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Post by Onthebench on Oct 3, 2015 10:19:08 GMT -5
Club Coach doesn't seem as smart today. With Courtney in the front row we may have the weakest backcourt in the Big Ten. The coaches must have had a blind spot there. Everyone was counting on the Pierce sisters who apparently are not stepping up. Simone Lee wasn't the answer, so what can we do now? I don't mind Whitney playing the MB, but that puts Lee at OH role and Lee obviously is not the answer as she is a liability in her lack of size in blocking and defending. Unless Novakovic and Gorrell are to be red-shirted, I would think trying them out would be an option. Holcomb at times was very good in digging, but she showed some flaws in receiving the serves. Pierces or Krause are not good enough for steady defense roles. I think Rivera would be a better option for the second DS role. Frantti's defense also is a big concern. Courtney had a lot of errors, but just like the Minnesota game, she had to do so much in all areas that her hitting suffers with inconsistent settings by Weiskercher. If she doesn't have to do all the things she does, her stats would be similar to Bricio. But, with others not playing well, she is the only one who is reliable and gives all. I maybe reaching a bit with some of the moves, but last night's game showed a lot of issues to the current line up. |
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Post by nyline on Oct 3, 2015 12:17:33 GMT -5
Here's a link to the post-match write-up, with Coach Rose, Megan Courtney, and Aiyana Whitney quotes: Nebraska Downs Lions in Five (Are You What Your Record Says You Are?)
And here's an excerpt:
After Penn State (13-1) took the first two sets from Nebraska (12-1) on Friday night, things looked promising. But Nebraska was not to be denied, and took the next three sets and the match (25-12, 26-24, 14-25, 20-25, 11-15) in front of 5105 cheering fans (the second consecutive 5,000-plus crowd at Rec Hall) led by a fabulous student cheering section and the always great Volleyball Pep Band.
It was a stunning turn of events. As Megan Courtney said after the match “You’re up 2-0 against the No. 4 team in the country, you’ve got to feel pretty confident.” But after the break, the wheels came off.
Coach Rose described it this way:
Courtney put the result squarely on the Penn State players: Aiyana Whitney added: Which raises the question, was this just an off night for the Nittany Lions, or is Nebraska the better team? The Huskers were ranked #4 before the match, and most certainly will move up if they win against Ohio State tonight — though that is not a given. Responding to a similar question about his football team, which had suffered a couple of unexpected losses, former NFL head coach Bill Parcells famously said “You are what your record says you are.” After Friday night, one would have to say that at least for now, Nebraska is better (3-0 in the B1G) than Penn State (2-1 in the B1G). And in fact, in his post-match comments, Coach Rose invoked that Parcells quote. |
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snj
Sophomore
Posts: 67
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Post by snj on Oct 3, 2015 15:47:30 GMT -5
Losing to Nebraska could be a good thing IF its results in a big improvement in play and teamwork as we saw last year after the Illinois loss, the tough 5 set win at Purdue, they rolled after that. PSU's front row hitters are not going to succeed against skillful athletic blockers unless they get good sets (and PSU needs to hit from the middle more, force broader coverage by opposing blockers). Bryanna is not going to make good sets consistently unless she gets the ball in good shape, she is good and is developing but isn't able to make great sets from everywhere. The biggest problem to solve immediately has to be the serve receive. Whatever it takes to fix that. And whatever is takes to fix the obvious let downs after a good set. This team seems to lack the killer instinct, the blood-in-the-water thing that previous teams have had.
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Post by phillytom on Oct 5, 2015 7:33:04 GMT -5
Every year the issues are different, and yet it always boils down to the same thing -- playing with more consistency in every phase, not making mental errors. PSU has the physical talent. I still think they have as much front line talent as anybody, but there is still work to do between setter and hitters, and between passer and setter. Last year at this time I thought (wrongly) that PSU was headed for a down year but then they got through a little rough patch and got really good in the 2nd half of the league season. Maybe that can happen again or maybe they really are lacking a piece or two, I guess that's why it's fun to watch.
I don't know if it's lack of killer instinct but when you play good teams, they make adjustments and shift into a higher gear, and you have to shift too. Seems like Minnesota and Nebraska both came out of the break with a more refined game plan and more resolved, and PSU didn't make counter-adjustments and didn't have a higher gear to shift to. This is all part of the progression of the team. You can't just be good, you have to be able to raise your level of play when your opponent does.
Heck, maybe it is a little bit on Rose. Maybe he is so focused on covering PSU's weaknesses that he's not spending enough time gameplanning to attack other team's weaknesses -- so that when they get to the break up 2-0 the toolbox doesn't have any more tools left in it. Also, frankly when you're up 2-0 you tend not to make a lot of adjustments. It's almost kind of a dangerous place to be against teams as good as Minnesota and Nebraska.
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Post by nyline on Oct 5, 2015 10:44:49 GMT -5
Every year the issues are different, and yet it always boils down to the same thing -- playing with more consistency in every phase, not making mental errors. PSU has the physical talent. I still think they have as much front line talent as anybody, but there is still work to do between setter and hitters, and between passer and setter. Last year at this time I thought (wrongly) that PSU was headed for a down year but then they got through a little rough patch and got really good in the 2nd half of the league season. Maybe that can happen again or maybe they really are lacking a piece or two, I guess that's why it's fun to watch. I don't know if it's lack of killer instinct but when you play good teams, they make adjustments and shift into a higher gear, and you have to shift too. Seems like Minnesota and Nebraska both came out of the break with a more refined game plan and more resolved, and PSU didn't make counter-adjustments and didn't have a higher gear to shift to. This is all part of the progression of the team. You can't just be good, you have to be able to raise your level of play when your opponent does. Heck, maybe it is a little bit on Rose. Maybe he is so focused on covering PSU's weaknesses that he's not spending enough time gameplanning to attack other team's weaknesses -- so that when they get to the break up 2-0 the toolbox doesn't have any more tools left in it. Also, frankly when you're up 2-0 you tend not to make a lot of adjustments. It's almost kind of a dangerous place to be against teams as good as Minnesota and Nebraska. On the whole, I'd rather be up 2-0, and in Philadelphia ☺ |
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Post by phillytom on Oct 5, 2015 16:50:46 GMT -5
I mostly like being in Philadelphia, period.
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