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Travel partners

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  • Travel partners

    For volleyball and womens basketball (and perhaps other sports, I don't know), the MVC utilizes pairs of "travel partners". For instance, in volleyball, team A would play at UNI on Friday night while team B plays at Drake, and then on Saturday night, team B would play at UNI with team A at Drake. And I believe WBB did something similar, with games on Friday and Sunday.

    For VB, the travel pairings (since Loyola joined) have been [distances are approximate]:
    UNI/Drake (123 miles between)
    Loyola/Bradley (172 miles)
    Illinois State/Indiana State (142 miles)
    SIU/Evansville (103 miles)
    Missouri State/Wichita State (249 miles)

    For WBB, it was the same UNI/Drake, SIU/UE, and MSU/WSU, but switching the others:
    Bradley/Illinois State (41 miles)
    Loyola/Indiana State (184 miles)

    I'm curious what the conference will do now with Wichita State leaving and Valparaiso joining. Valpo is close to a number of schools, but the problem becomes that no one is very close to Missouri State.

    Here is my guesses for the new travel partners:
    UNI/Drake (123 miles)
    Loyola/Valpo (60 miles)
    Bradley/Illinois State (41 miles)
    Evansville/Indiana State (111 miles)
    SIU/Missouri State (310 miles)

    That's a whopping 5 hr bus ride between SIU and MSU, but the Salukis are the closest conference-mate to the Bears now (next closest being Drake at 360 miles). Though this setup would reduce the distance for most of the other pairs down to under 2 hr bus trips (well, maybe slightly more than 2 hrs from UNI to Drake, but still not bad). And I know UNI vb usually flew for the MSU/WSU road trip instead of bussing, which I'd bet would continue for the Missouri State weekend, regardless of who they are paired with.

  • #2
    Re: Travel partners

    That will be interesting. I think your analysis is most likely going to be correct. However, you may want to look at it from a different perspective. UNI would only have to do one weekend of this extended travel while Missouri State will be doing these longer trips every travel weekend.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Travel partners

      Originally posted by panthergirl123 View Post
      However, you may want to look at it from a different perspective. UNI would only have to do one weekend of this extended travel while Missouri State will be doing these longer trips every travel weekend.
      That has always been the case (especially since Creighton left). But now they replace what would have been their travel weekend to Wichita (about 250 miles) with a trip to Carbondale (about 310 miles), and a longer trip to Valpo gets shuffled into the mix.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Travel partners

        I think they'll go:

        Drake/Missouri State
        UNI/Bradley
        Valpo/Loyola
        InSU/IlSU
        Evansville/SIU
        #MACtion

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Travel partners

          Originally posted by vbfan19 View Post
          That has always been the case (especially since Creighton left). But now they replace what would have been their travel weekend to Wichita (about 250 miles) with a trip to Carbondale (about 310 miles), and a longer trip to Valpo gets shuffled into the mix.
          I am just curious. How does this compare to other conferences? Are they utilizing a similar system? If so, is it a comparable amount of travel?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Travel partners

            I agree with BC's pairings, UNI was with Bradley and it would surprise me to see the conference pair MoSt with Drake.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Travel partners

              Would someone please remind me of the reason for travel partners? They don't actually travel together, do they? Is it about getting a pair of road games that are somewhat close together so they can be done on a single trip?

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Travel partners

                Originally posted by BCPanther View Post
                I think they'll go:

                Drake/Missouri State
                UNI/Bradley
                Valpo/Loyola
                InSU/IlSU
                Evansville/SIU
                Longer travel distances between partners, but it does keep more of the existing partnerships intact (and reinstates the previous UNI/Bradley partnership).

                volleyball-wise, MSU has always had the benefit of having a strong travel partner (at least for the past decade or two), while UNI's travel partner has tended to be rather non-competitive. Pairing MSU and SIU would be another pair of strong travel partners, where as pairing them with Drake would seem to balance things out more.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Travel partners

                  Originally posted by UNIdad View Post
                  Would someone please remind me of the reason for travel partners? They don't actually travel together, do they? Is it about getting a pair of road games that are somewhat close together so they can be done on a single trip?
                  Yes, it is your latter reason. The travel partner system, and the Fri/Sat scheduling for volleyball (and Fri/Sun for WBB) is to facilitate teams getting two games/matches in on one road trip.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Travel partners

                    Originally posted by vbfan19 View Post
                    Yes, it is your latter reason. The travel partner system, and the Fri/Sat scheduling for volleyball (and Fri/Sun for WBB) is to facilitate teams getting two games/matches in on one road trip.
                    Let's not forget one other reason: To save money for the athletic programs.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Travel partners

                      Why not add two more teams to the league. Both UMKC and Omaha applied for the Valpo addition. Bring them into the league would even up the distances. UMKC partnered with Mo State and Omaha teamed with Drake. I know UNI would them be partnered with either Loyola or Bradley. The other one would be paired with an in-state team. The distances would be shortened and there might even have added some killer rivalries.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Travel partners

                        Originally posted by 907uni View Post
                        Why not add two more teams to the league. Both UMKC and Omaha applied for the Valpo addition. Bring them into the league would even up the distances. UMKC partnered with Mo State and Omaha teamed with Drake. I know UNI would them be partnered with either Loyola or Bradley. The other one would be paired with an in-state team. The distances would be shortened and there might even have added some killer rivalries.
                        I really don't think that you will see both added, I could see Omaha, but probably not UMKC. I do wonder if MoSt will look to leave now that they are out on an island in conference.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Travel partners

                          Originally posted by 907uni View Post
                          Why not add two more teams to the league. Both UMKC and Omaha applied for the Valpo addition. Bring them into the league would even up the distances. UMKC partnered with Mo State and Omaha teamed with Drake. I know UNI would them be partnered with either Loyola or Bradley. The other one would be paired with an in-state team. The distances would be shortened and there might even have added some killer rivalries.
                          No.

                          I would rather UNI be independent in all sports than vote to be in a league with both UMKC and UNO. There aren't enough emojis in the world to describe that

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Travel partners

                            Originally posted by vbfan19 View Post
                            Here is my guesses for the new travel partners:
                            UNI/Drake (123 miles)
                            Loyola/Valpo (60 miles)
                            Bradley/Illinois State (41 miles)
                            Evansville/Indiana State (111 miles)
                            SIU/Missouri State (310 miles)
                            Those are the travel partners that the MVC ended up with.
                            And in a funny coincidence, other than the Drake match, this is the order in which UNI volleyball will take on the first round of conference opponents (at least pair wise)
                            @Valpo, @Loyola
                            Bradley, ILS
                            @INS, @Evansville
                            SIU, MSU
                            Drake

                            You can see the full VB schedule here:
                            The University of Northern Iowa volleyball team will play host to 10 home matches in the 2017 season. The Panthers will be looking to earn their third straig...

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Travel partners

                              Originally posted by vbfan19 View Post
                              Those are the travel partners that the MVC ended up with.
                              And in a funny coincidence, other than the Drake match, this is the order in which UNI volleyball will take on the first round of conference opponents (at least pair wise)
                              @Valpo, @Loyola
                              Bradley, ILS
                              @INS, @Evansville
                              SIU, MSU
                              Drake

                              You can see the full VB schedule here:
                              http://unipanthers.com/news/2017/6/6...ome-dates.aspx
                              What about preliminary thoughts about the volleyball schedule? Obviously, this is all speculation but still an interesting topic to discuss.

                              Comment

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