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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 19, 2014 22:47:30 GMT -5
You would be surprised. The announcers on BTNplus are decidedly worse than the main BTN announcers. I end up with a concussion banging my head on the table usually.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 19, 2014 22:54:29 GMT -5
Haven't heard Wisconsin's announcers since 2011. I'm sure they've changed since. Michigan's were pretty good. They had a fair understanding of the game. The UW announcers are quite good (well Arias and Nordstrom for away matches, Ito is just learning). But you only hear them on the radio. BTNplus have their own crew. The time delay between video and audio is crazy making, but I've ended up opting for the radio audio and BTN video.
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Post by direstraits on Nov 19, 2014 23:28:52 GMT -5
I know that everybody really wants to know my fate.
Well, I just plunked down the $9.95 for a month's subscription for Wisconsin stuff. I had just gotten off the phone with my daughter who was watching the replay for free in her dorm room. I mentioned that I'd heard the announcers weren't good and she said "Well, they're not professionals".
The signing up was easy and the video looks to be really good quality (we'll see how the cancelling thing works out). $9.95 is a lunch these days.
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Post by bucky415 on Nov 19, 2014 23:38:59 GMT -5
It was a pretty epic match. Both teams had times when they could have packed it in and didn't. It was a pretty amazing comeback by the Badgers in set 3, especially given that Birks and McMahon were both front row at the time, if memory serves. Otherwise, the Badgers played great in the first, getting the Illini out of system and just doing a lot of things well, other than having the connection problem on the slide between Carlini and Thompson, which others mentioned. Then, the Illini started playing better defensively and got some big kills out of system in the second, and that helped carry them through until Birks just took over. The Badgers really looked bad for much of the third, but then they had their epic run that helped make the Illini 1-2 on those in the season (good side in Happy Valley, not so much in Columbus and Madison). The Badgers then jumped out to the big lead in set 4, but Illinois kept chipping away and had a chance to win it but missed a crucial serve and had it get away from them. It would have to have been a tough one to lose for them, but they did show that they are capable of coming back from basically anything (yet again) and pretty much win anywhere against anyone. I hope they end up on the other side of the bracket from Wisconsin. Individually, I think the Badgers wore down Birks somewhat by serving her a lot, but she did a lot of good things. Donnelly is really impressive, and her hitter coverage was really good as well as the digs she had. I don't think the Illini are the quickest team defensively overall, which hurts them, but they made their share of great plays tonight.
As for Wisconsin, they were able to get a huge win. It was really tough for them after the first set, as the Illini dug them a lot and got them out of system quite a bit with the serves, but they endured it. The floor defense was pretty good, led by Morey and Morales, and they did end up outblocking a bigger team. Nelson and Thomas led the way offensively, but they got key kills from everyone. Bates had an up and down match with both her passing and her offense, but she kept fighting and came up with some big plays. They are asking her to do a lot in their current lineup. I hope they can do better in the rotation with her and Thompson up front with Carlini, which was a trouble spot tonight. Iffy passing and the off connection on the slide made that tricky. Still, you can quibble all you want, but Wisconsin got a huge win against a good team. I hope they can bounce back from the draining match to be ready for the next big challenge on Friday.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 19, 2014 23:40:20 GMT -5
DIRESTRAIGHTS...Yeah...can't complain for $9.95 I guess. But if you add in the costs of going to a shrink to deal with the emotional costs of listening to the guys, it gets steeper.
