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Post by Go Iowa on Sept 11, 2004 21:57:46 GMT -5
Mary is on the radio. She's very happy with Florida's play, but she isn't happy with the officiating. "Our team wasn't good enough to beat this team AND the officiating tonight."
I still think this team will be in Long Beach. These kinks will be worked out.
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Post by GatorVball on Sept 11, 2004 21:59:15 GMT -5
Mary is classy as always, upset about the call, obviously, but proud of the way her team fought at the end of a 10 day, 6 match road trip. They will be glad to get home for the first time since last week, stupid Hurricane. Here's hoping this next hurricane doesn't mess up their schedule again, though I feel the FSU match on Tuesday will be postponed. Even though they lost and have things to work on, I'm excited about the potential this team has to again be there at the end.
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Post by Go Iowa on Sept 11, 2004 22:02:45 GMT -5
Say HI to Rita for me. I love her. I'm also glad she's gone. My Hawkeyes are 5-1! ;D
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Post by GatorVball on Sept 11, 2004 22:03:55 GMT -5
Say HI to Rita for me. I love her. I'm also glad she's gone. My Hawkeyes are 5-1! ;D Ivan is scheduled to make landfall near Tallahassee on Tuesday, this match won't be played this coming week, unless the storm decides to be nice and miss the state.
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Post by Gorf on Sept 11, 2004 23:48:25 GMT -5
Well, the announcer and Mary didn't see her in the net, I can only go by that. Actually, she was in the net pretty big time. I could see Mary perhaps questioning whether she was in the net before or after the ball hit the ground (I thought she was in the net before) but she was pretty clearly into the net. FWIW: I know the up ref (Joan Powell) is not from Minnesota and the down ref (Steve Thorpe) I'm pretty sure is not local. There were plenty of calls that were questionable (IMO) by those two referees but I thought those evened out fairly well over the match. The two line judges were from Minnesota and there were definitely a few close calls that went against the Gators by the line judges that I thought were wrong. On the other hand the Gators were complaining about a lot of calls and touches that I thought were correct calls. There were a couple of times I thought the Gators got themselves a bit out of synch by being upset with officiating calls and made additional additional mental mistakes by not being as focused on the match. It was a very good match. A bit of sloppiness from both sides at times, but mostly a lot of very scrappy defensive play by both teams. When you have 5 players from each team with double figure digs and both teams with over 100 digs you know it was a very hard fought game. (R)uffda! hadn't let the Pavilion when I was given the "signal" by my wife that she was ready to leave. I imagine (R)uffda! will be online relatively soon to give his impressions and notes from his stats. I know one thing he's very curious about is why Mary keeps switching back and forth between the 5-1 with Moscovic and the 6-2 with both Moscovic and McGinnis. For the tournament this weekend I don't think the Gators have lost a game when they ran the 5-1 and lost the majority of the games when they ran the 6-2. I believe against the Gophers they won both games where they ran the 5-1 and lost all 3 games where they ran the 6-2. I'm pretty confident that both Florida and Minnesota will continue (barring injuries of course) to improve a fair amont over the course of the season.
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Post by TheSantaBarbarian on Sept 11, 2004 23:52:36 GMT -5
Hey Gorf, congratulations.
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Post by GatorVball on Sept 11, 2004 23:57:46 GMT -5
>-(Gorf)-<[} link=board=general&thread=1094947437&start=49#3 date=1094964505] I know one thing he's very curious about is why Mary keeps switching back and forth between the 5-1 with Moscovic and the 6-2 with both Moscovic and McGinnis. For the tournament this weekend I don't think the Gators have lost a game when they ran the 5-1 and lost the majority of the games when they ran the 6-2. I believe against the Gophers they won both games where they ran the 5-1 and lost all 3 games where they ran the 6-2. I'm pretty confident that both Florida and Minnesota will continue (barring injuries of course) to improve a fair amont over the course of the season. Thanks for the report. I've said the last couple of days, Florida needs to ditch the 6-2. It's just not allowing the team to get into a rhythm and it's clearly not working. I know Mary wants to get McGinnis on the floor because she's so good, but I don't think this system helps the team. Pick one and stick with her. While McGinnis is a much better blocker, Lauren is a much better leader and in crunch time, I want her setting. Good learning experience for both teams, really, I also agree they will only get better. Sounded like a great atmosphere in the Pavillion and a great match and I know the home folks went away happy.
