Mick Haley laments UCLA loss

[bigfan]

UCLA drops Women of Troy once again
Alex Lebow

The Women of Troy likely lost any chance for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament after the loss to UCLA. Stanford, Washington, UCLA, Oregon, California and USC will likely comprise the Pac-10 delegation to the tournament, expected to be the highest number of invitations of any conference.

With 23 wins on the season, the No. 4 USC women's volleyball team hoped to duplicate its performance from last week's 3-0 victory over No. 3 Stanford Friday against No. 6 UCLA. Instead, USC (23-4, 12-4 Pacific-10 Conference) failed to find a rhythm in its offensive efforts and fell to the Bruins (26-3, 13-3) at Pauley Pavilion in three frustrating games (30-25, 30-22, 30-20).

"We need to come back and play at the same level that we were playing in Stanford," senior libero Debora Seilhamer said. "That's us playing, and this wasn't us playing tonight."

The same Stanford team that USC upset has defeated this same Bruins team twice in 2006.

"UCLA expected us to come out here and stick the ball like we did against Stanford," USC coach Mick Haley said. "We were tough against Stanford, we were in a nice groove, we did a great job and we executed, but Stanford's over and that's what I keep telling (the team)."

Substandard passing and blocking were two reasons why USC fell, 3-0, for just the second time this season. Junior opposite hitter Asia Kaczor contributed a game-high 18 kills, but the Women of Troy struggled with a .139 hitting percentage on the night. The Bruins utilized a 9-1 run to win game one and continued to pressure the Women of Troy throughout games two and three.

"The blocking sort of went down, but I play defense so I don't want to blame it on blocking since it's the hardest part of the game," Seilhamer said. "UCLA broke down and we broke down a little bit in the back row, but our offense wasn't at the top tonight."

Another loss in the nation's most competitive conference drops the Women of Troy into fourth place in the Pac-10.

"I just thought we gave up, and I'm very disappointed," Haley said. "The upside is that since this is a very hard conference, mental toughness is extremely important to taking on these challenges. We're young and we're frustrated, but if we're going to whine or lay down, then it's over." [/b]

The Women of Troy likely lost any chance for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament after the loss to UCLA. Stanford, Washington, UCLA, Oregon, California and USC will likely comprise the Pac-10 delegation to the tournament, expected to be the highest number of invitations of any conference.

After 11 consecutive wins against UCLA, the Women of Troy have lost two consecutive matches in a single season to the Bruins for the first time since 1999. Friday's match drew a rowdy crowd of 4,739 to Pauley Pavilion in Westwood. The Bruins and Women of Troy welcome Oregon and Oregon State to their respective Los Angeles venues for Thanksgiving in next weekend's regular-season finales. USC practiced Sunday and will be sure to put in the extra effort this week in preparation for two teams they defeated on the road in mid-September.

"We're running out of time, so they have two matches next week after lots of practice," Haley said. "We need to check our fuel tank and our resolve and get back in the gym."

[Keystonekid]

Geez, just another awful coach, putting the responsibility on his players, to work hard and show character. Cook, Rose and Haley should be ashamed of themselves.

[beachman]

I would be one of the last people to defend Mick Haley, but if it isn't the responsibility of the players to show up and play their best then whose responsibility is it!!! The last time I checked the coaches don't play the games!
This whole %*$#tin thing about "it's not my fault, it's somebody else's fault" is very indicative of both Gen "X" ers and Gen "Y" ers.....our young people have no concept of what it is to take responsibility for their own actions....

[brybry2]

keystonekid said:

Geez, just another awful coach, putting the responsibility on his players, to work hard and show character. Cook, Rose and Haley should be ashamed of themselves.

USC was extremely disappointing in their loss to the Bruins, however, don't lump Haley in w/ Rose. He didn't get into attitude problems and so forth.
Haley seemed to take a very analytical approach. I think he made it clear that he wants the team to be strong by post season. He wants a strong effort from his girls (which he did not get on Friday), but he also doesn't want them to expend too much emotional energy. I think he was quite fair in his accessment.
Even though Rose's comments were a lot more blunt (bordering on tactless), I still appreciate his candor. He's not coddling his players. He challenges them. He's a good coach as is Haley.

