les
Banned
Falsely equivocates authority
Posts: 911
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Post by les on Aug 15, 2018 15:39:26 GMT -5
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Post by redbeard2008 on Aug 15, 2018 17:51:57 GMT -5
The presence or absence of the Storm wouldn't effect where the 2019 playoffs will be sited - if not at Hec Ed, it wouldn't interfere with UW's early season (assuming dates similar to 2018). Huh? In the WNBA, teams host their own playoff games. So yes, it very much would matter whether the Storm was in the playoffs or not. Okay, wasn't up on that. Doesn't mean they couldn't host the playoffs somewhere else, the Tacoma Dome, for instance, if there was a date conflict.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Aug 15, 2018 17:55:05 GMT -5
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Post by Mocha on Aug 15, 2018 20:42:36 GMT -5
You go girl!
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Post by redbeard2008 on Aug 17, 2018 20:40:37 GMT -5
Team pic: Bajema, listed at 6'2", looks taller than Drechsel, listed at 6'4". Sanders, listed also at 6'4", towers over both of them. Drechsel's feet are apart, not together, however.
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Post by Huskyfan on Aug 17, 2018 21:35:12 GMT -5
Looking forward to tomorrow's scrimmage!
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Post by alwayslearning on Aug 18, 2018 22:11:26 GMT -5
Hello Husky fans!
I've managed to successfully avoid posting on here since mid-December, but I guess all good things must come to an end. Today I attended the Husky scrimmage for season ticket holders. Four sets with the teams mixed up for each set. Learned a few things.
Two players on the 15-player roster did not play: Dani Cole and Emma Calle (pronounced Cal-lay). I heard K-Cook say, before the scrimmage, that Cole suffered a little knock and should be back soon. There was no outward sign of injury for either Cole or Calle. I was bummed, though, because I was looking forward to seeing Cole play.
What follows are my subjective impressions in a meaningless scrimmage when a good number of players have been playing together for all of two weeks. So please take it with the appropriate grains of salt.
Let's start with overall impressions and expectations. My sense is the pre-season predictions for a middle-of-the-Pac finish are about right. Given the Huskies' level of talent and experience relative to the rest of the Pac, a fourth place finish would probably be very good. Fifth through seventh is entirely possible. Some of the weaker areas will be: serve receive, termination, overall defense. Sound familiar? That said, there were some very good things in evidence today, so let's look at it position by position (or function):
Serve receive: Six players received serve today: McPherson, Onosko, Bajema, Drechsel, Crenshaw, and Hoffman. Only one stood out as consistently good: McPherson. Shayne is still susceptible to the short serve that dies in front of her, but overall, I was impressed. None of the rest were really bad, they just were not consistent. There is little doubt (in my mind at least) that McPherson and Bajema will make up two thirds of serve receive, but I'm not sure who will be the third. Probably Drechsel with Crenshaw challenging. Not sure if Cole would receive serve or not.
Left side hitters: Bajema appears to be the clear L1 and is deserving as our best OH. But I'm not sure I would expect dominance or a very high kill percentage, at least early in the season. So much depends on serve receive and the quality of sets. And Kara will need to grow into the responsibility, I think. Kara does very well with a quality, fast set to the outside and she is probably our most athletic OH. Drechsel played a fair amount on the left side as well. I'm thinking K-Cook is leaning in that direction. Drechsel can definitely terminate but was somewhat inconsistent. The other two players who saw a lot of left-side action were Crenshaw and Hoffman.
I'm going to devote a separate paragraph to Shannon Crenshaw. Never having seen her (or any of the other new players), she was my favorite frosh. Interesting factoid: I'm pretty sure Crenshaw was the only player who was on the winning team in all four sets. What impressed? First, she is athletic in all phases of the game. She can terminate, even put down the occasional off the net, OOS set. She was able to find some holes in the block, tool the block, and hit high hands. Did she do this consistently? No, and that's going to be her challenge. But my feeling is that her ceiling is really high. In comparison, Hoffman appears to be a really solid all-around player but who does not bring the explosiveness or athleticism that Crenshaw does. Hoffman appears to be a more cautious hitter, and doesn't seem to make many errors on the net. But that comes at a cost, which is a lack of kills. She also does not appear to have the arm speed or strength of a higher level Pac 12 OH right now. There is obviously time to develop and she shows a good understanding of the game.
Middles: Along with McPherson, Lauren Sanders impressed me the most of all players today with her steady presence at the net. Sanders is a non-flashy, unassuming, very polished middle. She will likely lead the team in blocks and hitting percentage. She would have been the only player to be on the winning side in all four sets but for a 28-26 score in the final set. The middle is a core strength of the Huskies this year. Avie Niece looked good and so did Marin Grote. Niece looked like a slightly better version of the player we've seen in the past. Grote showed some real skill in putting down balls with good location on her spikes. All three ran the slide with some success. I'm thinking the depth chart is Sanders-Niece-Grote.
