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Post by Chris123 on Nov 11, 2006 1:56:13 GMT -5
The block wasn't even up for Stanford multiple times, particularly when Akinradewo was up front. She may have had a better game than the rest offensively, but not at the net. USC seemed more in sync, more intense and scrambled all over the place for balls. They played very impressively with lots of contributors. However, you couldn't help but notice how utterly talented Seilhammer is. Wow. She had some fantastic saves that had people around me gasping. I hope this motivates Stanford tomorrow. I didn't think anyone on Stanford's side did particularly well, including Kehoe whose set locations were off for much of the night. Carico kind of reminded me of Kehoe, great athlete, quick but not the best hands. I can't wait to see Spicer tomorrow.
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Post by 2c on Nov 11, 2006 2:12:20 GMT -5
Kaczor! Kaczor! Kaczor! She's doing all the damage right now. 17 kills, 1 error off 35 attempts for .545 and game 2 is not over yet. hmmmm...
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Post by SakiBomb25 on Nov 11, 2006 2:19:33 GMT -5
Give props to USC. They played very well and jumped on us from the get go. Although Asia Kaczor was the offensive star who could not be stopped, I think the real MVP of the match was Debora Seilhamer. Her defense was absolutely key to giving the Trojans life.
Stanford's weakness this season has beendefense, imho and when our offense is not clicking, it can be exposed, like tonight. Barboza and Richards were not effective at all. Just when you thought they were getting into a rhythm, they would make an error. Neither looked comfortable attacking; in fact, no one did. Erin Waller looked tentative on the right side as well. Franci Girard and Foluke Akinradewo were the only ones who looked good on offense, but when your outsides are hitting close to zero or negative all night, nothing good is going to happen. The loss cannot be blamed on a certain person - it was a team loss. Nothing was going well for Stanford at all - no defense, no offense, no passing, nothing.
While it sucks to lose at home, even worse to lose in straight sets, I don't think it is a terrible loss. If Stanford can regroup and focus tomorrow and beat UCLA, then the team will have learned something and it will make them stronger come NCAAs. Let's hope we see a Cardinal victory tomorrow (along with another committment...).
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Post by baywatcher on Nov 11, 2006 2:29:18 GMT -5
Saw the game. Seemed like USC was hitting downhill all night; attacks in rythmn and coming very hard. Excellent defense by Trojans, mostly Seilhammer, I guess, thwarted with digs more than blocks or even deflections on big points. Interestingly, SC played only 7 people, with libero subbing for MB in back, leaving in Kaczor and Copenhagen, two big and theoretically not quick OH in back row. Worked well. I thought USC was better prepared for Stanford, although not necessarily outcoached. They probably spent all week getting ready for Stanford, not much time on Cal; every time Stanford would try to push a ball in the corner or tip, somebody from USC would be there. Also, Richards had one of her mediocre to bad nights offensively again; don't know if its her knees, but she just is not getting enough push or action on her attacks to score points against good Pac 10 teams. I thought USC played real well, not Stanford that badly: SC really won the serve[serve receive game within a game, which led to better opportunities. And Kaczor was money from all over the front line. Whoever beats USC is going to have to do it by shutting down the outside attack, almost nothing through the middle. Even the middle hitter attacks were slides to the outside. Stanford knew it was coming but still could not stop it.