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Post by nuclearbdgr on Nov 19, 2014 23:40:52 GMT -5
All of the radio broadcasts are archived at the WTSO website - I'll try to remember to post a link when I am not tableting
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kabvb
Sophomore
Posts: 155
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Post by kabvb on Nov 19, 2014 23:41:10 GMT -5
Had no cell service in the gym so I couldn't access stats. Great win for the Badgers but I don't know how much of it we took as it was them giving it away. Like I've been saying all season they use Birks to get McMahon freed up. Birks took the second set - literally. Then third set they went back to relying on the RS. If they didn't go back to McMahon they might have taken that match. Carlini did a nice job as always. My favorite player is still Thomas, she just brings it in all aspects of the game ,a fierce competitor. Next year will not be as easy without her. Great match though -intense Both liberos were phenomenal.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 19, 2014 23:59:59 GMT -5
I really don't think IL gave this match away. UW played amazing Vball in the first set in all phases of the game. If they played like that every set, they'd be NCAA champions. But UW came back down to earth, Illinois scratched back, and from that point on, both teams had ups and downs. UW played quite poorly beginning of the third, and didn't play great at end of the fourth (maybe carlini's hand was giving her trouble?). Surges by both teams were keyed by inspired defense. You got the feeling that once each team got a lead, they tried to play it a bit safe, and that let the other team back in.
This is the second big match where Deme was great in defense and passing. I remember thinking that she played really really well in the Purdue match too. This match her performance was perhaps even better, with more amazing digs at critical moments. The coaches and Nelson were telling Arias they really worked hard early this week on establishing proper body positioning when playing defense -- they thought they missed a lot of hits straight at the defender in Champaign.
Finally, the Field House crowd was great tonight. They really got behind the team when they needed it. Props to all who were there.
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Post by Wiswell on Nov 20, 2014 8:55:31 GMT -5
I was sitting near (ok, just about "in" as I had to stand most of the time) the student section, and special props to an often indifferent student section in being really into the game. Coach Sheffield came by and gave them high fives. He was pumped! Lots of cheering, engaged in the match, sometimes funny ("The Bears still suck"...)and well-behaved. I was surprised given that was a Wednesday night (hence why I found myself standing).
Some of Illinois's serves were wicked. Where Bates was having trouble was on these absolute knuckleballs that just didn't move at all.
I agree with BB, Illinois definitely did not give this match away. Both teams played tough.
Funny, as I mentioned early, internally in set 3 I said to myself when they were down by 7, "this is like Purdue, you can do it." In the fourth set it was "don't be Purdue." And it almost was.
The first set was probably some of the best volleyball I've seen out of the Badgers all year.
Sorry for the long post for the rest of you, but here is the article text for BadgerBreath on last night's match:
Officially, the NCAA volleyball tournament doesn’t begin for a couple more weeks. But the University of Wisconsin and Illinois got a head start, playing a championship-quality match Wednesday night before a crowd of 5,345 at the UW Field House.
The No. 2 Badgers, sparked by a spectacular rally in the third set, outlasted the Illini 25-13, 24-26, 27-25, 28-26 to extend their winning streak to a school record-tying 16 matches.
“That was a heck of a match by two teams that were laying it all out there,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I think that was college volleyball at its best.”
The Badgers (25-2, 16-1 Big Ten) came out with maybe their best set of the season as they rolled over the No. 10 Illini (21-7, 13-4) in the first set.
But from then on, it was a slugfest with each team staging comebacks.
Illinois bounced back from the first-set drubbing and rallied from an 18-14 deficit to win the second set.
The Illini had the Badgers reeling in the third set, leading 23-16 before UW reeled off eight straight points to take a 24-23 lead. The Illini tied it twice before the Badgers persevered.
As bad as things looked for the Badgers in the third, their faith never wavered.
“We’ve got a lot of heart, the heart of a champion,” sophomore setter Lauren Carlini said. “We told ourselves we are absolutely not losing this game. We are not going down 2-1. We just D’d up and looked in each other’s eyes and said we’re doing this together, we’re doing it now, there’s no letting up. We’re going all the way through till we win this game.”
While there were spectacular plays all around, freshman Kelli Bates was in the middle of almost everything, recording five of her career-high 17 kills during the late run.
“I definitely had confidence in her, going to her in the third game,” Carlini said. “She was chesting up a little bit and she was getting more confident with every ball, so I was just going to keep feeding her. I had confidence in her and she definitely proved it.”
Senior Courtney Thomas, playing on the other side of Carlini, encouraged her to keep going to Bates.
