Match Thread - PSU @ Wisconsin: Fri. 9-30-2022 9 p.m. ET

I was multitasking and didn't see it all. But Markely looked ready to face the moment...except for at the service line, like too many others. Morioka OTOH...icewater in her veins!

And all things considered, I'm happier with this loss than the one v MI.

Nice to see Ka$h go off, but we need another pin bringing some offense.

Went back and looked at the serve receive of PSU for the first 2 sets. The first set looked decent not great. Mostly were 2 or 3 pt receives. The 2nd set was pretty bad. It seemed that at least half of the serve receives in the 2nd set were under 2. The connection between Leisa and the middles is a bit tenuous. Trammell and Starck had no kills in the match. Allie hit .286, 8-2-21. Decent, but not great. It shows what most of us expected; Trammell is a good defensive middle and a so-so offensive middle. One announcer made the comment that the other team knew that PSU would only go to the middles on a perfect pass.

As far as the rest of the hitters, Kash was outstanding, hitting .419, 17-4.31; Zoe was better that I thought at .278, 8-3-18; Kudrashova was bad at -.091, 3-4-11; Starck was terrible at -.400, 0-4-10; Trammell was terrible at -.300, 0-3-18; Markley was decent at .250, 4-2-8. The hitting of Stark and Trammell brought the overall team hitting percentage down to .136. The only solution that I can see is to play Markley along with Kash & Zoe at the OH/Opp position. And me don't know yet whether Markley can continue to hit for a decent percent or whether the opposition will adjust to her and shut her down. Zoe fills me with trepidation as I'm never quite sure what PSU is going to get from her. She had a decent match against WI, but was disastrous against MI. Course, Kash only hit .181 against MI. I thought when Kurdrashova first came in, that she might be the answer, but overall, she was shut down. I don't know what the deal is with her; with her height, 6'4", I would think that she would do better than she does. I'm not a good enough analyst to figure out why she doesn't do better. KSC was trying both Kudrashova and Markley in place of Starck, trying to get some production out of that position. Stqrck is trying her best, but just doens't have the skill at this point in time to be the bail-out hitter for PSU.

I'm thinking at this point in time, that the Stanford match was an anomalies; Stan hit .156 and PSU hit .144. In the Oregon match, PSU hit .226 which isn't very good, but sure beats under .150. Oregon is the only match against a decent team, (non-B1g & not Stan or OR), when PSU hit over .200. Against IND, PSU hit .181!!! That's terrible against a team of IND's caliber. So it looks like PSU has the same problem as last year, except that we're not quite as good, and we don't have Jonni. Starck is taking Jonni's place as the goto hitter and instead of hitting in the mid .200's she's mainly hitting .100 or worse. She is just over matched at the position at this point in her career. Unfortunately, it looks like it could be a long season. Right now, instead of being a 5th - 7th B1G team, I think we're looking at 9th-10th. We've already lost to MI, I could see NW & ILL giving us trouble also. ILL took PUR to 5 sets last night, PUR winning the 5th set 16-14 and having to take the last 3 pts to do that. NW just beat MINN in 5 at MINN.

It is still early days; there is time to improve. Hopefully that will be the case for this team. Unfortunately, because PSU is PSU, everybody tends to bring their best game against PSU. Sort of like what Karch said about the USA national team. Because we're USA, everybody wants to beat us; and if we're highly ranked, even more so. Because of PSU's number of national championships in the relatively recent past, the same is true of PSU.

Curious as to what others think. There are others on the forum who understand volleyball better than I do. This is strictly IMHO.

Great insights by jojonito…

Watching in-person last night:
- Starck: due to her long body, she’s slower in her approach and generates velocity with a long arm swing, both of which seem to give the opponent more time to set up the block. And it’s like she’s aiming for their hands whereas craftier OH’s have more tricks up their sleeves. I hope she figures it out, but she needs to make some adjustments.
- Kash: the audience collectively gasps when the set goes her way, and you can hear “OMG’s” when she swings.
- The setting is so erratic. Trammel, for example, had some desperation swings out there.
- re: Kudryashova: she’s not as athletic as some elite pins, which maybe why she struggles a bit. She’s smart with her swings though.
- Serve receive was a bit sloppy and had Leisia running all over the place, but she also can’t have 4 double contacts.
- Back row is trying hard but is the block slow? There are some wide-open shots where Bilinovic and others are getting smoked.
- Young: there were a lot of underclasswomen out there. Too bad Hurta is hurt/out/something.
- KSC: it seems like she’s on a learning curve too maybe? There are some mental mistakes on the court that could stem from coaching, or just so many new faces. She was visibly frustrated in set 2. To her credit, the personnel adjustments in the match seemed to make sense and meet the moment. There were some really weird-looking serve receive formations out there where it looked like she was putting it together with duct tape and popsicle sticks.

I think it’s possible this is a bit of a funk that the team could pull themselves out of. The talent is there.

Wisconsin service a little easier, passing improves, and suddenly the setter and hitters look better.

Well Starck plays because she can pass.  Which is literally the most important thing.  We saw what can happen if Starck does not play-in a long set we run out of subs and we get to see Williams and Weatherington serve and play back row.  At the end of the third set did we have a DS in the front?  Not sure about that but sub limits explain in part why Angelina must play.  I hope she does not lose confidence as she continues to try to learn how to hit around a strong block. 

I know coach says they work on serve receive every day.  But I suppose they need to adjust how they practice.  Wisconsin did serve hard-but many teams do that.  The ladies need to be able to handle that better. 

As to other aspects, block was really good again.  Clearly the strength of the team.  Holland served well and Kash was very impressive under ever challenging circumstances.  Coach demonstrated that she will go to the bench if the starters are not getting it done.  We will see if the starting line up changes.  Probably not Sunday, but maybe soon.