhaps he took a look at the Spiny Spikers' top line and figured sets were easier to spear in the non-conference matches. Whatever the reasoning, the away team's 67 was no match for the home team's 83, and the resulting 12-25, 17-25, 15-25 were fairly earned by Amy's Armed Arid-Grown Army, and thus the tie for #3 on the weekend with the +31 Blowout!

We're also keeping eyes on the apparent competition that Max and Phil have going for who can play the weakest lineups this season. Currently, they hold the 3 spots for the lowest road-rated teams, and now they have claimed all three for home ratings as well! This session saw Phil play a home 53 in match 18, hosting T-Town and the Twisters in non-conference play, good for the 2nd-lowest home rating this season, and the lowest rating we've seen since the opening match (Max played a 46 in that one)! Despite that low mark, the Twisters were wound up elsewhere for the home non-con and the conference tourney, also a home match, against the hated Anglerfish, so it was the Dust Devils at play in the desert around Carlsbad, and that one didn't end in an upset or blowout.  In match 17 though, it was the Chameleons @ St. Charles! Phil v Max! And Max played a home 55 to take the #3 lowest home rating to pair with his existing #1. Phil though? It looks like we missed our chance to see the utter best Pillow Fight of the Season in this one, as instead of rolling out a 50-something road team, Phil played his stronger team in the road non-con match, and dropped a 79 instead! Oh the humanity as we were looking forward to the first match in the BUM annals where we might see more hitting errors than kills! But no, it was not so. Instead, we saw more utter blocking futility, as the Straw-Stuffed Stickmen managed 0 blocks on the day, though avoiding blocking errors so they didn't tie Phil's Wombat Award set last session, and paired that with sub-.850 serving to gift the Chameleons with multiple points, ending up losing 25-13, 25-12, 25-17 at home, a combined +33 Blowout, our #2 of the session!

You might be asking, was the combined 134 (79 road, 55 home) the worst-rated match of the weekend? It was not! Not even close! That honor belonged to St. Charles anyway though, as Max played a road-51 in match 18, against the Olmec-led Mushrooms (home 63), as both teams played their T7 in the conference tourney and the WGM matches they were in. That combined 114 rating was the not just the lowest of the session, earning the opposite-of-coveted The Opposite of Trying (TOoT) Award for the Session, it was also our second-lowest of the season! So, um, good job keeping the bar set really, really low, Max!

And in our top Blowout spot, we ramble into Baton Rouge, where Ol' Red Stick and the Fightin' Fern Fruit were hosting the Kentucky Kittens in the conference tourney. Matt didn't like the road chances here, and the road 64 showed the lack of faith in a T7-fueled upset. Mike didn't leave much to chance, and played a home 80. Though the +16 rating was far from the top difference this session (that belonged to a +36 with Merritt Island's 57 @ Starkville's 93 in the 8 v 1 SEC tourney match), sometimes the mid-range matches give us the nuttiest results. This one started poor and got worse for the Blue Grass Felines, 17-25, then 13-25, and capping at 11-25 for a combined +34 Blowout, our #1 of the Session! Congrats, Mike H and the BananaramaMen!  .056 hitting and .803 receiving told the tale in this one, as the Panthers couldn't receive, set, or hit well. They did manage 18 digs though, with L Rusticus staying busy all match, and the lone bright spot apart from OH Carbonera's 12 kills (more than the rest of the team combined). Baton Rouge meanwhile tallied 20 blocks on the match, and hit a blistering .929 (13 kills on 14 attacks, no errors) in set 3! Someone, somewhere is really hoping that their hitting cools off before their next SEC tourney match!

In the world of TMVL Upsets, few teams have as lousy luck as Rob and the Anglerfish. Since season 9, when all things BUM-related started to be documented for your reading (dis)pleasures, only Nashville and San Jose are in the same ballpark for fewest team upsets, and by ballpark we mean the back loading docks where all the post-game refuse dumpsters and rain-soaked cardboard recycling containers sit and exude a scent that only the Mushrooms could love. Antioch had as many upsets (6) in season 15 as did in seasons 9-14 and 16-17 combined, and has led the league since season 9 for most 0-upset seasons. So any upset by Antioch is worth a mention for the BUM faithful! Match 18, non-conference, and the 'Fish (road 75) were facing the fearsome furry foes of Santa Clara, where the Purse-Carried Pooches played a home 76. Set 1 was at tight as the ratings, with near-even kills (15 v 14), equal errors (5 each), and a final 25-23 tally for the road team. Rob doubled-down in set 2, taking it 25-21 behind some timely digs and the match-leading heroics of MB Tomanek (perfect 8-for-8 hitting on the day). In set 3 though? Would the 'Fish dry out on land and let Martyn's AnkleBiters back into this one? No! It was the the opposite as Antioch rolled on solid hitting and Santa Clara fell apart (10 kills to 8 errors) and a final 25-15, so it wasn't just a minor upset for Antioch, it was a -1 Upset Sweep and Rob's first upset of the season! Congrats on breaking the Goose Egg this year!

