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Post by mikegarrison on Nov 28, 2014 22:15:28 GMT -5
Ball was popped up very high, Beals and Strickland running full out backward trying to get to where it would come down. Then it hit a rafter and bounced back forward toward the net. Beals tried to change direction and went down to the floor holding her knee.
I'm not a doctor, but I'll bet anything it's an ACL or maybe MCL.
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 28, 2014 22:17:04 GMT -5
I feel really bad for Beals and I hope she's not seriously hurt. The way she reacted with her hands over her eyes might have given some indication of the severity of the injury.I don't see any way that losing her (if that happens) is not a negative for the Huskies, given her game experience and the lack thereof by Finau. And I agree with isaacspaceman that changing to a 5-1 with Tanner at this point in the season is just asking too much. I guess JMac would at least give it some consideration, but to make that kind of adjustment is huge. That said, I've liked Finau from the get-go and she was stellar in her substitute role this evening. Jade brings soft hands, good court awareness, and deceptively good and quick defense. She showed a nasty serve on that match point. Maybe the Huskies don't lose too much. You just hate to see them lose anything, especially with Jones' tournament future uncertain. Arggh.
I have to give credit to WSU tonight. They were obviously outgunned but played with a lot of heart. They could have easily folded after that second set (a la Oregon in today's OSU-OU match) but played a good, competitive third set, giving the Huskies all they could handle. Bettinson kind of exemplified their play, making some spectacular plays and then making unforced errors.
Tanner played another nice match and it was nice to see Mike Dodd (the Pac 12 Network color commentator) give her some credit. Tanner makes sets off of bad passes at the net that neither Beals nor Finau are going to make. She's also coming up big defensively. Her location is more consistent. Let's hope the improvement continues over the next, say, six games.
BTW, I like Dodd as a commentator. He obviously knows volleyball, makes intelligent comments, doesn't mess up names, and just seems so . . . nice (he never makes a really negative comment about a player).
All in all, a good win for the Huskies. Some serious question marks going into the tournament regarding personnel, however.
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Post by dawgnerd on Nov 28, 2014 22:18:47 GMT -5
Frankly, from the few times [Finau] has been on the court, she may have the best hands and play the best defense of the three. Not sure what is the weakness that keeps her off the court, relative to the other two. Like I said, from what I can tell it is her trouble setting the RS. Also, I think we are about to notice just how quietly, consistently good Beals has been at defense and serving. Finau isn't bad, but I think Beals is much better than "isn't bad". I think that the big thing that Beals takes off the court is experience. She has been in all of those game situations so many times and the right responses are built into her reactions.
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Post by hammer on Nov 28, 2014 22:18:50 GMT -5
Uh oh... Beals goes down, holding her knee. Needs help getting to the bench... Seriously...this is terrible. I hope she just twisted it and will be back.
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Post by vllybll09 on Nov 28, 2014 22:19:11 GMT -5
Strangely enough I would not be too worried about the Huskies missing a beat with Finau out there. That girl can play and may actually bring more floor defense which can really help the team out. She is quick and has great hands and also has a mean serve. Good for her coming in and not missing a step! Looking at the other players faces it didn't seem that they were shaken one bit by having her step in, in fact it looked like they were incredibly happy to get her out there and play together. Best wishes for Beals, she is a wonderful player and huge part of this team but I think there have most likely been plenty of reps and mixing parts and they will transition smoothly if necessary and I do not see McLaughlin dropping the 6-2...
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Post by Mocha on Nov 28, 2014 22:19:37 GMT -5
Ball was popped up very high, Beals and Strickland running full out backward trying to get to where it would come down. Then it hit a rafter and bounced back forward toward the net. Beals tried to change direction and went down to the floor holding her knee. I'm not a doctor, but I'll bet anything it's an ACL or maybe MCL. But did you play a doctor on TV? Then that would give more credibility to your diagnosis.
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Post by ay2013 on Nov 28, 2014 22:24:22 GMT -5
Nooooooo. Two freshmen setters on the floor? No Jones? Kiss that championship goodbye. IMO we lose too much experience and too much blocking to run off 6 matches.
Huskies have been pretty good over the years with injuries to starters. It rarely happened. Now we get two just week before one of our best chance to win a championship. Ugh.