“In the third game, I looked at Lauren and I said, ‘Set her again,’ ” said Thomas, who finished with 12 kills. “I’m normally the one in those situations where I want to be set. But she had her big-girl pants on tonight and I just thought she was unbelievable.”
Bates, who only recently returned to playing six rotations, was the target of Illini serves all night. Sixty-one of Illinois’ 88 serves were directed at the freshman, and she only had two errors.
“They were going relentlessly after Kelli like nobody we’ve seen all year,” Sheffield said. “She was monstrous tonight, absolutely monstrous.”
The Badgers looked to be cruising in the fourth set as they raced out to an 8-1 lead. However, a late 9-2 run gave the Illini a set-point opportunity at 25-24.
UW tied it on a kill by Bates, and after Illinois forced another set point, the Badgers finished it off on a service error and kills by Ellen Chapman and Haleigh Nelson.
Senior defensive specialist Deme Morales finished with a career-high 19 digs for UW, while junior libero Taylor Morey led the Badgers with 25.
“It was clearly her best defensive effort of the year,” Sheffield said of Morales. “Across the board, there were some sick plays being made the last half of the match by both teams defensively. It was really hard to score.
“You saw two teams with a lot of heart just going at it. It was a great Big Ten match.”
Illinois 13 26 25 26
Wisconsin 25 24 27 28
ILLINOIS (kills-aces-blocks) — Dorn 3-0-3, Birks 20-0-2, Viliunas 5-2-1, Davis 0-0-0, Stadick 7-0-1, McMahon 13-0-5, Criswell 6-0-0, Conard 0-0-0, Donnelly 0-1-0, Strizak 8-0-0, Mayers 0-0-0, Roustio 1-0-0, Stark 0-0-0, Palmer 0-0-0. Totals 63-3-7.
WISCONSIN (kills-aces-blocks) — Carlini 7-2-2, Thomas 12-2-3, Bates 17-0-4, Morales 0-0-0, Nelson 12-0-6, Thompson 9-0-3, Morey 0-0-0, Kvas 0-0-0, Chapman 10-0-1. Totals 67-4-10.
Hitting percentage — I .197, W .271. Digs — I 78 (Donnelly 22), W 80 (Morey 25). Assists — I 61 (Viliunas 51), W 64 (Carlini 54).
Att. — 5,345.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Nov 20, 2014 9:30:24 GMT -5
I was sitting near (ok, just about "in" as I had to stand most of the time) the student section, and special props to an often indifferent student section in being really into the game. Coach Sheffield came by and gave them high fives. He was pumped! Lots of cheering, engaged in the match, sometimes funny ("The Bears still suck"...)and well-behaved. I was surprised given that was a Wednesday night (hence why I found myself standing). Some of Illinois's serves were wicked. Where Bates was having trouble was on these absolute knuckleballs that just didn't move at all. I agree with BB, Illinois definitely did not give this match away. Both teams played tough. Funny, as I mentioned early, internally in set 3 I said to myself when they were down by 7, "this is like Purdue, you can do it." In the fourth set it was "don't be Purdue." And it almost was. The first set was probably some of the best volleyball I've seen out of the Badgers all year. Sorry for the long post for the rest of you, but here is the article text for BadgerBreath on last night's match: Officially, the NCAA volleyball tournament doesn’t begin for a couple more weeks. But the University of Wisconsin and Illinois got a head start, playing a championship-quality match Wednesday night before a crowd of 5,345 at the UW Field House.
The No. 2 Badgers, sparked by a spectacular rally in the third set, outlasted the Illini 25-13, 24-26, 27-25, 28-26 to extend their winning streak to a school record-tying 16 matches.
“That was a heck of a match by two teams that were laying it all out there,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I think that was college volleyball at its best.”
The Badgers (25-2, 16-1 Big Ten) came out with maybe their best set of the season as they rolled over the No. 10 Illini (21-7, 13-4) in the first set.
