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Post by beachgrad on Jul 21, 2019 16:25:33 GMT -5
The coaches are slowly upgrading their roster with good players but this season is more about the coaching staff getting the best out of them. This is the first year that the roster is not heavily influenced by Brian’s recruits and that is a good thing. Coaches need their players to buy into their system and now they have that environment in place.
For fun, here is my pre-double day roster for opening day.
Lefts - Martinez (returner) and Nelson (JC transfer) Right - Williams (returner) Middles - Canez (transfer) and Xiu (returner) Setter - Chavira (freshman) Libero - Harward (returner) DS & Serving Sub - Hill (returner) and Hoff (freshman)
Hopefully by the end of double days the returning players have upped their game and the new additions fill in the holes with quality play. My lineup is pretty much an even blend of returners and newcomers so will that be enough to contend for a conference championship.
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Post by thebeach1 on Jul 21, 2019 23:58:37 GMT -5
The coaches are slowly upgrading their roster with good players but this season is more about the coaching staff getting the best out of them. This is the first year that the roster is not heavily influenced by Brian’s recruits and that is a good thing. Coaches need their players to buy into their system and now they have that environment in place. For fun, here is my pre-double day roster for opening day. Lefts - Martinez (returner) and Nelson (JC transfer) Right - Williams (returner) Middles - Canez (transfer) and Xiu (returner) Setter - Chavira (freshman) Libero - Harward (returner) DS & Serving Sub - Hill (returner) and Hoff (freshman) Hopefully by the end of double days the returning players have upped their game and the new additions fill in the holes with quality play. My lineup is pretty much an even blend of returners and newcomers so will that be enough to contend for a conference championship. This looks like a good pre double day line-up. However, I thought Kjersti Norveel would finally be healthy, and available, to start at MB for her senior campaign.
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Post by beachgrad on Jul 22, 2019 21:25:02 GMT -5
KJ has a shot at the starting position if the coach wants more defense from that rotation. Canez is more offensive minded and runs the slide better so I have her above KJ.
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Post by thebeach1 on Jul 24, 2019 13:37:37 GMT -5
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Post by DiggUH on Jul 24, 2019 14:11:24 GMT -5
A "freakish vertical leap?" Don't hear it described that way very often. Sounds like a good get for the Beach.
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Post by beachgrad on Jul 24, 2019 19:21:27 GMT -5
I have seen Nelson play and I would not call her vertical freakish. She is athletic and has good hops but she does not jumps like Kash Williams and I would not even call her vertical “freakish”. Nelson is a very positive addition and looks to be a six rotation player. I expect her to have a big impact this season.
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Post by vballfreak808 on Jul 26, 2019 13:09:40 GMT -5
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Post by BeachbytheBay on Aug 4, 2019 9:41:27 GMT -5
Here we go!!
synopsis
I think this year's non-conference is particularly challenging, given a fair amount of roster turnover and UCLA, Georgia, Florida, San Diego, USC on the schedule among others.
key loss is Spriggs, she was one of the top OHs in the Big West last year, especially in conference
it just seems like a 3rd straight year of rebuilding - even with a fair amount of starters coming back
#1 Challenge. so far, Joy has just not developed any sort of 'Identity' for the program. There's a couple top notch recruits still coming, but no way the program should be in a waiting mode for help. Something needs to change this year. Finishing 6th in an ok conference doesn't move the needle. They won't finish 8th or 9th, and 3rd to 7th seems the most probable place, and this program shouldn't be going into any season thinking it might be ok to finish 3rd. LB should be competing and have expectations for title, there can be no other expectation or goal for this program.
Joy has yet to develop any sort of team identity. regardless of a drop off from a top 10 to a top 50-60 program BG's last decade, it was still a top 60 program. it's been 2 straight years outside the top 100
if there's any constant to the last two years, it's that good and bad opponents alike consistently go on big runs throughout matches, and Joy's teams are just basically insconsistent compared to BG. All teams tend to give up a run or two at some point in a match, but Joy's teams have been prone to that happening way too many times in a match and just constantly trying to dig out of big holes. Lack of grit and mental/execution lapses siding out way too much.
hope springs eternally - I think this year is a huge challenge, realistically winning the Big West seems a real long shot with Hawaii and Poly with much more proven setters and Poly with a bona fide All-American in Tori Van Winden
the roster:
the strength appears to be and should be the back-court specialists. Harward may be the libero, if she's still an OH she's still an excellent all-around defensive player. Carly Hill looked good last year, and now LB adds Nicole Hoff. the defensive specialist should make for solid passing, but Joy hasn't yet shown she can make her teams pass consistently well. It's an absolute must this year with Spriggs the most effective terminator gone
the question marks, and there's a ton of them.