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 28, 2014 22:25:54 GMT -5
Frankly, from the few times [Finau] has been on the court, she may have the best hands and play the best defense of the three. Not sure what is the weakness that keeps her off the court, relative to the other two. Like I said, from what I can tell it is her trouble setting the RS. Also, I think we are about to notice just how quietly, consistently good Beals has been at defense and serving. Finau isn't bad, but I think Beals is much better than "isn't bad". To the extent Finau may have had issues with backsets, that would be based on her play in September, quite a long time ago for a true freshman. So if it's going to be Finau from here on out, we'll just need to see what we've got, one match at a time. I remember thinking (along with quite a few others) that the competition between her and Tanner was very close in August/September. I was also thinking during this match that the Beals-Nelson connection was really clicking. Earlier in the season, I was one of the folks who speculated that one of the reasons Kaleigh was not playing to her very high potential was because that connection was not tight, and that she had a better connection with Nogueras last season. But certainly in the last month the Beals-Nelson connection has been great. If it's Jade now, that connection will be critical to the Huskies success.
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 28, 2014 22:27:34 GMT -5
Nooooooo. Two freshmen setters on the floor? No Jones? Kiss that championship goodbye. IMO we lose too much experience and too much blocking to run off 6 matches. Huskies have been pretty good over the years with injuries to starters. It rarely happened. Now we get two just week before one of our best chance to win a championship. Ugh. Ugh, yes. But once more, ay, we ask that you be patient.
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Post by alwayslearning on Nov 28, 2014 22:30:14 GMT -5
Strangely enough I would not be too worried about the Huskies missing a beat with Finau out there. That girl can play and may actually bring more floor defense which can really help the team out. She is quick and has great hands and also has a mean serve. Good for her coming in and not missing a step! Looking at the other players faces it didn't seem that they were shaken one bit by having her step in, in fact it looked like they were incredibly happy to get her out there and play together. Best wishes for Beals, she is a wonderful player and huge part of this team but I think there have most likely been plenty of reps and mixing parts and they will transition smoothly if necessary and I do not see McLaughlin dropping the 6-2... Yeah, I also had the definite impression that the other players were not fazed one bit. I also saw them being very supportive of Finau during and after the match, which of course you would expect, but if she is now a starting setter, her teammates are going to be 100% behind her.
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Post by ay2013 on Nov 28, 2014 22:30:24 GMT -5
Nooooooo. Two freshmen setters on the floor? No Jones? Kiss that championship goodbye. IMO we lose too much experience and too much blocking to run off 6 matches. Huskies have been pretty good over the years with injuries to starters. It rarely happened. Now we get two just week before one of our best chance to win a championship. Ugh. Ugh, yes. But once more, ay, we ask that you be patient. Who is this we? And what, exactly, do I need to be patient regarding? I really do hope that both beals and jones will be back in time at least for regionals. But having patients doesn't have anything to do with whether or not they will be back.
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Post by Pirate VB Fan on Nov 28, 2014 22:30:29 GMT -5
Ball was popped up very high, Beals and Strickland running full out backward trying to get to where it would come down. Then it hit a rafter and bounced back forward toward the net. Beals tried to change direction and went down to the floor holding her knee. I'm not a doctor, but I'll bet anything it's an ACL or maybe MCL. But did you play a doctor on TV? Then that would give more credibility to your diagnosis. No, but he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.
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Post by Pirate VB Fan on Nov 28, 2014 22:35:37 GMT -5
To the extent Finau may have had issues with backsets, that would be based on her play in September, quite a long time ago for a true freshman. RS Freshman actually.
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Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Nov 28, 2014 22:37:52 GMT -5
Ball was popped up very high, Beals and Strickland running full out backward trying to get to where it would come down. Then it hit a rafter and bounced back forward toward the net. Beals tried to change direction and went down to the floor holding her knee. I'm not a doctor, but I'll bet anything it's an ACL or maybe MCL. But did you play a doctor on TV? Then that would give more credibility to your diagnosis. Garrison's observation is accurate. The fact that she couldn't put any weight on her foot is a telltale sign that there could be ligament damage. With that said, I do hope Beals is okay and Mike and I are wrong.
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Post by isaacspaceman on Nov 28, 2014 22:40:10 GMT -5
Always learning - Finau is a RS freshman, so she's had the better part of two seasons in the program. I'm not necessarily agreeing that she has trouble with the back-set, though. I haven't seen her enough to know, and I think I remember seeing her put up at least one pretty one early in the season. But I also remember her missing some connections with the middles in that same match, so it was nice to see her have success right off the bat with a quick to Sybeldon. Anyway, it was a long time ago and a small sample size. We'll see.
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