Match Thread - PSU vs. Purdue: Fri. Nov. 25, 2022 7 p.m. ET

That game stream was so annoying to me that I started watching the plays on Stat Broadcast

My guess: 14th seed.

We'll probably end up with Pitt

So hope you're right.  I really want to stay away from Texas and Nebraska.  It would really be "interesting" to play San Diego.  Does the selection committee takes requests?

Interesting. I just looked up last years conference record. Guess what it was? 13-7 just like this year. Except that last year we beat OSU once, 3-0; beat MINN 3-0; lost to ILL 1-3; lost to PUR 2-3. The rest of the losses were to NEB (2), WISC (1), MINN (1), and OSU (1). One big advantage that this years team has is that they beat Stanford and Oregon in the pre-season, which last years team didn't do. Not sure what last years team rpi was, but I'm pretty sure that this years teams rpi is better than last year.

It's sorta interesting comparing the two teams. Hord was probably a better overall player than anyone that is on this years team when you factor in both her defense and offense. Tho, she had matches where she was under .100. Jonni was the only consistent OH on last years team. One was never sure what the others would do; more than likely, not good. Erika Pritchard was playing pretty good up until she was injured. It seemed to me that she never really got back to that level after her injury. Rollins was up and down, hitting .220 for the season and with 2.45 kills a set. (She's hitting .262 at KY for the season with 3.65 kills a set). I would guess that she's doing better at KY because they have a better balanced team than PSU had last year.

I think that this year's team is probably just about equal in middles, as it seldom has happened that both of this years middles have been shut down in the same match. I think that the combo of Allie and Katie are about equal to Kaitlyna and Allie last year.  Obviously, I think that Allie has improved a fair bit this year.  Allie wasn't as good offensively last year and was shut down by some teams. Katie has really come thru this year offensively (and is pretty good defensively).  It's been fun to see Katie come to the fore when necessary and really play pretty good.  (Or is it well?)

I think that last year's back court defense was better with Jenna as libero and Maddy coming in as the first sub.  Maddy is a decent libero but has had occasional problems in receiving server that I don't remember Jenna having.

This year Kash has upon occasion been able to carry the team. Whereas last year, Jonni generally wasn't a powerful enough hitter to carry a team. Plus, she desperately needed help last year and seldom got it.

My take on the two teams is that they were pretty equal overall. BUT, I would give the nod to this years team in the tournament, because there are more players that can contribute than there were last year. So it's seems to me that for that reason, this years team is harder to shut down.

We'll see how things go; both in the NCAA seeding and in the NCAA play.