MB: Kirst is gone, and she proved to be a solid blocker. the big big question mark and so far a major dissapointment in the Joy era is the development (or lack thereof) of Xue. She hit 0.370 (I repeat 0.370) with Missy Owens setting to her for her frosh year. Basically she's looked horrifically inconsistent both blocking and terminating under Joy. IMO, if Joy and Matt (a MB himself) can't get Xue coached up to be the #1 or #2 MB in the Big West this year, it'll be a testament to the lack of coaching ability. Xue should be absolutely shoving the ball down the throat of Big West opponents, and not having fans exasperated with the typical timing and missteps we've seen the last two years in the setter/MB timing. with Norveel back and all Big Sky Canez available, LB should (the operative word is should) be upper tier at MB. but the MB attack has been really poorly developed so far in Joy's tenure
setter: Carly Aigner-Swesey, Chavera (who didn't even set FT in high school) and Dylan Dela Cruz (who was forced into some setting last year in desperation) are the candidates. Given the state of the program, if Joy (a setter) can coach up this position from a year ago (it sure better not be worse), then there's hope. again, a big big big if. Carly is undersized for blocking. Chavera is more athletic, the type BG used to love to take on as projects.
OH: for the Opp, it's Kash Williams. great athlete, brings needed blocking against opponents Left Side. the errors have to be cleaned up, a combo of an unorthadox hitting motion, and poor setting. Williams needs really good sets with that 'wind-up' of hers, that's the concern. not sure what to expect. for the OH, ALlison Martinez showed a lot of promise, but nothing shown in the all-around game. Spriggs was money last year. I expect Harward to be the OH2 all-around possibly to at least give the team back-court defensive presence. For the OH2, a slew of candidates and hopefully we'll be surprised.
my expected line-up:
S: Aigner-Swesey MB: Xue and Norveel OH: Martinez and Harward Opp: Williams Lib: Hoff DS: Hill
wit's not a particularly imposing team height-wise, Joy really needs to show she can coach better, the program hasn't looked mentally prepared or mentally tough like BGs teams so far.
the team could compete possibly at the upper tier Big West, it's just this group of seniors (Harward, Xue, Norveel) needs to really set an example and Joy needs to show something
will the team be ready by the 28th? the non-conf opponents are going to be a rough tough test for this group.
could they win 20 games ? I guess
realistically given what we've seen for two years, I don't want to go there with a prediction
it's Joy's 3rd year, the 1st year chaos should be long-gone away from the rear-view mirror, no excuses at this point. It's time!
Go Beach!
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Post by beachgrad on Aug 4, 2019 19:00:46 GMT -5
I agree that there are a lot of unknown’s surrounding this year’s team but IMO the level of setter’s play will define this team. If either one of the setters can elevate their game this team could contend for a conference championship. However, if the level of play is similar to last season then this team will not gain much ground and end up somewhere close to last season.
The quality of defensive players in the program leads me to believe the hitters will be getting better sets because the setter will not be running around as much this season. The program has some nice defenders in Harward, Hoff, Hill and Wascom. Harward should be the starting libero because it is not necessary for her to play out of position this season; there are enough hitters. Her vocal leadership from the libero position was greatly missed last year. With that said, there should be a fierce battle for the two starting back row spots.
I think Nelson steps into Spriggs spot and does a very good job. I do not think she will be as effective up front but she should do a much better job in the passing and receiving department. I also believe this will be Martinez’s year to put it all together and not fall into the sophomore slump. She is a very smart hitter and should be utilized more as a bic hitter if she plays all the way around. I would not be surprised if Xiu is given a try on the left if one of these two cannot get it done. She played a lot of left in spring and looked pretty good doing it.
I do not see this team winning 20 matches. Without an established seasoned setter to start the season, the preseason is just too tough to pile up the wins. I hope I am wrong but I see the team going into conference around .500.
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Post by thebeach1 on Aug 5, 2019 21:35:22 GMT -5
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Post by network155 on Aug 6, 2019 1:52:08 GMT -5
She is a solid overall player and hitter. Nice get for the Beach!
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Post by beachgrad on Aug 6, 2019 15:58:33 GMT -5
She is a solid overall player and hitter. Nice get for the Beach! The two listed in the last school announcement are recruited walk-ons. Both are fine players that should push their other team members and fight for playing time. Always nice to have a competitive gym.
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Post by beachgrad on Aug 6, 2019 19:25:42 GMT -5
Looking at the schedule again and just realized that LBSU plays the LMU scrimmage a week into double days. A major difference from when Brian was coaching. He just ran drills for the first two weeks and did not have the team scrimmage against each other until the start of the third week, one week before their regulars season started. Odds are, at the time of his retirement, his program was probably the only one in the country doing that.
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Post by beachgrad on Aug 9, 2019 21:47:30 GMT -5
Double days start tomorrow and I am sure the coaches and players are excited to start the season. There are some images from today’s photo shoot on their twitter page and a pic of their lockers with all the gear they get to start the season.
/photo/1
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Post by thebeach1 on Aug 14, 2019 21:44:22 GMT -5
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