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Post by maroki13 on Sept 18, 2023 18:16:51 GMT -5
The long slog of non-conference play is over, and the Ducks return home 10-1! A pretty nice record considering they’ve been away for every match so far. The addition of Gabby and Kara are great, and the team is looking strong! Morgan Lewis is having a stellar season so far and the connection between Hannah and Gabby seems to have been ironed out after some glitches early in play. The thing that impressed me the most this past weekend stretch of matches (particularly against Pitt) was the Ducks’ defense and scrappiness. Kate has been a bright spot coming in and seems pretty steady in serve receive and defense. I’m excited about their season! How are you all feeling about the Ducks heading into conference play? I was very nervous about the non-con trip. I think it could have gone south quickly if we hadn't pulled that match out against Pitt, but we ended up with a nice record and some good wins that'll look good at the end of the season. We were oh-so-close to being perfect (14-16 in the fifth, failing to convert a free ball at 13-all against Minny, even though we were playing pretty poorly). On the whole, surviving 4 weeks on the road, from Hawaii to the East Coast, is pretty impressive. Not having it fall apart in the end is a testament to the experience and skill of this group. It sucks we didn't show our best that weekend @ Stanford, but we have a lot of season left to show it was an outlier. On the surprise column, Gabby Gonzales has to be #1. She's hitting excellently, but I also thought of her as only an OK passer at Ohio St. Ulmer said last week she was passing a 2.4 on the season, which is like Brooke level. She also makes a lot of really smart little plays that don't show up on the stat sheet. I also knew Morgan Lewis was good, but the consistency to hit over .400 over that large of a sample size (and some good competition) is really impressive. What's funny is both Lewis and Gonzales had HEATED position battles, so the competition from the freshmen is clearly driving them to be pretty damn good. Otherwise, Pukis is the amazing setter we knew she was, Murphy's been a rock, and Mimi has been unconscious in 9/11 matches we've played. Mimi isn't Brooke in the back row or anything, but her floor D has gotten a lot better and she's mostly holding her own passing for 3 rotations (mostly). A special core. The middles have been much more solid than last year - McGhee is fantastic and really upgrading the position. Bacon and Neal are both playing better than last year on the whole but I think they can give more. What really just needs to be ironed out is the DS spot. Thibault seemed to come on strong; Daley had a couple of off matches but I expect they'll continue to battle it out. I'm also glad to see Ulmer is willing to be flexible and make adjustments there. May also Ferreira come back into the serve sub rotation if she can start cracking her jumper. On the whole, we are well-positioned and just need to grind out the conference play. I'm hoping for a massive crowd in the Friday home opener - it might be the last Civil War in MKA for a while. I heard they showed a volleyball hype video at Autzen during this past weekend’s game and were encouraging people to buy tickets and show up. I’m not sure if they regularly do that or not, I’m not often at games at Autzen.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Sept 20, 2023 13:41:14 GMT -5
Upon request, here is an updated list of future Oregon VB recruits to the best of my knowledge. Ofoegbu is the only 2024 grad currently on the roster, so probably won't hear about any 2025 commitments beyond Mogridge for a while.
2024 Mia Tvrdy, MB, NE (Premier) Anaya Thrower, MB, CA (Absolute VB) Bridget Gould, OPP, OR (Webfoot)
2025 Izzy Mogridge, S, FL (OTVA)
But it gets complicated - Ducks have 7 scholarships graduating this December. Of the seven, I believe at least two are going to current Ducks after fall quarter and two more are going to 2024 recruits.
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Post by JJVb on Oct 2, 2023 15:55:54 GMT -5
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Post by maroki13 on Oct 16, 2023 20:14:39 GMT -5
Ducks fans - how are you feeling about the past weekend? How are you feeling about Cal and Stanford coming up? Do we think there’s any chance that Ulmer plays a freshman OH this season, or are we sticking with Mimi and Gabby all season?
Also, I wonder if Ulmer has ever tried having McClellan hit as a back row option when she’s DSing. She’s originally an OH, right? I saw her take a swing at a random ball last match and it made me wonder if they’d ever run her through the back row like Hanson from MN; doesn’t she hit sometimes as well as DS?
