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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 26, 2014 20:57:20 GMT -5
Anyway, badgers win going away. Got to say hi to Anne Marie.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 26, 2014 20:59:24 GMT -5
Got a round of applause from the Badgers.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 26, 2014 20:59:54 GMT -5
Champions!
Partly....
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Post by Wiswell on Nov 26, 2014 21:06:05 GMT -5
Got a round of applause from the Badgers. Any other Badger fans?
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 26, 2014 21:10:54 GMT -5
The crowd, more like the family get together, was probably 60 percent badger fans. I'd say there were some 100-200 there. But what a strange space to watch a match. Easily 15'above the floor.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 26, 2014 21:23:32 GMT -5
I will say this. It was a memorable match. Didn't expect that.
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Post by Wiswell on Nov 26, 2014 21:27:09 GMT -5
Puking, ceiling balls, different players, radio behind the bench, career highs for Thomas, and a share of big ten title!
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Post by nuclearbdgr on Nov 26, 2014 22:14:34 GMT -5
FWIW - it was Adam Eichstedt (@adameichstedt ) on the radio call.
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Post by bucky415 on Nov 27, 2014 3:17:51 GMT -5
I hope that Arias is getting to be warm in the Bahamas, then. I don't think tomorrow's game against the nation's top ranked team is going to be much fun to call. I like sports where the Badgers are ranked second or third better!
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Post by bucky415 on Nov 27, 2014 3:21:50 GMT -5
Also, congrats to the Badgers on winning at least a share of the title. I am so happy for them, and I hope they can claim in outright on Friday.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 27, 2014 11:26:48 GMT -5
Well, I have to say that the coaches may not rank WI 1 after losing a set to Rutgers. I'm not bothered one way or the other. We want to be No1. That's the whole goal so if they say that, well, great. If we are No 1 we have to learn to deal with it. If they don't I can understand that too, and I don't think it affects us.
Anyway, I had not seen a set like that from UW since losing to FAMU way back. Been rolling it over in my mind. Is Carlini really that important to this team that she is the difference between a national title contender and a team that could drop sets to Rutgers? If so, she would clearly be the national MVP, if there were such an award. It's a little hard to say from last night, because we don't know how much Erin was affected by illness. One can be under the weather and not really know it until put under real stress.
One real difference in that set was just comfort level. The whole first set you could sense uncertainty on our side of the net. Rutgers kept digging like crazy (their libero had the set of her life), keeping the ball alive and eventually a moment of confusion or imprecision would lose the point. The badgers' passing was a little off, the approaches were off, the block didn't close quite right and communication wasn't there. There were a lot of collisions in the back row. Ball hitting errors resulted from shanked digs, and hitting error from off sets or off balance approaches.
You could sense right at the end of the 1st set that Thomas at one point said "screw this" to herself and just started simply attacking and pounding the ball aggressively. Once that started happening it was like everyone thought, "Oh yeah, that's what's it supposed to look like. Right." From then on the offense started clicking. When Carlini came on it was already rolling, but all of the rest of the elements then also fell in place...the floor defense, the blocking, the passing. It was like a switch had clicked.
There are certain parts of Erin's game which are not at Lauren's level, or which are different enough to cause a bit of adjustment. She is a bit of a weak link on the block. They went over her time and again in the first set. That could be down to illness a bit. She also is not quite as athletic...can't move to a poor pass, get her body in position and set a far pin quite like Lauren -- although frankly, who can. That skill turns out to be pretty important from what I saw. Carlini will also bump set from crazy places, and Erin seemed very loathe to do that a few times when it may have been the better option, instead twisting and turning to get in position. Again, a lot of the difference could have been due to fuzzy thinking and physical tiredness if she were under the weather.
There was definitely a mental aspect related to the fact that this team has not seen that many changes in central personnel. I'm not sure Erin quite feels her place in the defensive setup of the team, yet. Carlini plays defense often and well, and trusts Thomas to handle duties when she does. Not sure Erin is used to that kind of arrangement. You really started to see Thomas step up as setter after Carlini came on. She had some really nice moments. But I am loathe to lay all of the problem at Erin's feet. You could really sense that the team really leans heavily on the idea of Carlini, if you will, and the knowledge that everyone knows their roles when she's in. They are not used mentally to adjusting to another setter coming in, and it really put them on their heels until Thomas stepped up.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Nov 27, 2014 12:13:51 GMT -5
Well, combine the fact that Erin sets a slower-tempo ball than Lauren with the fact that Rutgers has the slowest offense in the B1G, and our team was going to have to be making a ton of adjustments on the fly. Add poor passing and you have a recipe for disaster.
I couldn't tell on the radio, but it sounds like we were tipping a ton. What does it take to get these girls to swing away?
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 27, 2014 12:52:41 GMT -5
Well, we tipped because balls weren't quite right, or approaches weren't quite right. Connections were just a little off. I was at the net level so I could see when players were making adjustments. Maybe Diane couldn't see from where she was. (Actually, I couldn't see Diane at all -- she must have been against the bleachers just under us.) Also, Rutgers were camping out on the outsides, though they got some blocks on Haleigh after some scrappy plays that left her with little room. I can't remember if Erin's sets were slower tempo...they seem to be trying to get her to set faster based on warm-ups. But a slightly different tempo on what was supposed to be a fast tempo ball could explain the adjustments.
I will have to hand it to Rutgers, they were almost unrecognizable in that first set, at least on defense. Our block was not good, but it got better later.
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Post by volleyfan24 on Nov 27, 2014 14:39:01 GMT -5
Why not have Thomas set wasn't she the teams old setter and seems to still be very comfortable setting? In any case this to me shows that Carlini is the best setter in the country. Dropping a set to Rutgers is a mess. A healthy Carlini keeps this team in the conversation for a NC, without her not likely.
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Post by bucky415 on Nov 27, 2014 14:47:39 GMT -5
There is no way whatsoever the Badgers should be ranked ahead of Stanford right now. Think about it, both teams lost the same match, and Stanford won the other one that Wisconsin lost. Stanford also has more quality wins with their league being stronger top to bottom. I just hope the final poll is a good one for the Badgers!
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