USC @ UH(Part 1)- In Game

[IdahoBoy]

bunnywailer said:

idahoboy said:

I'm going to add one more thought I had during the game, this one is regarding the polls.


At what point does a voter have to stop voting on potential and start voting on results?

Clearly, the AVCA hasn't quite got there yet, or is eastern volleyball really in that bad of state? I find that very hard to believe. I'm not sure that either USC or Hawaii played like a top ranked team.

On the other hand, with only 22-teams to choose from... yeah, I suppose there could "only" be 8-or so teams that are worse.

UH was ranked #12 and USC #14 in the last poll. I would say that the coaches are voting on results.

Right, cuz those 6-total-wins and 17 total losses between these two teams really speaks volumes, doesn't it?

[IdahoBoy]

uhathletics.hawaii.edu/recap.html?rid=14852&p=11



Warriors Drop Heartbreaker In Five To USC


Recap Date: 02/14/07

HONOLULU - The 12th-ranked University of Hawai`i men's volleyball team lost in five sets tonight 27-30, 30-20, 24-30, 30-23, 15-13 to No. 14 USC.

With the loss, UH falls to 2-9 on the season and 2-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while USC improves to 4-8 and 3-6 in the MPSF. The Warriors dropped their seventh straight, while USC stopped a three-match skid and ended the losing streak to UH at 12.
The Valentine's match did not disappoint the 2,982 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center who stayed until the end.

UH fell behind in Game 1 9-6, but reeled off seven-straight points to lead, 13-9. The Warriors increased their margin to five on two occasions to 17-12 and 23-18 before the Trojans mounted a comeback tying the score at 25 and eventually winning, 30-27.

Game 2 started like the first one with UH trailing 9-6, but the Warriors fought back to tie it at 10 and took an 18-15 lead before outscoring USC 12-5 to win it 30-20.

Hawai`i jumped out to a 7-2 lead in Game 3 before USC scratched its way back to an eight all tie. The Trojans then went on a 10-5 run to take control of the set and go on to win, 30-24.

The fourth set was tied at 22 until the Warriors went on an 8-1 run to tie the match at two sets apiece.

In Game 5, USC streaked to leads of 4-0 and 6-3 before UH rattled off six unanswered points to hold a 9-6 advantage. USC battled back and tied the match at 11. The two teams played side out until 13 when USC got a Juan Figueroa kill and a UH error to close it out, 15-13.

The Warriors outhit (.245 to .235) and outblocked (20 to 10.5) the Trojans, but came up short on the scoreboard.

UH was led by Jim Clar's 15 kills while Jacob Schkud had 14 and Matt Vanzant added 13. Brian Beckwith, who set the Warriors the first three sets, dished out 32 assists. Sean Carney came off the bench to hand out 22 assists in the final two sets. Eric Kalima and Schkud each posted eight digs, while Dio Dante sported a match-high 10 blocks.

USC was led by Figueroa's career-high 35 kills. Andrew Vernon posted 11 kills whilte C.J. Schellenberg added 10. JImmy Killian led the way with 68 assists, while Luke Morris had a match-high 13 digs.

The two teams finish up the two-match series on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

[bunnywailer]

idahoboy said:

bunnywailer said:

UH was ranked #12 and USC #14 in the last poll. I would say that the coaches are voting on results.

Right, cuz those 6-total-wins and 17 total losses between these two teams really speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Dude, #12 and #14 in the men's NCAA volleyball poll extrapolates to like #84 and #112 in the men's NCAA football poll.

You seem to think that being at those rankings is a good thing, it isn't.

And yes, either UH or USC could easily beat the teams not listed on the poll - like Princeton or NJIT or Concordia or Rutgers-Newark or Lewis or Mercyhurst.

[jr67]

bunnywailer said:

Is Grgas on Witon's craplist? Are they gonna redshirt him? Has he even sniffed the court since pre-season?

It seems like it. Yet again Wilton throws Grgas in for 4 or 5 points than pulls him out. Yes he made a bunch of mistakes but If you're not going to give him a real chance to work his way into the game why put him in in the first place. And having Clar sitting on the bench right next to the coaches just waiting to get back in doesn't help. It's like their expecting Grgas to fail.

