Welcome back to the BUM Report for session 10!  Last session, we were close to OlmefCon 4 and full panic mode as we made it through four of the five matches with no upsets.  This session?  We had upsets in four of the five matches!  Nine total upsets!  Only the National Tourney games ended up with the 'mightier' team winning each match in the Quarterfinals.  The Powers That Be brought the A-game as a whopping six of the eight teams brought 90+ rated lineups!  And yet, as our faithful readers know, such mighty and predictable happenings are the opposite of what we live for here at the BUM Report, where we wax poetic and daydream merrily of futility and unpredictability, where 18-rated hitters slam spikes into the 3rd row of spectators and 17-rated servers routinely knock over the Gatorade cups (quite possibly rattled by fear of a certain unnamed manager screaming "Foot Fault!" at them when they're still in their jump serve walkup).  So, instead, we highlight Olmec's BUM-Loving Angels this week, our fateful trio of teams that exceeded all expectations of filling the BUM Report with material for the week.  In fact, these three brought such quality (and big hair) programming to our column that all of you who pulled off or suffered upsets at -4 or under don't even get a mention this week (Well, maybe just one. The upset in the TMVL Cup Elite 8, at -3, by Pierre, because: Hi, John!).

We also had a whole lot of crazy match results and fun sets to watch finish out, as a whopping 16 of the 40 matches ended up with at least one set in extra points!  We had 4 matches end with a 5th set going to at least 16. Those were match 34, conference, Ankle Biters @ Needletown; two of our top three upsets of the week, and match 35, TMVL Cup Elite 8, Fighting Fungi vs. the Blood Suckers, which was our top set 5 at a 15-17 final set to close out the -3 upset by Pierre (oh, sorry, we weren't going to mention that one again. Our bad).  Not be outdone by just a few extra points, we had three additional matches end with two sets with extra points!  Match 34, conference, Quincy @ Ames (26-28 set 2, 29-27 set 4 for the Rabbids to finish off Colin's Thistles for the 3-1 road win).  Then in the TMVL Cup Quarterfinals, match 35, Dallas and Porkopolis went at it, with Craig gamely pushing James to a 5th set while along the way pushing set 3 to 26-28 and taking set 4 27-25 before finally breaking the 2-point win pattern and falling 10-15 to the Hogs. That match gave us 227 combined points, the highest total of the session and tied for third-highest of the season!  Meanwhile Kentucky pulled a minor upset in the Shield while also winning two extra-point sets over the Rats in sets two (29-31) and three (26-28) as the Kittens showed some claws and reminded us all that Cats eat Rats, not the other way around.

Not enough bonus points for you?  Us either!  We cap it off in the Holyoke Quarterfinals, where Trash Pandas gave the aforementioned Rats all they could handle as Kelsey's nocturnal dumpster divers sidled off with set 1 29-27 before pushing N'Orleans out to 28-30 in set 2 and 30-32 in set 3 of the eventual four-set Rat win.  Three sets into extra points, and the combined 221 points through four sets is the highest of the season so far!

Speaking of extra points in a set, we also had a tie for the highest set total of the season!  Match 35, TMVL Cup, consolation bracket.  Both Nashville and Albuquerque had other matches where their top lines went to play.  This one featured few (if any?) of those players.  Even among the 8 teams bounced to the consolations from last round, Kelsey's 66 was the lowest rated team, and Roy's 68 was tied for 2nd-lowest. It's hard to find another match where both managers cared less.  Olmec saw fit to give us a rousing first set anyway!  The set was tight the whole way, with exactly one serve coming when a team was up by three points (20-17 Nashville) and staying within 2 points the rest of the way.  The Firefoxes served for set point 5 different times. The Trash Pandas served for set point 7 different times, with the last one finally ending with the elusive dig/kill needed to finish off the set.  Apparently exhausted by the effort (or perhaps this was an afternoon match during their regular nap schedule), Kelsey's 'Coons put up only moderate resistance the rest of the match, dropping the next three sets to lose 3-1 overall, as Roy won a consolation match he wasn't trying to win along with the conference and Nat'l Tourney games we can only assume he was trying to win by dropping 93-rated teams in those matches.  The combined 134 ratings for this one were the lowest of the session however, so that means the opposite of congratulations to Roy and Kelsey for The Opposite of Trying Match of the Week (even if set 1 does tie the current season high for points in one set)!

