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Post by paloalto on Sept 6, 2014 12:51:05 GMT -5
The Stanford team celebrates every home win with the band. They enjoy winning. Lighten up. It's not like they were mocking their opponents. If you can't celebrate winning, why are you playing? Yes, it has been a tradition for quite some time that the players goof around with the band after a match. A player will take the band leader's baton and act like they are conducting the band while dancing. It is more about the players laughing at each other than anything else. While the win was nice, Stanford can improve in many areas from what they showed tonight. Savor the victory for a few hours and then get back in the gym and work on getting better.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 13:10:13 GMT -5
Stanford is one of the classiest programs out there, as has been any team Dunning would be in charge of. IMO if that win produced a celebration that big, its a sign of respect for PSU way more than a lack of respect. Beating PSU was a HUGE deal for that team, which is why I have maintained the match was much bigger for Stanford. For PSU, giving up a big lead in game three was their undoing. Pretty high level play for second weekend.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 13:12:47 GMT -5
Get serious, Frantti will be compared to every other elite OH who came before her. Who knows how long she can keep up this pace, no female freshman player ever has before now. She is not playing at a pace "no female freshman player has ever before" She is playing unbelievable for certain, but there has been a bunch of freshman who walked right into college volleyball and ripped it up. PSU had a freshman OH a few years back that I recall having a fairly decent freshman season.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 13:14:40 GMT -5
They won with Kristin Carpenter. They has the best middle and best opp in the country. That however wasn't the point you were making. PSU while having arguably the best middle and RS in the country also lost a few fairly decent players as well.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 13:22:24 GMT -5
This is not a "young" team. PSU started two freshman. That's it. You guys are starting just as much new people as Stanford as Morgan and McGehee weren't starters. Aiyana, Mia, megan, micha, and Dominique are all starters. You guys lost a lot, but you replaced it with the best recruiting class ever. Stop making it seem like you're starting 7 freshman agreed, PSU is not THAT young....and the youngins who are playing are supposed to be the best in their class. That said, the team as plenty of potential to grow, and have a great coaching staff to get there. I'll reserve all word praise for Washington until she actually gets on the court, very rarely do freshmen middles ever stand out because of the speed of the game and their inconsistency in closing the block pin to pin and transition from defense to offense, technically, but who knows. Frantti was obviously great but she won't hit .400, or probably anywhere close to it as the season progresses. The fact that this performance came against Stanford is great, but players throughout the years have had single sensational matches against other top programs all the time, even as freshmen. IMO it's just a reflection of what they are CAPABLE of, not a reflection of what they will be. Frantti will be good for them but I expect to her to have some poor matches to compliment these great matches. They'll be starting another freshman beginning next week. You are correct regarding PSU not being that young, but its the position the freshman are playing that is significant. I agree regarding holding off praise on a player who hasn't played yet, but I think your praise will come, she is awfully good. Frantti will have some disaster matches, they just way too many good teams for that not to happen. The poise that she plays with makes me believe she can and will be able to maintain a high level of performance. That really impressed me. Anybody can get a hot hand and have a great offensive night. I remember Katie Price ripped Stanford her freshman year, but nobody was thinking "this is what we think this kid will be able to do"
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Post by ay2013 on Sept 6, 2014 13:28:57 GMT -5
agreed, PSU is not THAT young....and the youngins who are playing are supposed to be the best in their class. That said, the team as plenty of potential to grow, and have a great coaching staff to get there. I'll reserve all word praise for Washington until she actually gets on the court, very rarely do freshmen middles ever stand out because of the speed of the game and their inconsistency in closing the block pin to pin and transition from defense to offense, technically, but who knows. Frantti was obviously great but she won't hit .400, or probably anywhere close to it as the season progresses. The fact that this performance came against Stanford is great, but players throughout the years have had single sensational matches against other top programs all the time, even as freshmen. IMO it's just a reflection of what they are CAPABLE of, not a reflection of what they will be. Frantti will be good for them but I expect to her to have some poor matches to compliment these great matches. They'll be starting another freshman beginning next week. You are correct regarding PSU not being that young, but its the position the freshman are playing that is significant. I agree regarding holding off praise on a player who hasn't played yet, but I think your praise will come, she is awfully good. Frantti will have some disaster matches, they just way too many good teams for that not to happen. The poise that she plays with makes me believe she can and will be able to maintain a high level of performance. That really impressed me. Anybody can get a hot hand and have a great offensive night. I remember Katie Price ripped Stanford her freshman year, but nobody was thinking "this is what we think this kid will be able to do" agreed on all of this, but IMO they are also starting experienced upperclassmen at important positions too, which is at setter and in the backrow. PSU defense overall was pretty solid (except for the blocking) the backrow passed very well and the defenders touched a lot of balls.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 13:35:33 GMT -5