I wouldn't be surprised if Gragas ends up transferring which would be a shame because he has loads more potential than any other outside hitter Hawaii currently has. He (and Rawson) has the potential to be a dominating player.

[aaronic]

jr67 said:

bunnywailer said:

Is Grgas on Witon's craplist? Are they gonna redshirt him? Has he even sniffed the court since pre-season?

It seems like it. Yet again Wilton throws Grgas in for 4 or 5 points than pulls him out. Yes he made a bunch of mistakes but If you're not going to give him a real chance to work his way into the game why put him in in the first place. And having Clar sitting on the bench right next to the coaches just waiting to get back in doesn't help. It's like their expecting Grgas to fail.

I wouldn't be surprised if Grgas ends up transferring which would be a shame because he has loads more potential than any other outside hitter Hawaii currently has. He (and Rawson) has the potential to be a dominating player.

I agree, I think Wilton has failed big time this year. I bet Frazier feels like a real douche by signing a 3-year contract with him just last month. Everyone known that this guy has a live a arm, and has loads of potential, but Wilton just has his favorites. I seriously doubt he goes by that Cauldron System that he keeps talking about.

[CityTechLegend]

Seriously...

I'm surprised that this team is actually getting worse. Every week it seems that they, I mean the players, just don't want to play anymore. Many have postured on VT that Wilton is weakening his own team through morale. Is this rerally the case???

HAs their passing dropped that badly?? Are their hitters sooo weak on the OH that they can't even garner a simple "Use" block sideout?

As I tell my players everytime, "it's rally score, the ball doesn't have to bounce for it to be a kill. Break a knuckle, pop a finger do what you need to up there to get the point or sideout."

Anyone have anything to say about why they are struggling this year so much???

[palo]

bunnywailer said:

idahoboy said:

Right, cuz those 6-total-wins and 17 total losses between these two teams really speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Dude, #12 and #14 in the men's NCAA volleyball poll extrapolates to like #84 and #112 in the men's NCAA football poll.

You seem to think that being at those rankings is a good thing, it isn't.

And yes, either UH or USC could easily beat the teams not listed on the poll - like Princeton or NJIT or Concordia or Rutgers-Newark or Lewis or Mercyhurst.

Maybe not Lewis...at least not easily. They are slowly developing back into a good program. They are much improved over last year even. Dayton helps them a lot.

[bigfan]

Did not see this coming....congrtats to USC!

[Mac]

Hakala is the diffference maker. They aren't that deep. You lose your #1 weapon and that's all she wrote. When he's at full health they win some of these.

[Deleted]

bunnywailer said:

It's called lack of talent, skill, and experience. You can't field a strong team around 2 out of 6 players. And now one of them is hurt, so you got 1 out of 6.

Some guys have talent but no experience.
Some guys have athletic ability but no skill.
Some guys I have no idea why they are even allowed on the court.

Since UH isn't going to be recruting any more foreigners of the talent level of a Yuval Katz or Costas Theocharidis or Andre Bruer or Dejan Notgonnatrytospellhislastname after the whole incident with the 2002 title, they better get into the mix of recruting the best US talent.

Tino Reyes is active in the USA pipeline doing summer coaching stints with the Boy's Youth National Team or HP or whatever it was I just got an email from USA Volleyball on. He better start doing the sales pitch and getting some of those kids to come to UH, otherwise UH will not only have a bad season this year, but for alot of years to come.

Is the talent level all that different from last year, even with the graduating seniors, the dropoff should not have been so pronounced after only one season. For some reason they are underachieving this year after overachieving next year.

Like I said earlier, they tried to recruit the foreign players this year, but they were never able to actually see them in person so unfortunately they were not as good as expected. If BYU can get the talented foreign players, I don't see why UH can't. It's just a bigger risk recruiting foreign players because you don't always know what you're getting.

