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Post by tomclen on Nov 27, 2014 0:28:31 GMT -5
Well, okay, I was wrong about the crowd. Sue me. But I really agree with you on Inky. Maybe they were just getting such bad passes to Bugg (they were) that she never comfortable giving Inky good sets. But I expected her to give UW fits, and she really didn't. Not sure why Dunning didn't urge Bugg to set her more.It was one of those nights for UW, other than sloppy serving at times in set two, they were just firing on all cylinders. Add in a very loud crowd and I think Stanford ran into the perfect storm. It's still unfortunate that the schedule didn't allow a match AT Stanford. I have brought this up with Dunning before. Setting is his favorite part of the game, and is his personal focus. Of all the things he says to Bugg, "Set Inky" is said the most. He wants Bugg to set Inky over and over again. The "Middle" is Stanford's strength, and he constantly reminds Madi of this. But in the end, Bugg has to do it. Granted, tonight there was a lot of bad passing. Still, there were numerous times, on perfect passes, where she SHOULD have set Inky, but didn't. I had hoped she had gotten over this, but apparently she hasn't. I'm crossing my fingers she will realize that she needs Inky if she wants to have any chance at a NC. She's led the team to a perfect season, until tonight, so one can't complain too much. And, as others have said, Washington played their best match of the season tonight. If I was a Stanford fan, I wouldn't be too alarmed about losing in 4 at Hec Ed in front of the largest crowd that's ever watched a VB game there.
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 27, 2014 0:37:38 GMT -5
at Hec Ed in front of the largest crowd that's ever watched a VB game there. This bears repeating. Hec Ed opened in 1927. 87 years! Fourscore and seven years ago, and tonight was the largest crowd ever for a volleyball match. Yay us!
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 27, 2014 0:44:15 GMT -5
at Hec Ed in front of the largest crowd that's ever watched a VB game there. This bears repeating. Hec Ed opened in 1927. 87 years! Fourscore and seven years ago, and tonight was the largest crowd ever for a volleyball match. Yay us! And I just checked the NCAA website. Unless somebody has a bigger match this week, this will jump all the way to the #1 most attended match of the regular season.
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Post by Cruz'n on Nov 27, 2014 0:45:35 GMT -5
Huskies did have two blockers committed to stopping Inky. That's going to cut down on her scoring. I don't mean to take anything away from Washington, their middles, their blocking, etc. I have praised them all year. And for sure they DID have a great game plan to stop Inky. Despite how well Washington played, Bugg should not have given up on Inky the way she did.
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 27, 2014 0:54:42 GMT -5
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 27, 2014 0:59:38 GMT -5
Back from a victory dinner at Uneeda in Fremont. Hey Chisovnik -- how's that pre-Thanksgiving crow taste?
Wow, what a great night at Hec Ed. The best part was that the Huskies rose to the occasion on Senior Night before a Pac 12 record crowd. Despite the lack of any serious mainstream media coverage of UW volleyball in Seattle, there's a ton of vball fans who know good entertainment when they see it. I had a funny conversation in the bathroom during intermission with this old UW fan, maybe 65-70 years old, who said he goes to every UW football, basketball, and volleyball game. "I hate the football games -- you fall asleep during all the timeouts. And basketball's just lousy now. Volleyball is by far the best."
The most impressive thing about this victory was that the Huskies were focused and played some of their best volleyball on the biggest stage of the season. Forget all this stuff about symbolic victories and a meaningless match -- this match meant a lot to the players on the court and the coaches. There was a lot of emotion channeled into this match and it poured out at the end.
I think Stanford will be disappointed in their performance. The lengthy Senior Night proceedings that delayed the start of the game seemed to throw them off -- they seemed a little antsy and uncomfortable waiting for the game to start. When it did start, they were tight. The very first point was a UW service ace, which was prophetic. More service aces in the first set and Stanford was positively rattled. Maybe this doesn't happen at Maples or on a neutral court in the tournament. I don't know.
But I do know the way to beat Stanford -- pressure them with a tough serve and keep the heat on them defensively. Serve receive, passing, and defense -- Stanford's strengths all season -- failed them tonight. Maybe this was an aberration, but I have to say that Wisconsin played much better defense in their five-set loss to the Huskies in September. I don't fault Stanford's hitting -- Boukather, Burgess, and Howard all did pretty well with the sets they were dealt. Inky and Lutz were not big factors. It all comes back to handling UW's serve and digging UW's hitting, and the Cardinal could not do either with any consistency, keeping Madi Bugg on the run the entire night. My guess is that Dunning and his players will learn from this and play some of their best vball in the tournament.
