Match Preview - PSU at Illinois (Q&A with Talking Head)
Oct 28, 2017 12:34:56 GMT -5
treblejig, traveler, and 1 more like this
Post by nyline on Oct 28, 2017 12:34:56 GMT -5
We've posted a match preview Q&A with Talking Head. Click Here to read the entire post and TH's prediction. Here's an excerpt:
DigNittany: Before we get to Illinois, your thoughts on the Wisconsin match and overall thoughts on the team.
Talking Head: As Coach Rose said in the post-match press conference, it was a typical Big Ten battle. There were really no surprises: we were who we were, and they were who they were. Their strengths were in the middle, where they were effective, and their weaknesses were their inability to serve the ball in, and serve the ball tough, and struggles at the pins. Our strengths were Haleigh Washington, and Kendall White, and finding two other hitters, which we seem to do almost every match. In this case it probably wasn’t Simone Lee and Ali Frantti as much as it has been for most matches, but it certainly was Nia Reed and Heidi Thelen. I think its the general consensus of people who understand the physicality of the game — you need three hitters.
For Penn State, this season, Haleigh Washington has been one of those three — match-in and match-out. Go to this page on the Penn State site, and look at her statistics, match-by-match. She has been playing at a phenomenal level all season long. Without a doubt, it’s a testament to her teammates, and the coaches’ game plans, but the kid is dominating, and playing at a very high level in almost every skill — serving, blocking, moving left-to-right, and obviously offense. And she’s hitting well everywhere on the court. Her movement is much more fluid this year compared to last year. She is closing blocks, and is such a force on the court.
But back to my earlier point, we are who we are. We have a varied offense. Almost every match we have three players who step up on offense. Our serving is relentless, and we don’t make a lot of errors on our serve. Wisconsin, for example, has 181 service errors this season, with 67 aces (114 more errors than aces) compared to 121 service errors for Penn State, with 103 aces (18 more errors than aces). We don’t have a Micha Hancock (who does?) but we have servers who are putting our opponents in serious distress. And I’ve always said, there’s a definite correlation between your serving and your blocking and your passing. We’re blocking more balls this season, and even when we’re not blocking balls, we are contesting a ton of attacks and touching a ton of balls. And that’s giving us transition opportunities. I would say our ability to get teams out of system with our five or six servers is really, really high. They are hitting the ball really hard, and stressing the other teams.
Wisconsin hasn’t shown that ability, but they are able to hang with teams, and I consider them a good team, because they play hard. They are good at playing the overall game and playing to their strength, which is their middles.
DigNittany: Before we get to Illinois, your thoughts on the Wisconsin match and overall thoughts on the team.
Talking Head: As Coach Rose said in the post-match press conference, it was a typical Big Ten battle. There were really no surprises: we were who we were, and they were who they were. Their strengths were in the middle, where they were effective, and their weaknesses were their inability to serve the ball in, and serve the ball tough, and struggles at the pins. Our strengths were Haleigh Washington, and Kendall White, and finding two other hitters, which we seem to do almost every match. In this case it probably wasn’t Simone Lee and Ali Frantti as much as it has been for most matches, but it certainly was Nia Reed and Heidi Thelen. I think its the general consensus of people who understand the physicality of the game — you need three hitters.
For Penn State, this season, Haleigh Washington has been one of those three — match-in and match-out. Go to this page on the Penn State site, and look at her statistics, match-by-match. She has been playing at a phenomenal level all season long. Without a doubt, it’s a testament to her teammates, and the coaches’ game plans, but the kid is dominating, and playing at a very high level in almost every skill — serving, blocking, moving left-to-right, and obviously offense. And she’s hitting well everywhere on the court. Her movement is much more fluid this year compared to last year. She is closing blocks, and is such a force on the court.
But back to my earlier point, we are who we are. We have a varied offense. Almost every match we have three players who step up on offense. Our serving is relentless, and we don’t make a lot of errors on our serve. Wisconsin, for example, has 181 service errors this season, with 67 aces (114 more errors than aces) compared to 121 service errors for Penn State, with 103 aces (18 more errors than aces). We don’t have a Micha Hancock (who does?) but we have servers who are putting our opponents in serious distress. And I’ve always said, there’s a definite correlation between your serving and your blocking and your passing. We’re blocking more balls this season, and even when we’re not blocking balls, we are contesting a ton of attacks and touching a ton of balls. And that’s giving us transition opportunities. I would say our ability to get teams out of system with our five or six servers is really, really high. They are hitting the ball really hard, and stressing the other teams.
Wisconsin hasn’t shown that ability, but they are able to hang with teams, and I consider them a good team, because they play hard. They are good at playing the overall game and playing to their strength, which is their middles.