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Post by BeachbytheBay on Sept 1, 2014 8:51:36 GMT -5
Big West rankings after week 1!! Ugly (although not completely unsurprising) start to the season for the conference - couldn't have written a script much worse than what transpired. When the highlight are wins over ok MWC teams - then that's not a good thing. Not the kind of stuff for making some noise nationally. On the positive side, the BW went 4-2 at home, so defended home-court I guess. Next week the Big West gets 13 home matches & SB gets a chance to recover in Sacramento, so the conference can hold off the panic button for another week. Hopefully, somebody - anybody - can beat a real team.
#1) North Undefeated with 2 road wins. The first real test awaits now with Arizona. #2) Hawaii 2-1 was not unexpected. Young, inexperienced, and injured isn't the best combo to start a season. #3) LB Starting off a much anticipated season by blowing 21-18 & 21-19 leads in the first two sets of the season. Even against a national title contender and ranked teams isn't much consolation #4) UCI Salvaged a win in the start of their RPI friendly schedule. Unless they can win consistently in this schedule it'll be hard to boost them up. #5) Cal Poly A road win to start the season. Would have been nice to follow that up with a win vs. a Pac-12 team #6) Full 2-1 in their own tournament. #7) SB Maybe it'll take awhile longer to adjust to the loss of 3 solid seniors. Still, expected this team to be more competitive with Marquette & VCU. Bring back Gregory!!
#8 1/2) Davis & Riverside this spot is up for grabs until proven otherwise. Circle October 8.
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Post by BeachbytheBay on Sept 1, 2014 9:15:47 GMT -5
Key remaining non-conference games, where the big west needs to get some wins.
#1) North. @ Arizona 9/6, @ San Diego 9/16. Will need to prove they can get a quality win without Gedryn. winning one of these two would go a long way #2) Haw. All the remaining matches are at home, and given the youth/injuries, the pre-season is one big experiment - so the more Haw can win, the better for the conference. #3) LB 9/6 San Francisco, 9/11 LMU. Beach desperately needs to dominate at home from here on out #4) UCI. Pepperdine 9/5, @ New Mexico 9/13. If they want to make a statement #5) Cal Poly Santa Clara 9/20. will know how good the recruiting class is at this point #6) Full lost at home to Texas Tech. chances of winning a top 50 game are slim/none #7) SB LMU in Sacrament 9/5, UOP 9/13 @ Cal. got to beat middle pack WCC teams to be a BW contender.
basically have to beat some WCC teams for the Big West to be taken seriously
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Post by ACE on Sept 1, 2014 12:35:32 GMT -5
Thanks CC for doing the weekly recap. Very disappointing opening weekend for the BW. Also note, that none of Hawaii's remaning opponents are ranked in the top 25. I think Hawaii needs to beat Oregon to stay ranked....and sadly, Hawaii will only move up because other's have faltered or they might simply fall out of the rankings.
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Post by thebeach1 on Sept 1, 2014 12:47:01 GMT -5
What is Nikki Taylor's status? Her return to the line up would give UH a huge boost.
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Post by ACE on Sept 1, 2014 12:54:15 GMT -5
What is Nikki Taylor's status? Her return to the line up would give UH a huge boost. A poster mentioned that her injury is worse than expected and might take a medical redshirt. Then again, people were saying that Dave mentioned (in last nights post game interview) she might be returning to the gym this coming week. I'm not sure.
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Post by thebeach1 on Sept 1, 2014 13:25:29 GMT -5
Thanks, Ohana. She had an outstanding freshman year and was heir apparent to Hartong. Taylor's return will make Hawaii, and the Big West, better.