With those aperitifs out of the way, we can now move on to the main course, starting with our Blowouts of the Week.  As far as record-shaking matches go, we lacked those this session, yet still had a few clashes of note. Starting in conference play, match 34, St. Charles @ Arlington.  The Vermilingua have highlighted our column before, and should not be toyed with as they tend to play at a high level when there is small prey before them.  The Gourdheads must have missed that warning because they mustered all of a mighty 68 for this match, while Arlington posted an 82-rated team as of first serve.  It wasn't close, ending 17-25 in set 1, then even more lopsided in set 2 as it ended 13-25.  With the Blowout of the Week in sight though, Arlington's "Don't Call Us Aardvarks" let up allowed Max's stuffed shirts to get to 21 before ending the 3-set sweep at a combined +24 pts for David, our #3 Blowout of the Week!

At #2, we stay in conference play, drifting east to where Spokane was rated just one point higher than Sheboygan, despite being on the road.  The Bats best were being held for the Cup clash to come, and the 'Squatch took advantage.  Sets 1 and 2 both ended in 25-18 for the Camera-Shy Clan.  Then they must have heard what Arlington was doing and upped their game in set 3, holding the Blood Suckers to 14 points along the way to a combined +25 pt #2 Blowout of the Week for Jason!

And at #1 we move to match 35, TMVL Cup consolation matches.  Alton was taking flight in the conference match (90 on the road vs. Manitowoc) and in the National Tourney (90 on neutral court vs. Quincy).  They no longer cared about the Cup clash, rolling out a team of fledglings, one still half in the shell, we're pretty sure, at a 68-rating average.  Max and the Scarecrows, having played their 68-rated team in the conference match earlier, played an 82-rated squad.  The Gourdheads were all over the Eaglets early, 16-25 in set 1.  Set 2 was little better as the Birdbrains were clearly unnerved by the Scarecrows, 17-25.  Having seen enough, James may have thrown in the towel early and just let St. Charles serve out the final few points to an empty court, as Max's lads finished it with a 13-25 in set 3 for a final +29 tally and our Blowout of the Week!  Congrats, Max!

We thought we were going to have a 30+ blowout when we opened up match 34, Dallas @ Pekin, and saw Craig only bring a 69-rated team to Roger's 90-rated home party. The +21 ratings difference was our highest of the session. And then, somehow, someway only a tactical genius could pull off and understand, the Pound Puppies took set 1, 25-16!  After that, one of two things happened: A) Craig got bored from showing off how to beat Roger, and took a nap; or B) Roger's Pod People had been the ones napping in set 1, and then woke up and started playing. We'll let you decide. In either case, it was Pekin the rest of the way (18-25, 16-25, 18-25), yet not a sweep and not even close to a top blowout regardless. We're really going to need some better effort from the Podlings if they're going to stay in our image rotation here at the BUM Report.  Being #1 in the league isn't anywhere close to being #1 in the BUM Report!

And now on to the Upsets!  As noted above, we had a double-handful of minor upsets, so we're highlighting just one of those from the Holyoke Quarterfinals: Starkville v St. Charles.  The Bloodhounds are not having their best season, and may be in the running for 'worst luck of the year,' with this match again highlighting their woes.  Eduard's Hounds brought an 85-rated team to play, which was the 2nd-highest-rated team of the session in the Holyoke matches.  They were +3 on Max's 'Crows, at 82.  They were never in it.  18-25 in set 1, as Starkville led at 1-0 and then trailed by as many as 5 the rest of the set, until 18-22 when St. Charles finished with a 3-pt run.  21-25 in set 2 wasn't much better, though the 'Hounds at least led a few points along the way, last at 11-10. And then set 3 was a repeat of set 1, with St. Charles letting Starkville keep it close up to 10 points, then going on mini-runs of 3-4 for every 'Hound point, and ending it 18-25 over the odds-favored team, and Max pulls off not just our Blowout of the Week, yet also our only Upset Sweep of the Week (-3)! We're really hoping not to say the same next week, for absolutely biased reasons based on who they're playing in the Holyoke semis.

