Stanford at USC

[saywho]

hwy101 said:

publius said:

Anyone out there care, or am I talking to myself?

I was following the score thru Volleytalk then managed to hook up to the internet while at practice! After which, I went to the OldPro and watched it live on TV.

Too funny...I almost went to the Old Pro too to watch it and then double guessed myself thinking they might not want to put volleyball on for me...I shoulda went!

[beachman]

Hey Mick, nice way to "break in" the new digs eh?? ;D

[pedro el leon]

nice job stanford! now, if washington wins out, and stanford beats ucla tomarrow, or at home later in the season. then washington can at least tie for the title.

it's a longshot, but one needs to be a dreamer right?

[cbrown1709]

I missed the first game and went back and watched now. Wow, Franci is really improving.

[pedro el leon]

is there anyplace on the net to view this?

[Chance]

floridaperson said:

I would like X-Mo better if the director knew when to cut back to live action from it. I don't need 15 seconds of a ball travelling 2 feet past the blockers while a point id being played.

Florida Person summed up my thought's on the "x-mo"

[brybry]

Yikes. Not the result I was hoping for. USC just really got rattled. Their passing shouldn't be this prone to breaking down. It might have been a bit of nerves from playing in the Galen Center in front of a crowd. Heh. We're not really used to that.
I thought Seilhammer was the best performer out of USC. She was having to carry a huge load and usually delivered accurate passes. The last point was an anomaly. She was having to dig some bombs by Stanford. Gysin was definitely the SC player to struggle the most. Not only was her hitting not there, but she didn't pass well. She was a top 5 recruit. She has that potential in her. She has great form and technique and is a natural mover. She just needs to regain her old form. Not everyone comes back the way Barboza has (altho Harmotto seems to have come back nicely as well). But give Gysin some more time.
Stanford did a really good job scouting USC. They knew all the holes. Credit to John Dunning. USC's outsides need to take a lesson from Stanford's outsides. They rarely made stupid hitting errors. If they didn't get the perfect set, they would just softly hit up into the block and be able to reset the point. That's smart play.
I think Haley may need to rethink the high ball offense for this squad. Back in 2002/2003, USC could send up those moon balls because they had Burdine and Ross to terminate as well as MBs that kept the opposing blockers honest. But if USC does not get much efficiency out of the middle, most decent opposing MBs can easiily double up USC's outsides.
Anyway, I'm disappointed that USC got swept but I had a suspicion it was a matter of time before this Cardinal team picked up their game. If Kehoe and Richards keep healthy, they'll be tough to beat in the Post season. Although I still don't understand why Nnamani is in there. There must be a better DS on their roster.

[Chris123]

Gysin is a great player, and she recently had a great match, so maybe it was just an off night for her. I watched her play in high school and think she's an all around athlete almost on a par with Barboza. It would be great to have her at Stanford on the RS!

Sometimes I think Dunning puts people in the game for what they bring to the team psychologically. I'm not saying thats why Nnamani gets to play, but I think it would be hard to bench the little sister of Big Nnamani, whom everyone loves. I think Nnamani is also a favorite of Dunning.

Anyone have an idea why Girard has gotten so much better? Is it her off-season work or is it that her injuries are better? Its almost miraculous. Hurray for us.

[cbrown1709]

I agree BB, Nnamani is a liability in the backrow and the front. He needs to try Evans back there. Nji overpassed 3 free balls. That just can't happen. I don't let my high school girls do that.

[hwy101]

chris123 said:

Gysin is a great player, and she recently had a great match, so maybe it was just an off night for her. I watched her play in high school and think she's an all around athlete almost on a par with Barboza. It would be great to have her at Stanford on the RS!

Sometimes I think Dunning puts people in the game for what they bring to the team psychologically. I'm not saying thats why Nnamani gets to play, but I think it would be hard to bench the little sister of Big Nnamani, whom everyone loves. I think Nnamani is also a favorite of Dunning.

Anyone have an idea why Girard has gotten so much better? Is it her off-season work or is it that her injuries are better? Its almost miraculous. Hurray for us.

I think Dunning had said in an interview that this season is the most healthy Girard has been since coming to Stanford. She also played a variety of positions last season which led to an inconsistent season hitting-wise.

[roofed!]

According to the stats, 5,000 in the crowd. Pretty impressive for the women vball team. The question remains whether the crowd will return as I'm sure that a majority of the crowd was on hand to experience the Galen Center.

Having watched the tape, Stanford backcourt was digging up almost everything. Barboza was great all-around.

[uscyaaa]

beachman said:

Hey Mick, nice way to "break in" the new digs eh?? ;D

hey Brian, way to bring the program back down to where no one cares about the Big Worst Conference

the Pyramid is ancient after tonight...

[bigfan]

roofed said:

According to the stats, 5,000 in the crowd. Pretty impressive for the women vball team. The question remains whether the crowd will return as I'm sure that a majority of the crowd was on hand to experience the Galen Center.

Soon enough will return to 500+ crowds.

[bigfan]

ruffda said:

This match was an example of what some extra effort by a TV crew will do for the game. An extra camera or two. Replays. X-Mo. Your non-VB fan might get drawn in.

The broadcast was one of the better ones, great camera work. Hooly McPeak is worse than Star Jones.

[pavbfan]

bigfan said:

roofed said:

According to the stats, 5,000 in the crowd. Pretty impressive for the women vball team. The question remains whether the crowd will return as I'm sure that a majority of the crowd was on hand to experience the Galen Center.

Soon enough will return to 500+ crowds.

It sure didn't look like a 5000 crowd to me from the broadcast. And it nowhere sounded like 5000 either. They probably sold or gave away 5000 tickets and only, my guess, 2500-3000 showed up. Maybe someone there has a better idea.