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Post by dawgnerd on Nov 22, 2014 1:39:42 GMT -5
Home from match. Good solid win. Slow start for Krista, but made it up for a very respectable .429 by the end. Yeah, right sides were on fire. Nelson was close to .900 after set 2, but a couple of error brought her down to .467 by end. Schwan, late sub for Jones (in an ankle boot from something in the last day), made a very good showing, killing 9 of 15 with no errors. Still need to set the middles more. Defense was digging and scrammbling well, like how well Strickland is building into the libero role. Still, not an overly impressive performance, just getting today`s job done. A few rough spots, but never felt out of UW control. All in all, a nice way to stabilize after the mountains trip.
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 22, 2014 1:43:15 GMT -5
So, an eventful match, really. I guess nobody felt like commenting on it though.
First off, I think every person in the building groaned when we saw Jones come in with crutches and her foot in a boot. There was a lot of speculation who would get her spot, but I assumed it would be Schwan, and it was. And she had a GREAT night. Played very well, even though she hadn't played in a match for about two months.
Then, early in the first set, Snuka dove into the lightboard in front of the scorers table. We thought maybe head injury, but later she had her knee all iced up. She never returned, and it was clearly very painful. (Might have also been a head injury as well, I don't know.)
Pretty close most of the first set, but UW won it.
Second set started out with some screwups by the refs, which put AZ up by a few points. First a line judge called a hit as being outside the antenna, so refs gave the point to UW. But Rubio and the AZ players complained. So the refs conferred and they overturned the call, giving the point to AZ. Then the VERY NEXT PLAY, Vansant hit a ball down the line that was clearly in and called in by the line judges. But the up ref immediately called it out. I don't think she even looked at the line judge. None of the Huskies even realized it, until the the AZ server got the ball. Then McLaughlin got as mad as I've ever seen him -- maybe excepting the shouting match with Cook. The refs were not willing to confer on that call though, and McLaughlin called a TO. Then they showed the replay on the screen and it was clearly in, which had the fans all screaming and booing at the ref. Bad calls are bad calls, but the combination of having them overturn a call and then make a terrible call the very next play -- I've rarely seen the UW bench or UW fans as upset. Certainly not on a call so early in a set. But the Huskies used that call as motivation, apparently because they turned the set around and ended up winning big, 25-17(?).
Third set AZ was playing better and the UW RS hitters came down to Earth a little, as Arizona had a lead much of the set. But somewhere around halfway the Huskies just started pouring it on and they eventually won going away as AZ started making a lot of frustration plays.
I'm sure losing Snuka hurt the Wildcats a lot, but UW lost one of their starters before the match too. Fortunately for them, the UW bench was stronger tonight. I have no idea how long Jones will be out, but there wasn't much dropoff with Schwan. Maybe not as much blocking as Jones brings, but perhaps even better hitting to balance that out.
Strickland played particularly well tonight, I thought. And Wade made some really nice ups from the back row when she was serving.
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 22, 2014 1:43:56 GMT -5
I'm surprised this thread isn't a little more lively tonight. Back from the match and happy to see the Huskies take Arizona in three sets. Some will correctly point out that Arizona lost Snuka early on and there is no doubt that hurt them. The Huskies, on the other hand, were playing without Crissy Jones, who has had a really good last month or so. It really didn't seem like the Huskies missed a beat, however, with Courtney Schwan as her replacement. Schwan hit .600 on 15 swings and played good, smart volleyball. Some of her hits were positively Nelsonesque. Here's hoping Jones gets back in the rotation asap -- if anyone knows anything about the severity of her injury, let us know. That boot and crutches didn't look good.
Some impressions from the match, starting with positives for the Huskies:
- unlike much of last weekend, the Huskies played well at the end of sets
- when they were down three points in sets 2 and 3 (8-5 and 11-8, respectively), the Huskies responded really well to JMac's timeouts and took control of the sets
- in addition to Schwan, both Nelson and Vansant had good nights
There are a number of areas, though, that the Huskies must clean up or figure out, and quickly, given that we are two weeks from the tournament:
- I don't understand why we've seen Tia Scambray's performance tail off so badly. She hit exactly .000 tonight after hitting negative against Utah (on only 18 swings in a long 5-set match) and a low percentage against Colorado. She is simply not terminating like she was in October. I've thought maybe she's been fighting the flu or something but the Huskies need a 100% Scambray and soon.
- The passing was not up to snuff. Scambray and Strickland got in each other's way a few times and too many passes gave the setter only one option. The Huskies will not beat Stanford if they receive serve like they did tonight.
- The lack of superior passing means that UW's middle attack gets neglected. Beals and Tanner will almost never set the middle unless the pass is right there, whether off the serve or in transition D. They are very conservative that way and it's a little frustrating, but I think it's because that middle connection just isn't good enough to take risks. If the Huskies are to get to the Final 4, they need to average more than the approximately 6 swings per set they got from the middles tonight (same thing happened at Utah -- the middles averaged less than 6 swings per set). Good teams with good blockers will simply camp out on Vansant. The Huskies need a diversified offense, which necessarily relies on excellent passing.
- Cassie Strickland's serve can be such a great weapon but here we are, two weeks from tournament time, and it's just as inconsistent as ever. Argh.
- Team defense was good enough tonight but not good enough for next Wednesday or a deep run in the tournament.