In TMVL Shield play, match 35, we had a match between title contenders in this round, as the Spokane 'Squatch (84) squared off against the Bullyfrogs (79).  Set 1 went to form as Jason's Mythical Man-things handily jigged the 'Frogs 25-16. In set 2, the 'Squatch led at 14-13 and had it tied at 20-20, only to let their squirmy and slimy opponents slip away and Burlington took set 2, 23-25.  Burlington then used back-to-back Keane aces to take control of set 3, and leave Spokane floundering in the teens at 19-25.  Not to be outdone, Spokane rallied back in set 4, working past a tie at 12-12 to expand their lead to 20-17, then scoring the last five points to take the set 25-17, as Burlington's MB Prefect had two hitting errors followed by Spokane's Walsh serving three straight aces to finish the set!  All that led to a set 5 where Aires' Amphibians led by as many as three early (6-9 and 9-12), only to see Jason's side rally and take a lead at 13-12! It was defense and tool kills the rest of the way, as Aires tied it up, and then survived a match point at 14-13 with a tool kill, block, and then Prefect redeemed himself at match point with the kill to win set 5 16-14 for Burlington and give Aires the #3 Upset of the Week (-5)! Along the way, Aires also pulled off another feat, as their two lost sets (25-16, 25-17) outpaced the three sets they won (23-25, 19-25, 14-16) and the Bullfrogs won despite being outscored by 7 combined points in the match! How often does this happen, you ask? It's the most this season, with prior high being -5 (Mat-Su's 5-set win over Albuquerque back in match 19, conference tourney), and teams hitting or topping a -7 victory only five times all of last season. That's BUM-worthy play by Aires, with a skinny victory fitting one of Olmec's Angels, so congrats again to fAires Fawcett and the Bullyfrogs!

At #2 for our Upsets this past weekend, we had a consolation round matchup in the Shield, with Carlsabd (75) playing the Shrimp (69) on neutral court, match 36. Vick's attention was elsewhere, trying to topple the powerful Pod People in the National Tourney (where San Jose brought a 91, only to lose to Roger's 93-rated team, with their combined 184-ratings easily our highest neural court match of the season so far!).  Here though, it appeared the odd-eyed ones would tongue-flick their way to victory, and coasting to 25-22 and 25-17 early set wins.  Set 3 saw the Shrimp come back to win 21-25, and then a total comedy (or tragedy) of errors saw Team Hypercolor hit a woeful .036 (28 attempts, 10 kills, 9 errors) in set 4 to crash down to a final set score of 11-25, matching our lowest set points of the session at 11 (tied with Starkville's set 4 effort in their -16 rated road match at T-Town). Set 5 was slightly better, and they outhit the Shrimp .250 to .222 in the final set.  This match was all about defense though, as the teams combined for an astounding 81 digs and 47 blocks! With Carlsbad leading 12-10 in set 5, San Jose pulled out a 5-pt run to finish it 15-12, with two aces by Booth and a fitting dig/kill for match point as Vicklyn Smith posed pretty in the Consolation rounds with the -6 Upset, #2 on the weekend!

And at #1 for the session, we rewind to conference play, match 34, and again we feature the Chameleons! We have no idea what Phil did to anger Olmec this session, yet he was clearly Unfriended for the weekend, having suffered the #2 upset and now returning to the column despite posting an 85-rated team at home versus Denali! Andy's Angry Ones were saving their best effort for the Cup quarterfinals, as Denali actually put out the highest-rated team of the Cup's third round at 89. The Wolf Pups played here, and must have eaten their Puppy Chow before the match, or else got really, really angry at something Phil said!  Set 1 was all Denali, at 25-19, only to see Phil counter and take set 2 by the same score.  Set 3 and Denali took it up a notch, finishing the Mood Ringed Men at 25-17.  Again, the Chameleons morphed color and strategy and rallied, 20-25 in set 4.  Then in set 5, it was all Wolves early, at 6-1 and 8-4.  Carlsbad then pulled off a crazy-good run of 6 straight points to pull in front, 10-8!  They traded points to 14-12, Carlsbad, who served for match point, only for Denali to get a tool kill and the serve. Carlsbad's return so they have the advantage at match point 14-13? Nope. Ace.  14-14 and Denali gets a dig/kill and watched with glee as the Chameleon's hit the match point out, as Denali responded to Phil's run by scoring the last four points of the match and pulling off the -9 Upset of the Week (and good for #3 on the season-to-date!) by kAndy Jackson, finishing out our triumvirate of Olmec's Angels for the Upsets of the Week!

Tracking our power players still in the hunt for hardware, we're looking forward to the National Semis! Alton (90), Columbia (91), Nashville (93) and Pekin (93) are our Final Four, so congrats to those managers! Pekin, Memphis, Denali, and Cinci are still alive in Cup play.  And if you're looking for easy conference matches, avoid Alton (road 90), San Jose (road 91) and Nashville (road 93!), who all put out nasty numbers in total disrespect of the respective home teams on what for some were senior nights, with their last home game of the season.

Until next session, happy match-planning and we look forward to heaps of futility in our next session's report as well! Comment below on what we missed or your own personal BUM-worthy match events, as we always appreciate the comments from our faithful follower(s?)!