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Post by 2c on Nov 11, 2006 2:29:51 GMT -5
I'm bettin that they won't spread em....too afraid of an all PAC-10 FF ;D I bet they are. I can't believe someone said earlier this season that this might be the year that a Pac team won't be FF. Uhhhh, that would be me. Can someone please explain why the Pac10 is assumed to be so extremely superior this year? It's not exactly based on current results. They don't have that many overwelmingly impressive Non-Conf wins with top 10 teams to solidify this. Sure the big 4 Pac10 teams do have a winning record versus the Top25 opponents and are deserving of a their high rankings. I just don't buy into the top 4 Pac10 teams dominating ANYBODY else in the country. Will I be shocked if the top 4 Pac10 teams get placed in 4 different regionals? No. If that happens, will I be shocked if the FF has 4 Pac 10 teams? Yes. "" no Pac10 teams. Not really. These results don't exactly scream dominance over the rest of the country. Again, Washington, Stanford, UCLA and USC are VERY good teams. I just don't think that they necessarily have an easier route to the final four if they don't have to face another Pac10 team. BYU d Stanford 3-1 Texas d Washington 3-2 Stanford d Hawaii 3-0 Stanford d SCU 3-0 UCLA d Florida 3-0 UCLA d Hawaii 3-0 USC d Utah 3-1 USC d Tenn 3-1 USC d Pepp 3-2 USC d Purdue 3-1 Washington d Ohio 3-0
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Post by hwy101 on Nov 11, 2006 2:43:29 GMT -5
I bet they are. I can't believe someone said earlier this season that this might be the year that a Pac team won't be FF. Uhhhh, that would be me. Can someone please explain why the Pac10 is assumed to be so extremely superior this year? It's not exactly based on current results. They don't have that many overwelmingly impressive Non-Conf wins with top 10 teams to solidify this. Sure the big 4 Pac10 teams do have a winning record versus the Top25 opponents and are deserving of a their high rankings. I just don't buy into the top 4 Pac10 teams dominating ANYBODY else in the country. Will I be shocked if the top 4 Pac10 teams get placed in 4 different regionals? No. If that happens, will I be shocked if the FF has 4 Pac 10 teams? Yes. "" no Pac10 teams. Not really. These results don't exactly scream dominance over the rest of the country. Again, Washington, Stanford, UCLA and USC are VERY good teams. I just don't think that they necessarily have an easier route to the final four if they don't have to face another Pac10 team. BYU d Stanford 3-1 Texas d Washington 3-2 Stanford d Hawaii 3-0 Stanford d SCU 3-0 UCLA d Florida 3-0 UCLA d Hawaii 3-0 USC d Utah 3-1 USC d Tenn 3-1 USC d Pepp 3-2 USC d Purdue 3-1 Washington d Ohio 3-0 Let's just say one of these Pac-10 teams will bring down Nebraska! Except for Texas, who have you played that are at the level of PAc-10 teams?
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Post by roofed! on Nov 11, 2006 2:48:31 GMT -5
I bet they are. I can't believe someone said earlier this season that this might be the year that a Pac team won't be FF. Uhhhh, that would be me. Can someone please explain why the Pac10 is assumed to be so extremely superior this year? It's not exactly based on current results. They don't have that many overwelmingly impressive Non-Conf wins with top 10 teams to solidify this. Sure the big 4 Pac10 teams do have a winning record versus the Top25 opponents and are deserving of a their high rankings. I just don't buy into the top 4 Pac10 teams dominating ANYBODY else in the country. Will I be shocked if the top 4 Pac10 teams get placed in 4 different regionals? No. If that happens, will I be shocked if the FF has 4 Pac 10 teams? Yes. "" no Pac10 teams. Not really. These results don't exactly scream dominance over the rest of the country. Again, Washington, Stanford, UCLA and USC are VERY good teams. I just don't think that they necessarily have an easier route to the final four if they don't have to face another Pac10 team. BYU d Stanford 3-1 Texas d Washington 3-2 Stanford d Hawaii 3-0 Stanford d SCU 3-0 UCLA d Florida 3-0 UCLA d Hawaii 3-0 USC d Utah 3-1 USC d Tenn 3-1 USC d Pepp 3-2 USC d Purdue 3-1 Washington d Ohio 3-0 I believe most of the respect that have been afforded to Pac-10 teams come from the conference's very high success rate in the post seasons. The last 5 NCAA champions come from Pac-10, so there is a general assumption that a Pac-10 team could be in the mix for the championship match again this year. Early in the season, UCLA and USC were not highly ranked (preseason), and they have taken advantage of losses by other top teams (i.e. Hawaii, Texas, Florida etc) to move up into the Top 10 and then into top 5 before they had their first loss to Stanford, who was then ranked just below them. Thereafter, losses among the top Pac-10 teams (UW, Stanford, UCLA and USC) have been against each other and they are all closely ranked in the top, so even a loss would drop them only a notch or two. Compare that to losses by Texas and PSU to teams ranked outside of top 10 or top 15. Their losses caused the voters to move those teams down by a couple of spots (as I suspect will be the case with PSU next monday). I think in the end, things will sort themselves out. Pac-10 teams may be ranked higher (deservedly or not), but they still have to go through other non-Pac 10 teams in the post-seasons. Several Big 10 teams have shown themselves to be capable of causing upsets on any night as well, such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, OSU and Purdue.