Based on tonight's performance, there is no way the Huskies should be considered a favorite against Stanford. I still think they can beat Stanford but they are going to have to be much sharper.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2014 1:45:09 GMT -5
Start of a 10 match win streak! Um, 10 matches, including practice matches, from tomorrow through next Tuesday? Seems a bit much even for Vansant.
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 22, 2014 1:47:45 GMT -5
Start of a 10 match win streak! Um, 10 matches, including practice matches, from tomorrow through next Tuesday? Seems a bit much even for Vansant. Well, one of us will be happy Wed night. I hope it's me.
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Post by gogophers on Nov 22, 2014 2:08:26 GMT -5
Home from match. Good solid win. Slow start for Krista, but made it up for a very respectable .429 by the end. 17 kills over 3 sets and .429 = respectable, ok very respectable, maybe even very, very respectable. I would have gone for "spectacular." Honestly, some Washington fans take Vansant for granted. Enjoy her while you can. One of these days (like next year) you're gonna miss your red hot mama. Also remarkable, but evidently not unusual, is Gardner taking, like, 45% of Arizona's swings. How did Mau look?
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 22, 2014 2:22:53 GMT -5
Home from match. Good solid win. Slow start for Krista, but made it up for a very respectable .429 by the end. 17 kills over 3 sets and .429 = respectable, ok very respectable, maybe even very, very respectable. I would have gone for "spectacular." Honestly, some Washington fans take Vansant for granted. Enjoy her while you can. One of these days (like next year) you're gonna miss your red hot mama. Also remarkable, but evidently not unusual, is Gardner taking, like, 45% of Arizona's swings. How did Mau look? Actually, it would be REALLY unusual if Gardner took 45% of Arizona's swings. She doesn't even play for them!
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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 22, 2014 2:32:16 GMT -5
BTW, I take credit for that solitary prediction of a Husky sweep. I figured that they were going to come out really strongly motivated to not let up even a little bit. (I was worried it wasn't going to happen when I saw Jones come out in the boot, but who knew Schwan was going to hit .600?)
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Post by gogophers on Nov 22, 2014 3:23:47 GMT -5
17 kills over 3 sets and .429 = respectable, ok very respectable, maybe even very, very respectable. I would have gone for "spectacular." Honestly, some Washington fans take Vansant for granted. Enjoy her while you can. One of these days (like next year) you're gonna miss your red hot mama. Also remarkable, but evidently not unusual, is Gardner taking, like, 45% of Arizona's swings. How did Mau look? Actually, it would be REALLY unusual if Gardner took 45% of Arizona's swings. She doesn't even play for them! Macy, madi, ok, I get my players from the 48th state confused. A loss, a loss,(riding only) my Kingdon for a loss: Arizona's fate. And I repeat my question: how did Mau (part of the Minn diaspora) look?
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Post by tomclen on Nov 22, 2014 3:56:59 GMT -5
Snuka injury was probably a much bigger impact on Arizona's play than Jones injury was to Washington.
Here's hoping they're both back to full speed next match.
Schwan's ability to come in from the bench and have a remarkable match..was...well...remarkable.
Much of the regular starting lineup for Washington, plus Schwan, have shown individually, they can each have a spectacular match or two or three (or more for Vansant, of course).
If Washington can figure out how to get those wheels all spinning at once....they're going to need a police escort.
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Post by dawgnerd on Nov 22, 2014 10:13:39 GMT -5
Actually, it would be REALLY unusual if Gardner took 45% of Arizona's swings. She doesn't even play for them! Macy, madi, ok, I get my players from the 48th state confused. A loss, a loss,(riding only) my Kingdon for a loss: Arizona's fate. And I repeat my question: how did Mau (part of the Minn diaspora) look? Mau did not have a good night. Finished at .071, coming back from negative early. Had 17 sets to work with as, as you noted, a huge percentage went to Kingdon. Arizoball, the other rs, did better at .296 on 24 sets. (Good point on not taking Vansant for granted. The other side of coming back from sub .200 HP early, is that she was on fire late to get to the final .429.)
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Post by dawgnerd on Nov 22, 2014 10:24:13 GMT -5
Beyond Krista`s obvious dominant contribution to the Washington offense, her every night contribution as the most consistent passer, lots of digs and blocking make her the all-around player that I will miss the most. It says something that you do not see many teams try the `serve the dominant OH to wear her out` (which UW used effectively on Kingdon) on Krista any more. She just makes them pay.
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Post by Pirate VB Fan on Nov 22, 2014 10:31:50 GMT -5
Start of a 10 match win streak! Um, 10 matches, including practice matches, from tomorrow through next Tuesday? Seems a bit much even for Vansant. Here I thought you were just being dense, but now I understand you are predicting UW loses to Stanford. OK, dense and a bore.
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Post by Pirate VB Fan on Nov 22, 2014 10:33:50 GMT -5
Interesting conflict for some UW fans tonight: UW MBB plays Seattle U. at 7p at Key Arena. One hour later, at 8p, UW WVB plays Arizona at Hec Ed. MBB was a home match for Seattle U. It would have been interesting if SU had done a double header WVB/MBB.
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Post by tomclen on Nov 22, 2014 10:40:16 GMT -5
Seattle U. was playing (and winning) the semi-final of the WAC tournament....in Bakersfield.
They play in the championship match this afternoon
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