[VolleyTX]

As much as I like the Trojan's setter, she really needs to improve her setting location to the outside. Also, USC really runs a slow tempo middle attack.... especially the slide... especially Johanson!

[brybry2]

Taylor had a horrible match against UCLA. Her location to the outside (and to everywhere else) is usually better. The slow temp - I don't know what to say. It seems to be a tactical choice. For the sets to Johansen, I think she's not very quick, so it's out of necessity. Of course, I would want to speed up the offense and have hitters that can deliver. A slide hitter shouldn't be facing two perfectly formed blockers.

[Ye Olde Dawg]

Look at Sielhamer's comments. She seems to be saying the same thing -- that USC didn't play like they're capable of -- but she said it with a lot of class. She's honest, she's realistic, she's not ducking any responsibility, but through it all she's positive.

Could Haley have said the same things less harshly? I think so. Would it have been better as head coach to do that? I'm not going to second-guess a coach in his position. Only another top NCAA coach or his A.D. would be in a position to do that.

[bigfan]

brybry2 said:

.......however, don't lump Haley in w/ Rose.

[brybry2]

sankyu said:

Look at Sielhamer's comments. She seems to be saying the same thing -- that USC didn't play like they're capable of -- but she said it with a lot of class. She's honest, she's realistic, she's not ducking any responsibility, but through it all she's positive.

Could Haley have said the same things less harshly? I think so. Would it have been better as head coach to do that? I'm not going to second-guess a coach in his position. Only another top NCAA coach or his A.D. would be in a position to do that.

Seriously, those comments do not seem that harsh to me. USC played so poorly. If those comments were the only thing he directed to his players, then they got off easy.

[Keystonekid]

Harsh? Dawg, were you wearing a skirt when you read that?

[Wolfgang]

I try not to spend too much time reading a thread which includes in its title a certain word, phrase, or name.

Thanks, in advance.

[dishdaball]

Poor Mick - everything comes full circle. I wonder if Andy should sit back now and say that USC didn't play poorly, UCLA played well. Mick made a similar comment after USC beat Stanford and now it has come full circle. Mick needs to keep some of his comments to himself and take responsibility for the loss. If the girls don't show up to ply, they weren't prepared. Ultimately, it should fall back on the coaching team...

[Rus Socoli]

beachman said:

I would be one of the last people to defend Mick Haley, but if it isn't the responsibility of the players to show up and play their best then whose responsibility is it!!! The last time I checked the coaches don't play the games!
This whole %*$#tin thing about "it's not my fault, it's somebody else's fault" is very indicative of both Gen "X" ers and Gen "Y" ers.....our young people have no concept of what it is to take responsibility for their own actions....

Easily your BEST post so far, BM.

And the only one I agree with you, so far. ;D

[bowman]

keystonekid said:

Geez, just another awful coach, putting the responsibility on his players, to work hard and show character. Cook, Rose and Haley should be ashamed of themselves.

they need to take lessons from shoji. he takes full responsibility for planning and coaching when they lose deflecting any blame from his team. perhaps too much so but he shows a lot of class in this respect.

[brybry2]

bowman said:

keystonekid said:

Geez, just another awful coach, putting the responsibility on his players, to work hard and show character. Cook, Rose and Haley should be ashamed of themselves.

they need to take lessons from shoji. he takes full responsibility for planning and coaching when they lose deflecting any blame from his team. perhaps too much so but he shows a lot of class in this respect.

I think maybe a bit too much in Shoji's case, to the point where it's passive aggressive.
I'm sure Haley credits UCLA for playing a great match. They did. That was probably their best performance of the season. They served and passed to perfection, but USC made zero adjustments and did not improve as the match wore on. Typically, Haley is able to prepare his teams and get a good performance out of them (especially when they have lost the previous match against a team). I was surprised by USC's loss to the Bruins the second time around. I guess Haley was surprised too.
If I were to fault Haley and USC w/ a tactical error, it would be their weak low risk serving and their not taking away angle on Spicer's shoot sets to the outside.