USA vs Russia - tv show time

[rayb_14]

in '96 Regla Torres yelled at Marlenis Costa (could've been Offarril) during the gold medal match for not setting her the ball on game point. Then next game, Izquierdo rode Regla Torres all the way. Sometimes you have to get in someone's face to get what you want. If the US middles want the ball bad enough, they should let AhMow know... now.

[Gorf]

SonofBarcelonaBob said:

Like I was saying earlier, there are just to many board lemmings.

Team USA under Yoshida's leadership has had an unprecedented run of success in the last 4 years. They have proven themselves in major international tournaments that have been much more grueling than the Olympics. The World Championships and the World Cup are both better overall tournaments than the Olympics because the field is tougher, and the tournament longer.

One bad showing and all of a sudden every lemming on this board is second-guessing everything about the team. Give me a break.

As for athletes like Weaver, Willoughby, and Porter - they wouldn't have made one iota of difference in this tournament.

I don't question Toshi's ability to coach the team or select the players he believes can do the best job for the team.

I think he's done a very good job with the team over the past 4+ years.

I do question, however, some of his substitution (or lack thereof) strategies thus far in the Olympics with some of his chosen starters obviously struggling to play well.

[Gorf]

Go said:

LOL. I love ya, Sistah! And I fully support this thread. Feeling bad for Toshi? What? He can't see the problems with this team in this tournament? The setting sucks, so pull her. Your 6'7" LoveChild has one shot and isn't scoring consistently, so why not take her out? Your veteran OH isn't what she's supposed to be, so put Ogonna in for her and watch her pop a couple of balls and then put the veteran back in... yeah... that makes sense. Good coaching? I think not.

Ogonna did get into the match against Russia a couple of times. The last time she got in she went 1 for 4 at 25% which was worse than whomever she replaced.

I'd really like to see Lindsey get a chance to set, however, there hasn't been much to say whether Robyn's setting decisions (lots of Logan and Tayyiba and mixed amounts of others) are coming from herself, Toshi, or from the relatively and inconsistant passing she's getting.

Though it would certainly have been nice to see Nancy get a chance to show what she could do against Russia before Russia was at match point.

The thing that stands out to me about as much as anything in the match against Russia was that no one besides Stacy had more than 2 digs for the entire match and the bits I saw of game 5 showed what appeared to be confused (or half hearted) attempts to make digs.

Were the blocks not being closed and the defenders couldn't adjust in time, were the defenders not playing well, or is that level of defense simply what is to be expected at the international level?

Is Stacy simply that much better on defense than everyone else on the team that she can get close to 20 digs and no one else can manage more than 2 digs?

[Go Iowa]

{ said:

>-(Gorf)-<[} link=board=general&thread=1093016674&start=152#10 date=1093097781]

Ogonna did get into the match against Russia a couple of times. The last time she got in she went 1 for 4 at 25% which was worse than whomever she replaced.

I'd really like to see Lindsey get a chance to set, however, there hasn't been much to say whether Robyn's setting decisions (lots of Logan and Tayyiba and mixed amounts of others) are coming from herself, Toshi, or from the relatively and inconsistant passing she's getting.

Though it would certainly have been nice to see Nancy get a chance to show what she could do against Russia before Russia was at match point.

The thing that stands out to me about as much as anything in the match against Russia was that no one besides Stacy had more than 2 digs for the entire match and the bits I saw of game 5 showed what appeared to be confused (or half hearted) attempts to make digs.

Were the blocks not being closed and the defenders couldn't adjust in time, were the defenders not playing well, or is that level of defense simply what is to be expected at the international level?

Is Stacy simply that much better on defense than everyone else on the team that she can get close to 20 digs and no one else can manage more than 2 digs?

I've watched and re-watched the 5th game. There's no question that Stacy is above and beyond everyone else on defense, but not that far. Haneef was never setting the block in the proper position, so Scott/Bown were traveling so far and Gamova would just hit around them. To be fair, though, Gamova was hitting over the block many times as well.

