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Post by deacondive on Dec 14, 2015 23:48:36 GMT -5
My big question is will PSU turn up the speed of the offense a bit? If the passing is there it might make it easier for the pins and middles not named Washington.
Granted passing is huge question right now.
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Post by MTC on Dec 14, 2015 23:52:22 GMT -5
Penn State has had a couple of big and talented classes (5 to 6 athletes in a class) which may hurt recruiting. 20016 and 2017 for example. If you recruit a whole starting lineup of studs in one season playing time limitations may be a turn off for future recruits. It didn't seem to bother Florida's 2016 recruiting class (5 players in Senior Ace top 50) when they return most of their starters.
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Post by MTC on Dec 15, 2015 0:04:27 GMT -5
Graduating: Whitney, Courtney, K. Pierce, Caraway Returning (with playing time this season): Frantti, Washington, Weiskircher, Lee, Thalen, Holcomb, Rivera, L. Pierce, Reed, Krause, Muller Incoming: Kendall White (L), several DSs, and Emily Demure (RS, OH, S) Some big questions for next season for PSU. Will the team find a strong 6-rotation player to replace Courtney, who RR often said (predominantly earlier in the season) was the team's top all-around player)? Will pin hitting become a relative weakness for the team? How much growth can the 2014 freshmen see in the offseason? Is this season more like 2011 (also a loss in the regional semis before 3 final fours & 2 national titles) or 2000 (the first of 7 consecutive years without a final four appearance)? The 2000 and later teams were affected by Russ Rose's recruiting philosophy. When the NCAA switched to rally scoring in 2000, he admitted that he failed to change his recruiting views. He continued going after players which were good in the sideout scoring system for years. Much later he realized that he needed players who were more suited to the rally scoring system. I think Frantti has the best chance of filling the void left by M. Courtney, although there are not many M. Courtney's in the country. I don't think PSU will ever suffer from lack of good pin hitters. I feel someone will step up from the current bench players and take over Whitney's job. My main concern is with passing and moving to a faster offense. Quick sets are key to winning in the post-season, so as not to give the block time to setup on your hitters. Also, PSU needs to improve their serving. It seemed anemic for most of the year. No one will ever accuse you of not drinking the blue-and-white kool-aid. Injuries and players not stepping up are what got us into this situation. Even Rose said he wished he could wave a magic wand to fix it but he can't. I think PhillyTom got it right this time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 0:25:15 GMT -5
The 2000 and later teams were affected by Russ Rose's recruiting philosophy. When the NCAA switched to rally scoring in 2000, he admitted that he failed to change his recruiting views. He continued going after players which were good in the sideout scoring system for years. Much later he realized that he needed players who were more suited to the rally scoring system. I think Frantti has the best chance of filling the void left by M. Courtney, although there are not many M. Courtney's in the country. I don't think PSU will ever suffer from lack of good pin hitters. I feel someone will step up from the current bench players and take over Whitney's job. My main concern is with passing and moving to a faster offense. Quick sets are key to winning in the post-season, so as not to give the block time to setup on your hitters. Also, PSU needs to improve their serving. It seemed anemic for most of the year. No one will ever accuse you of not drinking the blue-and-white kool-aid. Injuries and players not stepping up are what got us into this situation. Even Rose said he wished he could wave a magic wand to fix it but he can't. I think PhillyTom got it right this time. I am a die hard fan, but I'm not blind to the issues of this team. I don't see rainbows when someone mentions Penn State. I simply disagree with SOME of the analysis presented in this thread about what this team's problems were in 2015 and going forward in 2016. From the halfway point of the season, we've been discussing the back row problems - lack of consistent passing, digging, and communication. I do know that Russ has not made any significant mention to lack of OH firepower issues this year as Phillytom mentions. Russ' quote after the Hawaii lose, "Tonight was kind of a reflection of how it was during the year: We had flashes where we looked pretty good, and then times where we couldn’t make the right play or the right decision... We had about three set points: we had an overpass, and a player was not in a good position to make a terminal play on it, and kept the ball in play... We had a game plan, and it didn’t seem to materialize very well. But I really think its more that they had a lot more confidence. We had some people that just weren’t in the right mindset to get things done, and that’s our fault as coaches." That, to