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Post by aaronic on Oct 1, 2006 5:40:21 GMT -5
Amber Kaufman is awesome. She reminds me a lot of Victoria Prince and her athleticism and quickness. Amber Kaufman has the potential to be better though. Sanders and Gregory are decent on the slide, but Kaufman just hits harder and faster. The slide is best fit for players like Kaufman. Fast, good foot speed and leaping ability. I really thing the upcoming years are going to be fun watching her become better. I wonder though if she'll move to the outside? Oh well ... here's to the WAC Freshman of the Year. LOL. BTW ... Houston, Hittle, Arnott, Keefe, Otineru (?) Gregory, Sanders, Kaufman, Thomas, Simmons, Blood Lee, Woolford, Duggins, Kitaguchi, Ong, that other libero recruit. Hawaii once again is gonna have a loud of players ... aya ... Victoria Prince is/was miles better than AK. Prince was such an awesome player(who I must add was robbed from first team AA); I don't think you can compare the two.... at least for the moment. Anyhow, I wonder what the difference was from last night and tonight. I mean SJSU wasn't that much better than FSU... right? Let's hope the Wahine can continue to improve. Good news is that NMSU lost tonight, which gives me more ease because they aren't as invincible as I thought they might be. (Okay, yeah I know invincible is not the word to use, but you know what I mean.) |
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Post by vbfan4life on Oct 1, 2006 5:57:00 GMT -5
i would not say that the passing sucked...just work in progress...they can definitely improve a lot more though...it is sufficient against weaker teams, but against top competition it is definitely suspect
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Post by hwnstunner on Oct 1, 2006 6:02:08 GMT -5
I'm not saying that Kaufman is as good or better --- yet anyway. But just based on how she plays, she reminds me a lot of Prince and she has the potntial to be better by the time she's a senior.
That's just my opinion though.
Prince was so effective because she was fast and athletic, yea she was definitely undersized, but she was probably the most complete Wahine middle since Bown as far as being productive in offense and defense.
If Kaufman stays in the middle, I can totally see her excelling just like Prince did. Fast, quick, athletic ... that's why Kaufman is exciting to think about because Prince turned out to be one of the top middles the Wahine have had.
But again, it's the potential Kaufman has.
Which is very exciting! lol.
NMSU ... I think its a good and bad thing. Good because yes, they are brought back down to earth and ARE beatable. Bad because they are gonna drop in rankings and respect. But like I said somewhere on this bored tonight, Nevada has capable players ... and they may be finally figuring everything out.
They did beat San Jose as well.
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Post by triasfan on Oct 1, 2006 6:04:13 GMT -5
Amber Kaufman is awesome. She reminds me a lot of Victoria Prince and her athleticism and quickness. Amber Kaufman has the potential to be better though. Sanders and Gregory are decent on the slide, but Kaufman just hits harder and faster. The slide is best fit for players like Kaufman. Fast, good foot speed and leaping ability. I really thing the upcoming years are going to be fun watching her become better. I wonder though if she'll move to the outside? Oh well ... here's to the WAC Freshman of the Year. LOL. BTW ... Houston, Hittle, Arnott, Keefe, Otineru (?) Gregory, Sanders, Kaufman, Thomas, Simmons, Blood Lee, Woolford, Duggins, Kitaguchi, Ong, that other libero recruit. Hawaii once again is gonna have a loud of players ... aya ... Victoria Prince is/was miles better than AK. Prince was such an awesome player(who I must add was robbed from first team AA); I don't think you can compare the two.... at least for the moment. Anyhow, I wonder what the difference was from last night and tonight. I mean SJSU wasn't that much better than FSU... right? Let's hope the Wahine can continue to improve. Good news is that NMSU lost tonight, which gives me more ease because they aren't as invincible as I thought they might be. (Okay, yeah I know invincible is not the word to use, but you know what I mean.) Well in defense of hwnstunner, he did say AK has the potential to be better than VP, not that she was already better. I do agree that VP was robbed of 1st team honors, both years. I know this statement is going to draw the ire of some of the posters on this board, but if Hawaii had gone to the final four both years, Prince would've made 1st team. She was the nation's best all-around middle in terms of hitting, blocking, and serving the past two years in my opinion. As for New Mexico State losing I'm not so sure that's a good thing. I mean yes it does show that they aren't invincible, but on the downside it hurts the WAC's power rating. I for one would've liked to see a match up between a ranked Hawaii squad and a ranked NMSU squad (as they are probably going to drop out of the rankings next week). |