In other narrow margins, we turn to the WGM matches, where not one but two of the quarterfinal matches were small upsets! First, Spokane was a slight road favorite over this season's blessed Bunch of Buck-Teethed, Bushy-Tailed Nutmunchers (88 v 87). It was back-and-forth in the early sets, swapping runs and ending up 2-2 and rolling into set 5 between these familiar Big East foes. Set 5 remained tight, with nothing past a 3-point lead all match, and we pick it up at match point #1 for Schenectady, 14-15, where the Hirsute Hitters kept things alive on a textbook bump-set-spike to force extra points all around! With a chance to take the lead, it was a 'Squatch service error, only for the Squirrels to return the favor with their own on match point #2! 16-16 and we saw a back-and-forth on kills in every point, with Spokane never getting the lead and fighting off three more match points before Brian's Arboreal Rodents served at 19-20 for match point #6. Despite a good pass, the Spokane setter flubbed the relay and set it too short of MB Sachs' approach! Havng to adjust mid-air, Sachs avoided the block yet hit it out! Hitting error to end the match and Spokane's WGM run, as the Squirrels took the 19-21 set 5, our second-highest of the season, and the -1 upset in the WGM! Congrats, Brian!

On the other end of the bracket, we saw Max and Scarecrows play their lesser 7 in the non-conference matches, so they could field the top 7 here. Road 85 at the upstart Mendon Mushroom's Compost Pile, where a home 87 awaited them. Max took the first set fairly easily, 25-18, before the home team started heating up and hitting well. Set 2 went to extra point, 28-26, before the Scarecrows finally got the winner! Now, with a possible sweep on the line, Mendon had to fight off multiple match points to eventually win in extra points again, this time 32-34, our highest-scoring set so far this season! As set 4 rolled on, it stayed close and left it to extra points again, though this time St. Charles didn't let Mendon hang around for long and rally again, closing it out 27-25 for a 4-set -2 Upset win, with three sets in extra points for a barn-burner of a WGM match! Congrats, Max, on the #3 Blowout of the Session!

Also, Max, not-congrats on the #2 Upset, as you were on the receiving end! As this happened at the hands of an Olmec-led team, we'll recap quickly as there's no manager to bask in the retelling of team glory to the flavor of frosty and/or foamy delights best served in mugs and flagons near flame-filled hearths in the midst of battle-born brothers, as the best tales are always told! Instead, we shall ntoe that Max made a resilient effort in the BIG 8 conference tourney, despite being the road 5 seed to Arlington's 4, and the road 85-rating topped out on the Vermiligua's home 82.  At least two sets went to extra points, including a 29-31 set 2, though it was for little final effort as Arlington claimed the -3 Upset Sweep, tying our second-highest upset sweep of the season!

In the top mark this session, we once again look to the Towering Trees of eastern New York, near the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, where the Squirrels chatter at the hated passing cats and throw acorns and cones to taunt the thin-tailed predators. The Panthers of Kentucky were not spared from the high-pitched mockery, and though clawed cats can climb trees, they can also fall from them! Match 17, non-conference play, and Kentucky (road 77) found itself in Beerman's Nuthouse (home 73). Olmec often laughs at such small margins, and the opening set was a clear example, as the home team rolled relatively unchallenged to a 17-25 win despite having fewer kills in the set (11 v 13) and needing to take advantage of multiple Kitty hitting errors and serve errors (11 on the match). Despite Kentucky's MB Grimes trying to pull the rest of the team along, to the tune of a match-high 9.52 rating on 9 kills and 6 blocks, the Panthers got 'oh so close' yet couldn't pull out set 2, losing 24-26 and then mirroring the result in set 3, 24-26 again! The Squirrels take the #1 Upset of the Week, and tie the #1 Upset Sweep of the Season at -4!  Congrats to Brian yet again!

Can the Nutmunchers pull out yet another BUM-worthy result and take down the favored 'Hounds in the WGM semis? Will their 8-2 streak fall apart in the face of road matches including the feared #1 seed BullyFrogs in the Big East Tourney? Can anyone say what might happen when Olmec has chosen a team to be the Hand of Fate in a given season? Not us! We only watch and report back what Ol' Stone Face does for our pasttime pleasures!

Speaking of observations, here a few nuggets for the More department before we sign off on the weekend! Sheboygan had a crowd favorite Stevie T Special, the reverse blowout, winning match 18 over Arlington despite being outscored by 2 points overall (thanks to a 10-point set 4 loss). Certain teams of note keep pushing the envelope of top ratings as the season rolls on, notably Quincy (road 88 in the conf tourney), Spokane (road 88 in the WGM), and a road 91 by Starkville in the WGM!  All those efforts were met by top teams in response though, and the home teams certainly are looking fierce in T7 clashes: Porkopolis 92 (conf tourney), Starkville and Columbia 93 (same), and Pekin dropping a pair of 96-rated lineups (conf tourney & WGM)!  The Quincy (88) and Pekin (96) conference tourney match featured our highest-rated match to date, with a combined 184 rating, 70 points higher than the match 18 non-conference TOoT of the session, nearly an entire lineup's worth of talent for many of us!  We here at the BUM Report don't fear the mighty though, we watch in earnest to see them topple when least expected!  By this time next week, we might well have a WGM final with two teams seeking first-time wins, or could have a team looking to make it a perfect 2-0 when advancing past the quarterfinals! Only time and Olmec will tell, and you can read it all in recap in next week's BUM Report! Until then, happy hitting and hiding from the current T7 tyrants, our Vegetable OverFlora from Pekin!