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Post by dorothymantooth on Nov 29, 2015 11:30:09 GMT -5
I was expecting a five set nail-biting back and forth toe to toe slugfest. No frickin' way did I foresee a Husker sweep. The way PSU seemed to find their mojo late in set three and force that final Nebraska time out I was thinking: Okay---here they come" The biggest surprise to me was Megan Courtney. She just didn't seem to be on her game. I'm soooooooooo used to seeing her take over matches and putting the team on her shoulders. I would like to see the replay of what the official saw when he reversed that atheletic two handed diving foreword dig/up by that PSU player. The repeated blurry replay the BTN kept showing didn't seem to show anything definitive-----if anything, IMHO, it upheld the call that it was a legitimate up. Certainly looked to me she had both fists together and under the ball. Oh well. IMHO Mikaela Foecke is hands down the front runner for conference freshman of the year. The last Husker freshman I remember making this much of an impact and playing at this level goes beyond Jordan Larson all the way back to Sarah Pavan. As for Kelly Hunter, all last season I questioned why the hell she wasn't playing instead of Mary Pollmiller. Especially when with what little time she did play she CLEARLY had a much better connection with middles. Her stellar play this season makes me question last seasons choice of going with Mary that much more. The move of Amber to the middle was/is huge, both for defense and offense. Justine, IMHO, is hands down the teams MVP and the glue holding the whole thing together. She never ceases to amaze with some of her otherworldly digs. Also her excellent passing sets our offense in motion & in motion IN SYSTEM. She reminds me of Dani Bussboom's semifinal dig-a-thon match against UCLA which sent us on to the national championship match where "N" beat Stanford. Oh yeah--------those semi's & finals were played in----------OMAHA, the sight of this years finals. Foecke is amazing and had some monster matches, but no way does anyone win this other than SSS. She was consistently great, was the difference maker for the conference champ. I would not be surprised if she wins unanimously. Foecke is going to be one of the Husker greats IMO, but SSS had the best freshman season, they also won the league, and won the head to head match in which I thought SSS was the best player on the floor.
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Post by Wahinevball1234 on Nov 29, 2015 11:30:28 GMT -5
What a shame Kenzie Maloney went to Nebraska. She could have been a Natalie Hagglund like libero at Penn State for four years, but instead she is a DS and will only libero for two years at Nebraska. I thoroughly believe Penn State would have been number one if Kenzie would have gone to Penn State.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2015 11:58:57 GMT -5
I still remember some people claiming in the same breath that Hancock was POY, and that PSU would not miss her this year because all the PSU setter had to do was throw the ball up and let their amazing hitters go get it. Yeah, I think all the Hancock haters deserve to feel pretty stupid right about now
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Post by milkmandan on Nov 29, 2015 12:09:12 GMT -5
What a shame Kenzie Maloney went to Nebraska. She could have been a Natalie Hagglund like libero at Penn State for four years, but instead she is a DS and will only libero for two years at Nebraska. I thoroughly believe Penn State would have been number one if Kenzie would have gone to Penn State. It's not like Maloney isn't on the floor at Nebraska. She's starting as a freshman and passing half the court while getting to learn from one of the best liberos in the country.
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Post by wishinwestcoastvb on Nov 29, 2015 12:14:09 GMT -5
What a shame Kenzie Maloney went to Nebraska. She could have been a Natalie Hagglund like libero at Penn State for four years, but instead she is a DS and will only libero for two years at Nebraska. I thoroughly believe Penn State would have been number one if Kenzie would have gone to Penn State. It's not like Maloney isn't on the floor at Nebraska. She's starting as a freshman and passing half the court while getting to learn from one of the best liberos in the country. Kenzie Maloney offers so much to Nebraska. Her serve receive is so great. Yes, as a fan of hers I would've loved to see her somewhere as a 4 year starter. She has really justified her PrepVB ranking. She is passing half of the court in the B1G as a freshman. Her out of system setting was very good last night. She's able to dig balls when they are hit in her area. Especially when she dug a cross court bomb from Whitney last night. I think Maloney is the best freshman passer in the B1G.
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Post by bballnut90 on Nov 29, 2015 12:30:46 GMT -5
Penn State just looked bad last night. Pierce/Frantti struggled passing and the setting was just poor. It seemed like 60% of the time, Penn State hitters were either too tight which resulted in a block, too far off which means reaching back and trying to keep the ball in play, or the tempo was off so they had to downball it over. The passing wasn't good, but Weiskircher needs to put up better sets for PSU to have a shot.
