Post by bucky415 on Apr 27, 2007 23:29:04 GMT -5
Disclaimer: This will be long and wordy and probably put all non-Badger fans to sleep, so read forward at your own risk.
Tonight, Wisconsin played Marquette in a spring match at the Field House, winning all four games: 30-24, 30-16, 30-25, 30-22. In good news, no one got hurt on either side, although the Badgers still resemble a MASH unit. Wisconsin was without DuPont, Jeffers, McCormack, and Reineke, all of whom were present but not dressed. Reineke had a boot on her foot, and I am guessing McCormack is one of the three players with mono to whom Pete Waite alluded in the pregame article. In good news, Morgan Salow was playing after missing the UWM match. Anyway, the lineup for Wisconsin had Dolgner and Wack at left side, Mills at libero, Dykstra at right side with Berkley playing back row for her, and Salow and Carroll in the middle. Simpson set the first game, Klingsporn the next two, and then they ran a modified 6-2 in the fourth game, with Klingsporn replacing Berkley in the back row and setting when back row. Simpson then played setter when back row and right side when in the front row. In a bit of a switch from what they did last year, Mills mostly played left back and Berkley right back a lot.
The biggest difference in the match was serve receive. The Badgers looked like a team with a lot of experience in the back row and passed pretty well, while Marquette really struggled. The Badgers had 11 aces to the Golden Eagles' two and created more overpasses. To their credit, the Badgers served pretty tough, with pretty much everyone contributing to that. On the other hand, I thought Marquette even struggled to pass some serves they should have handled. It was pretty much an entire team thing, unfortunately for them.
I thought it was a pretty strong performance from the Badgers. Dolgner not surprisingly led them in kills, keeping her back row attacks in bounds and having a couple of kills from the right side in addition to her usual array. Wack didn't hit for that high of a percentage, but she is good at hitting angles and tooling the block. Her best position is libero, though, as one would expect. The offensive star of the night was Dykstra, though. She was really impressive tonight. Her line was 12-1-15, and the error was when she redirected an uncontrolled dig out of bounds. She was able to put the ball away from the left side, right side, and from the middle in a crossing attack and a typical middle set. She was just hitting over people all night and really looked like she could be a star in 2007 for the Badgers on the right side.
The only downside for the Badgers tonight, obviously other than the lack of healthy players, was the inconsistent play of the middles. They struggled to close the block on a consistent basis, and both setters struggled to connect with the middles at times. Both Salow and Carroll made some nice plays, but it was hit or miss with them. On the good side, both can hit in front of or behind the setter, but the timing and set location was off quite a bit tonight. Still, it was good experience for them, and it has to be tough for Salow coming off the mono.
I thought the Badger floor defense was solid tonight, especially since the block was inconsistent. The Badgers did seem to pick up more tips than Marquette did. Dykstra was good on the block to add to her offensive performance. She seemed to be in position most of the time and had some impressive stuffs where the ball went pretty much right down. She also had a net violation where her knee hit the net.
It looked like Simpson enjoyed the opportunity to hit in the last game. Why do setters all seem to want to be hitters? I was also impressed with Klingsporn. As one would expect, she has work to do in setting the middles and blocking, but I don't think a casual observer would think this spring was her first college match experience. She is aggressive in attacking the ball, sets pretty cleanly, is really quick, and has considerable leaping ability. I hope to only see her in mop up duty in the fall, but I think where she is now bodes well for the future of the program.
As for Marquette, it wasn't a good night for them. When you don't pass well, you don't look good. Todd is a good hitter; they try to get her the ball a lot. Their offense was a bit slow, even when the passing was on the mark. I hope for their sake that it was just a really off night in the serve receive. I don't know their team, but it seemed like they had a full complement of players. If that is the case, it doesn't bode too well that they lost to a depleted Badger squad in a pretty one sided match and didn't look very good in the process.
I would guess that the Badgers are happy with the ending to a difficult spring season. I just hope that everyone will be healthy by the start of the fall season. If that is the case, this team has the potential to be very good. I think the biggest remaining question, other than the obvious health related ones, is the second middle position. I had hoped Dykstra would play there, but I have come to the view that the Badgers might be best with Jeffers in the middle and Dykstra at right side, where she looked impressive in the last two spring matches. I think Audra played middle in high school, and she is really strong at hitting from the middle, so that might be the best option. I am just hoping she (and everyone else) is one hundred percent by August so we can find out.