me, doesn't reflect an inability to terminate, but the lack of mental sharpness needed to play up to the hitters' potential. Regarding Phillytom's lack of firepower comment, Frantti suffered from an early Sophomore slump, but I believe she will come back stronger next year. When Courtney went down for 2 weeks or so, the team actually played better, players stepped up and PSU won those games. I definitely agree with you about the injuries, coach mentioned those. Going back to players stepping up that has to do, in part, with leadership, which we were lacking this year. Most of the players on our roster this year are underclassmen. I only hope one of next year's juniors will grab the bull by the horns and help lead this team like Micha did. Coach said in an interview before the Howard match, "You can’t have the success we’ve had in the past without the seniors." BTW, I didn't know there was any other colored Kool-Aid.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 1:02:31 GMT -5
Penn State is done. Ain't no Fawcetts, Hodges, Harmottos or Glasses in the pipeline. That's a little hyperbolic. That said, I don't remember a PSU team with so little firepower at OH. Even assuming Frantti and Lee improve, they don't have anyone who is really dominant and they don't have any OH depth. Crazy as it sounds, it is very possible to picture PSU as a middle of the pack B1G team next year. Other than Washington, I don't know where they're going to go next year when they have to have a kill. Frantti was pretty dominant in her freshman year, and I trust she'll return to form in 2016, barring injury. Washington is always dominant in the middle. Then we have the unkowns: Novakovic, Reed, Gorrell. Also, I saw Lee getting more savvy with her hitting over her sophomore year; she will only be better in 2016. Lee also has a wicked serve which she needs to work on and make more consistent.
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Post by mnsports255 on Dec 15, 2015 2:06:30 GMT -5
Not the news you guys probably wanted to hear, but sounds like you guys were really close to landing 6'2 OH/MB Stephanie Samedy in the 2017 class before Minnesota snatched her away.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 2:15:44 GMT -5
No one will ever accuse you of not drinking the blue-and-white kool-aid. Injuries and players not stepping up are what got us into this situation. Even Rose said he wished he could wave a magic wand to fix it but he can't. I think PhillyTom got it right this time. I'm not sure what drinking the kool-aid means, but I do know that Russ has not made any significant mention to lack of OH firepower issues this year as Phillytom mentions. His main concern, in almost all his post-match losses quotes, was the back row - passing, digging, and communication. Russ' quote after the Hawaii lose, "Tonight was kind of a reflection of how it was during the year: We had flashes where we looked pretty good, and then times where we couldn’t make the right play or the right decision... We had about three set points: we had an overpass, and a player was not in a good position to make a terminal play on it, and kept the ball in play... We had a game plan, and it didn’t seem to materialize very well. But I really think its more that they had a lot more confidence. We had some people that just weren’t in the right mindset to get things done, and that’s our fault as coaches." Regarding Phillytom's lack of firepower comment, Frantti suffered from an early Sophomore slump, but I believe she will come back stronger next year. When Courtney went down for 2 weeks or so, the team actually played better, players stepped up and PSU won those games. I definitely agree with you about the injuries, coach mentioned those. Going back to players stepping up that has to do, in part, with leadership, which we were lacking this year. Most of the players on our roster this year are underclassmen. I only hope one of next year's juniors will grab the bull by the horns and help lead this team like Micha did. Coach said in an interview before the Howard match, "You can’t have the success we’ve had in the past without the seniors." BTW, I didn't know there was any other colored Kool-Aid. I don't read those underscored qoutes nor many other quotes from the season as necessarily commenting on the backrow. Obviously, the backrow had its problems. But so did every other aspect of the team's game (acknowledging the probably impossibly high standard to which we hold Penn State). Just to pick one: blocking. Tough to have good backrow play when the blocking disappears.
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Post by HappyVolley on Dec 15, 2015 2:21:22 GMT -5
Not the news you guys probably wanted to hear, but sounds like you guys were really close to landing 6'2 OH/MB Stephanie Samedy in the 2017 class before Minnesota snatched her away. Has she signed anything yet? Nope.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 3:36:51 GMT -5
Not the news you guys probably wanted to hear, but sounds like you guys were really close to landing 6'2 OH/MB Stephanie Samedy in the 2017 class before Minnesota snatched her away. Out of curiosity, what's her PrepVolleyball rank?
