Post by sharp716 on Mar 9, 2007 19:42:05 GMT -5
So this post is about a week late, but no one has said anything about the Men's Training Team Exhibition Matches since the one at Mater Dei happened over a month ago. I just saw them play this past weekend at JSerra High School, so I wanted to share my thoughts and to see if anyone who went to any of the games has comments. This was the first time I have seen volleyball played at a level above NCAA DI, so my comments on things will be pretty much in comparison to what I normally see in Men's college games.
First off, Priddy, Jennings, and Ring did not play, so it was all of the guys actually fighting for spots on the team who played.
Serving and serve receive was fairly better and more consistent than college, but what can you expect from a bunch of college All-Americans? Blocking: WAYYYYY better than college. These guys get touches on almost everything, which led to more rallies. The setters were good (as expected) and had better net play than the typical college setter. On a good pass, though, the setters still managed to trick the opposing blockers some of the time. The hitting was hard, but the players still managed to get digs in. I was really impressed with how the MBs could turn the quick sets and still hit the ball hard.
OHs: Tarr played well overall, esp. with serving. Nielsen was decent. Scott played OK, but avoided serve receive as mush as possible. McKinney didn't do so hot.
MBs: Vince played really smart. I was surprised to see Meerstein outplay Hein. Johnson hit pretty well, but was slower on blocking compared to the other three (I thought he played OH in college, and he was listed as an OH on the roster - so maybe he played middle just because there were not enough.) Meerstein is going to have to serve much tougher if he wants to make the cut.
OPPs: Pelzel was nice and solid, but only played Game 1 at OPP. Proper, who came in for him, did below OK. Zodrow did not do well except for his serving, which was very good.
Ls: Reft was AMAZING! His only weakness is that he is pretty short, so he cannot reach as far for the ball. Krushaar (sp?) played libero for the other team and did quite poorly, which I guess is not really his fault, since I doubt he is trying out for libero. I don't know what happened to Paul Munoz (LBSU), but he was not on this training squad. He would've done much better. Actually, Asuka, Tony Ker, Ali'i, Kalima, Caldwell, etc. would've done a better job.
Ss: Taliaferro (sp?) and Hildebrand were both good. Hildebrand was at a great disadvantage with Krushaar instead of Reft on his team, and had to make up for it with flashy sets.
In the end, the game still came down to serving and passing. Since the best servers of the night (Tarr and Zodrow) and the best passers (Reft and Tarr) were all on the same team, they won.
Wow, i wrote a lot.
First off, Priddy, Jennings, and Ring did not play, so it was all of the guys actually fighting for spots on the team who played.
Serving and serve receive was fairly better and more consistent than college, but what can you expect from a bunch of college All-Americans? Blocking: WAYYYYY better than college. These guys get touches on almost everything, which led to more rallies. The setters were good (as expected) and had better net play than the typical college setter. On a good pass, though, the setters still managed to trick the opposing blockers some of the time. The hitting was hard, but the players still managed to get digs in. I was really impressed with how the MBs could turn the quick sets and still hit the ball hard.
OHs: Tarr played well overall, esp. with serving. Nielsen was decent. Scott played OK, but avoided serve receive as mush as possible. McKinney didn't do so hot.
MBs: Vince played really smart. I was surprised to see Meerstein outplay Hein. Johnson hit pretty well, but was slower on blocking compared to the other three (I thought he played OH in college, and he was listed as an OH on the roster - so maybe he played middle just because there were not enough.) Meerstein is going to have to serve much tougher if he wants to make the cut.
OPPs: Pelzel was nice and solid, but only played Game 1 at OPP. Proper, who came in for him, did below OK. Zodrow did not do well except for his serving, which was very good.
Ls: Reft was AMAZING! His only weakness is that he is pretty short, so he cannot reach as far for the ball. Krushaar (sp?) played libero for the other team and did quite poorly, which I guess is not really his fault, since I doubt he is trying out for libero. I don't know what happened to Paul Munoz (LBSU), but he was not on this training squad. He would've done much better. Actually, Asuka, Tony Ker, Ali'i, Kalima, Caldwell, etc. would've done a better job.
Ss: Taliaferro (sp?) and Hildebrand were both good. Hildebrand was at a great disadvantage with Krushaar instead of Reft on his team, and had to make up for it with flashy sets.
In the end, the game still came down to serving and passing. Since the best servers of the night (Tarr and Zodrow) and the best passers (Reft and Tarr) were all on the same team, they won.
Wow, i wrote a lot.