Tonight, Wisconsin played Marquette in a spring match at the Field House, winning all four games: 30-24, 30-16, 30-25, 30-22. In good news, no one got hurt on either side, although the Badgers still resemble a MASH unit. Wisconsin was without DuPont, Jeffers, McCormack, and Reineke, all of whom were present but not dressed. Reineke had a boot on her foot, and I am guessing McCormack is one of the three players with mono to whom Pete Waite alluded in the pregame article. In good news, Morgan Salow was playing after missing the UWM match. Anyway, the lineup for Wisconsin had Dolgner and Wack at left side, Mills at libero, Dykstra at right side with Berkley playing back row for her, and Salow and Carroll in the middle. Simpson set the first game, Klingsporn the next two, and then they ran a modified 6-2 in the fourth game, with Klingsporn replacing Berkley in the back row and setting when back row. Simpson then played setter when back row and right side when in the front row. In a bit of a switch from what they did last year, Mills mostly played left back and Berkley right back a lot.
The biggest difference in the match was serve receive. The Badgers looked like a team with a lot of experience in the back row and passed pretty well, while Marquette really struggled. The Badgers had 11 aces to the Golden Eagles' two and created more overpasses. To their credit, the Badgers served pretty tough, with pretty much everyone contributing to that. On the other hand, I thought Marquette even struggled to pass some serves they should have handled. It was pretty much an entire team thing, unfortunately for them.
I thought it was a pretty strong performance from the Badgers. Dolgner not surprisingly led them in kills, keeping her back row attacks in bounds and having a couple of kills from the right side in addition to her usual array. Wack didn't hit for that high of a percentage, but she is good at hitting angles and tooling the block. Her best position is libero, though, as one would expect. The offensive star of the night was Dykstra, though. She was really impressive tonight. Her line was 12-1-15, and the error was when she redirected an uncontrolled dig out of bounds. She was able to put the ball away from the left side, right side, and from the middle in a crossing attack and a typical middle set. She was just hitting over people all night and really looked like she could be a star in 2007 for the Badgers on the right side.
The only downside for the Badgers tonight, obviously other than the lack of healthy players, was the inconsistent play of the middles. They struggled to close the block on a consistent basis, and both setters struggled to connect with the middles at times. Both Salow and Carroll made some nice plays, but it was hit or miss with them. On the good side, both can hit in front of or behind the setter, but the timing and set location was off quite a bit tonight. Still, it was good experience for them, and it has to be tough for Salow coming off the mono.
I thought the Badger floor defense was solid tonight, especially since the block was inconsistent. The Badgers did seem to pick up more tips than Marquette did. Dykstra was good on the block to add to her offensive performance. She seemed to be in position most of the time and had some impressive stuffs where the ball went pretty much right down. She also had a net violation where her knee hit the net.
It looked like Simpson enjoyed the opportunity to hit in the last game. Why do setters all seem to want to be hitters? I was also impressed with Klingsporn. As one would expect, she has work to do in setting the middles and blocking, but I don't think a casual observer would think this spring was her first college match experience. She is aggressive in attacking the ball, sets pretty cleanly, is really quick, and has considerable leaping ability. I hope to only see her in mop up duty in the fall, but I think where she is now bodes well for the future of the program.
As for Marquette, it wasn't a good night for them. When you don't pass well, you don't look good. Todd is a good hitter; they try to get her the ball a lot. Their offense was a bit slow, even when the passing was on the mark. I hope for their sake that it was just a really off night in the serve receive. I don't know their team, but it seemed like they had a full complement of players. If that is the case, it doesn't bode too well that they lost to a depleted Badger squad in a pretty one sided match and didn't look very good in the process.
I would guess that the Badgers are happy with the ending to a difficult spring season. I just hope that everyone will be healthy by the start of the fall season. If that is the case, this team has the potential to be very good. I think the biggest remaining question, other than the obvious health related ones, is the second middle position. I had hoped Dykstra would play there, but I have come to the view that the Badgers might be best with Jeffers in the middle and Dykstra at right side, where she looked impressive in the last two spring matches. I think Audra played middle in high school, and she is really strong at hitting from the middle, so that might be the best option. I am just hoping she (and everyone else) is one hundred percent by August so we can find out.