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Post by brybry on Nov 11, 2006 3:13:34 GMT -5
OMG. I'm so thrilled by this result. Halting the Stanford juggernaut is no easy task. I wish I could have seen the match. I have to say that Mick Haley is really good at making adjustments. And that USC had Stanford well scouted this time around is not too surprising. Props to the Women of Troy for being able to execute. I'm surprised about the comments on Carico's hands. I thought she set a pretty clean ball, but I've only seen about 4 of her matches so far. Now Spicer - boy does she have sweet hands. The ball comes out virtually spinless. Although I think we had a discussion a while back about whether having some spin on the ball is prefered. I remember mention of LP teaching setters to put on a little bit of back spin. If Carico is getting major side spin on the ball, then yeah, she's at risk of getting doubles called.
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Post by roy on Nov 11, 2006 3:31:49 GMT -5
I agree with roofed. I feel like the Pac 10 got a bit lucky in their rankings but you can't really blame them. Those who were supposed to be in the top 10 all fell. Hawaii, Florida, and Texas all got upset. UCLA, Cal, and USC got a couple of upsets and beat the teams they were supposed to beat which improved their rankings. Like roofed said, in the end, it'll all sort itself out.
As far as post season implications are concerned, its way too hard to tell right now. To me, Florida is the only real lock to win the rest of their matches. Depending on how things end in the Pac 10, Washington will likely be the top of the 4 hosts, even if they don't end up on the top of the Pac 10. Even if Hawaii wins the rest of their matches, they will still likely be the bottom of the 4 hosts (or the NCAA may try to knock out Hawaii in the first/second round as Hawaii doesn't have any real quality wins). That could put Nebraska in Hawaii. The only reasons I could see it not happening the time difference, which would mean the winner of the Pac 10 ends up in Hawaii (or second place if its Washington) and Nebraska probably at Texas. Florida will likely end up as the second top host, with Texas as third. But I have no clue who else is going where. I would have guessed Penn State to Florida but if they continue to lose in the Big 10, I have no idea where they would end up. But it still means that Washington will host one bracket and with Hawaii hosting another Pac 10 school, that 2 Pac 10 schools could end up in the Final Four.
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Post by pedro el leon on Nov 11, 2006 6:29:39 GMT -5
interesting... and good for the huskies.
*knock on wood*
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Post by HOLIDAY on Nov 11, 2006 7:19:56 GMT -5
Uhhhh, that would be me. Can someone please explain why the Pac10 is assumed to be so extremely superior this year? It's not exactly based on current results. They don't have that many overwelmingly impressive Non-Conf wins with top 10 teams to solidify this. Sure the big 4 Pac10 teams do have a winning record versus the Top25 opponents and are deserving of a their high rankings. I just don't buy into the top 4 Pac10 teams dominating ANYBODY else in the country. Will I be shocked if the top 4 Pac10 teams get placed in 4 different regionals? No. If that happens, will I be shocked if the FF has 4 Pac 10 teams? Yes. "" no Pac10 teams. Not really. These results don't exactly scream dominance over the rest of the country. Again, Washington, Stanford, UCLA and USC are VERY good teams. I just don't think that they necessarily have an easier route to the final four if they don't have to face another Pac10 team. BYU d Stanford 3-1 Texas d Washington 3-2 Stanford d Hawaii 3-0 Stanford d SCU 3-0 UCLA d Florida 3-0 UCLA d Hawaii 3-0 USC d Utah 3-1 USC d Tenn 3-1 USC d Pepp 3-2 USC d Purdue 3-1 Washington d Ohio 3-0 Let's just say one of these Pac-10 teams will bring down Nebraska! Except for Texas, who have you played that are at the level of PAc-10 teams? Those of you who usually have your nose buried up Barboza's backside seem to be less vocal about your support of her being the one player who can save the universe. What happened???.
