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Post by mnsports255 on Aug 30, 2014 23:24:25 GMT -5
Unlike most people here, I did not think Schau was bad tonight. There were a few sets to the middle that were a bit off-kilter, maybe, but that's honestly all I can fault her for. Speaking of Wilhite, WOW. She started off cool but came out of set one today with fire in her veins. Someone else mentioned she looked downright scary and I would agree with that. If she has to play angry, then so be it. Let's keep this good thing going. We saw fiery attacks with quick, full, and heavy swings out of the middle back and the outside as well. I have been waiting so long for this, as have many others, I'd imagine. Paige did well again today. She is extremely effective as a hitter if she can get a full, fast swing in. Hopefully our sets to her can improve a bit in this regard. Rewatch the match. It'll become obvious how poor her setting was if you watch it again. As for Wilhite, we should all be encouraged by that performance. 25 kills, 20 digs in 4 sets? That's frickin dominant. Huge breakout performance from her. If she plays with that confidence and attitude going forward, watch out! I agree with you about Paige. She's looked very solid these first two matches! If she gets better sets, she can be one of the better attacking middles in the big ten. Right now, I'm concerned with Daly, Schau, and even Goehner some. They all have to step up their games if we want to have success going forward.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Aug 30, 2014 23:26:55 GMT -5
Unlike most people here, I did not think Schau was bad tonight. There were a few sets to the middle that were a bit off-kilter, maybe, but that's honestly all I can fault her for. Speaking of Wilhite, WOW. She started off cool but came out of set one today with fire in her veins. Someone else mentioned she looked downright scary and I would agree with that. If she has to play angry, then so be it. Let's keep this good thing going. We saw fiery attacks with quick, full, and heavy swings out of the middle back and the outside as well. I have been waiting so long for this, as have many others, I'd imagine. Paige did well again today. She is extremely effective as a hitter if she can get a full, fast swing in. Hopefully our sets to her can improve a bit in this regard. Rewatch the match. It'll become obvious how poor her setting was if you watch it again. As for Wilhite, we should all be encouraged by that performance. 25 kills, 20 digs in 4 sets? That's frickin dominant. Huge breakout performance from her. If she plays with that confidence and attitude going forward, watch out! I agree with you about Paige. She's looked very solid these first two matches! If she gets better sets, she can be one of the better attacking middles in the big ten. Right now, I'm concerned with Daly, Schau, Nora, and even Goehner some. They all have to step up their games if we want to have success going forward. Don't get too excited for Wilhite. Those stats will be tough to replicate against bigger/better right side blocks.
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Post by mnsports255 on Aug 30, 2014 23:35:12 GMT -5
Rewatch the match. It'll become obvious how poor her setting was if you watch it again. As for Wilhite, we should all be encouraged by that performance. 25 kills, 20 digs in 4 sets? That's frickin dominant. Huge breakout performance from her. If she plays with that confidence and attitude going forward, watch out! I agree with you about Paige. She's looked very solid these first two matches! If she gets better sets, she can be one of the better attacking middles in the big ten. Right now, I'm concerned with Daly, Schau, Nora, and even Goehner some. They all have to step up their games if we want to have success going forward. Don't get too excited for Wilhite. Those stats will be tough to replicate against bigger/better right side blocks. I don't completely disagree. But you don't just get lucky and end up with 25 kills, 20 digs in 4 sets against a team like Louisville. Any gopher fan can tell you that she's never swung with that confidence and aggressiveness before. Remember, it's only her 2nd collegiate match on the LS. If she plays with this attitude, she'll have success, with her stats tapered back some.
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Post by spikerthemovie on Aug 31, 2014 0:02:47 GMT -5
Maybe not. I imagine plenty of teams are going to watch this tape and figure they can give the Gophers Wilhite and stop/curtail everyone else.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 0:44:12 GMT -5
Schau started out the night much better than she did last night, I thought. By the end, I was totally ready for a change, though. It's early in the season, I think Hugh needs to experiment much more with the lineups. I was surprised that two matches in a row and he has two very competent setters, but didn't choose to try his second one even though Schau's location was AWFUL after the first set tonight.