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Post by roy on Oct 1, 2006 6:05:50 GMT -5
Anyhow, I wonder what the difference was from last night and tonight. I mean SJSU wasn't that much better than FSU... right? Let's hope the Wahine can continue to improve. Good news is that NMSU lost tonight, which gives me more ease because they aren't as invincible as I thought they might be. (Okay, yeah I know invincible is not the word to use, but you know what I mean.) Remember that San Jose took Santa Clara to 5 games, and all four of their preseason loses have been in 5 games (Santa Clara, UCSB, San Francisco, and Northridge). They are a few key wins away from being an NCAA tournament team. This is a team that is probably a lot better than Fresno State, however have not played a difficult schedule like Fresno State. Of course, no one in the WAC except for Hawaii can say they played more than one or two ranked teams. |
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Post by vbfan4life on Oct 1, 2006 6:09:25 GMT -5
i don't think that NMSU will drop out of top 25, but maybe become 25th...but then again...the coaches don't really hold much respect for the WAC for very understandable reasons...if only BYU, colorado state and utah didn't leave
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Post by triasfan on Oct 1, 2006 6:15:30 GMT -5
Could you imagine if those three were still in the WAC along with NMSU and Nevada, the WAC would've been one strong conference.
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Post by aaronic on Oct 1, 2006 6:28:05 GMT -5
Anyhow, I wonder what the difference was from last night and tonight. I mean SJSU wasn't that much better than FSU... right? Let's hope the Wahine can continue to improve. Good news is that NMSU lost tonight, which gives me more ease because they aren't as invincible as I thought they might be. (Okay, yeah I know invincible is not the word to use, but you know what I mean.) Remember that San Jose took Santa Clara to 5 games, and all four of their preseason loses have been in 5 games (Santa Clara, UCSB, San Francisco, and Northridge). They are a few key wins away from being an NCAA tournament team. This is a team that is probably a lot better than Fresno State, however have not played a difficult schedule like Fresno State. Of course, no one in the WAC except for Hawaii can say they played more than one or two ranked teams. Hawaii nearly frolicked through SJSU, i'm not so sure I would call that on the cusp on being an NCAA team. Hawaii is having a down year, and maybe if they took the Wahine to 5, i'd reconsider my opinion, but they didn't. Also the five gamer to SCU is quite impressive, but Northridge?- Probably won't even make NCAA's. UCSB's only quality win came against Wisconsin, but they were swept....SWEPT by UNLV! San Fransisco's quality win has only come from UCSB!!! They haven't been able to get any other quality type victory!!! I'm sorry but i'm not sure that justifies them from being an NCAA team. I'm not sold at all. They are a good WAC team this year though. |
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Post by aaronic on Oct 1, 2006 6:34:21 GMT -5
'Bows sweep San Jose on roadAdvertiser Staff The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team is headed home with another sweep of a road opponent. Jamie Houston had 20 kills and Sarah Mason added 16 kills and 11 digs for the No. 15 Rainbow Wahine in a 30-20, 30-25, 31-29 victory over San Jose State. Hawai'i improved to 9-4 overall and 3-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. San Jose State dropped to 9-7 and 0-3. Hawai'i hit .393 and outblocked the Spartans 12-5. "We hit for a really high percentage, but we had some lapses in serve-receive formations, and we kept letting them back in especially in the third game," Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji said. Houston, a sophomore outside hitter, had eight kills and one error in nine attempts for a .778 hitting percentage in the first game. "Houston has been our kill leader almost every game out and tonight she was on again," Shoji said. "She is starting to become a real steady offensive threat." Mason, a senior outside hitter, hit .484 with just one error in 31 attempts. "I think we need Mason to step up and take more of an offensive role," Shoji said. "If she does, we have two really good left-side hitters who can put the ball down." Senior All-America setter Kanoe Kamana'o had 51 assists for Hawai'i. "I thought she spread the offense really well, and got our middles involved," Shoji said. The taller Rainbow Wahine held San Jose State to a .192 hitting percentage with 18 hitting errors. "We were more physical at the net than San Jose," Shoji said. "We should have dominated the net; their middles are 5-10. We knew we