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Post by scoducks82 on Oct 18, 2023 11:34:39 GMT -5
Ducks fans - how are you feeling about the past weekend? How are you feeling about Cal and Stanford coming up? Do we think there’s any chance that Ulmer plays a freshman OH this season, or are we sticking with Mimi and Gabby all season? Also, I wonder if Ulmer has ever tried having McClellan hit as a back row option when she’s DSing. She’s originally an OH, right? I saw her take a swing at a random ball last match and it made me wonder if they’d ever run her through the back row like Hanson from MN; doesn’t she hit sometimes as well as DS? Not feeling great about being swept by ASU on Sunday. Serve receive is definitely an issue. R side and OH have not been hitting great, though blocking remains strong. Glad Ulmer is trying Noemi. We need more efficient offense for sure.
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Post by ducksbyamillion on Oct 18, 2023 11:45:01 GMT -5
Ducks fans - how are you feeling about the past weekend? How are you feeling about Cal and Stanford coming up? Do we think there’s any chance that Ulmer plays a freshman OH this season, or are we sticking with Mimi and Gabby all season? Also, I wonder if Ulmer has ever tried having McClellan hit as a back row option when she’s DSing. She’s originally an OH, right? I saw her take a swing at a random ball last match and it made me wonder if they’d ever run her through the back row like Hanson from MN; doesn’t she hit sometimes as well as DS? Not feeling great about being swept by ASU on Sunday. Serve receive is definitely an issue. R side and OH have not been hitting great, though blocking remains strong. Glad Ulmer is trying Noemi. We need more efficient offense for sure. I agree. Serve receive has been an issue and ASU definitely out blocked us last weekend. Can’t wait to see them play against Cal and Stanford this weekend.
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Post by ducksbyamillion on Oct 18, 2023 11:46:17 GMT -5
Do we think Ulmer will be agressive with the portal after this season?
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Post by c4ndlelight on Oct 18, 2023 12:10:23 GMT -5
Do we think Ulmer will be agressive with the portal after this season? Ducks will have 2-3 scholarships free for next year even w/o attrition. I suspect libero/DS will be at the top of the list, and we will need depth at setter (Cline is the only setter who will be on the roster next year).
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2023 16:51:28 GMT -5
Do we think Ulmer will be agressive with the portal after this season? I think Thibault looks solid as the future libero. Daley McClellan probably continues to DS. I think Acevedo makes an impact as the other strong side pin and Gregoire will likely DS/OH back up. Glover is a lock at RS and I wonder if Kelley could play RS as well since she is not a true 6 rotation OH but she's got great size and a big arm. Ofoegbu and Neal shore up the middle along with the incoming Freshman Mia Tvrdy who is pretty dynamic athletically. I think the biggest question is at setter. Do they bring in a more seasoned, accomplished, proven setter in the portal and have Cline as the back up? I think the answer is yes. Regarding this season the ASU sweep was concerning. It's sports and it could just be one of those anomaly bad games and they'll bounce right back. The concerning part however was the lack of fight/effort to win those scrambles where it was necessary to hit the floor for a dig. They just seemed uninspired and that needs to get fixed or this train could come off the tracks in a hurry. I can't figure out what's going on with Colyer. Same setter, same coaching staff but something seems off compared to last year. Maybe the other teams are just dialed in now on her tendencies or maybe not having Brooke there to clean things up defensively is throwing things off compared to last year. If they look uninspired again against Cal it could be a beat down on Sunday with Stanford. Hopefully they can peak before the tourney and find that grit that they had last year.
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Post by maroki13 on Oct 18, 2023 22:33:09 GMT -5
The loss to ASU was uninspired, for sure. I’m not sure what’s going on with the offense. We need to have better serve receive, so we can run our middle offense as well. This past weekend against ASU they just looked….confused, almost? Like they weren’t sure which player was supposed to get which balls, etc. And I think this part of the season, the high expectations of playing at home, etc. are where the Ducks miss Brooke the most. Her leadership and fiery energy haven’t been replaced. Gabby is a good player and very solid, but doesn’t (appear) to bring the same fire that Brooke brought. They obviously miss her passing and defense as well, but I’d argue that they might even miss her leadership and energy more.
