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Post by deacondive on Nov 26, 2015 22:29:40 GMT -5
I think this loss can be either good or bad for USC: Good: The target is off their back. They can now just play volleyball and not worry about external expectations. Bad: It could lead to a loss of confidence going into the Tourney. The UW and UCLA losses were very similar. Both served tough, targeting USC's weak-link in serve-receive, Ford, and taking her almost entirely out of the offense. Johnson was also a non-factor hitting in both losses. The Achilles' heel of a fast offense (and especially a fast 6-2 offense) is the passing. Ford is the key right now, both her passing and hitting. Her out of system hitting is a major concern right now, especially when Johnson is also in the front row.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Nov 26, 2015 23:09:31 GMT -5
I think this loss can be either good or bad for USC: Good: The target is off their back. They can now just play volleyball and not worry about external expectations. Bad: It could lead to a loss of confidence going into the Tourney. The UW and UCLA losses were very similar. Both served tough, targeting USC's weak-link in serve-receive, Ford, and taking her almost entirely out of the offense. Johnson was also a non-factor hitting in both losses. The Achilles' heel of a fast offense (and especially a fast 6-2 offense) is the passing. Ford is the key right now, both her passing and hitting. Her out of system hitting is a major concern right now, especially when Johnson is also in the front row. Looking at the stats, Bricio actually had more receptions than Ford, 34 to 18, each with one reception error. Bricio stood up to it, but Ford didn't. Yeah, with Ford and Johnson in the front row, on an average pass, USC has to rely upon Bricio pulling a rabbit out of the backrow. I'm assuming that Jordan Dunn is injured, or USC would be using her. If she were available, Ruddins could sub in for Johnson in the front row at OPP, although it might cut down on being able to use Garrick.
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Post by mplssetter on Nov 28, 2015 12:51:57 GMT -5
Key moment of the game...Set 5, UCLA is up 12-11, but Bricio is serving for USC with a great chance for a possible sequence of points. However the ball is set to Ford who muffs it and the point goes to UCLA. Sealy jumps up and down, pumping his fist. I think he knew the match was won right there, when Bricio's serve was broken. USC's freshmen did struggle. Sitting near the benches, I noticed Johnson had moments when she was very frustrated. Just rewatched the match and actually I think the key moment in set 5 was when Johnson missed her serve out of the time out at 10-11. She also served into the net for the first point of set 5. Also, in you're key moment you say that Ford got set and "muffs it", breaking Bricio's serve. Well, on the replay the set from Johnson was well past the antenna, I'd argue it was a setting mistake. However, neither freshman had a good night. Felix was probably hitting 1.000 running the slide over Ford. All of the dent the floor highlights where when she had Ford trying to block her. UCLA's floor defense was great. Their OH's hit smart. Where did Ngauamo come from? I don't remember seeing her earlier in the season. She can really blister that line.
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Post by GoUCLA on Nov 28, 2015 13:07:43 GMT -5
Key moment of the game...Set 5, UCLA is up 12-11, but Bricio is serving for USC with a great chance for a possible sequence of points. However the ball is set to Ford who muffs it and the point goes to UCLA. Sealy jumps up and down, pumping his fist. I think he knew the match was won right there, when Bricio's serve was broken. USC's freshmen did struggle. Sitting near the benches, I noticed Johnson had moments when she was very frustrated. Just rewatched the match and actually I think the key moment in set 5 was when Johnson missed her serve out of the time out at 10-11. She also served into the net for the first point of set 5. Also, in you're key moment you say that Ford got set and "muffs it", breaking Bricio's serve. Well, on the replay the set from Johnson was well past the antenna, I'd argue it was a setting mistake. However, neither freshman had a good night. Felix was probably hitting 1.000 running the slide over Ford. All of the dent the floor highlights where when she had Ford trying to block her. UCLA's floor defense was great. Their OH's hit smart. Where did Ngauamo come from? I don't remember seeing her earlier in the season. She can really blister that line. Ngauamo didn't really play last year because she was injured. She also missed the beach season. She really started playing when Buechler went out with a concussion; although she was subbed in here and there before that. Once Buechler came back, Ngauamo was used sparingly with Anderson and Buechler at OH and Rogers and Lawless battling for the OPP position. I forget the match but Sealy finally figured out Ngauamo > Rogers and Lawless, so she been the starting OPP since. I like Ngauamo's swing more than Anderson's and Buechler's. She has a quicker arm swing and she is also able to tool the block more than the two.
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Post by jgrout on Nov 29, 2015 17:15:55 GMT -5
Mick is a smart guy and great coach. He probably remembers 2005 very well. UW was at the top of the heap in the Pac-12 on November 12, 2005 when they went to LA to play UCLA. They had a perfect record of 23-0 and were 14-0 in the Pac. They lost to UCLA in 5. 5th set was 15-13! Washington didn't lose another set the rest of the regular season and then went on the road for the ENTIRE tournament and never dropped a set. USC's circumstances are not identical, but JMac said more than once that the loss to UCLA put the team back on track. UW definitely got the monkey off their back. Nebraska had to wait until the Final. Everybody but Washington thought Nebraska couldn't lose, then they did, 0-3. Huskers fans thought they couldn't lose to Stanford in 2001. John Cook was so caught out that he gave a "Huskers win" post-match press conference even though they had just been swept by losing control late in each set. That was a rare Final Four where many neutral observers believed one of two teams on long streaks (Long Beach, Nebraska) would win but a third team (Stanford) won instead. The only team to take a set off Stanford that tournament was Utah. My favorite bit of trash-talking ever was on the way to the arena for the national final, where I guaranteed a 49'er fan a Stanford win over the Beach... in men's basketball (they were also playing that day). After glaring at me while he was hearing what he thought I was saying, he said, "Oh", and deflated (Stanford won in MBB too).
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Post by wonderwarthog79 on Nov 29, 2015 20:03:59 GMT -5
This was a strange match. Three of SC's key players, Ford, Abercrombie, and Johnson, were total scoring no-shows and yet SC outhit and outblocked UCLA by a bunch. Yes, UCLA played great defense, and that's the only thing that kept them in the match. If the young players can get their act together (big if!) and take some of the pressure off Bricio, SC is major tough in the tournament. I'm not a big Ford fan, so I'd say their success depends on Johnson and Abercrombie.
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