had to do that to win the match." Hawai'i, which is 54-4 all-time against San Jose State, allowed 10 aces. "I think they served really tough and we weren't moving real well," Shoji said. "We adjusted our formations and passed well when we had to." On Friday, the Rainbow Wahine swept Fresno State for the second time in six days. It was Hawai'i's first road match of the season. The Rainbow Wahine return home for matches against Utah State on Oct. 6, Nevada on Oct. 8 and Boise State on Oct. 9. "We're headed into the toughest part of the season," Shoji said. "We have seven games in 11 nights. We need to conserve our energy, get our rest and take it one game at a time."  honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061001/SPORTS0203/610120350/1032/SPORTS
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Post by fabulous on Oct 1, 2006 8:38:47 GMT -5
Houston, Hittle, Arnott, Keefe, Otineru (?) Gregory, Sanders, Kaufman, Thomas, Simmons, Blood Lee, Woolford, Duggins, Kitaguchi, Ong, that other libero recruit. Hawaii once again is gonna have a loud of players ... aya ... |
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Post by Wolfgang on Oct 1, 2006 11:57:44 GMT -5
My memory has been failing me recently. The post where I said Amber got up so high to block that her toes got up above the tape, well that was the wrong play. The right play was a sight to behold: I think it was an off-system play, can't remember for sure. But Kari Gregory went up to hit in the middle, but Kanoe fed the ball to a streaking Amber who came around behind Kari toward the right antenna and pounded it down. That was her second (and final) kill of the night. That was the play where she got up so high that it made me wonder what kangaroos have for breakfast. A beautiful beautiful play, kinda like the sophisticated ones they run in international vb with hitters really selling the choreography. x play-like, but it wasn't an x-play. Best looking play of the night and they saved it for Amber. I swear even the San Jose State players got on their hands and knees and were bowing to her highness after that one.
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Post by bowman on Oct 1, 2006 12:34:10 GMT -5
vbfan4life/wolfgang,
really enjoyed the interesting (on site) dialog. any speculation on why amber plays only two (2) games? discouraging to hear that defensive substitutions did'nt improve the passing game...
what options does shoji have for improvement in this area?
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Post by Wolfgang on Oct 1, 2006 12:47:38 GMT -5
My observation about Kari Gregory. People kept saying how she's a better blocker than hitter, and vice versa for Juliana Sanders. Well, with Kari, could it just be that she and Kanoe can't connect well? When Kari got a good set, she pounded it down. Once, in the 2nd game I believe, she got a ball on a sllde and she drilled it down the line. You can't hit shots like that if you're "not" a good hitter. Most of the time, she just "pushed" or tapped it over the net but, from my observations, the balls were off. The blame goes both ways: Kanoe can't seem to get the right ball to Kari and Kari can't seem to adjust well to Kanoe's sets. But she's a terror on the block.
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Post by Wolfgang on Oct 1, 2006 12:52:42 GMT -5
Very weird: Dave Shoji doesn't seem to change much over the years, but I swear Craig Choate is "looking" his age. I feel bad that he's "stuck" with the San Jose State program. He seems to be a good coach but when you don't get the horses during recruiting, well, that's the end of the song. I personally think it's very diificult to sell San Jose State to recruits. And imagine what awaits San Jose State if they get invited to the NCAA tournament. With the regionalized first/second rounds, they are practically guaranteed to be in the same bracket as Santa Clara, Stanford, Sac State, and/or St. Mary's. Oy vei...
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Post by ACE on Oct 1, 2006 14:01:29 GMT -5
My observation about Kari Gregory. People kept saying how she's a better blocker than hitter, and vice versa for Juliana Sanders. Well, with Kari, could it just be that she and Kanoe can't connect well? When Kari got a good set, she pounded it down. Once, in the 2nd game I believe, she got a ball on a sllde and she drilled it down the line. You can't hit shots like that if you're "not" a good hitter. Most of the time, she just "pushed" or tapped it over the net but, from my observations, the balls were off. The blame goes both ways: Kanoe can't seem to get the right ball to Kari and Kari can't seem to adjust well to Kanoe's sets. But she's a terror on the block. Agreed. From matchs I've seen this year, she seems to be underset a lot by Kamana'o. I don't think there's much adjustments Gregory can do as the ball is simply set too low. |
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