Post by nyline on Oct 9, 2015 9:32:48 GMT -5
We've posted a Q&A with Club Coach. Here's the link: Q and A with Club Coach: On PSU’s Offense, Winning in the B1G, Communication vs. Leadership, Fearless Forecast
And here's an excerpt:
DigNittany: We’re speaking this week with Club Coach, who has coached numerous highly successful club and college women’s volleyball players.
Before we veer off into crazy-land questions, we want to stress that we do understand that Penn State is 14-1 this season, has only lost five sets all year, is hitting .302 as a team (which ranks 5th in NCAA D1) and is ranked #3 in the latest AVCA poll. So they’re doing OK. Well, better than OK.
Still, we can’t help but notice that the two starting outsides hitters – 6-2 Sr. Megan Courtney and 6-2 So. Ali Frantti – are both hitting .264, whereas in 2014, Courtney and Frantti hit .283 and .310, respectively, and the team hit .342 overall.
One obvious difference from 2014 to 2015 is that four-year starting setter Micha Hancock graduated — this is 6-0 RS Fr. Setter Bryanna Weiskircher’s first season playing at the collegiate level. In addition, Weiskircher does not yet appear to pose the offensive threat that Hancock did (announcers never tired of saying “Hancock is a hitter learning to be a setter.”)
Another difference is the graduation of 6-2 MB Nia Grant, who not only brought tough defense to the team, but also was a reliable offensive threat in her own right.
Whatever the relevance of those departures, the fact is that even with 6-3 So. MB Haleigh Washington’s .479 attack %, which leads NCAA D1, and even with 6-4 RS Sr. Aiyana Whitney’s .327 attack % through the first 15 matches – good for 13th in the B1G, the outside attack has struggled. Whether because of that, or for other reasons, for the past two matches Coach Rose has started 6-1 So. Simone Lee in place of 6-2 So. MB Heidi Thelen, with Whitney moving from RS to MB.
Your thoughts on the state of State’s offense?
Club Coach: Certainly anytime you lose a first team All-American at the setting position you are going to see some drop-off offensively. Attacking requires a lot of rhythm and timing between setter and attacker, and time is the only way to develop that.
What you don’t mention as potential factors in drop off is passing and defense. Nothing dictates good swings more than the first touch, and Penn State lost two pretty great, and underrated, players last year in Dom Gonzalez and Lacey Fuller. Having said all that, statistically the 2015 Nittany Lions are very good offensively relative to the top teams in the country. I anticipate them getting better in this area.