[BeiBei]

I posted earlier on this board that Both Russia and Cuba will be in trouble when they faced USA, I honestly thought that USA will whipped Russia in straight sets, now I ate my words. I really cannot believe that USA cannot capitalize on this opportunity while strong teams like China and Russia are missing their top players.
I wondered if there will be a mass exodus of players if they lose to Cuba like what happened in 96
This statement will offend some people but I lost all my respect for Tara Cross Battle, she has no business to be in this olympics

[vbtown]

Toshi should be thrown out. His philosophies are poop. Logan Tom needs to spend about a week locked inside a Greek restaurant.

[sistahsledge]

Can't help but wonder if there's some off-court issue that's messing up the team chemistry. This year's underperformance is eerily reminiscent of the situation in Atlanta '96.

That team went into the Olympics with big expectations. They had a good mix of veterans and young talent and had been playing well in the tournaments leading up. But you could tell they weren't playing as sharp as they could in the prelims then got bounced by a Cuban team in the quarterfinals. That Cuban team eventually won gold but at the time that they played USA, they weren't at the top of there game either and USA missed out on a big chance to advance.

I remember watching that match and wondering why wouldn't replace Liley, who wasn't being all that effective, with Weishoff, an all-world player who is probably the greatest OPP USA has ever had. Weishoff was near the end of her career but she still had the goods and the history of big against the Cubans. Turns out Liley had been sleeping with an assistant coach (who was no longer with the team). Nobody knows if that had anything to do with the subbing decisions but a Sports Illustrated article mentioned that it did affect the team cohesion.

Also in that match, I remember Kemner, who was a backup, going into the match with a lot of fire and giving the team a lift but the coach didn't keep her in long for some reason. And she had tons of motivation for crushing the Cubans. The cameras caught her seething on the sideline while the starters were letting the match slip away.

I wonder if Metcalf, Nnamani, or Berg have the competitive fire to be pissed that they aren't in the matches to turn things around or if they're just content to sit back and say "Oh well...whatever Toshi wants".

[Go Iowa]

I'd say Ogonna might be content to sit back, but not Metcalf or Berg. And Ogonna would be a different story if she'd been with the team just a bit longer. Metcalf is the type of player that never wants to be out of the match, and Berg is just flat out TOUGH. A fiery competitor, which is why I want to see her on the court. There were many times I saw in her career at the U of Minn where she'd get in the faces of her teammates and officials (always with just cause).

[FemalesAreWimps]

The lady USA indoor team is more proof that women suck at sports. Why are they even showing these embarrasments on TV? aLL THEY DO IS MAKE OUR COUNTRY LOOK BAD. aT LEAST THE MEN GIVE THE AUDIENCE QUALITY PLAYING AND QUALITY EFFORTS even during losses. tHE GIRLS CAN'T EVEN PASS .

[IdahoBoy]

FemalesAreWimps said:

The lady USA indoor team is more proof that women suck at sports. Why are they even showing these embarrasments on TV? aLL THEY DO IS MAKE OUR COUNTRY LOOK BAD. aT LEAST THE MEN GIVE THE AUDIENCE QUALITY PLAYING AND QUALITY EFFORTS even during losses. tHE GIRLS CAN'T EVEN PASS .

You mean like, oh... say, the mens' basketball team?

[Barefoot In Kailua]

FemalesAreWimps said:

The lady USA indoor team is more proof that women suck at sports. Why are they even showing these embarrasments on TV? aLL THEY DO IS MAKE OUR COUNTRY LOOK BAD. aT LEAST THE MEN GIVE THE AUDIENCE QUALITY PLAYING AND QUALITY EFFORTS even during losses. tHE GIRLS CAN'T EVEN PASS .

Sucking in sports is not reseverved for any one gender. Both men and Women are equally capable of sucking depending on circumstance. The sooner you realize this, the better off your feminine butt will be.

[Gorf]

FemalesAreWimps said:

The lady USA indoor team is more proof that women suck at sports. Why are they even showing these embarrasments on TV? aLL THEY DO IS MAKE OUR COUNTRY LOOK BAD. aT LEAST THE MEN GIVE THE AUDIENCE QUALITY PLAYING AND QUALITY EFFORTS even during losses. tHE GIRLS CAN'T EVEN PASS .

Way to continue being a troll.


I take it you haven't watched the US Men's volleybal team, or the men's basketball team?

The US Men's baseball and soccer teams didn't even manage to play well enough to make it to the Olympics.

