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Post by pete1919 on Oct 12, 2015 7:39:54 GMT -5
Speaking of Courtney - any word on her injury ?
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Post by tillie1014 on Oct 12, 2015 8:04:42 GMT -5
Clearer and clearer means that the accumulation of the observations allows the coaching staff to see with greater clarity the source of the difficulties and formulate a solution. Seeing passer fail to raise their arms enough to control the pass can not be considered a fault of it occurs one time or even two times but if done repeatedly then you spot the problem. The most recent match which I did not see would be a very strong source of confirmation. Hence: clearer and clearer |
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Post by nyline on Oct 12, 2015 8:19:26 GMT -5
Clearer and clearer means that the accumulation of the observations allows the coaching staff to see with greater clarity the source of the difficulties and formulate a solution. Seeing passer fail to raise their arms enough to control the pass can not be considered a fault of it occurs one time or even two times but if done repeatedly then you spot the problem. The most recent match which I did not see would be a very strong source of confirmation. Hence: clearer and clearer I was teasing -- it was the part after "clearer and clearer" that I think got garbled. |
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Post by phillytom on Oct 12, 2015 8:37:49 GMT -5
I'm not really overly worried. Even last year we had some awful play and then found our stride the 2nd half of the B1G season. This is a very young team and maintain focus every time out , every point and over multiple games is NOT easy and is really only gained through experience. Only Megan Courtney is the one player who has played every point front row and back row. Kendall has only come in sporadically in her 3 years. Aiyana is only a finisher for 3 rotations. After that we have sophomores and Freshmen. I think we are going to be ok. I agree, no need to get too depressed. Especially if Courtney is out for a while, a Big Ten title may be out of reach, but they can at least try to get better each week and be a good team by the time the NCAA tournament starts. Courtney's injury is the main thing. PSU is probably not an elite team without her. But even if she's out for a while, it will force other players to step up, it will create playing time for people like Lee and maybe Reed and maybe some of the freshmen. It's not all bad. I feel bad for Courtney because she was looking like a NPOY candidate if the team could make the final four. But really that's an individual goal and that probably is not what Courtney is about anyway. I've been wondering about Frantti for a while. She's really been up and down this season, I've seen her show some more intelligence in the front row but I've also seen her look mentally out of it, and her back row play hasn't taken the step up that we hoped it would. But often talented players scuffle a little their sophomore year. McClendon really struggled at times as a soph as she was trying to develop her back row play. Ali is talented and hard working and I just believe the hard work will pay off, but this year may not be the year it all comes together. I didn't see the NW match but coming out flat on the road agains ta team you're supposed to beat is certainly not that out of the ordinary, it is a problem for lots of talented teams including PSU teams. RR talks all the time about how the B10's base level of play is so high, nobody can win games half-asleep any more. There isn't that much talent differential between a NW and a PSU these days -- so when NW plays a great match and PSU comes out flat, anything is possible. My sense is there are almost no off nights this year. Ohio State is super tough. Iowa is really improved. Heck, Maryland has talent and improving rapidly. Rutgers might be the only real off night left. Probably everybody else can beat you if you sleep walk. Regarding chaos, that is really not new either. They really struggled at times during the two non-championship seasons, and they looked pretty bad at times two seasons ago -- Hancock was learning quicks to the middle, Slay didn't have a lot of offensive chops, and Grant was really struggling before she put it together. To appreciate the greatness of these PSU teams you need to not get too down when they look bad -- all it's doing is exposing how hard it is to be great, how much work it takes to compete for championships. And a lot of teams have talent and work super hard and STILL can't get there. I was looking at Kevin Hambly the other night when PSU beat his team at Huff Hall. He just looked SO depressed. His team has terrific talent, they have experience, they have a wonderful freshman setter, and they had just lost three matches to Wisconsin, Minnesota and PSU (and now they made it 4 in a row to Ohio State). You know Hambly and his team work extremely hard and they have gone from very realistic hopes of winning the B10 to serious danger of not making the NCAA tournament. And Illnois is a really good looking team - they're just not quite good enough to beat the best in the B10 right now. The sport is just wildly competitive and the B10 -- this year looks like the most competitive it has ever been. I can't imagine the Pac10 even in its glory years was this good top to bottom. It's just exciting and you have to enjoy the ride. You know the PSU team aims to win championships every year, but for us fans, realistically that may not be in the cards this year. But every single B1G match is going to fun and exciting -- I just wish we could see more of them on TV/streaming. |
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Post by Onthebench on Oct 12, 2015 10:22:40 GMT -5
I wish I can be a optimistic as you. Without Courtney, it's not probably, but it's definitely that PSU can't be considered as a elite team in any sense. I know players develop and improve as they get more experience, but that's tru e for everyone. So, while our players get better, players on the other teams get better also. PSU has enough talent to be at the top, but whether their mental strength will come through is still up in the air IMO. Nonetheless, Courtney's presence will be a big factor in how far they can go.
