Huskers vs Gophers

[volleynut]

According to what I saw at the match, Kbow was definitely missed and the return of Marci will make a big difference.

[Gorf]

Something I haven't seen mentioned regarding Marci being out of the first six matches is her serving.

Last season, the Gophers score strings of points more often when she was serving than when anyone else on the team was serving. With what looked like the last of serving impact (and missed serves) against Nebraska her serving could have made an appreciable difference in the 2nd and 3rd games and potentially in the outcome of the match.

[JHAM]

I nearly had a heart attack after the Gophs had 9 service errors in the first game.....how did they ever pull that one out is beyond me. I think after that there confidence in the serving game had to have been shot. I know that the coaches have strategic positions that they want the players to serve too but it just didn't seem like they were placing their serves effectively.....although effectively to Pavan a few times.

[Gorf]

It seems the Gopher serving plans call much more for accuracy / position than the all out power of the Larson / Pavan topspin rockets.

The Gopher serving is meant more to disrupt the opponent's offense and get them out of system.

Against Nebraska, even though some of the serves were way long or buried in the middle / bottom of the net there more of the missed serves that were barely off the court on the sides or long. Given more practice / confidence those can turn into serves that drop for aces or make opponents have to think about them and scramble to make a play on them and hopefully end up causing them to be out of system.

The serves that I was most concerned about were the ones that were semi-sky-balls that were easly passed and allowed Nebraska to easily be in system with their offense.

[maninyellowhat]

It looked like they where targeting Pavan. I'm sure to take her out of the offense. And to wear her down a little.

[FreeBall]

maninyellowhat said:

It looked like they where targeting Pavan. I'm sure to take her out of the offense. And to wear her down a little.

When comparing to last year, it looks to me like Pavan is in the serve receive pattern much less this year. The players getting the bulk of the reps in serve receive at the matches I have attended are Larson, Busboom and Schwartz.

My estimate would be that Pavan is one of the three players in the pattern much less than 50% of the time, whereas last year I'm thinking that it was well over 50% of the time. I think this change is good to avoid the factors that you noted in your post.

[highflyer]

freeball said:

maninyellowhat said:

It looked like they where targeting Pavan. I'm sure to take her out of the offense. And to wear her down a little.

When comparing to last year, it looks to me like Pavan is in the serve receive pattern much less this year. The players getting the bulk of the reps in serve receive at the matches I have attended are Larson, Busboom and Schwartz.

My estimate would be that Pavan is one of the three players in the pattern much less than 50% of the time, whereas last year I'm thinking that it was well over 50% of the time. I think this change is good to avoid the factors that you noted in your post.

Pavan only receives in two rotations this year, but she can be pulled out of any rotation, unlike last year. She did a good job of passing yesterday and her reception was not a factor in the match.

As for her attacking, that's another story. She attacks out of the backcourt like a man. Holloway sets her well inside the attack line and after she has finished her attack she land at least 3 to 5 feet infront of the attack line. She seems very comfortable out of the backcourt this year.

[edburby]

Pavan serve receive lost them the title last year.

[FreeBall]

edburby said:

Pavan serve receive lost them the title last year.

While many of the Huskers did not play up to their potential in the title match, I think it's quite unfair to say that one aspect of one player's game "lost" the match for them.

I think it is more accurate to say that Washington won the title.

[chipNdink]

edburby said:

Pavan serve receive lost them the title last year.

Serving errors were a bigger problem than serve receive errors.

[plm]

maninyellowhat said:

According to my sources, Nelson was very sick on Saturday and Sunday. A severe case of the stomach flu started early Saturday morning. As JT reported, she was given an IV on Saturday because she was dehydrated. She couldn't keep any food down so only had eaten a some toast and a few saltines since Friday night. Minnesota's lucky the whole team didn't come down with it.

I think it is just the time of the year. Though none of the Husker players were probably the same physically as Nelson was but on Cook's show tonight he mentioned that his whole team had been fighting colds all last week. Hopefully the whole Minnesota team doesn't get what Nelson had.

[plm]

jham said:

I nearly had a heart attack after the Gophs had 9 service errors in the first game.....how did they ever pull that one out is beyond me. I think after that there confidence in the serving game had to have been shot. I know that the coaches have strategic positions that they want the players to serve too but it just didn't seem like they were placing their serves effectively.....although effectively to Pavan a few times.

I didn't of course watch for the serving spot indication every time the Gophers were on my side of the court but one time I noticed the sign was for the 5 position which is of course is the left back zone. The gopher serve went between the 1 & 6 area and closer to the 1 rather than the 6 area. Now that is missing the serve by a long ways. Most of the gopher serves that were long were way long.

[2c]

edburby said:

Pavan serve receive lost them the title last year.

Aside from a couple obvious ones, she actually was one of their better serve receivers during that match. Larson and Houghtelling were both passing below their normal level.

[Deleted]

Let's not forget that had it not been for Pavan's hitting(led the team in kills that match) that the outcome could've been even more lopsided.