[MarsH]

we were able to receive coverage of the whole match, but i was able to watch only the latter part of the first set until the end.

after a tom kill, it was 20-24 for USA. oganna came in as part of the double sub. berg and nnamani for haneef and ahmow. but instead of playing opposite, oganna stayed on the left and logan moved to right side (just like in the grand prix). this was the pattern everytime nnamani came in. after a long rally, tom who was still on the right blocked gamova for the first game win. the team had a lot of energy at the end of that first game. players were all smiles.

in the second game, USA was plagued with errors. bown got blocked, keba made a hitting error. shashkova for russia was hammering.
when USA was finally able to side-out, ahmow's service went into the net. after another kill by shashkova, toshi subbed bachman in for bown. wiz got an immediate solo block after a rally. but by then, russia was ahead 16-9. during this time, robyn kept on going to haneef. i guess the rallies were long so often, robyn threw the sets out to her. but i counted atleast 4 times when i thought she could have set scott or bown instead. the passing wasn't a problem at all. a few more points and USA used the double sub. nnamani got a nice kill right away, getting a touch on the block. russia's lead was too much though. USA was able to save one set point with tom getting a kill. but plotnikova closed the game for russia in the next rally.

in the third game, robyn started setting the middle more. bown was hitting hard, but her shots weren't going down. danielle was being dug. logan was facing a triple block everytime. and shashkova was lethal with her shots. it wasn't til the middle of the game that USA started to push. against a triple block, tom started placing the ball crosscourt to open spaces... USA started digging shashkova. and even if a couple of digs went back over to russia's court, they were bombs that tom and phipps dug up. 2 more kills with finesse shots by tom and when she started serving, scott cleaned up an overpass. by the 2nd technical timeout, USA was up 16-13. afterwards, stacy got 2 amazing consecutive digs, and haneef was able to kill the ball from the backrow for another point. russia kept going back to shashkova. but this time, the triple block by phipps, bown and haneef was stopping her. they block her twice. an ace by phipps... a kill by tom... and USA wins the 3rd game with a block by tom on plotnikova.

in the fourth set, USA couldn't stop russia's offense. hitting errors again were so costly for USA. the problem is that the errors come in a string of mistakes. consecutive balls hit out, they'll get a point, then make multiple errors again. the consistency wasn't there. they got a few points with haneef hitting line shots and tom finding open spaces again. and for the first time in the match, tara cross-battle comes in. but it didn't help. a lopsided 4th game loss gave russia back all the momentum.

you all know what happened in the 5th game.

[MarsH]

{ said:

>-(Gorf)-<[} link=board=general&thread=1093016674&start=152#10 date=1093097781]

The thing that stands out to me about as much as anything in the match against Russia was that no one besides Stacy had more than 2 digs for the entire match and the bits I saw of game 5 showed what appeared to be confused (or half hearted) attempts to make digs.

Were the blocks not being closed and the defenders couldn't adjust in time, were the defenders not playing well, or is that level of defense simply what is to be expected at the international level?

Is Stacy simply that much better on defense than everyone else on the team that she can get close to 20 digs and no one else can manage more than 2 digs?

USA's defense wasn't as bad as the stats for the digs show them to be. there were a lot of long rallies, great ups from both sides... and for a match to go to 5 games, there were a lot more than 23 digs for USA.

if for the olympic matches, they count a dig anything like the college definition of a dig is, then against russia sykora would have atleast 29 digs, tom would have atleast 10, ahmow with atleast 9, phipps with atleast 6, tayyiba with atleast 5, bown with atleast 2 and scott with atleast 1. (from when i was able to count them.... i missed the first part of the match so i don't have the exact numbers...but atleast those numbers +/- 1 from the end of game 1 to the end of the match)

after every set, they showed the number of digs per team. i think they consider it a dig only when your team scores a point off the rally initiated by that dig.


btw, the passing looked solid to me. sure, russia served a few aces, but i thought the passes were good enough for robyn to set the middles more than she did. tom was killing the ball every other set. but they went to haneef so many times that her hitting efficiency just wasn't there. i wasn't impressed in how robyn picked her hitters. the location of the sets to phipps, logan and oganna were pretty good though.

[Gorf]

Thanks for the comments on the rest of the match.

Its definitely tough to know what's really happening in the matches by only following the livestats and only about half of the last game.

Hopefully they can put together a good / consistant match against Cuba.