Four Things We Learned from Week 1

I like less serving errors which I also noted during this weekend. One thing I saw was all three opposing teams where hitting the floor more than I'd like with the ball. Hope with more experience this changes soon. Also, I see our new setter getting more and more in tune with our hitters and will make a deadly combination. I also hope that our new MB (Tori Gorrell) is ready to play soon.

I think with experience comes quicker terminating since I have noticed that setting at times seems to be too far back for our hitters. I think in time the sets will get more in tune with what our hitters want and we will start to terminate quicker. One thing that I saw and liked was Bryanna was able to hold MB's in middle like Micha did due to her ability at dumping balls across net.

As of last week they are not ready imo for Stanford nor Colorado for that matter.  However, we do KNOW that many of these players have a very high ceiling and can and have gone there.  

I would expect a very tough week of practice and that has often led to incredible results.

Many of the weapons and roles are not clearly defined in the girls minds yet, and I would guess not in the coaches either.  That uncertainty leads to 2nd guessing and less efficiency.   That is NOT necessarily a bad thing though, especially at this stage of the season.  Defined roles too early can lead to the spare parts not working and corrosion with such a comparatively new team.

Weiskircher is clearly getting more comfortable and I'm sure the language and demeanor from the coaches toward her has changed too this week as she has clearly emerged as THE setter for now.   But with that comes a different level of expectations and pressures from the coaches and team.......one that I think Bryanna is excited to accept.

The back row defense and passing is for sure our biggest work in progress.  That machine is not oiled in the least bit and grinding gears compared to what we have been used to, but again for those 2 years we kind of knew what to expect from each player, there positioning and roles.   If we as fans knew it, the girls most certainly did too.  I would guess by the middle of B1G season we should have settled things down back there.

absolutely right on !    Hopefully the girls just play and don't think too much

Match 1 was generally awful.  We settled down in game 2 of  but dropped off in game 3   = expected rollercoaster

Match 2 started out great

Match 3 was a little hairy and Villanova got confidence quickly



Buffalo

TEAM ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct Sideout Pct

1 10 4 24 .250 11-19 57%

2 12 2 25 .400 10-12 83%

3 11 4 27 .259 10-17 58%

                     31-48 64%



StonyBrook

TEAM ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct Sideout Pct

1 17 2 28 .536 10-13 76%

2 10 1 26 .346 11-14 78%

3 12 3 29 .310 14-20 69%

                      35-47 74%



Villanova

TEAM ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct Sideout Pct

1 14 3 39 .282 13-20 64%

2 18 5 45 .289 18-24 75%

3 15 4 37 .297 14-21 66%

              280TA 45-65 69%

And that didn't look nor go so well if I remember correctly.     Thelen does not have to be an offensive threat to score points.   She moves and reads well and set her blocks up in a solid fashion.   that alone is enough to help the defense and channel a hitter.

I think we cannot forget what a weapon Aiyana is and can be for us this year.  Not sure that there is anyone who CAN do what she is capable of on the Right Side.  I hear you, but I think we should hold on that move for a bit.

However......in the line of Stanford......IF....IF our passing does really solidify running Whitney out of the middle along with Washington could be devastating if Lutz is not back.  

Other wise I would run a faster reverse flow set ,  and have our pin hitters hammer crosscourt all day as the Stanford middles will never close in time.

www.stanforddaily.com/2015/08/30/what-we-learned-from-stanford-womens-volleyball-in-week-one/

Week One:
Veterans will be veterans
As expected, a disproportionate number of Cardinal attacks came from their outside hitters: 53 percent of their attacks came from the outside, compared to just 46 percent last season. That worked in Stanford’s favor, as seniors Jordan Burgess and Brittany Howard impressed in both matches this weekend. Burgess hit .385 in the Cardinal’s first two matches, with 24 kills and four errors over 52 attacks combined, while Howard hit .340 (22-6-47) over the two matches.

Hayley Hodson is for real
The nation’s top recruit, opposite hitter Haley Hodson, looked like a veteran on the court this weekend for the Cardinal. (It’s no surprise considering the experience she has had with the U.S. Senior National Team and as a captain of a gold-medal-winning Junior National Team.) Hodson had 19 kills on 52 attacks combined over the two matches, and her numbers only figure to improve over the course of the season as she and Bugg get more comfortable together on the court. By the way, she also picked up five blocks against Minnesota on Sunday afternoon.
Hodson’s classmate, middle blocker Tami Alade — another of the six total freshmen on the team — filled in for junior Merete Lutz, who was out with a finger injury. While Alade had limited attacking opportunities, she showed her potential on defense, finishing with a match-high six blocks against Minnesota.
Lutz needed back at middle blocker for upcoming matches
It was odd seeing so few attacks coming from Stanford’s middles, as that has become their brand in recent seasons. Going into the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in State College, Pennsylvania next weekend, the Cardinal will certainly need Lutz back at middle blocker to reclaim some of the balance that has led to so much success in the past.

Lutz is back at practice and hopes to be ready in time for the matches against current No. 8 Illinois and a Final Four rematch against No. 1 Penn State.

It's true but you can view the cause and effect the other way as well. Part of the reason they're in extended rallies in the first place is suboptimal passing leading to suboptimal setting -- so even in system they're not terminating very well. Offense begins with passing and setting, and that part is almost all new hands touching the ball this year.

In fact they will probably have to play scrappy -- win those extended rallies, keep rallies alive until the other team errors, and win more points in transition because their sideout is poor (by PSU standards). That's where blocking becomes really important. Clearly one of the reason Thelen had a lot of blocks was rallies that never would have happened in the first place because a normal PSU offense would have put the points away sooner. And I hasten to add -- WILL put points away sooner as the offensive system starts to get its groove.

I think the big picture is -- considering you're starting a true freshman libero who first set foot on campus a few weeks ago,  and a setter who is getting her first real taste of college volleyball, none of this is unexpected.

They might have a pretty ugly match against Stanford, but that, too, would not necessarily be a reason to worry. 

We averaged 40 hitting attempts in a 3 game sweep of Villanova siding out at 69%

Last year against Wisconsin in that brutal 4 game regional match we average 38 hitting attempts siding out at 69%

The machine is NOT running cleanly but I really think we have the players to get to that position we all want to be in come December and most importantly we have the mechanic in Coach Rose who ain't afraid to get his hands dirty to get us up and running.