World Championships Round 2: USA vs. China

[cardfan15]

US down 21-16. US TO. Ah Mow-Santos getting tired of chasing balls. She of all players, hides her disgust the least. I don't blame her. Wilkins/Haneef hopefully won't be around for Beijing.

[Nutter]

China takes the 3rd 25-22.

[cardfan15]

USA loses game 3 25-22. US tried at the end, but had gotten down to far. Blame for this game goes on the OH's again. The middles and Ah Mow-Santos are doing everything they can do. Heck, Bown just played setter for 2 points at the end of that game. With Wilkins and Haneef at outside, its too easy for other teams. Wilkins killed us that game, and there is nothing we could do. If you can't pass, you can't play volleyball...isn't that taught to girls their first year of club volleyball? I feel bad for Bown, Scott and Ah Mow Santos...

[Cubicle No More ...]

and here's the thing, the passes don't need to be absolutely perfect for ah mow to do something good with it... they just need to be good enough... close enough to the net to get the middles involved. bown and scott can and will terminate those....

not only was the passing not there, but the OHs (wilkins especially) were just getting flat out aced....

[Nutter]

Bombs from the US are getting dug and popped up, but the US doesn't seem to have the defenders to do the same.

[Nutter]

China takes the 4th 25-17 and the match, 3-1.

[cardfan15]

USA drops the game 4, 25-17. Katie Wilkins killed us!!! I don't know how she is playing for the NT...I guess a lack of OH's gave her the chance. She has one shot...high hand, cross court soft angle. The problem is they go after her when she is in receiving serve which means she is late to get to the ball and the block is camping on her. She can only hit high when she has time (just like Haneef actually). All other times she just attacks in the direction of her approach which is an easy block.

Crawford came in for Haneef in game 4 and didn't get one set if I recall right. She didn't play well in the backrow either. After hearing so much leading up to the WC's, all of it is right. Without OH's that can pass and attack effectively, the USA has no chance. Even if the OH's could pass, Ah Mow Santos could run some sort of offence and give us a better chance than we have now.

I've said it before and I will say it again...without the OH's, the US poses no threat to teams in the second round. It isn't going to just click and they learn to pass during the WC's, teams don't have to worry because the US beats themselves. You can see it on the faces of Bown, Scott, and Ah Mow Santos. They know exactly what is going on.

If Logan will come back for Beijing, I think the US has a chance. 2 more years for our Liberos to develop and that position will be fine. The LT on the outside with maybe Barboza I think that combo would be good enough. I think Barboza would feed off of LT's energy and focus. Combine them with Bown and Scott and maybe a young middle to give Scott a break and you've got a very solid team. As I see it right now, the only thing the US is lacking is OHs.

One more thing. You have to give credit to China. It was a total team effort tonight. They beat the US using almost all of their substitutions and particularly their back-up setter. I remember in another thread someone mentioning that depth doesn't play a part in international volleyball, well...depth won this match for China tonight (that and a lack of ball control on the US's part). Anyway, you get the point...

[Nutter]

Funny enough I was just scrolling through some of the old threads and did come across the one cardfan15 was referring to about depth playing a part and couldn't agree more. The US played like it had a short bench, which it did. Also agree about Wilkins. She was much more a liability at least in this match (not having watched any of the previous ones). This was a very very bad game for her!

[Cubicle No More ...]

nice observations cardfan.... my viewing (much like US's outsides tonight) was inconsistent (in part to a crappy computer). to be fair, wilkins and haneef had their moments... just can't get it done consistently, especially in the passing department. haneef had some nice looking kills out of the back row.

US put on some great floor defense in game 1, but that seemed to disappear over the course of the match. as the passing went, so did other parts of the US's game. credit China, not only were they serving tough, but they knew exactly who to serve.

this US team's got some great veterans leading the way... just none on the outside. let's say we forget about recruiting based on height for the OH spots... and just get some gals who can flat out pass the ball.

[VolleyTX]

I did not get to watch the match. It is interesting to me that you complain so much about Wilkins. Looking at the stat sheet, it appears that she had a much better match than Haneef (Wilkins 15 points, Haneef only 5!). I guess the stat sheet doesn't take into account errors.

Usually Haneef is in the 20 point range for a match like this. For those of you who saw the match and have seen Haneef play recently, what was going on with Haneef? Did she look tired? Or did the Chinese do a good job scouting her? When US and China played just a couple months ago in the grand Prix, Haneef really tore China up for a lot of the match. They could do very little to stop her. So.... was it good scouting by China.... or did Haneef look slow and tired (like she can be sometimes)?

[cardfan15]

volleytx said:

I did not get to watch the match. It is interesting to me that you complain so much about Wilkins. Looking at the stat sheet, it appears that she had a much better match than Haneef (Wilkins 15 points, Haneef only 5!). I guess the stat sheet doesn't take into account errors.

Usually Haneef is in the 20 point range for a match like this. For those of you who saw the match and have seen Haneef play recently, what was going on with Haneef? Did she look tired? Or did the Chinese do a good job scouting her? When US and China played just a couple months ago in the grand Prix, Haneef really tore China up for a lot of the match. They could do very little to stop her. So.... was it good scouting by China.... or did Haneef look slow and tired (like she can be sometimes)?

The stat sheet says nothing about this match. They do not include passing errors on stat sheet, and that is where Wilkins did the most damage. All around the OH's did a terrible job in this match, it really wasn't just the passing. They were out of position on defense, didn't serve well, didn't score points, and didn't block all that well either.

Believe me when I say Wilkins killed the US today. I watched it live in China and could easily see not just her play, but her reactions to her performance and the reactions of her teammates to hear performance. It was incredibly sub-WC quality.

Haneef looked tired and slow. It is the second round so that is to be a little expected (even China was looked slow and tired, but they have subs). Haneef played the first 3 sets and was then subbed out in the 4th after a long rally in which she could not end the rally or play successful defense.

As was stated earlier, with the inconsistent play of the OH's, it is simple for teams to not only create but also implement an easy game plan to defeat team USA. Serve the outsides and let them fall apart. There serve receive is so inconsistent that Ah Mow-Santos gets frustrated so when she does get a good pass she sets her middles so camp on them. Just wear USA down (because they are working twice as hard because of a lack of ball control) and if the game must go 4 games, don't worry. They simplify their offense as the match goes on all because they have no OH's that can pass or terminate successfully...it really is sad.