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Post by scooter721 on Oct 12, 2015 12:32:08 GMT -5
Parity is becoming the norm for WVB programs all over the country. Just look at all the 'upsets' occurring weekly. We could argue what went wrong, and who should have done what. Northwestern played a very smart, aggressive, and energetic match. Their setter was very Micha-like, and did what she was supposed to do to achieve the best results her team could expect. She was definitely exceptional in all facets of her game that night. MVP of that match for sure. For Penn State, too many 'unforced' errors, over hitting, poor setting choices and execution, lack of mobility up front, and lack luster serving, were all factors in the loss. But those are always factors in a loss where one team is favored significantly over the other, only to lose. Watching the match against Northwestern was like watching Florida lose to Missouri. I bet you, Florida will be back in the tournament, and ultimately vie for a national championship by December. Mary Wise will try and 'figure it out', as will RR for us. Just so happened that we had too many of 'those factors' occur which cumulatively cost us that match. The girls played amazing at Illinois. The chemistry is there, waiting to happen. Hopefully, Megan is able to play. Her skills, leadership and organizational skills are superior. May I just add, I think Ali is doing a great job in the backcourt under the circumstances. Lots of youth and inexperience back there. When she is back there, the hitters in the front row are obviously the offense to set to. Frantti has been so valuable in so many ways. Great attitude and skill set, as well as a good learner. Most importantly, a great person! That's what Russ turns out...great people who can do great things in all aspects of their lives. Let's see how they keep learning and growing as a team. I, for one, am still very excited and encouraged by the team. I look forward to every 'next match', whether it's after a win or a loss!
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Post by psulion on Oct 12, 2015 13:18:06 GMT -5
We didn't look good in the passing department last night and I can take that loss and move on but possibly loosing Megan Courtney hit me harder. I really feel for her as I know what it feels like to get injured your Senior Season. I'm hoping it is not serious. Did anybody else notice that the up ref hesitated on every point before calling who won point? It was like he was afraid to make call himself and totally relied on down ref and line judges to make calls first. I'm not even going to get into the mass of bad calls from that match. Yes, I noticed that too. I thought it was odd. I also noticed the delay by the up ref in making the call. I've never seen anyone do that before. And the down ref made what seemed like some hideous calls on so-called 'touched' balls. |
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Post by bob2061 on Oct 12, 2015 17:45:49 GMT -5
To say we have terrific players is to live in denial. We have three terrific players this year and hey are being dragged down by their other teammates. You don't have to be an expert so see our passing and serving is inconsistent and our players are frequently out of position.
