|
Post by beachman on Oct 9, 2004 0:34:17 GMT -5
U$C looked awfully impressive tonight!
|
|
|
Post by vballmaniac40 on Oct 9, 2004 0:53:47 GMT -5
On another note, does anyone else think that Bibiana Candelas is more important to this team than Emily Adams? Finally someone agrees with me!
|
|
|
Post by roofed! on Oct 9, 2004 0:54:49 GMT -5
I was really happy that Florian started this match and you could see that Dunning was not prepared for that. The Stanford team had no clue what was hitting them in games 1 and 2, doing shank-o-rama all over the court. K Richards looked frustrated and Dunning was frustrated too with the lack of presence in the middle. Whenever Girard goes to the bench and during timeouts, Dunning would go to her and give her instructions on blockings etc. In game 3, Stanford's passing game showed up and in return USC suffered mental lapse in passing and hitting errors.
Florian proved that she deserved to be a starter. Her passing was great (except for a short mental lapse in game 3), and she has a full hitting ability -- down the line, cross court, through the seams, tooling the block etc. Even when Stanford had double block waiting on her, she knew how to get a kill. As MossV2 observed, Bibiana is very important to USC's offense because she can hit effectively from any of the frontrow positions. Usually, in one of the rotations, she would hit from the Opp while Copenhagen would play the middle. But when one of the OHs is struggling, Haley would move Candelas to the outside for the much-needed kill. Being tall and experienced, she is adept in adjusting to the sets comnig her way.
|
|
|
Post by roofed! on Oct 9, 2004 0:57:59 GMT -5
LOS ANGELES - Senior Keao Burdine led with 23 points and freshman Sarah Florian had a surprise performance hitting .438 with 16 kills on the night to lead the second-ranked USC women's volleyball team to a 3-1 (30-16, 30-20, 27-30, 30-26) victory over 14th-ranked Stanford on Friday. In front of 1, 058 at the Lyon Center, the Women of Troy dominated in every category despite dropping game three.
Burdine and Florian were not the only top performances of the night for USC. Five players finished with double figure kills, including Emily Adams, who added 15 kills on a .414 effort, Bibiana Candelas, who tallied 14 kills and led with four blocks, and Staci Venski, who finished with 11 kills and three blocks of her own.
In addition to 18 kills and 15 digs, Burdine also tied her career high with four service aces. Sophomore setter Kimi Freeburg, who had 28 assists on the night, set a career-high with 17 digs. Libero Debora Seilhamer posted 16 digs and setter Alli Dillon had 30 assists.
The match marked Florian's first collegiate start, as she replaced Alicia Robinson who's playing time was limited due to increased foot pain.
With the win, USC improves to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play, while Stanford falls to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10.
The Women of Troy had little trouble against the Cardinal until game three. Returning from the break, Stanford took its first lead of the match at 8-7 then pulled ahead by as much as six points at 22-16. The string of Cardinal points prompted head coach Mick Haley to insert Alicia Robinson back in the lineup for a short time. The substitution seemed to work as USC fought back to within one at 28-27. But two Trojan errors stalled the comeback and gave Stanford the game victory.
Stanford held a 16-13 lead in game four, but USC used a 7-2 run to pull ahead 20-18. Thanks to key blocks from Candelas and Florian, and kills by Burdine, the Women of Troy maintained the advantage down the stretch for the 30-26 win.
USC returns to action tomorrow for "Beat the Bears" Saturday. Starting the day with a 10 a.m. water polo match and 12:30 p.m. football kick-off, the Women of Troy look to complete a California sweep as they take on the Bears at 5 p.m. at the Lyon Center. Fans get in FREE at the volleyball match with a football ticket stub.
|
|
|
Post by roofed! on Oct 9, 2004 1:00:09 GMT -5
Btw, little Nnamani was subbed into game 1 and 2 for frontrow, subbing for Kehoe with Goldhahn on the floor, but unfortunately, the ball was not set her way. Saw her hitting during the warmup. Pretty impressive.