Libero/DS: As noted above, I was really impressed with McPherson -- to my eye, she was the most improved player on the team. In the past I've joined the critical chorus targeting McPherson and I admit to being disappointed the Huskies did not acquire a libero transfer. McPherson has always impressed me with her athleticism and quick reactions. I've felt that she has fallen short in anticipating where balls would be played and getting in the correct position for a given play. That's where I saw improvement today. I also saw a really competitive player who has some leadership potential. My sincere hope is that this is the year Shayne turns the corner and becomes one of the better liberos in the league. Boy could the Huskies use that! Cailin Onosko was the only other player to suit up as a libero and she did a credible job today. Will she DS for one of our hitters in the regular rotation? Got me. Same question regarding Emma Calle -- we just haven't seen her play enough to form any opinions.
Opposite: This one is a bit of a mystery to me. The players who saw time on the right side today were mostly Destiny Julye and Maria B. Drechsel played on the right side in the final set. Both Julye and Maria B. can launch some missiles (especially Julye) but they are also blocked more and dug more than I think they should be. Is Dani Cole the wild card on the right side?
Setters: The Huskies are not deep at setter -- Ella May Powell and Natalie Robinson. Out of necessity, each setter ran a 5-1 today, but I'm guessing that's the offense the Huskies will stick with next Friday. Some impressions of Powell: she is rough around the edges, meaning that the ball does not always leave her hands cleanly and she is struggling a bit with timing and location. Frankly, if she were not struggling with the latter two issues at this stage, it would be shocking. My sense is that Powell will be a work in progress this season and she'll have her ups and downs. As a pure setter, her ceiling is probably higher than Bailey Tanner's was, and part of that appears to be better mobility in tracking down balls. Tanner brought a physicality to her game at the net, however, that Powell does not possess, at least not yet. I'm fairly confident that Powell will start, though Robinson ran her team competently and showed, last year, that she can step in and do very well in a backup role. If the Huskies are to be an elite team during Powell's tenure here, they will need her to steadily improve year after year.
Well, those are my impressions. The Huskies do NOT have a cupcake preseason this year. San Diego will be a very tough opening two matches and will provide an immediate barometer on where the Huskies stand. I'm thinking the Huskies should probably be underdogs against USD as well as Illinois the following weekend. Then there's Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh, another tough match.
With all the new faces, maybe Husky fans can appreciate the game a little more without the burden of high expectations.
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Post by Huskyfan on Aug 18, 2018 22:46:22 GMT -5
I agree with most of your comment, alwayslearning, except that I was quite impressed by Claire Hoffman's passing. I'm my opinion, she was the second best passer next to Shayne. She has a "compact" way of passing, reminds me a lot of Schwan. Towards the end, servers were avoiding her. I think she can help the Huskies in that area right away.
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Post by alwayslearning on Aug 18, 2018 23:14:59 GMT -5
I admit to not watching Hoffman's serve receive very closely. One problem that many of the newer serve receivers had was an inability to put a relatively soft, lower ball into the setter's hands in a good position. Often the setter had to track down a ball that was quite high and off target, making it obvious where the set was going. Maybe Hoffman will earn her way into the starting rotation through her serve receive abilities.
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Post by alwayslearning on Aug 19, 2018 14:00:42 GMT -5
I have a question for anyone who might have attended the UW scrimmage. In addition to Keegan Cook and Leslie Gabriel and newcomer Jason Mansfield, there was a woman involved with the pre-scrimmage drills who I had not seen before. She was clearly a former volleyball player, but didn't look like any UW player that I recognized. Dark, shoulder length hair, fairly tall, maybe 6 feet or more. Maybe a grad assistant? Anybody recognize this person?
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Post by huskerjen on Aug 19, 2018 14:20:43 GMT -5
I have a question for anyone who might have attended the UW scrimmage. In addition to Keegan Cook and Leslie Gabriel and newcomer Jason Mansfield, there was a woman involved with the pre-scrimmage drills who I had not seen before. She was clearly a former volleyball player, but didn't look like any UW player that I recognized. Dark, shoulder length hair, fairly tall, maybe 6 feet or more. Maybe a grad assistant? Anybody recognize this person? Mariko Coverdale?
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Post by alwayslearning on Aug 19, 2018 14:36:52 GMT -5
I believe you are correct, huskerjen -- thanks. Coverdale is listed as a volunteer assistant coach for the volleyball team on gohuskies.com and the accompanying photo definitely looks like the person I saw yesterday. Coverdale grew up in the Puget Sound area (Marysville), was an All-American Div. III player at Cal Lutheran, and played pro beach volleyball for eight years.
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Post by redbeard2008 on Aug 19, 2018 15:42:00 GMT -5
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Post by dawgnerd on Aug 19, 2018 18:27:08 GMT -5
Hi again everyone. Looking forward to hearing from all of you for another season. As usual, Always has put together a really insightful summary and I agree with almost all of it. I found myself watching Crenshaw more, just because it seemed that the servers were actually targeting her more with serves. If I recall last year at this event, the serves seemed to be focused on Schwan in a like proportion. Last year, I thought it could have been a direction from coaching staff, knowing that she would be carrying such a big part of the passing load. If it is similar this year, I thought Crenshaw did a pretty good job with the receptions. Not always pretty, but it ended up in a 3 option location most of the time. I also liked her hitting selection, though thought that Dreshel showed a potential for hitting power that we have not seen for a while (Brie?).
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Post by ay2013 on Aug 20, 2018 12:42:53 GMT -5
I'm so excited for the season to START!!!!! I'd be very happy with at least a split with San Diego. They have some new parts, lets take advantage dawgs!
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