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Post by vbprisoner on Oct 27, 2014 11:16:27 GMT -5
Here are C4ndlelight's Midseason All-PAC Honors: POY: Vansant COY: JMac FOY: Marshall SOY: Bugg LOY: Gilbert All-PAC Team: Vansant, UW Sybeldon, UW Scambray, UW Ajanaku, STAN Lutz, STAN Bugg, STAN Kingdon, ARIZ Bettendorf, ORE Buechler, UCLA Lowe, UCLA Gardner, ASU Bricio, USC Simpson, COLO Marshall, OSU HM: Snuka (ARIZ); Higgins (CAL); Schonewise (CAL); Austin (COLO); Brenner (OREG); Benson (OREG); Nady (OREG); Nassar (OSU); Boukather (STAN); Burgess (STAN); Gilbert (STAN); Nwanebu (USC); Wade (UW); Holt (WSU) *[The actual awards would likely trade out some of the freshman for the Stanford girls, but 5 Card vs 2 Husky honorees felt really weird) All-Freshman: Marshall, OSU (FOY) Lutz, STAN Scambray, UW Jones, UW Buechler, UCLA Pfefferle, COLO Anae, UTAH HM: Jacobson (ARIZ); Harker (ASU) Simpson (COLO); Scott (OREG); Shebby (OREG); Trueman (UTAH); Tanner (UW) I am not that familiar with the All PAC team voting over the years, but you do not have 1 Libero listed on your selected team. Is this normal for the All PAC team? Hagglund was on it the last two years so I thought there was always at least one selected.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Oct 27, 2014 11:20:38 GMT -5
There wasn't a setter last year, so there's no positional quota. Gilbert could get in and would be the one, but she's no Hagglund. And she faces a backlog on her own team - I think a 4th Card would have to be Burgess.
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Post by mikegarrison on Oct 27, 2014 11:40:11 GMT -5
I think that Nelson deserves more credit than she is getting this year.
Her kill totals are down, but that's because the team has changed around her. Last year the team needed her to be the #2 threat, so she was. This year they have Scambray and they don't have Munoz, so they need Nelson to basically take over Ky's role, and she has. She's a credible threat that draws attention away from the left and middle, plus her blocking has been very strong. I really don't think she is playing any worse than last year when she was AA (she's hitting at a higher percentage, just getting fewer sets), but because the team composition has shifted around her, her kills are down.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Oct 27, 2014 11:43:54 GMT -5
I think that Nelson deserves more credit than she is getting this year. Her kill totals are down, but that's because the team has changed around her. Last year the team needed her to be the #2 threat, so she was. This year they have Scambray and they don't have Munoz, so they need Nelson to basically take over Ky's role, and she has. She's a credible threat that draws attention away from the left and middle, plus her blocking has been very strong. I really don't think she is playing any worse than last year when she was AA (she's hitting at a higher percentage, just getting fewer sets), but because the team composition has shifted around her, her kills are down. Nelson's hitting percentage is higher because of the juicy juicy cupcakes in pre-season she feasted on. She's only hitting .249 in conference (which is good for a high-volume left, not great for a low-volume right with fewer than 2 kps) and was .206 and .212 in the big OOC matches against BYU and UW.
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Post by mikegarrison on Oct 27, 2014 12:01:49 GMT -5
I think that Nelson deserves more credit than she is getting this year. Her kill totals are down, but that's because the team has changed around her. Last year the team needed her to be the #2 threat, so she was. This year they have Scambray and they don't have Munoz, so they need Nelson to basically take over Ky's role, and she has. She's a credible threat that draws attention away from the left and middle, plus her blocking has been very strong. I really don't think she is playing any worse than last year when she was AA (she's hitting at a higher percentage, just getting fewer sets), but because the team composition has shifted around her, her kills are down. Nelson's hitting percentage is higher because of the juicy juicy cupcakes in pre-season she feasted on. She's only hitting .249 in conference (which is good for a high-volume left, not great for a low-volume right with fewer than 2 kps) and was .206 and .212 in the big OOC matches against BYU and UW. I disagree somewhat with your interpretation. I think that with only 10 conference matches so far you may be giving too much credit to a relatively small sample size. Conference-only (from PAC-12 website): 2014: 1.89 k/s, 0.253, 0.84 b/s 2013: 3.27 k/s, 0.281, 0.79 b/s I think that if this keeps up she will drop off these lists of honors because they are driven by the box score stats, but I don't think it's because she is playing any worse than last year. I still think it's just because the team has changed around her.
