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Post by crawdaddy on May 19, 2019 10:11:11 GMT -5
Mel really struggled to pass the ball cleanly at the end but this fits with your schizophrenia post. Ahead 4-1 they should have cruised to victory. Instead they completely fell apart and lost 14 of the next 20 points. But congrats to April and Alix. Their serving definitely put on the pressure and fewer errors made the difference. Ive been really impressed with Alix in the parts of three matches I saw this weekend. She is moving much more smoothly, I like how she is setting April, and she has eliminated a lot of the mistakes she used to make. Still needs to learn to block, but she's a top 10 frontcourt player in the world for me now and maybe top 5. She’s setting great and offensively is pretty unstoppable. The wild card for her will always be the passing. She passes well, they’re a pretty unbeatable team. She gets shaky on serve receive and they’ll lose to lesser teams.
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Post by hustleslowly on May 19, 2019 10:16:41 GMT -5
Third game, same thing. Canada up 4-1, MHP gets a dig, easy chance and she puts it out of bounds. I think she hit maybe 6 balls out the final set including serves and all missed by a lot except one cut shot. I think one of the reasons its hard to get a handle on is MHP really fits the profile of a smart player. Undersized, scrappy, VB family/coaches kid I think, but she doesn't actually play smart. Alix/April played smart, didnt make errors, and got a couple breaks, Canada collapsed mentally and its 2-0 to the A Team. Didn't watch the match.... On MHPs out hits, were they the correct shot and she missed it, or were they bad decisions on her shots and she missed them?
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Post by guest2 on May 19, 2019 10:21:00 GMT -5
Third game, same thing. Canada up 4-1, MHP gets a dig, easy chance and she puts it out of bounds. I think she hit maybe 6 balls out the final set including serves and all missed by a lot except one cut shot. I think one of the reasons its hard to get a handle on is MHP really fits the profile of a smart player. Undersized, scrappy, VB family/coaches kid I think, but she doesn't actually play smart. Alix/April played smart, didnt make errors, and got a couple breaks, Canada collapsed mentally and its 2-0 to the A Team. Didn't watch the match.... On MHPs out hits, were they the correct shot and she missed it, or were they bad decisions on her shots and she missed them? A few were the correct shot, but she didnt miss by a couple inches, these were balls in no danger of being played, except the last one which was a great choice out by an inch (but didnt need to be a great shot). The one at 4-1 was the worst because she had the line half the court open and hit maybe 5 feet out into the doubly-defended cross court. If it was right on the back line, what she was going for, both April and Alix could have played it.
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Post by tamz on May 19, 2019 10:36:45 GMT -5
Yesterday during the semifinal the commentator said that Alix bump sets instead of hand sets so it doesn’t place April in the best position to get the kill.
But I don’t think I’ve seen a April hand set either.
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Post by stull90210 on May 19, 2019 10:43:56 GMT -5
Rewatching the match now, I love that the mic is close enough to hear both teams discussions during their timeouts. Some cool tidbits I picked up:
In the 1st set during the technical time out w Canada up 11-10, Mel is talking about her next serve placement to keep USA out of system and how Alix isn’t passing well enough to go on 2 often. Ironically as soon as the game resumes Mel serves Alix who passes for April to hit and score on 2.
At the USA timeout with Canada up 18-16 April tells Alix that she’s gonna stop guessing on Mel, and Alix tells her some helpful calls for when April goes on 2 in transition. Sarah and Mel decide that the defensive scheme they are going to commit to next is to “soft block angle” on April. Funny because in the very next point April passes and hits a roll shot cut to the angle which Pavan was clearly set up for but looked super awkward trying to reach, and she laughs it off with Mel.
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Post by tamz on May 19, 2019 10:49:25 GMT -5
Fun fact: all 3 teams on the podium will not be making the long trip to China.
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Post by guest2 on May 19, 2019 10:57:44 GMT -5
Fun fact: all 3 teams on the podium will not be making the long trip to China. Which of the four US teams has to qualify in China? Betsi or Kerri?