But from then on, it was a slugfest with each team staging comebacks.
Illinois bounced back from the first-set drubbing and rallied from an 18-14 deficit to win the second set.
The Illini had the Badgers reeling in the third set, leading 23-16 before UW reeled off eight straight points to take a 24-23 lead. The Illini tied it twice before the Badgers persevered.
As bad as things looked for the Badgers in the third, their faith never wavered.
“We’ve got a lot of heart, the heart of a champion,” sophomore setter Lauren Carlini said. “We told ourselves we are absolutely not losing this game. We are not going down 2-1. We just D’d up and looked in each other’s eyes and said we’re doing this together, we’re doing it now, there’s no letting up. We’re going all the way through till we win this game.”
While there were spectacular plays all around, freshman Kelli Bates was in the middle of almost everything, recording five of her career-high 17 kills during the late run.
“I definitely had confidence in her, going to her in the third game,” Carlini said. “She was chesting up a little bit and she was getting more confident with every ball, so I was just going to keep feeding her. I had confidence in her and she definitely proved it.”
Senior Courtney Thomas, playing on the other side of Carlini, encouraged her to keep going to Bates.
“In the third game, I looked at Lauren and I said, ‘Set her again,’ ” said Thomas, who finished with 12 kills. “I’m normally the one in those situations where I want to be set. But she had her big-girl pants on tonight and I just thought she was unbelievable.”
Bates, who only recently returned to playing six rotations, was the target of Illini serves all night. Sixty-one of Illinois’ 88 serves were directed at the freshman, and she only had two errors.
“They were going relentlessly after Kelli like nobody we’ve seen all year,” Sheffield said. “She was monstrous tonight, absolutely monstrous.”
The Badgers looked to be cruising in the fourth set as they raced out to an 8-1 lead. However, a late 9-2 run gave the Illini a set-point opportunity at 25-24.
UW tied it on a kill by Bates, and after Illinois forced another set point, the Badgers finished it off on a service error and kills by Ellen Chapman and Haleigh Nelson.
Senior defensive specialist Deme Morales finished with a career-high 19 digs for UW, while junior libero Taylor Morey led the Badgers with 25.
“It was clearly her best defensive effort of the year,” Sheffield said of Morales. “Across the board, there were some sick plays being made the last half of the match by both teams defensively. It was really hard to score.
“You saw two teams with a lot of heart just going at it. It was a great Big Ten match.”
Illinois 13 26 25 26
Wisconsin 25 24 27 28
ILLINOIS (kills-aces-blocks) — Dorn 3-0-3, Birks 20-0-2, Viliunas 5-2-1, Davis 0-0-0, Stadick 7-0-1, McMahon 13-0-5, Criswell 6-0-0, Conard 0-0-0, Donnelly 0-1-0, Strizak 8-0-0, Mayers 0-0-0, Roustio 1-0-0, Stark 0-0-0, Palmer 0-0-0. Totals 63-3-7.
WISCONSIN (kills-aces-blocks) — Carlini 7-2-2, Thomas 12-2-3, Bates 17-0-4, Morales 0-0-0, Nelson 12-0-6, Thompson 9-0-3, Morey 0-0-0, Kvas 0-0-0, Chapman 10-0-1. Totals 67-4-10.
Hitting percentage — I .197, W .271. Digs — I 78 (Donnelly 22), W 80 (Morey 25). Assists — I 61 (Viliunas 51), W 64 (Carlini 54).