Ok, how about the Huskies. No one, and I mean no one, had a bad night. The Huskies were much better than Stanford in serve receive. Floor defense was better. September seems like a long time ago, but UW fans were openly worried that team defense was going to be the Achilles heel of this team and Strickland was not going to cut it at libero. Well, Strickland is playing at an incredibly high level now and is such a lynchpin to the Huskies success. Her growth in two months is stunning.
Vansant and Nelson were outstanding; Krista played her usual all-around game and was the best and most dominant player on the court. Scambray really came through with her best game of the last month, maybe the year. Schwan shows just how deep the Huskies are but I expect Jones will be back as a starter once the tournament starts. Wade and Sybeldon were not set that much but I loved the fact that the final two points were emphatic kills from Sybeldon and Wade. People need to stop overlooking Wade -- she's one of the smartest middles I've seen, and her serving is outstanding.
I think it's safe to say that UW and Stanford will take care of business against WSU and Cal. Stanford deserves an overall #1 seed in the tournament. UW certainly deserves a top 4 seed. If I'm picking tonight, I expect both to be in the Final Four.
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Post by sportsfun on Nov 27, 2014 1:00:35 GMT -5
I did not realize that Women's rowing is a NCAA sport. I knew that Men's was not but I thought both were not. The NCAA took over women's rowing in 1997. UW does have three NCAA championships but nothing since 2001 (1997, 1998 and 2001). However, Bob Ernst was NOT the women's coach during those years. He had switched over to be the Men's coach in 1987 and did not resume coaching the women until 2007. The women finished 2nd under him but have not won a NCAA Championship under him. Very well then, you are right. But I still think Washington's traditional premier sport is rowing. No other school in the US has the rowing tradition of success that Washington has (including a UW team winning the 1936 Olympic gold). However, as I was waiting in line outside the arena more than an hour and a half before the match, I was shaking my head over the way that basketball gets so much more attention in the media. There were more people here tonight than at a couple of the Mariners games I attended this summer. The local media needs to wise up and realize that this team has a big following. Really? Not even the Ivy League schools?
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 27, 2014 1:02:19 GMT -5
Huskies did have two blockers committed to stopping Inky. That's going to cut down on her scoring. I don't mean to take anything away from Washington, their middles, their blocking, etc. I have praised them all year. And for sure they DID have a great game plan to stop Inky. Despite how well Washington played, Bugg should not have given up on Inky the way she did. I really don't fault Bugg too much -- she was under duress almost the entire match, chasing balls all over the court, making bump sets. You can't run a good middle attack when you are out of system so often.
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Post by usvballfan on Nov 27, 2014 1:16:50 GMT -5
I hope to see Stanford, Washington, Penn State and Texas in the Final four!!!!! Hope the committee sets it up that way.
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Post by usvballfan on Nov 27, 2014 1:17:05 GMT -5
Best four teams in the country!
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Post by nowhereman on Nov 27, 2014 1:17:41 GMT -5
I can't help mentioning that one time UW wanted to hire a coach that would create more buzz about women's basketball. Well until they become a perennial tournament team again -haven't made it since 2007- forget it. Women's sports at UW is all about volleyball!
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Post by volleyfan24 on Nov 27, 2014 1:17:43 GMT -5
Someone said Cassie Strickland has potential to be the best libero in the country next year. Lets not get ahead of ourselves now she is not that good. This was a career performance for her though. Where are all the UW fans who were upset at the beginning of the season complaining about her? Definitely she embraced the role this season and this game shows she can play the position which many doubters weren't convinced of in the early season.
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Post by Mocha on Nov 27, 2014 1:20:28 GMT -5
I hope to see Stanford, Washington, Penn State and Texas in the Final four!!!!! Hope the committee sets it up that way. Wisconsin?
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 27, 2014 1:20:45 GMT -5
I hope to see Stanford, Washington, Penn State and Texas in the Final four!!!!! Hope the committee sets it up that way. That would be fun but I would prefer the Badgers over either Penn St or Texas.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Nov 27, 2014 1:29:49 GMT -5
I did not realize that Women's rowing is a NCAA sport. I knew that Men's was not but I thought both were not. The NCAA took over women's rowing in 1997. UW does have three NCAA championships but nothing since 2001 (1997, 1998 and 2001). However, Bob Ernst was NOT the women's coach during those years. He had switched over to be the Men's coach in 1987 and did not resume coaching the women until 2007. The women finished 2nd under him but have not won a NCAA Championship under him. Very well then, you are right. But I still think Washington's traditional premier sport is rowing. No other school in the US has the rowing tradition of success that Washington has (including a UW team winning the 1936 Olympic gold). Cal has won 19 national championships, and Cal eights won gold in three different Olympics. Not to mention something like forty other Olympic medals. The Bears are - to say the least - in the conversation about the best rowing program in the country. Harrumph.
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