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Post by jgrout on Oct 27, 2014 12:05:10 GMT -5
SOS Washington v Stanford; Byu and Wisconsin sort of equals Penn State Nebraska, but Gonzaga Portland State Boise st al does not equal Iowa State Duke Illinois San Diego Santa Clara. Northrodge.. Stanford deserves a higher ranking. That gets Stanford squat when they fly up to Seattle. Boy, I hope both are undefeated, if for no other reason than to assure Stanford stays out of th Washington regional. I cannot imagine any NCAA tournament scenario that would have Stanford and U-Dub meet short of a national semi-final... perhaps not even before the national final. Their combined seeds will be too high for anything like a national 4-5 or national 3-6 meeting. A national 1-2 seeding is still possible. Burgess is better this year than she's ever been... far ahead of any freshman OH in the Pac-12, including Buechler... and was All-Pac-12 in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She is Stanford's third All-Pac-12 player behind Ajanaku and Bugg, not their fourth (or fourth of three and thus off) All-Pac-12 player. Lutz should be on the team as well, but she has some rough edges in her blocking skill set (nothing that won't improve with experience) and could justifiably be replaced by another middle blocker with more experience. Ajanaku, Bugg and Burgess have no comparable skill set gaps and it would be outrageous for any of the three to not make both All-Pac-12 and All-Region. Even though Bryn Kehoe is my favorite Stanford player of all time, I think Bugg has now passed her in technical ability (Kehoe was a good technical setter but her leadership, both by example and by exhortation of others, was superb). I think Bugg will end up being compared to Kehoe, Wendi Rush and Lisa Sharpley as one of the best setters in Stanford history.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Oct 27, 2014 12:56:23 GMT -5
There are lots of 6-2s, but what's weirder is that relatively few of the 5-1 setters are really exceptional, when there are several very good setters in 6-2s. Generally you think of 6-2 system setters as shorter, but Colorado's setters are 6'0" (Edelman) and 6'3" (G. Simpson). One of UW's is 6'1" (Tanner). However, Snuka (5'6"?) runs a 5-1 system. A couple different trends. The proliferation of teams running 6-2 systems means more opportunities for shorter setters, but the ability of taller setters to set and hit also makes them attractive to those teams.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Oct 27, 2014 13:22:18 GMT -5
Nelson was in a slump for a few conference matches, which pulled her average and kills/set down, but if she continues like in her last three matches, could still be in line for honors:
vs Colorado 6k 1e 17ta .294 vs Utah 8k 3e 16ta .312 vs Arizona 10k 1e 18ta .500
Total: 24k 5e 50ta .380 (2.4 k/s)
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Post by jgrout on Oct 27, 2014 17:59:06 GMT -5
Taller setters are better for 6-2 offenses because they can stay in the front row to hit... even if only when subs are running low. I had thought Lisa Sharpley was that kind of 6-2 setter until the first time I saw her hit in an alumni match... no coincidence that she was a first-team A-A as a setter-hitter in 1995 as well as a setter alone in 1996 and 1997.
