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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2008 19:30:06 GMT -5
Not great. Very good, but not great. You're such a Minnesota homer, keystone. By the way, the hope -- back in 2005 and 2006 -- was that PSU would not have the setting to complement the rest of the talent. Glass just keeps getting better and better. I thought she was pretty damned good last year, but she's even better this year, based on what I saw last night. That just isn't fair. And that's also got to be the Lions' biggest concern -- her health. Right now, that's the only thing I think would bring them back to the pack. I believe Stanford has the best chance of competing with them, but not for all 6 rotations -- and I think that'll be the difference.
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Post by Keystonekid on Oct 12, 2008 19:39:41 GMT -5
I mentioned Glass as a legitimate POY candidate and got jumped for it. It was this time last year where she still looked like a great athlete trying to be a setter, and people who haven't seen her, still think that is the case. She has become a great setter, and is the best blocking setter I have ever seen in college volleyball.
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Post by JHAM on Oct 12, 2008 20:46:25 GMT -5
I watched the match on Tivo again this morning and Glass is so much better than last year. She made so many spectaculer digs when MN blocked that resulted in a PSU kill. I think someone already mentioned this but against any other team MN blocks would have resulted in a Gopher point. Also she is so quick to the ball and always seems to get herself under it where in contrast the MN setter was slower to get to the ball. PSU is in a different league, now the goal for MN is to try and finish 18-2 in conference play and I think they can do it.
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Post by Serendipity on Oct 12, 2008 21:56:36 GMT -5
I watched the match on Tivo again this morning and Glass is so much better than last year. She made so many spectaculer digs when MN blocked that resulted in a PSU kill. I think someone already mentioned this but against any other team MN blocks would have resulted in a Gopher point. Also she is so quick to the ball and always seems to get herself under it where in contrast the MN setter was slower to get to the ball. PSU is in a different league, now the goal for MN is to try and finish 18-2 in conference play and I think they can do it. I think Holehouse also deserves some of the credit for the PSU block coverage in the MN match that saved points. There was talk of it when she was out with the injury and how it was effecting the defense and I noticed in the match replay that she was there a lot too, picking those balls up. But I guess someone on this team needs to get overlooked! She's good but she doesn't have the gaudy dig numbers because PSU doesn't get into enough rallies for her to have 30 digs in a match Nor do they play long enough. An hour and eight minutes - with a long break between sets 2 & 3 - against the number 12 team in the country?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2008 22:13:31 GMT -5
No one to blame but themselves. I'm almost positive the Gophers were willing to play another 10-15 minutes.
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Post by MTC on Oct 12, 2008 22:31:44 GMT -5
I mentioned Glass as a legitimate POY candidate and got jumped for it. It was this time last year where she still looked like a great athlete trying to be a setter, and people who haven't seen her, still think that is the case. She has become a great setter, and is the best blocking setter I have ever seen in college volleyball. She has my vote for first team All-American. She not only sets and digs but is an offensive force too. She had the gophers scrambling all over the floor chasing the ball.
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Post by wiscvball on Oct 12, 2008 22:46:01 GMT -5
i think glass has to be considered as a POY candidate right now. maybe as one of the top 2 or 3. she's an amazing setter with tons of athleticism. the hitters on the team are great, but she gets them the ball in great locations and tons of tempo. from her first match as a freshman until now she has made massive strides. Similar to how Akinradewo was from her freshman to junior seasons.
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Post by OverAndUnder on Oct 12, 2008 23:57:20 GMT -5
I wish we could have seen them on a national TV network by now. I tried the feed from the Hawai'i tournament but there was too much latency to see anything. I've circled October 26th on my calendar so I can see their Wisconsin match on ESPN2. No doubt it will be a blowout, but it's always exciting to see a powerful team play. The Big Ten Network is a national network. To clarify, I intended "national network" to mean "a standard network that would be included nation-wide in basic cable/satellite lineups or basic sports packages". For many people it's not easy or even possible to subscribe to a regional network from a different area of the country. Some providers force you to put out a lot more per month to purchase a packaged bundle of channels even if you only really care about one of those.
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Post by VolleyTX on Oct 13, 2008 9:38:41 GMT -5
A few thoughts on the match:
First off.... I actually liked the female commentator! She was good. She talked about some fairly technical things... she didn't dumb down the analysis like most commentators do.
Penn State is good. I like their offense this year. I'm so glad Russ is keeping Fawcette in for all 6 rotations. I also love the fact that Glass is using the Pipe for "in system" plays... rather than just for outlet plays... deadly! Glass is turning into a great setter. I really hope she considers playing internationally after college.
Hodge.... I still think we are only seeing a fraction of her potential. I do like the fact that she has become a much better passer. With her size and athleticism, she should be attacking the ball like the Cuban's. I just don't think her approach is aggressive enough. She looks like she just floats into her attack.
Minn: Just about the only attack that was successful was the pipe attack. Which tells me that Penn State needs to work on their blocking technique. They are great blockers against front row attacks but they could not stop the back row attack.... and Minn wasn't running it all that fast.
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Post by JT on Oct 13, 2008 9:45:27 GMT -5
Halloween night may be very, very scary this year.
Anyone in Happy Valley want to go out for supper at, say, 8:07pm?
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Post by dorothymantooth on Oct 13, 2008 9:46:07 GMT -5
The pipe being succesful is more of an issue of back row than blocking. The reason it is succesful is it moves the ball away from the net, and the block. Obviously PSU's block is great, there isn't any difference in "blocking technique" for blocking backrow attack.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2008 10:20:39 GMT -5
Dieter is also pretty good. She was effective in the front row, too. Basically, she was the only offense Minnesota had.
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Post by VolleyTX on Oct 13, 2008 10:37:42 GMT -5
I disagree. Unless you are running the pipe REALLY fast, it should be even easier to block. Because the ball is being hit so far away from the net, the ball must travel very low across the net. If the blockers get in position and get their hands across the net, the ball should be blocked.
I also find back row attacks easier to dig. As a defender you have a little more time to read the ball as it travels through the air.
Maybe technique was a bad term. My point is that Penn State needs to figure out who is blocking the back row attack and get in position faster.... and wait. Timing the block from a back row attack is different. It seemed like Penn States blockers were not getting in position and they were not timing their block against the back row attack very well.
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Post by ugopher on Oct 13, 2008 11:30:36 GMT -5
One play that PSU ran which I really liked was to set Hodge at the 3 meter line on the left side. What made it nice was that the ball was set in front of the line and the left side made an approach which MN honored since the OH could have attacked as well and left Hodge wide open.
I'm sure it may be a standard play but the way it was executed was tremendous.
I was in the stands and I still have nightmares about how good PSU was that match. I can't imagine how I would feel if I actually had to face them on the court!
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Post by Serendipity on Oct 13, 2008 19:12:32 GMT -5
The match is on again right now on the Big Ten Network.
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