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Post by tamz on May 19, 2019 10:59:13 GMT -5
Fun fact: all 3 teams on the podium will not be making the long trip to China. Which of the four US teams has to qualify in China? Betsi or Kerri? Kerri. Because ATeam dropped, Em/Betsi were moved into MD.
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Post by ajm on May 19, 2019 11:50:10 GMT -5
Yesterday during the semifinal the commentator said that Alix bump sets instead of hand sets so it doesn’t place April in the best position to get the kill. But I don’t think I’ve seen a April hand set either. One big advantage the Canadians have is Mel’s hand setting, which is much better than either April or Alix. But today she had a “broken window” which I don’t think I’ve ever seen from her. Guess it just wasn’t her day.
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Post by wang pu on May 19, 2019 12:20:39 GMT -5
Yesterday during the semifinal the commentator said that Alix bump sets instead of hand sets so it doesn’t place April in the best position to get the kill. But I don’t think I’ve seen a April hand set either. One big advantage the Canadians have is Mel’s hand setting, which is much better than either April or Alix. But today she had a “broken window” which I don’t think I’ve ever seen from her. Guess it just wasn’t her day. One thing I was surprised with, is how inconsistent April's sets are. Yes, Alix is 6'5" and should be hitting straight down, but going against Pavan's block, move Alix back 1 or 2 feet and Alix's range opens up so much more. I only watched the first set and half of the second, but I counted at least 5 sets too close for Alix.
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Post by goldengirlsx3 on May 19, 2019 12:34:37 GMT -5
My take a ways from this tournament (and watched a lot of it)
1. The ATEAM is the best team in the world. I couldn’t say this before this tourney but I can now. A few right on their heels, but close isn’t good enough.
2. The Brazilian Women are in a funk. They need to make changes & quickly.
3. The Canadian women are just a step behind the ATEAM. If they can clean up their side of the net, they could take one or 2 from them.
4. Brooke Sweat is coming along nicely. She is looking more & more confident as the matches go on. This bodes well for this team going forward.
5. As I see it, there is one spot that about 4 teams are fighting for. If all stay healthy, I see a dogfight between KWJ/BS & 2S coming.
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Post by ajm on May 19, 2019 13:36:33 GMT -5
One big advantage the Canadians have is Mel’s hand setting, which is much better than either April or Alix. But today she had a “broken window” which I don’t think I’ve ever seen from her. Guess it just wasn’t her day. One thing I was surprised with, is how inconsistent April's sets are. Yes, Alix is 6'5" and should be hitting straight down, but going against Pavan's block, move Alix back 1 or 2 feet and Alix's range opens up so much more. I only watched the first set and half of the second, but I counted at least 5 sets too close for Alix. I remember Andrew Fuller on the Sandcast awhile back saying they were encouraging the women in national team practices to use their hands more in setting. Hasn’t really happened. The only top team that consistently hand sets is Claes/Sponcil.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2019 13:39:29 GMT -5
Melissa does not know how to tip. She should go for the short tip but instead she tips on the back court and ends up going long.
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Post by guest2 on May 19, 2019 13:52:02 GMT -5
One thing I was surprised with, is how inconsistent April's sets are. Yes, Alix is 6'5" and should be hitting straight down, but going against Pavan's block, move Alix back 1 or 2 feet and Alix's range opens up so much more. I only watched the first set and half of the second, but I counted at least 5 sets too close for Alix. I remember Andrew Fuller on the Sandcast awhile back saying they were encouraging the women in national team practices to use their hands more in setting. Hasn’t really happened. The only top team that consistently hand sets is Claes/Sponcil. I think Summer has the best hands in women's VB now that Larissa has retired, but as far as both players hand setting, I think you are right. Seems dumb given no one ever gets called anymore
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Post by tamz on May 19, 2019 13:53:38 GMT -5
Did anyone catch the handset where the ball slipped out of Mel’s hands? I’ve never seen that happen before!
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