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Post by dc155 on Sept 15, 2024 0:53:40 GMT -5
Penn State at Pittsburgh: Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. ET
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Post by dc155 on Sept 15, 2024 0:58:37 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 15, 2024 19:42:25 GMT -5
For anyone able to attend the Pitt match in person - The Booster Club has requested for fans to wear white.  |
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Post by psuphdstudent on Sept 15, 2024 21:26:44 GMT -5
It's gonna be a tough one! But we all know that.
The spring matches are hard to read into. Each team has things that are different in the season than what it was in the spring.
For Pitt, Torrey Stafford and Bre Kelley did not play. I think Kelley might have played minimally but Stafford was not even at the games, as she had surgery. This is important because these are two big impact players in the season thus far. Stafford has been the best player on the court for the past few games for Pitt.
For PSU, the pace of the offense is much faster than what it was in the spring. Understandably, Izzy was still getting used to all the hitters, so the tempo was slower. Chemistry and location with Cam and Jess are also much improved. The team also seemed to have worked on passing and defense a lot (but it seems like PSU is in a bit of passing slump right now).
If we compare the matches that matter (ranked matches), PSU is a better offensive team outhitting Pitt 0.316 to 0.276. Pitt is a much better serving team (and if you watched the first spring match, you know this) serving 2.67 aces/set to PSU's 1.16 aces/set. Blocking is pretty much a scratch with PSU barely out blocking Pitt 2.58 blocks/set to Pitt's 2.33. In terms of floor defense, PSU out dug Pitt 13.75 digs/set to 12.5 digs/set.
Stafford has been the girl in both ranked matches, she scored in double digits and hit above 0.300. Babcock is still a scoring machine both in hitting and serving but has been error prone in the harder matches (7 errors at USC, 8 at Oregon). The offense will most likely flow through these two. Bre Kelley who was injured last year is consistently their most efficient hitter. Looks like Fairbanks uses her a fair amount too (12k in 2 games, Hit% 0.687). They other middle, Ryla Jones, is not much of an offensive factor but is a good blocker. VVG is their other outside, she doesn't have the same number that Stafford has so the longer she stays in front the better it is for us (at least statistically).
Passing really will be crucial, to get out middles involved and to get their blockers set. Their numbers might not indicate they're the best blockers, but they have some individuals who are pretty good blockers. I have been noticing a slight slump in the quality of the passing for PSU. Now, that's just because they were really good at the start, but I hope they pull out that quality again for this match. How players line up will also matter, I can see Carol having an easier time getting through VVG's block than Stafford's and we will need good number from Carol on Wednesday. Middle involvement will also be so crucial. Taylor is currently at the top of the B1G in hitting percentage and we need that Taylor. Izzy was also starting to give Maggie so much offensive volume this weekend. If the ladies can pull off that offensive variety, I think they can come out with the W.
If we do a head-to-head of players and sum it all up, I do think that PSU has a slight edge, but the home advantage could also play a factor. Praying, Hoping, Screaming for a PSU win.
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Post by lionsfan on Sept 16, 2024 0:32:08 GMT -5
Repost from VT: It's being held at Peterson, not Fitzgerald, so 12K instead of 4K (unless they close off some seats for volleyball?). Oddly (or maybe not), I think Fitzgerald might be a more intimidating environment? Last year, Pitt hosted two matches at Peterson: a 3-1 win over Kentucky (attendance: 3,867), and a 3-2 win over Louisville (attendance: 8,865, he program's all-time attendance record). Pitt's 3-2 win over Louisville in the regional final was at Fitzgerald (attendance: 2,879...which surprises me...seems low)
Anyone know if there will be a noticeable PSU fan presence there?
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Post by dc155 on Sept 16, 2024 12:05:40 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 16, 2024 13:51:11 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 16, 2024 14:27:03 GMT -5
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Post by ethankasales on Sept 16, 2024 15:45:10 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 16, 2024 15:47:20 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 16, 2024 16:09:01 GMT -5
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Post by ethankasales on Sept 16, 2024 16:59:12 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 17, 2024 15:07:29 GMT -5
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Post by dc155 on Sept 17, 2024 16:19:55 GMT -5
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Post by jojonito on Sept 17, 2024 19:44:24 GMT -5
If we compare the matches that matter (ranked matches), PSU is a better offensive team outhitting Pitt 0.316 to 0.276. Pitt is a much better serving team (and if you watched the first spring match, you know this) serving 2.67 aces/set to PSU's 1.16 aces/set. Blocking is pretty much a scratch with PSU barely out blocking Pitt 2.58 blocks/set to Pitt's 2.33. In terms of floor defense, PSU out dug Pitt 13.75 digs/set to 12.5 digs/set. ...
I wonder about the serving difference. 1) The ranked teams that PSU has played is a lot higher than Pitt, i.e. the serve receive for those team is, I think, better 2) It's my impression that PSU serving has gotten better as the season goes on - in particular, Falduto has been serving REALLY well. She goes on serving runs regularly. She has 11 aces so far, but we know that the aces stat is not a good indicator of how well a person/team is serving. When Ava serves, she frequently puts the other team oos even when she doesn't have many aces. (Anyone know how well she served against Pitt in the spring?) I think that PSU has at least 5 servers who can go on runs. So I think that the PSU serving may be underrated. I also don't know how good the server receive is for Pitt. I guess I'll find out tomorrow!
On a different subject, the Massey rating only give PSU a 1 in 3 chance of winning. That seems low to me. I don't know if that's my prejudice for PSU or if Massey is still taking last year into account and isn't fully using 2024 data yet. Since PSU has played better (higher ranked) team this year than Pitt, I wonder why/how that is figured.
Someone can say all they want that Pitt looks so good this year; that's nice, but who have they played? PSU is the only highly ranked team Pitt will play in their pre-conf matches. And I doubt that Pitt was expecting PSU to be this good when the PSU vs PItt match was scheduled last year. So while the other top teams are playing each other, (Texas, Stanford, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Louisville, PSU), Pitt is not. Interesting.
Something else that is annoying; Pitt's RPI is the highest of all the NCAA teams so far, in spite of the fact that they have played very few highly ranked teams. Just goes to show that Pitt is gaming the system (RPI) really well, i.e. they are playing teams that maximize Pitt's RPI, not teams that are necessarily very good. Another reason that I dislike the RPI system. Oh well.
PSU's RPI will seldom be as high because Katie, along with RR, feels that playing lower ranked teams is good for those teams and is good for raising volleyball awareness/popularity.
Edit: Will be interesting to see the Pitt vs Stanford match during the regular season. I know Pitt vs Louisville is always a barn burner, but with Louisville's small OH's Louisville's offense has to be really on to beat the top ranked teams.
And just my luck, Pitt will destroy PSU and I'll have to eat my words. Don't think that will happen, but it could. Hopefully Izzy/PSU will not be fazed by the Pitt crowd.
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