I hope the Ducks bounce back and show up for a great weekend at home!
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Post by vbfamily on Oct 19, 2023 5:34:24 GMT -5
Last 4 losses to ASU: 2018-Swept by ASU at home, went on to sweep both USC and UCLA on the road the following weekend. 2019-(rough season) lost to ASU(5) and UA (4) on the road. Next match beat a good Cal team (4) on the road. Lost later in the season to ASU at home in 5, went on the road and lost to UCLA in 5 and beat USC in 5. 2020/sp ‘21 -Lost to ASU in 5, swept them 2 days later.
Ducks got this, let it just be a wake up call that they can’t start out slow. It sets the tone. Go Ducks!!
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Post by c4ndlelight on Oct 30, 2023 12:25:47 GMT -5
One thing to note: the Ducks are undefeated when Thibault is in at DS.
She had a spot serving sub entrance early, but she only came in mid-way through the Pitt match (which we ended up winning). She held that position through all the wins until mid-way through the Washington match at home, when Ulmer switched it back when she was having passing struggles. Then, in Set 2 in Pullman, Thibault came back in.
It wouldn't surprise me if she is passing at a lower clip than McClellan, and conventional wisdom is to use passing as the standard, but the delta isn't huge in passing (and the other option is still struggling/not getting us in system regularly), and there is a huge difference in defense. Hopefully, McClellan's back issues get resolved and she can get back to her great play from last year, but for the foreseeable future, I would like to see Thibault playing. The right back defense is a huge difference, not just in balls gotten up but also balls that we can transition out of. Murphy's digs also went up on Sunday because teams stopped the relentless over-targeting of Zone 1.
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Post by skyspy on Oct 30, 2023 14:44:12 GMT -5
Upon request, here is an updated list of future Oregon VB recruits to the best of my knowledge. Ofoegbu is the only 2024 grad currently on the roster, so probably won't hear about any 2025 commitments beyond Mogridge for a while. 2024Mia Tvrdy, MB, NE (Premier) Anaya Thrower, MB, CA (Absolute VB) Bridget Gould, OPP, OR (Webfoot) 2025Izzy Mogridge, S, FL (OTVA) But it gets complicated - Ducks have 7 scholarships graduating this December. Of the seven, I believe at least two are going to current Ducks after fall quarter and two more are going to 2024 recruits. Logan Bell from Indiana and Kenna Cogill from Arizona are 2025 commits and the first two to commit to the current recruiting class.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Oct 30, 2023 14:48:37 GMT -5
Logan Bell from Indiana and Kenna Cogill from Arizona are 2025 commits and the first two to commit to the current recruiting class. Thank you for supplementing! See below: 2024Mia Tvrdy, MB, NE (Premier) Anaya Thrower, MB, CA (Absolute VB) Bridget Gould, OPP, OR (Webfoot) 2025Logan Bell, OH, IN (Circle City) Kenna Coogill, MB, AZ (AZ Storm) Izzy Mogridge, S, FL (OTVA)
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Post by JJVb on Oct 30, 2023 19:07:10 GMT -5
Logan Bell from Indiana and Kenna Cogill from Arizona are 2025 commits and the first two to commit to the current recruiting class. Thank you for supplementing! See below: 2024Mia Tvrdy, MB, NE (Premier) Anaya Thrower, MB, CA (Absolute VB) Bridget Gould, OPP, OR (Webfoot) 2025Logan Bell, OH, IN (Circle City) Kenna Coogill, MB, AZ (AZ Storm) Izzy Mogridge, S, FL (OTVA) Looks like we are loading up on MBs. We will only lose one after next year, so we will have 4 on roster for 2024, and 3-4 for 2025 it looks like. I'm thinking DS/liberos would be nice to target for us, as we can see how that has affected us lately at times.
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