|
|
|
Post by cbrown1709 on Oct 9, 2004 1:00:48 GMT -5
Hell yeah, Bibi is extremely more important and versatile.
|
|
|
Post by MossV2 on Oct 9, 2004 1:01:45 GMT -5
17 Digs! Freeburg has got to be (and don't quote me on this because I haven't seen much of other setters) one of the best passing setters in the nation. Seemed like she made a handful of ridiculous digs on balls that were crushed by Stanford in every game.
|
|
|
Post by cbrown1709 on Oct 9, 2004 1:04:19 GMT -5
I'm just happy Stanford took one game off them. Everyone thought it was going to be a sweep and win SU started to finally play, they became competitive.
|
|
|
Post by roofed! on Oct 9, 2004 1:04:46 GMT -5
U$C looked awfully impressive tonight! Btw, Beachman, how does Dillon's play looked to you? Please give our thanks to Brian G for rejecting her!
|
|
|
Post by roofed! on Oct 9, 2004 1:08:48 GMT -5
Yeah, Freeburg was awesome on defense tonight, and she was able to dig some of the hardest balls coming from the other side of the net, including a crusher from Nnamani. Her floor defense has improved a lot from last season. Both setters played great defense, and I am glad that the team is now fighting for every digs, rather than just standing around for the balls to drop to the floor, as have been the case for several matches earlier in the season.
|
|
|
Post by beachman on Oct 9, 2004 1:23:00 GMT -5
Btw, Beachman, how does Dillon's play looked to you? Please give our thanks to Brian G for rejecting her! Brian didn't reject her by the way....he just didn't have a scholarhip available for her! She went where the money was, first to UCLA and then eventually to the University of Spoiled Children! Oh well.......
|
|
|
Post by SakiBomb25 on Oct 9, 2004 1:26:28 GMT -5
Btw, little Nnamani was subbed into game 1 and 2 for frontrow, subbing for Kehoe with Goldhahn on the floor, but unfortunately, the ball was not set her way. Saw her hitting during the warmup. Pretty impressive. Yeah, Njideka has major hops! If she was the same height as her older sis... wow, they would be an awesome attacking force. Good for Haley that he finally started Florian. I bet Stanford is better prepared for her when she visits the Farm. I think Stanford has a chance to beat USC at Stanford... but passing and defensive intensity will have to be consistent throughout the match.
|
|
|
Post by cbrown1709 on Oct 9, 2004 1:34:41 GMT -5
Hey so you think that they would do better if Kehoe was the Libero and Goldhahn set. I know Kehoe is more athletic and quicker, but wouldn't it help the whole team if the passing was better? Sounds like when they did pass well they did take one game and was competing better.
|
|
|
Post by SakiBomb25 on Oct 9, 2004 2:21:55 GMT -5
Hey so you think that they would do better if Kehoe was the Libero and Goldhahn set. I know Kehoe is more athletic and quicker, but wouldn't it help the whole team if the passing was better? Sounds like when they did pass well they did take one game and was competing better. Nope, I think Kehoe is the better setter. Brings more energy to the game and in time, she will be one of the best in the country. She needs to touch the ball on every touch, imho. I just haven't been impressed with Goldhahn's setting. I think what we really need back is Leahi Hall. She's a very good digger, ok passer, but she brings in a lot of passion to the game. She had a starting position last year at the libero, but got injured. Same thing happened to her - she was the libero and then got injured and now is on the bench. I wish Dunning would use Hall.
|
|
|
Post by StuffU on Oct 9, 2004 7:32:08 GMT -5
Stanford has no chance at beating USC on the Farm with the current lineup. It's just not going to happen. Even in the third game when the Cardinal won, it was more a function of USC's passing breaking down for a little stretch, than it was Stanford's play.
The first thing Dunning needs to do is find the three best passers on the team and put them on the floor. Without some sort of passing, it doesn't matter who sets and who hits. The first two games looked like a good college team playing a second rate high school team.
I think the Pacific match will be interesting. As of this moment, I have no idea who would win a match between Pepperdine and Stanford .. and that's pretty bad folks.
|
|