They'll be starting another freshman beginning next week. You are correct regarding PSU not being that young, but its the position the freshman are playing that is significant. I agree regarding holding off praise on a player who hasn't played yet, but I think your praise will come, she is awfully good. Frantti will have some disaster matches, they just way too many good teams for that not to happen. The poise that she plays with makes me believe she can and will be able to maintain a high level of performance. That really impressed me. Anybody can get a hot hand and have a great offensive night. I remember Katie Price ripped Stanford her freshman year, but nobody was thinking "this is what we think this kid will be able to do" agreed on all of this, but IMO they are also starting experienced upperclassmen at important positions too, which is at setter and in the backrow. PSU defense overall was pretty solid (except for the blocking) the backrow passed very well and the defenders touched a lot of balls. Yup. Dom and Lacey are really underrated players. Remember D'errico and Holehouse never got much love either because of how great their net players were. People remarkably place way more significance on the performance of net players than they do backrow players. A really good middle will get a scholarship and be all-conference, a really good back row kid walks on for a year or two and gets a pat on the back. I think you will start seeing Frantti play all the way around.
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Post by ay2013 on Sept 6, 2014 13:35:52 GMT -5
you know, one of the things I found interesting, and perhaps this is just a PSU coaching tactic, was how many swings the PSU players took on free balls. Instead of bumping the ball over on a platform (like most of the Stanford plays), they turned to face the other side of the court and gave the ball a standard swing through the ball. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing I suppose, just a difference. I suppose a decent top spin at the right angle could result in a poor pass.
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Post by ay2013 on Sept 6, 2014 13:41:48 GMT -5
agreed on all of this, but IMO they are also starting experienced upperclassmen at important positions too, which is at setter and in the backrow. PSU defense overall was pretty solid (except for the blocking) the backrow passed very well and the defenders touched a lot of balls. Yup. Dom and Lacey are really underrated players. Remember D'errico and Holehouse never got much love either because of how great their net players were. People remarkably place way more significance on the performance of net players than they do backrow players. A really good middle will get a scholarship and be all-conference, a really good back row kid walks on for a year or two and gets a pat on the back. I think you will start seeing Frantti play all the way around. It's so true about the lack of praise for backrow play. It's sad really. IMO PSU doesn't win the NC without the superior backrow play of D'Errico and Quillico against Texas in 2009 and Holehouse, Price, and D'errico in 2007 against Stanford. In both of those matches PSU had no advantage against their opponents at net, it was in the backrow play, plain and simple.
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Post by akbar on Sept 6, 2014 13:45:41 GMT -5
[/quote]Yl I think you will start seeing Frantti play all the way around. [/quote]
Pretty sure Frantti plays all the way around now. ?
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Post by hammer on Sept 6, 2014 13:54:09 GMT -5
Since I was court side a few observations:
1. Stanford started out the match very tight and seemed very much out of sync. Maybe they were over-amped given the opponent (wanting to win so bad) and 1st home match. Even Inky blew a couple of easy sets.
2. Burgess' timing on her jump serve was horrible ... not sure where that came from as she looked solid in the practice scrimmages. Eventually Dunning went to Brown as her replacement server. As other posters have stated, probably time for Burgess to abandon the top spin jump serve. Besides the obvious inconsistency, the velocity isn't there anyway. Of the servers I saw last night Hancock and Brown are the only two who should be using a top spin jumper.
3. As I have stated in other threads, Frantti does not play like a freshman. She is a AA caliber hitter already, no question. Other aspects of her game, blocking and defense are pretty solid, but I expect that's where we will see the biggest improvement. As for hitting, perhaps the upside isn't that much higher as the velocity is already there and she's reading the block nicely and either avoiding it or tooling high hands. I think the only way she can be stopped is with a very large experienced blocking tandem (which we know are very rare in the college game).
4. Bugg's inconsistency is a bit of a concern. In the past two years, she has had that occasional game where the wheels seem to come off the bus. At least she sort of fought through it and finished the match on a high note. I do like the Bugg to Boukather connection as it looks like Bugg has worked on those back sets to the RS and is delivering them accurately.