Also, I realize warmups don't mean anything, but Handley has a MUCH better connection with almost all the hitters in warmups. Last night I think during their hitting warmups, Schau literally was able to set the ball ONCE to a hitter where the hitter was able to get the ball over the net properly.
Schau really was having to run all over the place tonight, though - maybe that's where Handley lacks. I still think it would have been nice to see her get a shot.
I also think it's criminal not to utilize Hannah Tapp's serve. It's really good, but Paige serves.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 0:55:02 GMT -5
Schau is doing something well enough to earn the 5-1. I honestly don't think her location was the reason Minnesota lost.
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Post by bucky415 on Aug 31, 2014 0:58:24 GMT -5
I am surprised both by the outcome and that Wilhite did so well offensively. She hit smart last night but didn't seem to have much power on her attacks.
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Post by mplssetter on Aug 31, 2014 3:14:01 GMT -5
I am surprised both by the outcome and that Wilhite did so well offensively. She hit smart last night but didn't seem to have much power on her attacks. I'd rather have her hit smart. We already have one outside that wants to blast it low into the block.
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Post by craftylefty on Aug 31, 2014 7:00:13 GMT -5
How? Does Beal hit outside? She hasn't Um, yeah, still trying to wrap my head around this coaching decision. Apparently Beal's block in the front must be appreciably better than the setting of Handley? (I'm being facetious here.) Playing without a setter, even for just a couple of points, seems a bit foolish to me.
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Post by craftylefty on Aug 31, 2014 7:03:19 GMT -5
i don't understand that sub. oh well. You gain little on the block AND you lose Wilhite as an attack option Stop being so damn "clever" Amen. Just freaking bring in Handley for a setter sub. Even if her blocking is pure trash (it probably isn't), at least we have a fairly seasoned setter on the floor.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Aug 31, 2014 8:14:53 GMT -5
I'm confused. They actually had no setter on the court on purpose?
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Post by JHAM on Aug 31, 2014 9:30:34 GMT -5
I'm confused. They actually had no setter on the court on purpose? Yes at least 3 or 4 different points in the match. Wilhite set and only to the outside so the Louisville blockers could just camp! The first time it was at a critical point late in one of the sets - think set 2. Even though MN ended up winning that set they didn't win any of the points with this substitution.
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Post by pogoball on Aug 31, 2014 9:59:49 GMT -5
I only half-read this conversation and didn't see the match, so forgive me if this comment is missing something.
It's not unusual strategy to substitute a superior blocker for the setter when you serve to try to get a quick point on the block.
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Post by badgerbreath on Aug 31, 2014 10:02:33 GMT -5
It's almost as if Hugh was thinking he would win this match with the block alone. Of course, if that was his intention, you'd think they should also have been serving a lot more seriously rather than going straight to the UL libero everytime and saying "here you go." You'd need to get them out of system and get easy reads for the blockers. Maybe he thinks the height advantage should be good enough that it wasn't worth the risk of losing points on service errors. If he was thinking that, it turned out to be wrong, and the costs on his own side of the net were too high.
I dunno, seems like a crazy approach to a match though. I can't quite believe he was thinking that. Implies a serious lack of confidence in his setters. On the other hand, Schau's expressions just looked like she was struggling with confidence last night. I don't think she was uniformly bad -- they got some decent hits -- but she was inconsistent and a bit predictable. The team chemistry seemed a bit brittle, too, excited to have tied the match at 24, then always losing out to a more focused and determined UL side in the end. If there is anything you should learn from UW's last 6-7 years, its that skill and power can't get you there alone. You have to have some fight as a team. I'm didn't see it in this UM team yet. They look a little unmoored.
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Post by ugopher on Aug 31, 2014 10:22:53 GMT -5
I'm confused. They actually had no setter on the court on purpose? Yes at least 3 or 4 different points in the match. Wilhite set and only to the outside so the Louisville blockers could just camp! The first time it was at a critical point late in one of the sets - think set 2. Even though MN ended up winning that set they didn't win any of the points with this substitution. They did win one point with this substitution pattern. However, I thought it was ironic that when he didn't go with the Beal/Schau exchange (Wilhite was serving) late in the 4th set, Schau was in on a block. And, agree, Wilhite set a decent ball but it was a high ball to the outside and Daly isn't good enough to terminate that with 2 blockers facing her.
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