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Post by Cruz'n on Oct 27, 2014 18:15:58 GMT -5
SOS Washington v Stanford; Byu and Wisconsin sort of equals Penn State Nebraska, but Gonzaga Portland State Boise st al does not equal Iowa State Duke Illinois San Diego Santa Clara. Northrodge.. Stanford deserves a higher ranking. That gets Stanford squat when they fly up to Seattle. Boy, I hope both are undefeated, if for no other reason than to assure Stanford stays out of th Washington regional. I cannot imagine any NCAA tournament scenario that would have Stanford and U-Dub meet short of a national semi-final... perhaps not even before the national final. Their combined seeds will be too high for anything like a national 4-5 or national 3-6 meeting. A national 1-2 seeding is still possible. Burgess is better this year than she's ever been... far ahead of any freshman OH in the Pac-12, including Buechler... and was All-Pac-12 in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She is Stanford's third All-Pac-12 player behind Ajanaku and Bugg, not their fourth (or fourth of three and thus off) All-Pac-12 player. Lutz should be on the team as well, but she has some rough edges in her blocking skill set (nothing that won't improve with experience) and could justifiably be replaced by another middle blocker with more experience. Ajanaku, Bugg and Burgess have no comparable skill set gaps and it would be outrageous for any of the three to not make both All-Pac-12 and All-Region. Even though Bryn Kehoe is my favorite Stanford player of all time, I think Bugg has now passed her in technical ability (Kehoe was a good technical setter but her leadership, both by example and by exhortation of others, was superb). I think Bugg will end up being compared to Kehoe, Wendi Rush and Lisa Sharpley as one of the best setters in Stanford history. Bryn is one of my all time favorites too, right behind Logan. Bryn never lost a joust, and could set a quick from anywhere (from behind the 10-foot line, no problem). And she set well in leading her team to the national championship as a freshman. Bryn was better her first two years than Bugg's first two years. But bugg is taller, a better blocker, better at dumps now, and has improved a lot from sophomore to junior year. So, you might be right.
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Post by Cruz'n on Oct 27, 2014 18:21:46 GMT -5
Taller setters are better for 6-2 offenses because they can stay in the front row to hit... even if only when subs are running low. I had thought Lisa Sharpley was that kind of 6-2 setter until the first time I saw her hit in an alumni match... no coincidence that she was a first-team A-A as a setter-hitter in 1995 as well as a setter alone in 1996 and 1997. For a 6-2 offense, shorter setters are better. They are generally quicker, play better back court defense. If there were not 15 subs per set as there are now (plus 12 for libero), then I would see your point about a taller 6-2 setter, so you would not have to sub her out of front row, assuming she is a good hitter. But with subs being no problem, better to put your best hitters in front row. Since there generally aren't enough 6' setters to go around (to run 5-1 systems), coaches turn to 6-2. Snuka is an exception. I think she is great, and a ton of fun to watch.
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Post by mikegarrison on Oct 27, 2014 18:28:16 GMT -5
I cannot imagine any NCAA tournament scenario that would have Stanford and U-Dub meet short of a national semi-final... perhaps not even before the national final. Their combined seeds will be too high for anything like a national 4-5 or national 3-6 meeting. A national 1-2 seeding is still possible. Burgess is better this year than she's ever been... far ahead of any freshman OH in the Pac-12, including Buechler... and was All-Pac-12 in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She is Stanford's third All-Pac-12 player behind Ajanaku and Bugg, not their fourth (or fourth of three and thus off) All-Pac-12 player. Lutz should be on the team as well, but she has some rough edges in her blocking skill set (nothing that won't improve with experience) and could justifiably be replaced by another middle blocker with more experience. Ajanaku, Bugg and Burgess have no comparable skill set gaps and it would be outrageous for any of the three to not make both All-Pac-12 and All-Region. Even though Bryn Kehoe is my favorite Stanford player of all time, I think Bugg has now passed her in technical ability (Kehoe was a good technical setter but her leadership, both by example and by exhortation of others, was superb). I think Bugg will end up being compared to Kehoe, Wendi Rush and Lisa Sharpley as one of the best setters in Stanford history. Bryn is one of my all time favorites too, right behind Logan. Bryn never lost a joust, and could set a quick from anywhere (from behind the 10-foot line, no problem). And she set well in leading her team to the national championship as a freshman. Bryn was better her first two years than Bugg's first two years. But bugg is taller, a better blocker, better at dumps now, and has improved a lot from sophomore to junior year. So, you might be right. Kehoe certainly led in the category of "best crazed Volleytalk stalker."
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