Att. — 5,345.Agreed about this being some of the best VB they played all year. Playing Illinois at Huff and Purdue at Holloway are two of the others. I am jazzed that they seem to have found "it" - whatever "it" is - that lets them be down by that may points and then just systemically come back and win. And Bates sure did have her big-girl spandex on last night. I know her hitting % wasn't that great, but she got the ball a ton. Her passing has improved so much. And wow, Deme in the back row. Wow. Couple of amazing saves. I had surgery Tuesday and wasn't sure I'd be up for attending in person. I probably overdid it, but I am so glad I convinced Rainbowspouse I was up to the trip. I had a geat time. So proud of them.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 20, 2014 9:43:56 GMT -5
In some of his other comments, Sheff mentions the mental toughness of the team, and how pleased he is by it. He especially mentioned how they responded to the three service errors at the beginning of set 3, which came after he challenged them to come out serving aggressively in the third set (as he thought the serving in the 2nd set lacked aggression and let Illinois back in). The mental fortitude to put that frustration aside and gather yourself for a run like we saw was especially impressive to him. The team has real in-game resilience, and that is the thing that gives me most hope and brings me most pride.
Love the "big girl pants on" comment from Courtney about Bates. I don't really think of her as a freshman anymore at all. Interesting that Illinois took that approach -- serving to the Bates almost solely hoping she would eventually just break or wear down mentally. I'm gonna take that as a good sign -- i.e., there are no other real options to target in service. You would think based on Thomas' recent struggles that they might go after her though.
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Post by umyeahaboutthat on Nov 20, 2014 9:54:19 GMT -5
Disappointed with the outcome, but an incredibly entertaining, hard-fought match nonetheless. Regardless of how a fifth set might have turned out, it seemed like it might have been an appropriate reward for two teams battling their hearts out. Wisconsin was tenacious in that third set comeback. And Illinois showed a ton of character after dropping that disappointing third and digging a huge hole in the early and even middle stages of the fourth. They darn near forced a fifth instead of rolling over and heading home. Congrats to both teams. And good luck to both in December.
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Post by dorothymantooth on Nov 20, 2014 10:01:12 GMT -5
I was sitting near (ok, just about "in" as I had to stand most of the time) the student section, and special props to an often indifferent student section in being really into the game. Coach Sheffield came by and gave them high fives. He was pumped! Lots of cheering, engaged in the match, sometimes funny ("The Bears still suck"...)and well-behaved. I was surprised given that was a Wednesday night (hence why I found myself standing). Some of Illinois's serves were wicked. Where Bates was having trouble was on these absolute knuckleballs that just didn't move at all. I agree with BB, Illinois definitely did not give this match away. Both teams played tough. Funny, as I mentioned early, internally in set 3 I said to myself when they were down by 7, "this is like Purdue, you can do it." In the fourth set it was "don't be Purdue." And it almost was. The first set was probably some of the best volleyball I've seen out of the Badgers all year. Sorry for the long post for the rest of you, but here is the article text for BadgerBreath on last night's match: Officially, the NCAA volleyball tournament doesn’t begin for a couple more weeks. But the University of Wisconsin and Illinois got a head start, playing a championship-quality match Wednesday night before a crowd of 5,345 at the UW Field House.
The No. 2 Badgers, sparked by a spectacular rally in the third set, outlasted the Illini 25-13, 24-26, 27-25, 28-26 to extend their winning streak to a school record-tying 16 matches.
“That was a heck of a match by two teams that were laying it all out there,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I think that was college volleyball at its best.”
The Badgers (25-2, 16-1 Big Ten) came out with maybe their best set of the season as they rolled over the No. 10 Illini (21-7, 13-4) in the first set.
But from then on, it was a slugfest with each team staging comebacks.
Illinois bounced back from the first-set drubbing and rallied from an 18-14 deficit to win the second set.
The Illini had the Badgers reeling in the third set, leading 23-16 before UW reeled off eight straight points to take a 24-23 lead. The Illini tied it twice before the Badgers persevered.
As bad as things looked for the Badgers in the third, their faith never wavered.
“We’ve got a lot of heart, the heart of a champion,” sophomore setter Lauren Carlini said. “We told ourselves we are absolutely not losing this game. We are not going down 2-1. We just D’d up and looked in each other’s eyes and said we’re doing this together, we’re doing it now, there’s no letting up. We’re going all the way through till we win this game.”
While there were spectacular plays all around, freshman Kelli Bates was in the middle of almost everything, recording five of her career-high 17 kills during the late run.