As an aside, I have no idea why Whitney is playing in the middle. Simone Lee has put up good numbers against bottom feeders in the Big Ten, but has struggled mightily against teams with better blocks and better defense. She is doesn't do a good job of seeing the blockers and is error prone. Whitney is the most terminal and athletic player that can play on the pin right now for PSU. She is so long, hits over most blocks and could be a great outlet on the RS off a bad pass. Right now, the outlets are Courtney/Frantti/Lee. Courtney will keep the ball in play but doesn't crush unless she gets a good set, and the latter two are error prone if the set isn't in system. Thelen also was doing a great job of blocking for PSU and I thought she did a solid job of attacking the 1-2 times she'd get set in a game.
Penn State is still terrifying to face because Rose might have something up his sleeve we don't know, but unless it involves better passing and much better setting, PSU is going to bow out in the regionals this year.
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Post by wishinwestcoastvb on Nov 29, 2015 12:39:06 GMT -5
I do not think Pierce is the answer to save passing problems. I don't think it will improve by the end of the season.
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Post by akbar on Nov 29, 2015 12:43:16 GMT -5
Penn State just looked bad last night. Pierce/Frantti struggled passing and the setting was just poor. It seemed like 60% of the time, Penn State hitters were either too tight which resulted in a block, too far off which means reaching back and trying to keep the ball in play, or the tempo was off so they had to downball it over. The passing wasn't good, but Weiskircher needs to put up better sets for PSU to have a shot. As an aside, I have no idea why Whitney is playing in the middle. Simone Lee has put up good numbers against bottom feeders in the Big Ten, but has struggled mightily against teams with better blocks and better defense. She is doesn't do a good job of seeing the blockers and is error prone. Whitney is the most terminal and athletic player that can play on the pin right now for PSU. She is so long, hits over most blocks and could be a great outlet on the RS off a bad pass. Right now, the outlets are Courtney/Frantti/Lee. Courtney will keep the ball in play but doesn't crush unless she gets a good set, and the latter two are error prone if the set isn't in system. Thelen also was doing a great job of blocking for PSU and I thought she did a solid job of attacking the 1-2 times she'd get set in a game. Penn State is still terrifying to face because Rose might have something up his sleeve we don't know, but unless it involves better passing and much better setting, PSU is going to bow out in the regionals this year. Time might just be the equalizer here and what PSU needed. Nebraska has to wait, arguably, for 2 weeks to see if it can maintain that intensity. PSU, arguably, has two weeks to get to that level. Two different paths. That was a serious gauntlet last night for the PSU libero and setter and they somehow remained standing and fighting to the end.
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Post by akbar on Nov 29, 2015 12:47:29 GMT -5
I do not think Pierce is the answer to save passing problems. I don't think it will improve by the end of the season. After 3 starts in her career and the most difficult environment for any Libero to experience? You maybe correct but she certainly rose to the challenge in game 3.
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Post by gnu2vball on Nov 29, 2015 12:48:37 GMT -5
As an aside, I have no idea why Whitney is playing in the middle. Simone Lee has put up good numbers against bottom feeders in the Big Ten, but has struggled mightily against teams with better blocks and better defense. She is doesn't do a good job of seeing the blockers and is error prone. Whitney is the most terminal and athletic player that can play on the pin right now for PSU. She is so long, hits over most blocks and could be a great outlet on the RS off a bad pass. Right now, the outlets are Courtney/Frantti/Lee. Courtney will keep the ball in play but doesn't crush unless she gets a good set, and the latter two are error prone if the set isn't in system. Thelen also was doing a great job of blocking for PSU and I thought she did a solid job of attacking the 1-2 times she'd get set in a game. Penn State is still terrifying to face because Rose might have something up his sleeve we don't know, but unless it involves better passing and much better setting, PSU is going to bow out in the regionals this year. I'm right with you about Whitney. Ariel Scott was listed as a Middle, but she was death from above on the pins and Rose only had her hit from the middle as she was passing through. I don't know why Rose doesn't put Whitney back outside. She delivered for them last year in this role. She does provide more offense than Thelen from the middle, but PSU's outsides have only been effective against lower tier teams. I believe they need Whitney as an outlet once again.
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Post by redincolorado on Nov 29, 2015 12:53:03 GMT -5
I still remember some people claiming in the same breath that Hancock was POY, and that PSU would not miss her this year because all the PSU setter had to do was throw the ball up and let their amazing hitters go get it. LOL. As if passing off of serve receive doesn't make a difference. What happened last night Oh yeah, Nebraska's serve had PSU out of system a lot because of serve receive and passing. Then look at Justine's serve receive/passing. Micha was/is a once in Jordan Larson,Sarah Pavan or Destinee Hooker kind of player.