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Post by jgrout on Nov 11, 2006 11:22:06 GMT -5
I was at the match last night. Kaczor tore Stanford apart... it reminded me of the beatings Ogonna Nnamani used to give other teams. Though Stanford had a normal practice schedule (the one practice week was last week), I thought Stanford failed miserably on serve receive in Games 1 and 2... even when they passed well, they didn't get the ball down and their transition offense was almost non-existent... I do have to give 'SC credit there, because their digging was awesome. Mark Kaminsky, who keeps side-out scoring tallies, gave the side out scores as 16-4, 9-4, 10-8. When you score four points on serve in a game, you are getting whupped. Stanford came out passing better and digging much better in Game 3 and led most of the way but USC ran them down from behind with the aid of some late Stanford errors.
The officiating was as hotly contested as I can remember. Before the intermission, the up official seemed to have two different standards for double contacts and there were a few USC spikes at the south end of the gym (away from the band) almost dead in front of me that were called good but seemed clearly out. I don't remember hearing the officials booed any louder in ten years of Maples volleyball... sure, the fans are rooting for Stanford, but they aren't ignorant homers booing every call that went against them. When Stanford made an obvious double contact, they didn't boo at all.
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xyz
High School
Posts: 14
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Post by xyz on Nov 11, 2006 11:52:12 GMT -5
There are a few major problems with an all Pac 10 final four. Everybody knows that no decent volleyball is played outside the Pac 10. That is prima facia common knowledge and a no brainer. Could be the ocean proximity or the pervasive female mid drift show fashion. I am not qualified to know, as I am not from that part of the world. However, a final four in Omaha would be repulsive to the Pac 10 teams and their fans, whereever they may be. Too many crammed in seniors with traditional family values watching who are not from the west coast and can appreciate Pac 10 style volleyball. The time for the elite Pac 10 to have all the final four slots would be the next time it is held in California. That might even get some of the player's parents to the game. Well, maybe some of the senior's class's parents. Ok, then perhaps if their kids are going to start. As to the rest of the seats, I have two great ideas. Play in a theater in the round forum so the tv coverage would not have to avoid the lack of support and interest in the Pac 10 back yard, or try a reverse food drive. For instance, if it were held in the new SC digs, they could give food to the indigents if they would come to the game. You would probably have to bump it up to a canned ham rather than just canned vegetables. But only if they stayed for the entire match. A final four comprised only of the Pac 10 is the only way to go. It is so obvious even most football fans are talking about it.
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Post by howdyhoes on Nov 11, 2006 12:23:12 GMT -5
Carico is damn good, no doubt about and i'm sure i'm not the only one that thinks that . i think in a different system, maybe @ LBS or UCLA, she could have the room to be a little more creative. however, Haley's always run a 'high-ball-to-our-big-girls' kind of system and that isn't the most creative and isn't always the most fun to watch. ever noticed how SC's setters have never been the centerpiece? you perfect safety and the hitter's jobs get a whole lot easier. (i've only seen SC 5 or so times this year and it seems that she has the green light to attack whenever she wants, good for her for taking advantage.) for those of you referencing non-conference schedules - GIVE IT A REST ALREADY. no one cares about non-conference/pre-conference matchups because they do not matter once the real season starts. conference is important because its the meaty part of your record and its what fricks most with a team's confidence (no one will admit that though) going into December.
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Post by beachman on Nov 11, 2006 12:40:15 GMT -5
Carico is damn good, no doubt about and i'm sure i'm not the only one that thinks that . i think in a different system, maybe @ LBS or UCLA, she could have the room to be a little more creative. however, Haley's always run a 'high-ball-to-our-big-girls' kind of system and that isn't the most creative and isn't always the most fun to watch. ever noticed how SC's setters have never been the centerpiece? you perfect safety and the hitter's jobs get a whole lot easier. (i've only seen SC 5 or so times this year and it seems that she has the green light to attack whenever she wants, good for her for taking advantage.) for those of you referencing non-conference schedules - GIVE IT A REST ALREADY. no one cares about non-conference/pre-conference matchups because they do not matter once the real season starts. conference is important because its the meaty part of your record and its what fricks most with a team's confidence (no one will admit that though) going into December. It is kind of sad that she will wallow in Haley's system for the next 4 years......and they still won't win a championship either!
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