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Post by volleyfiend on Oct 7, 2008 13:52:12 GMT -5
I have been on the stand to call one of Minnesota's matches and they will give Penn State a heck of a match!! Mike Hebert is hilarious but intensely focused.
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Post by Keystonekid on Oct 7, 2008 14:18:33 GMT -5
I see no drop-off whatsoever from Holehouse and D'errico. D'errico looked very good playing libero. I think most would tell you, they are near identical players.
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Post by JT on Oct 7, 2008 16:31:10 GMT -5
I feel sorry for the parents of the visiting teams that make the trek to watch their kids on the PSU/IU road trip this year, especially with the sets being shortened to 25. They'll drive all day to happy valley, park the car, watch about 75 minutes of action, with unhappy results, then drive 8 hours at some point to Bloomington. Nah... fly from Minneaplis to Detroit Friday morning, catch the afternoon flight to Happy Valley, watch a stunning upset by the Gophers. Then, on Saturday, catch a really early flight back to Detroit, transfer from there to a flight to Indianapolis, and rent a car for the final drive down to Bloomington. Watch the Gophers take out Indiana before driving back to Indianapolis, sleeping there, and fly out Sunday morning to return to Minneapolis. "Easy."
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Post by Gelatinous Mass on Oct 7, 2008 16:46:22 GMT -5
This is probably the only real chance for someone to beat PSU this season, at least in regular season. And that chance is very, very slim.
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Post by BoilerUp! on Oct 7, 2008 17:19:22 GMT -5
I am amazed by the parents and fans that follow their teams all over the Big Ten. I'm ready to retire, so I can do that. Darn house payments.
Do you go to every away game, JT ?
Does everyone know you by your gopher hat???
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Post by spikerthemovie on Oct 7, 2008 18:09:12 GMT -5
That's a yellow card for keystone. Unsportsmanlike sarcasm. And a red card for spelling?
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Post by knowname on Oct 7, 2008 19:24:25 GMT -5
As a defensive specialist I think D'Errico is the equal of Holehouse, maybe better. However, I think they miss Holehouse's serving. Although as a team the serve this year is not on a par with last year. Even Roberta is putting first serves into the net. Kelsy Ream has been able to string points together. She has a Kate Price type of serve. Not a lot of power behind it, but effective.
At Minnesota and Wisconsin are always trap games, I still remember the PSU/UW match on Halloween night. There may be others so I am not trying to take any team for granted. PSU/ Iowa should be interesting.
Wisconsin last year drew in excess of 10K for PSU, if I recall correctly.
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Post by nuclearbdgr on Oct 7, 2008 21:49:46 GMT -5
Yes - Wisconsin had to turn fans away from the PSU match last year because of the Fieldhouse max capacity was lowered due to fire codes.
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Post by rudepa on Oct 7, 2008 22:30:20 GMT -5
Ok, lets refocus the thread or start a new one IU/PSU.
As much as I love the gophers, PSU has almost no weaknesses. The gophers have several including anytime Kelly Schmidt is on the court. Gibby can compete with one of the PSU middles, but Schmidt is not going to be able to handle the other. Dieter will have to figure out the line shot and Kyla will have to be at her best. Hartmann, thank god for the looser setting rules....... Our defense is the key to the game.
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Post by mango on Oct 7, 2008 22:38:53 GMT -5
I see no drop-off whatsoever from Holehouse and D'errico. D'errico looked very good playing libero. I think most would tell you, they are near identical players. USA TODAY had an article in the sports section talking about post championship hangovers that often prevent teams from repeating.
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Post by JT on Oct 8, 2008 1:42:23 GMT -5
Do you go to every away game, JT ? Does everyone know you by your gopher hat??? Nah... just most of them (that answers both questions). ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) I'm going to miss Ohio State and Michigan this year, because we'll be going up to north to see family that weekend. I don't expect to make the Michigan State match either, because that's just one away match, and it'd be air travel over Thanksgiving weekend. Blech. That's about par, or maybe a bit worse than par for the course. I made all the pre-conference tournaments this year, so my average road-attendance is still pretty decent. And yes, since I wear the ears, I probably get noticed/recognized more. In fact, last year, when I was at the airport, one of the TSA folk recognized me, and said that he'd seen me come through fairly regularly recently. (Yup... about every other week during the fall, and the ears do get attention.)
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Post by ay2013 on Oct 8, 2008 2:32:53 GMT -5
PSU in 3..... sorry Gophers, they are just in a different league right now....and Minnesota hasn't shown much that says that they can take on the biggest front court in the country. If PSU can pass even slightly above good, they will sweep the gophers...their offense is just too quick for Minnesota, who from what I've seen on video is a bit better defensively against slower offensives. Glass taking a bad pass and quickly throwing it out to Hodge is the most deadly out of transition play in the country, and Minnesota can't handle that fast paced offense.
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Post by vballfan808 on Oct 8, 2008 4:07:49 GMT -5
i have to agree that it's an uphill battle for Minnesota. but i think that they can do it. they will really have to rely on their defense and be able to create points in transition. they also have to serve Penn State tough to try, (keyword is "try") to slow down Penn State's ridiculous offense. i hope they can at least challenge Penn State though.
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Post by Barefoot In Kailua on Oct 8, 2008 4:33:23 GMT -5
Depends on which Minnesota team shows up. This could be a good match if the Gophers play to their potential.
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Post by samba on Oct 8, 2008 9:25:27 GMT -5
My concern is the Gopher's RS - short in both height and jump. The defensive will have to be incredible to make-up for the lack of block of Penn State's killer OHs. I don't believe Katie will be any better - I still think Schmidt should move to RS as she is decent in blocking straightup and has the best chance in limiting those kliier OHs. Pam is good offensivly on the RS but I believe she will not be a factor due to the bigger block from Penn State. So, moving Schmidt to the RS would improve the defense, and the offense would not be impacted as it would have been limited anyways.
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