5. Burgess' passing and D were stellar in this match. She did a nice job passing Hancock's rockets. Howard's passing was substandard, but I'l write it off as a bad night.
6. Overall, PSU's advantage at OH is pretty large and could get larger once Washington returns, so Stanford really needs to find a way to close that gap somewhat. They will never, ever close it fully, but they need to find more output and consistency from Burgess and Howard. I'm hoping they try more inside sets to Howard, but have her work on turning the ball into the deep left corner. Boukather looks good and is avoiding the block successfully so that is a bright spot.
7. How would I rank these two? Well, at this point the season, if I'm a PSU fan, I'm pretty happy with with what I'm seeing. One can make a case that they outplayed Stanford. They clearly have the firepower to win the B1G and NCAA title. Stanford, OTOH, lacks firepower, so they will need to do it more with blocking and D. Lutz will have to step up and become a blocking force in the front line; otherwise beating PSU a 2nd time, assuming they play in the FF, will be difficult.
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Post by hammer on Sept 6, 2014 14:00:24 GMT -5
Yl I think you will start seeing Frantti play all the way around. [/quote] Pretty sure Frantti plays all the way around now. ?[/quote] She was subbed out some, but I didn't keep track of how often.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 14:31:30 GMT -5
Yup. Dom and Lacey are really underrated players. Remember D'errico and Holehouse never got much love either because of how great their net players were. People remarkably place way more significance on the performance of net players than they do backrow players. A really good middle will get a scholarship and be all-conference, a really good back row kid walks on for a year or two and gets a pat on the back. I think you will start seeing Frantti play all the way around. It's so true about the lack of praise for backrow play. It's sad really. IMO PSU doesn't win the NC without the superior backrow play of D'Errico and Quillico against Texas in 2009 and Holehouse, Price, and D'errico in 2007 against Stanford. In both of those matches PSU had no advantage against their opponents at net, it was in the backrow play, plain and simple. You got that right. Did anyone play better in that match than Quillico and Derrico? Holehouse, Derrico, Price? Total difference makers in those matches. The net players sawed each other off, and PSU's defensive people were in a different league. They've had a few AA's who in my opinion were sadly never really eligible to be AA's based on the skewed value of net players.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Sept 6, 2014 14:33:37 GMT -5
you know, one of the things I found interesting, and perhaps this is just a PSU coaching tactic, was how many swings the PSU players took on free balls. Instead of bumping the ball over on a platform (like most of the Stanford plays), they turned to face the other side of the court and gave the ball a standard swing through the ball. I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing I suppose, just a difference. I suppose a decent top spin at the right angle could result in a poor pass. Not perhaps, they don't give "free balls" I think it's pretty silly to topspin a ball over the net if you aren't jumping, its the easiest ball to ball handle.. Get up and rip it, or set it over the net to 1/2 zone.
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Post by sportsfun on Sept 6, 2014 14:52:46 GMT -5
Attended the match; a very good crowd for pre-student times; noisy for Stanford, but probably not for other places; I don't think the crowd affected Penn State, but who knows. The most impressive thing tonight was the Penn State passing and defense. 3 pass after 3 pass poured right into the setter., and the backrow in position to dig, particularly the OH. Very impressive. I call dibs on being the first to proclaim Franti OH in Rio. We need her. Stanford may have to start playing with their opening rotation. Lutz came in during the second-third set, and by the third set her immense size had started to gum up the middle. PSA responded by having Grant, who was matched up a lot v. Lutz, having Grant run slides, and in so doing run away from Lutz with superior foot speed. Stanford may want to match Lutz against less mobile middles; say, have her against Vukasovic of Cal, not Schoenweis, who runs a mean slide. I agree that with Washington coming and some more practice in tight sets, PSU has a brighter upside. But Stanford has their immense middle to get only better, and refine how Brown and Benjamin can help off the bench. I was glad PSU had left the floor when Stanford started some heavy duty celebrating after the match. Gloating does not go over well and would have stuck in the Nittany Lions throat. I loved your report, as always. I think the celebration of the Cardinal came from being subjected to an extended amount of celebrating on the part of PSU after they last saw one another. Celebration is understandable and the Cardinal certainly were on the other end of it last season long after the cameras were off. I'm not inferring that PSU was inappropriate because they were kids greatly relieved to have won a huge game but most of the players you saw last night celebrating endured hearing and seeing it for an extended period of time after the game that ended their season.
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