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Post by gouci on Sept 1, 2014 20:36:55 GMT -5
Week 1 Big West Player of the Week is CSUN Jr. OH Cieana Stinson. She had 52 kills hitting .325 and won the UNLV Tournament MVP leading CSUN to a 3-0 start. I guess the Big West added 2 new weekly awards. Week 1 Big West Freshman of the Week is Fullerton's OH Niki Withers. She had 20 kills against Bucknell in her debut. Week 1 Big West Defensive Player of the Week is Fullerton's So. libero McKenna Painton. She had 30 digs against Bucknell. Complete release
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Post by gouci on Sept 1, 2014 20:59:49 GMT -5
I wonder if the Big West is adding a new BW Defensive Player of the Year award this season?
Usually the best libero/defensive specialist in the conference makes the Big West 1st team and they're considered the best defensive POY by default. If I recall when UCI's Kristen Winkler and UCSB's Taylor Formico both had record setting seasons in a rare moment they put 2 liberos on the 1st team that year. It happened again last season. But most years it's just 1 libero on the 1st team even though the 1st team may consist of 16 players.
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Post by SmokeDogg on Sept 2, 2014 0:21:34 GMT -5
Another Fullerton freshman, Stephanie Buss, had a sparkling debut; she leads the league in blocks/set at 1.4.
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Post by roy on Sept 2, 2014 1:09:45 GMT -5
I wonder if the Big West is adding a new BW Defensive Player of the Year award this season? Usually the best libero/defensive specialist in the conference makes the Big West 1st team and they're considered the best defensive POY by default. If I recall when UCI's Kristen Winkler and UCSB's Taylor Formico both had record setting seasons in a rare moment they put 2 liberos on the 1st team that year. It happened again last season. But most years it's just 1 libero on the 1st team even though the 1st team may consist of 16 players. Usually it is. I recall another conference giving it to a middle blocker one year but I can't recall what conference that was.
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Post by vballfreak808 on Sept 2, 2014 1:16:00 GMT -5
I wonder if the Big West is adding a new BW Defensive Player of the Year award this season? Usually the best libero/defensive specialist in the conference makes the Big West 1st team and they're considered the best defensive POY by default. If I recall when UCI's Kristen Winkler and UCSB's Taylor Formico both had record setting seasons in a rare moment they put 2 liberos on the 1st team that year. It happened again last season. But most years it's just 1 libero on the 1st team even though the 1st team may consist of 16 players. Usually it is. I recall another conference giving it to a middle blocker one year but I can't recall what conference that was. I believe it was Katie Slay in 2011 from Penn State. When middle blockers have good blocking seasons it is definitely something to be considered for that award.
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Post by Courtside5 on Sept 2, 2014 8:08:42 GMT -5
What is Nikki Taylor's status? Her return to the line up would give UH a huge boost. That's an understatement. I believe if Nikki was healthy the Wahine would have probably beaten ASU and be sitting at 3-0
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Post by SmokeDogg on Sept 3, 2014 17:13:35 GMT -5
If Nikki was playing you might not have seen freshman Kalei Greeley, and you would never know that she was a great player. Look at the positive, you can look forward to adding Nikki Taylor to an already strong team.
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Post by 808 on Sept 3, 2014 18:19:47 GMT -5
What is Nikki Taylor's status? Her return to the line up would give UH a huge boost. A poster mentioned that her injury is worse than expected and might take a medical redshirt. Then again, people were saying that Dave mentioned (in last nights post game interview) she might be returning to the gym this coming week. I'm not sure. Dave mentioned on his radio show last night (only caught a little of it) that Nikki is passing practice this week and hopefully will progress to hitting next week. IF all goes well, she could be back for the Northern Arizona weekend or if not, by the start of the conference season.
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Post by 808 on Sept 3, 2014 18:21:53 GMT -5
If Nikki was playing you might not have seen freshman Kalei Greeley, and you would never know that see was a great player. Look at the positive, you can look forward to adding Nikki Taylor to a an already strong team. Yes, Nikki being out and Tai not playing on Sunday made it an easy decision for Dave to play Greeley. No pressure situation for her. It wasn't a matter of should he play her or someone else. There was no one else. She came through well and should only get better.
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