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Post by bob2061 on Oct 12, 2015 17:52:37 GMT -5
Parity is becoming the norm for WVB programs all over the country. Just look at all the 'upsets' occurring weekly. We could argue what went wrong, and who should have done what. Northwestern played a very smart, aggressive, and energetic match. Their setter was very Micha-like, and did what she was supposed to do to achieve the best results her team could expect. She was definitely exceptional in all facets of her game that night. MVP of that match for sure. For Penn State, too many 'unforced' errors, over hitting, poor setting choices and execution, lack of mobility up front, and lack luster serving, were all factors in the loss. But those are always factors in a loss where one team is favored significantly over the other, only to lose. Watching the match against Northwestern was like watching Florida lose to Missouri. I bet you, Florida will be back in the tournament, and ultimately vie for a national championship by December. Mary Wise will try and 'figure it out', as will RR for us. Just so happened that we had too many of 'those factors' occur which cumulatively cost us that match. The girls played amazing at Illinois. The chemistry is there, waiting to happen. Hopefully, Megan is able to play. Her skills, leadership and organizational skills are superior. May I just add, I think Ali is doing a great job in the backcourt under the circumstances. Lots of youth and inexperience back there. When she is back there, the hitters in the front row are obviously the offense to set to. Frantti has been so valuable in so many ways. Great attitude and skill set, as well as a good learner. Most importantly, a great person! That's what Russ turns out...great people who can do great things in all aspects of their lives. Let's see how they keep learning and growing as a team. I, for one, am still very excited and encouraged by the team. I look forward to every 'next match', whether it's after a win or a loss! Rose knows what the problems are and has informed the players, who are not executing properly. We have to hope the back row players can get better. |
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Post by cross5 on Oct 12, 2015 17:59:30 GMT -5
To say we have terrific players is to live in denial. We have three terrific players this year and hey are being dragged down by their other teammates. You don't have to be an expert so see our passing and serving is inconsistent and our players are frequently out of position. Maybe they should just play triples then. Whew. |
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Post by traveler on Oct 13, 2015 14:03:37 GMT -5
Clearly, Chan got his team so up for PSU, more so than v OSU. I watched the OSU match and Friday Abbott was a mere shadow of Saturday Abbott. I'm looking at this from the perspective of 'on any given day,' and how hard it is to be on top. i thought Lee seemed a bit better on Saturday, but still worried that our right-side blocking has seemed to fall off somewhat. i wonder if having Heidi back in can help on that count.
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Post by nyline on Oct 13, 2015 14:26:26 GMT -5
Clearly, Chan got his team so up for PSU, more so than v OSU. I watched the OSU match and Friday Abbott was a mere shadow of Saturday Abbott. I'm looking at this from the perspective of 'on any given day,' and how hard it is to be on top. i thought Lee seemed a bit better on Saturday, but still worried that our right-side blocking has seemed to fall off somewhat. i wonder if having Heidi back in can help on that count. Heidi certainly seemed to be a really good blocker, particularly earlier in the season. I would hope blocking improves, because offense will be worse. |
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snj
Sophomore
Posts: 67
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Post by snj on Oct 13, 2015 21:39:31 GMT -5
News on Megan?
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Post by nyline on Oct 14, 2015 6:50:45 GMT -5
I don't think Penn State can (under privacy laws) or will disclose any information. But we'll certainly have some general sense after Friday's warmups. |
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Post by scooter721 on Oct 14, 2015 7:28:19 GMT -5
Clearly, Chan got his team so up for PSU, more so than v OSU. I watched the OSU match and Friday Abbott was a mere shadow of Saturday Abbott. I'm looking at this from the perspective of 'on any given day,' and how hard it is to be on top. i thought Lee seemed a bit better on Saturday, but still worried that our right-side blocking has seemed to fall off somewhat. i wonder if having Heidi back in can help on that count. I agree, Heidi is a good lateral mover on the block with good hands. With the offense that we have available, the MB who is in for defense, Heidi, can get an occasional set, but isn't theoretically essential to scoring, given the outside hitting we possess...especially if Megan is able to back row attack. So perhaps erring on the side of defense is the way to go. Aiyana plays such a pivotal role as an opposite, that when proper sets are given her, she is dynamic, and really hard to defend. As a MB, she is great offensively...again, given the proper set. But overall, her blocking in the middle, compared to her offensive threat as an opposite, makes the argumnent for Heidi at MB and Aiyana at opposite, where she can hit from all front court positions at any given time. That adds the strength of Heidi's blocking while keeping a triple offensive threat in Aiyana. Another side note, I must applaud Carly for her very solid play during her brief time in the Illinois game. She seems quite stable and confident. Maybe it's time to try her in the DS role? |
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