Reyes is connected with USA volleyball, but I don't think that's going to matter if it seems that Wilton may scare away a lot of the top recruits. Since Wilton's contract was just renewed don't expect any changes next year although I think he may just retire when the contract expires in 2009. The program needs a change, there is just a lot of general apathy with the poor attendance figures lately. UH should be able to attract a talented coach with Wilton making something like 120K a year now, that would be a substantial raise for most other MPSF coaches.

[roy]

I have to disagree with others that are talking about the chemistry. Right now it’s just a lack of morale. Losing isn’t fun and these players are just not feeling very confident right now. As I said earlier, the potential is there. The passing is better, the service errors are being kept down (or at least lower), the hitting is better. But they don’t have a terminator on the team. Each player looks like he is afraid to make a mistake.

I also have to disagree with other posters regarding Grgas. I like his game, but I like Clar in there more. You can’t have both Clar and Grgas in the match at the same time as neither are strong passers. At this point, Hawaii can’t sacrifice their passing for offense.

I have not been a fan of Wilton for a while. He has had a lot of negative responses from the players. Many former players have mentioned that they wanted to transfer under his coaching. We knew there were going to be some struggles in the beginning with passing. But based on last night’s match, passing wasn’t the issue. It was an issue of confidence and the lack of a terminator.

[vball808]

The reason why grgas isnt playing is because he makes too many errors... he keeps getting opportunites to get his spot back, but he doesnt capitalize on them, watch the game!.. So basically its his own fault for not playing, enough said about him.. He's going to be good, but he just needs work.
Lauri Hakala is definitely a huge determining factor in a W or L, they need him back dearly.
What happened to this team? Why didnt wilton STICK with the lineup against Long beach state, they DOMINATED them 3/4.. and the other 4th game went the distance b/c hawaii played their B game and LB ST. played there A++ Game. I went to all those games and it was GREAT volleyball.
FIGURE IT OUT WILTON!!! I'm waiting for Beckwith to come out and blast the coaches or something soon. This could get ugly....

[IdahoBoy]

Re-reading this thread... Hawaii fans here aren't giving the team a lot to want to be inspired for, either! Myself included.


Candidates for being the terminator?

Schkud comes to mind right off. He's shown in the past he can keep things light (who can forget his Scates impersonation?)

Dante comes to mind as well. He's shown moments of brilliance over the years but I've yet to see him focus for a complete match.... what a sight that would be! He's got the stature and the talent to dominate the net, but lapses out of it occasionally, as exampled yesterday by a back-row effort, one arm out falling away from the ball dig "attempt."

Hakala probably isn't going to be back 100%... I hope he can be, but that's a tough volleyball injury.

Beckwith is doing all he can do out there... with possible exception of demanding more from his hitters. I was a little concerned yesterday with the chemistry of the team when after Beckwith made a fun/rare setter kill, he was the only one that was really into it. A few "yays" etc, but not a lot of "YEAH! THE SETTER GOT THE KILL! WE OWN THESE GUYS! WELCOME TO THE GUN SHOW!!" kind of celebration I was expecting to see.

[jr67]

vball808 said:

The reason why grgas isnt playing is because he makes too many errors... he keeps getting opportunites to get his spot back, but he doesnt capitalize on them, watch the game!.. So basically its his own fault for not playing, enough said about him.. He's going to be good, but he just needs work.

It’s not that I think Wilton is wrong to play Clar instead of Grgas. If Grgas is not yet ready to play that’s fine but stop yanking his chain. To me this is just another example of how Wilton doesn't know how to motivate and develop players except through mind games and intimidation.

[vball808]

I agree with both the threads above. There HAS TO BE more excitement out there! For sure if brian gets a kill like that there has to be a lot of celebration.
As far as the Grgas comment, i Fully agree with that. Wilton has some of the DUMBEST coaching philosophies or what ever u want to call them. Mind Games? He's just an idiot, u undercut your players when do that. Its all about instilling confidence in your players. Once you do that, they will want to play for you. I feel like the whole coaching staff needs to be fired across the board. Start over clean. But thats just me.. or is it?
Clar is better than Grgas for sure, but Grgas always needs to be ready cus he is a good player. He just needs to cut down on his Mistakes.