Post by Psychopotamus on Dec 4, 2011 17:58:47 GMT -5
Regional winner is expected to be the winner of Hawaii versus USC, no question. To me it's a tossup at this point.
Passing and backrow play is always important. USC definitely receives serve better, but Hawaii's servers will negate this. Though Hawaii has been bad on serve receive their backrow defense aside from serve receive (ie transition game) has been spectacular as of late, so I would give them the advantage there. I'd actually say this is kind of a wash. I wanted to talk about this first though, because if Hawaii regresses into their early season passing woes it's going to be a short match.
Passing being equal I think the pin hitters will be key, particularly the play of the L2 for both teams. I really hope Shoji is proactive at trying to stop USC's OHs, and goes with a bigger lineup. Especially with the offense USC runs, Hawaii should be able to get a double block on USC's LS most of the time.
While siding out will be key, I think it would be better to be proactive in trying to negate the USC LS attack by having Hartong play RS for this match. I know, Satele is Hawaii's best attacking pin hitter, but she does not block well and I am sure USC will exploit that. Adolfo in the middle normally worries me only because she has had some trouble sealing the block. That said, USC doesn't run as fast an offense, so I think subbing her for Hartong won't be much of a drop off. She will have time to get out there.
Something else I thought was a possibility was that if Shoji kept out Hartong at the start of the match and started Adolpo and Satele. They may give up a few points early, but they could evaluate the effectiveness of both players matching up, and sub in Hartong where she fits the best. I know, this will never happen, but I was just tossing it out there because it didn't seem like a bad idea.
So where does that leave us? My prediction: if the teams are playing well, Hawaii wins. If they are playing poorly then USC. I say Hawaii in 4. They're my pick to win the regional.
Passing and backrow play is always important. USC definitely receives serve better, but Hawaii's servers will negate this. Though Hawaii has been bad on serve receive their backrow defense aside from serve receive (ie transition game) has been spectacular as of late, so I would give them the advantage there. I'd actually say this is kind of a wash. I wanted to talk about this first though, because if Hawaii regresses into their early season passing woes it's going to be a short match.
Passing being equal I think the pin hitters will be key, particularly the play of the L2 for both teams. I really hope Shoji is proactive at trying to stop USC's OHs, and goes with a bigger lineup. Especially with the offense USC runs, Hawaii should be able to get a double block on USC's LS most of the time.
While siding out will be key, I think it would be better to be proactive in trying to negate the USC LS attack by having Hartong play RS for this match. I know, Satele is Hawaii's best attacking pin hitter, but she does not block well and I am sure USC will exploit that. Adolfo in the middle normally worries me only because she has had some trouble sealing the block. That said, USC doesn't run as fast an offense, so I think subbing her for Hartong won't be much of a drop off. She will have time to get out there.
Something else I thought was a possibility was that if Shoji kept out Hartong at the start of the match and started Adolpo and Satele. They may give up a few points early, but they could evaluate the effectiveness of both players matching up, and sub in Hartong where she fits the best. I know, this will never happen, but I was just tossing it out there because it didn't seem like a bad idea.
So where does that leave us? My prediction: if the teams are playing well, Hawaii wins. If they are playing poorly then USC. I say Hawaii in 4. They're my pick to win the regional.