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Post by SportyBucky on Nov 29, 2015 13:11:50 GMT -5
Penn State just looked bad last night. Pierce/Frantti struggled passing and the setting was just poor. It seemed like 60% of the time, Penn State hitters were either too tight which resulted in a block, too far off which means reaching back and trying to keep the ball in play, or the tempo was off so they had to downball it over. The passing wasn't good, but Weiskircher needs to put up better sets for PSU to have a shot. As an aside, I have no idea why Whitney is playing in the middle. Simone Lee has put up good numbers against bottom feeders in the Big Ten, but has struggled mightily against teams with better blocks and better defense. She is doesn't do a good job of seeing the blockers and is error prone. Whitney is the most terminal and athletic player that can play on the pin right now for PSU. She is so long, hits over most blocks and could be a great outlet on the RS off a bad pass. Right now, the outlets are Courtney/Frantti/Lee. Courtney will keep the ball in play but doesn't crush unless she gets a good set, and the latter two are error prone if the set isn't in system. Thelen also was doing a great job of blocking for PSU and I thought she did a solid job of attacking the 1-2 times she'd get set in a game. Penn State is still terrifying to face because Rose might have something up his sleeve we don't know, but unless it involves better passing and much better setting, PSU is going to bow out in the regionals this year. Time might just be the equalizer here and what PSU needed. Nebraska has to wait, arguably, for 2 weeks to see if it can maintain that intensity. PSU, arguably, has two weeks to get to that level. Two different paths. That was a serious gauntlet last night for the PSU libero and setter and they somehow remained standing and fighting to the end. #silver-ishlining
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2015 13:29:56 GMT -5
IMHO Mikaela Foecke is hands down the front runner for conference freshman of the year. The last Husker freshman I remember making this much of an impact and playing at this level goes beyond Jordan Larson all the way back to Sarah Pavan. Foecke is an absolute stud and without a doubt will be one of the husker greats by the time her career is done, but I think a three-letter acronym is in her way for conference freshman of the year.
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Post by badgerbreath on Nov 29, 2015 13:31:25 GMT -5
As an aside, I have no idea why Whitney is playing in the middle. Simone Lee has put up good numbers against bottom feeders in the Big Ten, but has struggled mightily against teams with better blocks and better defense. She is doesn't do a good job of seeing the blockers and is error prone. Whitney is the most terminal and athletic player that can play on the pin right now for PSU. She is so long, hits over most blocks and could be a great outlet on the RS off a bad pass. Right now, the outlets are Courtney/Frantti/Lee. Courtney will keep the ball in play but doesn't crush unless she gets a good set, and the latter two are error prone if the set isn't in system. Thelen also was doing a great job of blocking for PSU and I thought she did a solid job of attacking the 1-2 times she'd get set in a game. Penn State is still terrifying to face because Rose might have something up his sleeve we don't know, but unless it involves better passing and much better setting, PSU is going to bow out in the regionals this year. I'm right with you about Whitney. Ariel Scott was listed as a Middle, but she was death from above on the pins and Rose only had her hit from the middle as she was passing through. I don't know why Rose doesn't put Whitney back outside. She delivered for them last year in this role. She does provide more offense than Thelen from the middle, but PSU's outsides have only been effective against lower tier teams. I believe they need Whitney as an outlet once again. Maybe Rose thinks he needs to maintain a constant credible threat in the middle to free up the pins. It's not like Whitney has not played well at middle. He may still think he can fix the passing so that strategy works.
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Post by plm on Nov 29, 2015 14:40:29 GMT -5
At this point I think Nebraska is slightly stronger. But Minnesota is right there too, maybe just a hair below. I also might consider including UCLA in third tier. Wisconsin is 36-4 in sets over their last 12 matches, including a 3-1 victory over Nebraska. What reason is there to think that Nebraska is stronger? It's funny how you mention the sets won & loss since being beaten twice in a row by Minnesota. You act like that Wisconsin is the only team that has improved since the time they were beaten by Minnesota twice in a row & when Nebraska suffered back to back losses to Minnesota & Wisconsin . It seems like you have forgotten that Nebraska won over Illinois in straight sets both at Illinois as well as at Nebraska while Wisconsin lost one set to Illinois in Madison & Illinois took Wisconsin to 5 at Illinois which really means nothing as well. Your reasoning about the number of lost sets in the last 12 matches means absolutely nothing.
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