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Post by BuckysHeat on Dec 15, 2015 7:21:15 GMT -5
Not the news you guys probably wanted to hear, but sounds like you guys were really close to landing 6'2 OH/MB Stephanie Samedy in the 2017 class before Minnesota snatched her away. Out of curiosity, what's her PrepVolleyball rank? PrepVB has her in the 250 group of leading candidates for the top 50 although she was HM for the 16's club all americans so probably in the 25-50 range
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Post by Sbilo on Dec 15, 2015 9:21:02 GMT -5
What they are apparently missing going forward is that big RS terminator they have had for years - Blair Brown, Ariel Scott, Aiyana Whitney. Help was supposed to be on the way to Happy Valley, but that recruit realized Palo Alto needs her more... If you know what I mean.
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Post by MTC on Dec 15, 2015 10:58:27 GMT -5
Not the news you guys probably wanted to hear, but sounds like you guys were really close to landing 6'2 OH/MB Stephanie Samedy in the 2017 class before Minnesota snatched her away. This isn't horseshoes, when you cannot attract an quality OH for three years in a row it cannot be good. Other schools like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas,and Nebraska are being swamped with Top Senior Ace talent.
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Post by gnu2vball on Dec 15, 2015 11:06:52 GMT -5
Not the news you guys probably wanted to hear, but sounds like you guys were really close to landing 6'2 OH/MB Stephanie Samedy in the 2017 class before Minnesota snatched her away. This isn't horseshoes, when you cannot attract an quality OH for three years in a row it cannot be good. Other schools like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas,and Nebraska are being swamped with Top Senior Ace talent. Maybe high school kids have bought into the Evil Empire line perpetrated by the true forces of darkness? Who knows? Whatever the reason, your observation is certainly valid.
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Post by future on Dec 15, 2015 11:30:57 GMT -5
I sure hope we all understand that this years B1G was the deepest and strongest it has been in years.
Penn State 2015 Cumulative Season Statistics
Team Statistics Individual Statistics Overall/Conference Stats
Overall Team Statistics
Overall record: 28-5 Conf: 15-5 Home: 15-2 Away: 9-3 Neutral: 4-0
TEAM STATISTICS PSU OPP ATTACK Kills 1516 1311 Errors 448 721 Total Attacks 3598 3811 Attack Pct .297 .155 Kills/Set 13.5 11.7 SET Assists 1412 1242 Attempts 3463 3782 Assist Pct .408 .328 Assists/Set 12.6 11.1 SERVE Aces 125 89 Errors 181 226 Attempts 2628 2101 Serve Pct .931 .892 Aces/Set 1.1 0.8 SERVE RECEPTIONS Errors 89 125 Errors/Set 0.8 1.1 Attempts 1871 2439 Reception Pct .952 .949 DEFENSE Digs 1548 1448 Digs/Set 13.8 12.9 BLOCKING Block Solo 87 28 Block Assist 523 309 Total Blocks 348.5 182.5 Blocks/Set 3.1 1.6 Block Errors 68 67 Ball handling errors 20 33 ATTENDANCE Total 66672 39621 Dates/Avg Per Date 17/3922 12/3302 Neutral site #/Avg 4/284 Current win streak 2 - Home win streak 4 -
Match wins by #sets 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 0 0 22 4 2 28 Opponents 0 0 2 1 2 5
Sets won by set 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 29 28 24 6 2 89 Opponents 4 5 9 3 2 23
Points by set 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 806 796 784 214 53 2653 Opponents 603 590 636 190 49 2068
Penn State 2014 Cumulative Season Statistics
Team Statistics Overall/Conference Stats
Overall Team Statistics
Overall record: 36-3 Conf: 18-2 Home: 18-1 Away: 10-2 Neutral: 8-0