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Post by Gorf on Sept 12, 2004 0:02:44 GMT -5
Thanks TSB.
Imagine how KSU players / coaches feel having barely lost 5 game matches to both Florida and Minnesota.
Out of 5 matches so far 3 have gone 5 games with Minnesota vs. Northern Iowa left to be played tomorrow afternoon.
The Gophers have soem definite holes in their play at times as they try to get used to the 6-2 and resyncronizing with everyone. Not to mention no longer being able to rely on Cassie Busse putting the team on her shoulders late in games / matches. They're adapting to having to use a lot more spread out offense.
Kelly Bowman had her 2nd triple double out of the season tonight.
Lindsey Taatjes has her career high with 26 digs against Florida.
Jane Callymore was a hammer from all over the court fot the Gators having 28 kills plus 18 digs.
Its hard to believe Marcie Hampton is just a freshman. With her, Angie McGinnis and others the Gators have a darned nice core for the future as well.
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Post by Gorf on Sept 12, 2004 0:09:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the report. I've said the last couple of days, Florida needs to ditch the 6-2. It's just not allowing the team to get into a rhythm and it's clearly not working. I know Mary wants to get McGinnis on the floor because she's so good, but I don't think this system helps the team. Pick one and stick with her. While McGinnis is a much better blocker, Lauren is a much better leader and in crunch time, I want her setting. Good learning experience for both teams, really, I also agree they will only get better. Sounded like a great atmosphere in the Pavillion and a great match and I know the home folks went away happy. I have little doubt that Angie will become an amazing setter for the Gators, plus she plays well in other aspects (serving, blocking) of the game. I just think Lauren is much more deceptive, and much better at making "the correct" decisions when the Gators are out of system and need to make a decisive play to earn the point. Its a tough call though. As (R)uffda! mentioned the other night Angie is almost too good of a player to not leave her on the bench. I guess they could play a 5-1 with her at opposite. Fortunately it isn't my decision to make. Florida impressed me with their scrappiness against Minnesota. I expected the Gophers to win the majority of the long rallies, but more much of the match the Gators won at least as many of those rallies.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2004 0:58:09 GMT -5
OK. First things first. If Mary is complaining about the refs, she is bonkers. Florida got two line calls in game 2 (balls that were out, called in) that changed that game around.
Match point was a joust at the net between, I believe, Bratford and Chatman. Chatman won the joust but she came down on TOP OF THE NET! There was no way anyone could have missed it, so I can't believe Mary did.
I think VB has become unreffable since they relaxed the ball handling rules. Any call that is made now seems arbitrary, out-of-the-blue. They have NO standard.
The reffing was bad all weekend. But bad for EVERYONE. OK. Maybe worse for KSU.
Joan Powell, btw, is one of the best.
As for the match.
Florida came out in a modified 5-1, with McGinnis setting the front row, and Moscovic the back. (McGinnis would serve, however.) This after coming back to beat UNI last night after they ditched the 6-2 and went to a 5-1 with Moscovic. They lose 30-22.
So what does she do? She goes to a 5-1 with MCGINNIS in game 2! They fall behind 6-10 and she replaces McGinnis with Moscovic. Florida starts playing better almost immediately. Helped by the two calls mentioned above, they manage to win game 2. They were VERY fortunate not to be down 2-0.
So Moscovic is your setter for game 3, right? Nope. She goes to a modified 5-1 again with McGinnis getting most of the playing time. Game 3 is pretty ugly. It's been very good volleyball to this point, but this one is very sloppy. Florida wins as Minnesota hits NEGATIVE for the game.
She goes back to a 6-2 in game 4! And Florida is CRUSHED in this game. They return the favor, hitting NEGATIVE for the game.
I half expected her to go with NO setter in game 5, but it was the 6-2 again. This was some very good volleyball, very tight, obviously. But Minnesota hit .214 to Florida's .167. That's not refs.
So I'm thinking maybe Mary's comments have more to do with the fact she has totally messed up the Gator's chemistry and she knows it. Maybe not. Maybe she's just being a sore loser. I like Mary, so I forgive her. FWIW.
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Post by Gorf on Sept 12, 2004 1:03:35 GMT -5
Too add to the confusion on line calls the Gophers have a very peculiar volleyball court design.
The court lines are maroon, there is a white line all the way around the outside of the court that is roughly the same thickness as the court lines then outside of the white line everything is maroon.