“I definitely had confidence in her, going to her in the third game,” Carlini said. “She was chesting up a little bit and she was getting more confident with every ball, so I was just going to keep feeding her. I had confidence in her and she definitely proved it.”
Senior Courtney Thomas, playing on the other side of Carlini, encouraged her to keep going to Bates.
“In the third game, I looked at Lauren and I said, ‘Set her again,’ ” said Thomas, who finished with 12 kills. “I’m normally the one in those situations where I want to be set. But she had her big-girl pants on tonight and I just thought she was unbelievable.”
Bates, who only recently returned to playing six rotations, was the target of Illini serves all night. Sixty-one of Illinois’ 88 serves were directed at the freshman, and she only had two errors.
“They were going relentlessly after Kelli like nobody we’ve seen all year,” Sheffield said. “She was monstrous tonight, absolutely monstrous.”
The Badgers looked to be cruising in the fourth set as they raced out to an 8-1 lead. However, a late 9-2 run gave the Illini a set-point opportunity at 25-24.
UW tied it on a kill by Bates, and after Illinois forced another set point, the Badgers finished it off on a service error and kills by Ellen Chapman and Haleigh Nelson.
Senior defensive specialist Deme Morales finished with a career-high 19 digs for UW, while junior libero Taylor Morey led the Badgers with 25.
“It was clearly her best defensive effort of the year,” Sheffield said of Morales. “Across the board, there were some sick plays being made the last half of the match by both teams defensively. It was really hard to score.
“You saw two teams with a lot of heart just going at it. It was a great Big Ten match.”
Illinois 13 26 25 26
Wisconsin 25 24 27 28
ILLINOIS (kills-aces-blocks) — Dorn 3-0-3, Birks 20-0-2, Viliunas 5-2-1, Davis 0-0-0, Stadick 7-0-1, McMahon 13-0-5, Criswell 6-0-0, Conard 0-0-0, Donnelly 0-1-0, Strizak 8-0-0, Mayers 0-0-0, Roustio 1-0-0, Stark 0-0-0, Palmer 0-0-0. Totals 63-3-7.
WISCONSIN (kills-aces-blocks) — Carlini 7-2-2, Thomas 12-2-3, Bates 17-0-4, Morales 0-0-0, Nelson 12-0-6, Thompson 9-0-3, Morey 0-0-0, Kvas 0-0-0, Chapman 10-0-1. Totals 67-4-10.
Hitting percentage — I .197, W .271. Digs — I 78 (Donnelly 22), W 80 (Morey 25). Assists — I 61 (Viliunas 51), W 64 (Carlini 54).
Att. — 5,345.I'd agree Illinois didn't give the match away, would be unfair to UW to suggest that. But they gave a game away, which sure changed the match. While I am sure Wisconsin played amazing during their comeback from 23-16, the outcome in that game says more about Illinois play. At that level, it is very hard to lose a match with that lead, it requires a meltdown when you have the talent Illinois does. It's a crazy game for sure.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Nov 20, 2014 10:04:58 GMT -5
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 20, 2014 10:22:46 GMT -5
I'd agree Illinois didn't give the match away, would be unfair to UW to suggest that. But they gave a game away, which sure changed the match. While I am sure Wisconsin played amazing during their comeback from 23-16, the outcome in that game says more about Illinois play. At that level, it is very hard to lose a match with that lead, it requires a meltdown when you have the talent Illinois does. It's a crazy game for sure. I will have to watch again, but it didn't feel like IL collapsed in any usual meaning of the word. IL did not seem to play particularly badly - passing seemed OK, they were getting good attacks. They just couldn't get a kill because of same pretty good digs and passes off those digs led to kills. Their mistakes (a BHE I recall) came as a direct result of UW attacks that started the ball pinging around. There was one blocking error that was called, but DOM had got the kill anyway. Also, UW stopped giving away points like they did early in the set. IL may have started playing a bit conservatively, I'll grant. That's a natural reaction to having a set "under control."
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