TEAM STATISTICS PSU OPP ATTACK Kills 1867 1310 Errors 498 733 Total Attacks 4006 3940 Attack Pct .342 .146 Kills/Set 14.7 10.3 SET Assists 1703 1244 Attempts 3782 3928 Assist Pct .450 .317 Assists/Set 13.4 9.8 SERVE Aces 243 61 Errors 290 241 Attempts 3093 2230 Serve Pct .906 .892 Aces/Set 1.9 0.5 SERVE RECEPTIONS Errors 61 243 Errors/Set 0.5 1.9 Attempts 1988 2802 Reception Pct .969 .913 DEFENSE Digs 1626 1394 Digs/Set 12.8 11.0 BLOCKING Block Solo 73 22 Block Assist 535 347 Total Blocks 340.5 195.5 Blocks/Set 2.7 1.5 Block Errors 53 62 Ball handling errors 17 29 ATTENDANCE Total 53623 40934 Dates/Avg Per Date 19/2822 12/3411 Neutral site #/Avg 8/3636 Current win streak 20 - Home win streak 10 -
Match wins by #sets 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 0 0 31 4 1 36 Opponents 0 0 0 2 1 3
Sets won by set 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 35 35 35 6 1 112 Opponents 4 4 4 2 1 15
Points by set 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 977 971 964 195 25 3132 Opponents 669 665 669 167 24 2194
Penn State 2013 Cumulative Season Statistics
Team Statistics Individual Statistics Overall/Conference Stats
Overall Team Statistics
Overall record: 34-2 Conf: 19-1 Home: 17-1 Away: 11-1 Neutral: 6-0
TEAM STATISTICS PSU OPP ATTACK Kills 1814 1367 Errors 523 776 Total Attacks 4231 4270 Attack Pct .305 .138 Kills/Set 14.3 10.8 SET Assists 1669 1296 Attempts 4030 4233 Assist Pct .414 .306 Assists/Set 13.1 10.2 SERVE Aces 166 49 Errors 274 222 Attempts 3011 2285 Serve Pct .909 .903 Aces/Set 1.3 0.4 SERVE RECEPTIONS Errors 49 166 Errors/Set 0.4 1.3 Attempts 2061 2736 Reception Pct .976 .939 DEFENSE Digs 1809 1632 Digs/Set 14.2 12.9 BLOCKING Block Solo 107 38 Block Assist 561 369 Total Blocks 387.5 222.5 Blocks/Set 3.1 1.8 Block Errors 71 66 Ball handling errors 15 41 ATTENDANCE Total 52254 42904 Dates/Avg Per Date 18/2903 12/3575 Neutral site #/Avg 6/5299 Current win streak 25 - Home win streak 11 -
Match wins by #sets 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 0 0 23 7 4 34 Opponents 0 0 0 0 2 2
Sets won by set 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 29 32 32 9 4 106 Opponents 7 4 4 4 2 21
Points by set 1 2 3 4 5 Total Penn State 867 887 902 309 79 3044 Opponents 645 641 620 273 72 2251
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Post by vbkid111 on Dec 15, 2015 12:27:04 GMT -5
If we can fix the back row we'll be good, but not great. This year was all about a bad back row and a young setter not capable of handling poorer passing. Next year will likely be about marginal back row defense and poor hitting. quote] This is just incorrect--both your generalization about this past year and your simple solution for the next. Your young setter was in-system for the great majority of the Hawaii match (and the Dayton match prior), certainly no less significant amount than either opponent. PSU was not terminating, and even Shoji said their plan was to sit back on perimeter and dig deep balls (which they did often, especially when PSU hitters found the block to slow down attacks). This team's main issues, besides a very young setter (and that is not to criticize her), was a galling lack of depth (and experience). Unlike the previous two PSU versions, this team had way too many players on the team that the coaches simply could not put on the floor in big matches. Go back and watch that last match and just count how many Hawaii kills were rattles off a poorly formed block or ricochets through a pourous one. This team could not terminate consistently. Even Dayton was sitting back in the last 3 feet of the court digging a lot of balls. I do agree with recruiting issues, but I'll say it again: the 2013 & 2014 versions had a lot of years of experience on the court and in key role positions. This team really did not.
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