BYU 2019

[bbg95]

This match against Utah should be an interesting measuring stick for BYU. So far, they've beaten everyone they should have beaten and lost to who they should have lost to (it turns out that Marquette was a bit better than initially thought). I think Utah is good but not quite as good as Marquette, let alone Texas. I thought BYU acquitted itself pretty well against the Longhorns, taking the first set and putting up a pretty good fight against a better team. I can't find even highlights of either the Texas or VCU match online (without paying a subscription), so I just have the box scores to go on. The main thing from the VCU match is that Grimmer seems to have had a career match with 11 kills and no errors on 18 swings (.611 hitting percentage). I was really impressed with Bower's back sets in the Wichita State match, so it would make sense that Grimmer would benefit from good sets to the right side. Speaking of which, Bower appears to have had an excellent match from a statistical standpoint with 42 assists, 15 digs, 5 aces, and 4 kills. The latter was on 8 swings with no errors, so maybe she's figuring out how to dump the ball more effectively. Gneiting, Eschenberg and Lake appeared to play well. The only concern from that match was that the outside hitters hit a combined 22-16-66 for a rather unsightly .091 hitting percentage. Given that just over half the attacks were from the outside hitters, that's not good. It's hard to say why that happened without actually watching the match, but hopefully, it's an anomaly. Finally, Grace Wee had six digs in her one set, which is a very good number. It will be interesting to see if she gets more playing time going forward.

[mintonetteman]

Yep, I completely agree. This match should tell us a lot. I didn't see the matches this week...just the stat lines. It seems to me that Grimmer plays for offense and Ballard-Nixon plays when we need defense (blocking, i.e. Marquette, Texas). I am really interested to watch them again this week...hoping that with this young team we simply get better each week. I have been pouring through the stats...I wonder if the high number OH swings are a huge indicator of our serve recieve. I did see that Eschenberg had a career high in kills. I have been impressed with her this year.

[pelagius]

This is from before the Utah match, but I am posting it anyway. Here is a Heather Olmstead interview with the BYUtv guys from Thursday morning. Also, in the on going saga of "How tall is Whitney Bower really?", Olmstead weighs in with a 5-8:

[bbg95]

Sept 20, 2019 12:23:36 GMT -5 pelagius said:

This is from before the Utah match, but I am posting it anyway. Here is a Heather Olmstead interview with the BYUtv guys from Thursday morning. Also, in the on going saga of "How tall is Whitney Bower really?", Olmstead weighs in with a 5-8:

Yeah, I noticed that too. Apparently, Bower and Grimmer are also the first left-handed players on the team since Heather Hannemann, who graduated in 2012. I was also amused when Brian Logan said he was trying to make his son a left-handed pitcher because it would make the pitch harder to hit. In reality, being a left-handed pitcher is probably a net disadvantage (it is an advantage for hitters).

[pelagius]

She was really good last night:

[hammer]

At least the matches get easier from here ...

[bbg95]




[Brutus Buckeye]

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2019 14:57:34 GMT -5 pelagius said:

She was really good last night:

Funny to hear McKenna shout out, "I can hit line!"

[Deleted]

Kate grimmer really impressed me yesterday. Her blocking and her in system swings were fantastic. She has work to do on out of system but I wanna see her eventually play 6 rotations

[mintonetteman]

Grimmer may have to play 6 rotations if they start Ballard Nixon in OH2. I was so pumped to see her blocking improve. Totally guessing on this, but I thought that was the reason she was not playing early in the season when H.O. was wanting a big block. For the record I am a big Grimmer fan and am glad we are developing now. I believe she will be a huge offensive weapon for us going forward.

[azvb]

1.I was wrong. If we can beat Stanford with a 5’8” high school senior setter, we don’t need to play a 6’2”

2. Ballard-Nixon looked so good on the left. But I think someone-McKenna, Taylen, Kate has to play 6 rotations or they will run out of subs in long games. Even if they have to ride them on SR. Ml can cover the whole court, right 😬? I hope Madi and the other OH Ds’s are practicing pipes in every practice. Maybe we won’t get kill like RJP, but I’d take out of system as a result.

3. I think the connection still isn’t quite there with the middles. When that comes, yowza.

Soooo much improvement in this team the last 4 weeks. Nice job, coaches and players.

[Deleted]

Sept 23, 2019 13:16:27 GMT -5 azvb said:

1.I was wrong. If we can beat Stanford with a 5’8” high school senior setter, we don’t need to play a 6’2”

2. Ballard-Nixon looked so good on the left. But I think someone-McKenna, Taylen, Kate has to play 6 rotations or they will run out of subs in long games. Even if they have to ride them on SR. Ml can cover the whole court, right 😬? I hope Madi and the other OH Ds’s are practicing pipes in every practice. Maybe we won’t get kill like RJP, but I’d take out of system as a result.

3. I think the connection still isn’t quite there with the middles. When that comes, yowza.

Soooo much improvement in this team the last 4 weeks. Nice job, coaches and players.

I agree! They need to stay in this 5-1. They passed really well against Stanford. I just watched the Marquette game and the improvement is actually insane. I’m so excited

[pelagius]

Sept 23, 2019 13:16:27 GMT -5 azvb said:

3. I think the connection still isn’t quite there with the middles. When that comes, yowza.

Soooo much improvement in this team the last 4 weeks. Nice job, coaches and players.

This is where I am at too. Obviously, Saturday was a really nice performance and the improvement that yielded last week (both Stanford and Utah minus the third set) is amazing, but I do think the team is quite a ways away from reaching it's ceiling.

1. As you point out, the middle connection is still spotty. It's getting better, but there is still room for improvement on slides, the middle-quick, and the middle gap sets. (And Bower being less readable with these sets)

2. The RS connection between Bower and Grimmer has gotten a lot better but it's not as consistent as you want either.

3. Still lots of headroom for Grimmer's improvement. She's pretty dynamic athletically and has only been getting consistent playing time for a few matches now.

4. Wee has also only gotten consistent playing time for a few matches. I'd expect some improvement there too (although she looked pretty darn good against Stanford).

5. Still haven't incorporated the BIC in the offense (we've seen, what, 3 over the season to Robinson?)

[pelagius]

Not exactly surprising: