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Post by ethankasales on Dec 3, 2019 21:33:54 GMT -5
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Post by ethankasales on Dec 3, 2019 23:36:46 GMT -5
I found this quote from Blossom to be particularly insightful:
“We have so many goals as a team. Playing for this program, you grew up watching them win Big Ten championships and national championships. That’s why me and I know all my teammates come here is for those moments. You know it’s going to be hard at some points, but you have those dreams in the back of your mind and you have teammates who you want to push through for, because I know I have teammates who go hard every single day. If they’re going hard for me, I want to go hard for them.”
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Post by stillkicking on Dec 4, 2019 5:50:10 GMT -5
As always, Thanks Ethan, Love Gabby's insight.
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Post by NittanyLions on Dec 4, 2019 7:54:19 GMT -5
I thought this quote from Russ was interesting:
“To be honest, I’m only looking at one match at a time, and that’s always been the way I do things. The second day’s opponents are totally different — the same as during the year with Big Ten opponents. I only prepare for one match at a time. We look at Friday’s match, and if we have an opportunity, we’ll then start talking about Saturday’s opponent on Saturday morning.”
I almost find it unbelievable that the coaching staff wouldn't be preparing for the Saturday match during the regular season or tournament.
Maybe that's why we lost the second game of the last weekend this year and last year.
We ended up beating the better team in both years, which happened to be the first match of the weekend.
Interesting.
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Post by seeyajohn on Dec 4, 2019 8:28:47 GMT -5
I found the comments about Tori meaningful. Her play during the second half of the B1G season was at a high level. Her improvement gives the team a solid outside hitter and that gives the team a chance in the tournament.
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Post by nyline on Dec 4, 2019 9:45:25 GMT -5
I thought this quote from Russ was interesting: “To be honest, I’m only looking at one match at a time, and that’s always been the way I do things. The second day’s opponents are totally different — the same as during the year with Big Ten opponents. I only prepare for one match at a time. We look at Friday’s match, and if we have an opportunity, we’ll then start talking about Saturday’s opponent on Saturday morning.” I almost find it unbelievable that the coaching staff wouldn't be preparing for the Saturday match during the regular season or tournament. Maybe that's why we lost the second game of the last weekend this year and last year. We ended up beating the better team in both years, which happened to be the first match of the weekend. Interesting. But the coaching staff doesn't really have a choice. To beat the first team, which is preparing only for Penn State because they then play Rutgers, Penn State needs to concentrate on that team. If they try to split things up, they may well end up simply diluting their message, confusing the players, and losing both matches. This year the second team, Minnesota, came in rested (Samedy didn't even play against Rutgers, I believe) and having prepped only for Penn State (I would assume). Penn State came off a very tough and emotional 5-set match against Wisconsin (just as they had come off a very tough and emotional 5-set win last year before losing to Wisconsin) and lost to a well-rested and prepped Minnesota. I think the culprit is being chained to Rutgers as a travel partner. Under different circumstances, I have no doubt that Coach Rose and staff would prepare differently. |
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Post by NittanyLions on Dec 4, 2019 15:38:48 GMT -5
I thought this quote from Russ was interesting: “To be honest, I’m only looking at one match at a time, and that’s always been the way I do things. The second day’s opponents are totally different — the same as during the year with Big Ten opponents. I only prepare for one match at a time. We look at Friday’s match, and if we have an opportunity, we’ll then start talking about Saturday’s opponent on Saturday morning.” I almost find it unbelievable that the coaching staff wouldn't be preparing for the Saturday match during the regular season or tournament. Maybe that's why we lost the second game of the last weekend this year and last year. We ended up beating the better team in both years, which happened to be the first match of the weekend. Interesting. But the coaching staff doesn't really have a choice. To beat the first team, which is preparing only for Penn State because they then play Rutgers, Penn State needs to concentrate on that team. If they try to split things up, they may well end up simply diluting their message, confusing the players, and losing both matches. This year the second team, Minnesota, came in rested (Samedy didn't even play against Rutgers, I believe) and having prepped only for Penn State (I would assume). Penn State came off a very tough and emotional 5-set match against Wisconsin (just as they had come off a very tough and emotional 5-set win last year before losing to Wisconsin) and lost to a well-rested and prepped Minnesota. I think the culprit is being chained to Rutgers as a travel partner. Under different circumstances, I have no doubt that Coach Rose and staff would prepare differently.
I'm not sure Rutgers plays into it. The way I understood coach's quote was that this is being done all year long and during the tournament (which is understandable, since it's one and done).
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Post by nyline on Dec 4, 2019 20:55:57 GMT -5
But the coaching staff doesn't really have a choice. To beat the first team, which is preparing only for Penn State because they then play Rutgers, Penn State needs to concentrate on that team. If they try to split things up, they may well end up simply diluting their message, confusing the players, and losing both matches. This year the second team, Minnesota, came in rested (Samedy didn't even play against Rutgers, I believe) and having prepped only for Penn State (I would assume). Penn State came off a very tough and emotional 5-set match against Wisconsin (just as they had come off a very tough and emotional 5-set win last year before losing to Wisconsin) and lost to a well-rested and prepped Minnesota. I think the culprit is being chained to Rutgers as a travel partner. Under different circumstances, I have no doubt that Coach Rose and staff would prepare differently.
I'm not sure Rutgers plays into it. The way I understood coach's quote was that this is being done all year long and during the tournament (which is understandable, since it's one and done).
Coach Rose has noted the challenge of having Rutgers as a travel partner, and specifically noted that other teams can practice for Penn state the entire week and essentially ignore Penn State. Plus, as I noted above, other teams can rest players against Rutgers. Does Rose ever blend in some focus on a team Penn State will play on a Saturday during the week? I'm going to guess he does -- sometimes. But I really don't know. What I do know is that Minnesota wasn't focused on until Saturday morning. And I think it was the right approach (and I am, after all, undefeated as a coach. Also winless as a coach.) |
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