If not looking carefullly it is easy to mistake the white line as being the court boundary, however, it is outside the court.
As far as reffing (and calls made or not made) goes I've been frustrated with the major lack of consistency from pretty much all referees in terms of what they call as lifts / carries.
The rules are extremely vague on the definition.
Referees allow hitters to have an extreme amount of contact on some of their lobs / tibs to deep corners and on back row attacks.
They call many things that come from an awkward position (though actually very clean) as lifts / carries.
They often call dig attempts made by a hitter that is attempting to cover on of there own attacks that was being blocked as lifts / carries.
Even though both of those thing generally have much less contact than the lobs / tips from the hitters that almost never get called. Let alone the "water polo" style shots that some middles get away with.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2004 1:13:47 GMT -5
Minnesota comments:
Speaking of 6-2s. Minnesota went to a 5-1 more and more as the match progressed. Bowman stayed in the match, but Taatjes was setting, even in the front row. This is what they did for parts of the KSU match last night, too.
Taatjes was VERY good. 55 assists, 26 (!) digs, .467, 2 aces. Taatjes does not get nearly the respect she deserves.
Minnesota also outplayed Florida defensively, especially at libero. I expected this, but it was still, ultimately, the difference. I am sure Florida is not used to hitting the ball as hard as they were hitting it and having it come back to them.
Minnesota made many more errors than I thought they would. Bratford, in particular, struggled--especially when she, Taatjes and Nelson were in the front row. But both middles hit .333 and, I think, outplayed Chatman and Williams. That was a bonus.
Minnesota had 5 aces and only 7 errors. Florida had 0 aces and 9 errors. This is significant, but doesn't give you a total picture of just how well Minnesota passed.
What else? I think Hampton's play was also significant. She was tentative the whole match. Never really took all out swings at the ball, like she had done against UNI. And her passing was shaky. She had 7 kills and 7 errors in 54 swings. That's a whole lot of nothing that Florida had to overcome. Collymore's 86 swings were the result.
Minnesota had FIVE players with double digit kills.
Having said all this, I agree with Gator. Florida looks to get significantly better as the year progresses, especially when they decide what they are going to do at setter--or get comfortable with switching around as the situation warrants. Hampton, for one, will get much better. I don't know how much their defense is going to improve, however. That's still going to be their weakness.
Minnesota, OTOH, may not get much better. That's OK. They're pretty good right now. They have some weak rotations, but they seem much more comfortable going in and out of the 6-2 than does Florida. I think Nelson, if she stays healthy, is going to get better and better as a hitter. Bowman will improve, too. But the rest are probably going to stay at this level.
This team can dig. Gentil, Rhino, Marci, Taatjes, Bowman--all of them were fabulous tonight on defense. And the block was fairly solid. There were way too many hitting errors, but I'll give credit to Florida for that.
It was a great match. Watch it tomorrow, if you can.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2004 1:19:26 GMT -5
>-(Gorf)-<[} link=board=general&thread=1094947437&start=53#3 date=1094965777] As (R)uffda! mentioned the other night Angie is almost too good of a player to not leave her on the bench. I guess they could play a 5-1 with her at opposite. I certainly did NOT say that. It makes no sense. ;D Too good of a player to leave on the bench I believe is what I said. As for the long rallies, yes Florida won a lot of them, but mainly because the Gophers would get blocked or make a hitting error. I don't think Florida even comes close to playing the kind of defense Minnesota plays. And thank goodness for that. They'd be unstoppable if they did. They do so many other things so very well.
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Post by Gorf on Sept 12, 2004 1:23:59 GMT -5
You did indeed say the latter. I just like double negatives and get confused by them "at times".
I didn't think Florida played defense as well as the Gophers either, I was simply surprised that they were able to win as many of the long rallies as they did against the Gophers.
The Gophers don't always win "pretty" matches, but their defense allows affords them the luxury of being able to play "ugly" at times and still win.
In terms of which I'd prefer if I can't have both, I'll choose the win over the picture perfect pretty plays.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2004 1:28:40 GMT -5
This team is so different than past Gopher teams--meaning three years ago or more. Even when they had GREAT players like Berg, Branagh and Hagen they, to be honest, didn't play good defense. Almost everytime they'd play someone (like Wisconsin, PSU or UNI, for instance) that started digging them, they were toast. Sooner or later, those teams would wear them down.
Defense beats offense almost all the time. And I think that's something USC, Florida and Nebraska are going to have to address this year.
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