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Post by ironhammer on May 22, 2019 21:32:06 GMT -5
Interesting question is, if Thompson can maintain her form, can she take the place of Drews on the NT? Thompson's negative is her defense, though her blocking is solid. Offensively both are capable, but many on here might not be aware or are forgetting that Hancock and Thompson trained as a pair in practices so their connection should be (and was) a lot better. Same reason Poulter and Drews had a good (better) connection the first game. I still stand with Cuttino being the better of the two, both blocking and offensively. Her defense is improving and her overall game only got better as her season with Pomi progressed. Quite frankly, the real question is which of the three (Cuttino, Drews, Thompson) should get the two spots. Lowe for me is a no, though Karch has his favorites. Yes, I agree, her defense needs work. Still, these are early days and Thompson can certainly improve in the future. We'll see how they all work out and which of them can get a more secure place on the NT. In the mean time, interesting to speculate on the potential future of these players.
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Post by stanfordvb on May 22, 2019 22:03:13 GMT -5
Paola ego u gets by with the most mediocre defense of all tim a hahha. But yes Thompson will hopefully improve backrow.
As a Sanford fan, seeing Drew’s and Thompson doing so well, and knowing kartsa is kids th no. 1 rn, that may change after vnls, it scares me for Plummer chances in Tokyo. I think Plummer still would be great on the right internationally, but who would’ve thought Thompson would be that good. Really exciting considering last year oppo was our struggle point, now a dominating performance by a fresh face and Drew’s playing the best I’ve seen in a while looks promising for whoever is oppo in Tokyo.
Foecke was great offensively imo. Especially when she was set in system. Courtney is REALLY impressing me right now. I wonder who from this weeks roster will crack the final one!!
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Post by hayven on May 22, 2019 22:09:00 GMT -5
I don’t remember Thompson playing college ball, where did she play?
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Post by huskerjen on May 22, 2019 22:16:53 GMT -5
I don’t remember Thompson playing college ball, where did she play? Cincinnati
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2019 22:22:24 GMT -5
Some thots:
1. We're going to have to reintegrate the double sub into our system at some point, because Drews' defense is a big liability. 2. Karch has actual wooden teeth. I could not believe. 3. Hancock literally cannot do it. She looked god-awful today. I puked. 4. Foecke and Drews are hitting just as hard as Tandara, Natalia, Mihajlovic, or Boskovic. And that's nice to finally have. 5. Kingdon needs to be Murphy'd. 6. Foecke was getting worked in serve receive, but she's gonna be really good with more reps, maybe even sooner than expected. 7. Luka looked fantastic, as always. 8. Hate that Hancock doesn't get to jump toppie. It's her best skill, and the reason she gets her salary overseas. She shouldn't be forced to give up the best part of her game to play for her national team. Her floater is also nasty, but still. 9. Washington is doing something reeeeeally smart to set herself apart from the rest of the middles, and she's showing how effective it can be. Smart, smart move.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2019 22:22:46 GMT -5
I don’t remember Thompson playing college ball, where did she play? She's still playing. She'll be a senior in the fall.
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Post by sunsuphornsup on May 22, 2019 22:23:08 GMT -5
Interesting question is, if Thompson can maintain her form, can she take the place of Drews on the NT? Thompson's negative is her defense, though her blocking is solid. Offensively both are capable, but many on here might not be aware or are forgetting that Hancock and Thompson trained as a pair in practices so their connection should be (and was) a lot better. Same reason Poulter and Drews had a good (better) connection the first game. I still stand with Cuttino being the better of the two, both blocking and offensively. Her defense is improving and her overall game only got better as her season with Pomi progressed. Quite frankly, the real question is which of the three (Cuttino, Drews, Thompson) should get the two spots. Lowe for me is a no, though Karch has his favorites. Did y’all see Thompson hustling after balls? She had a few key digs to keep the ball in play. I think her defense is a negative only because her offense is so good and that’s the metric in which she’s being judged. I think she moves a lot faster than Lowe to the ball in defense.
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Post by bayarea on May 22, 2019 22:24:08 GMT -5
She has been great with the 2nd ball today I'm personally loving Courtney at libero! This is so weird, because against Belgium, Courtney's second balls were TERRIBLE.
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Post by bayarea on May 22, 2019 22:28:21 GMT -5
I watched this on replay. Which, sadly, had the announcer 30 seconds ahead of the video...spoiler alert!
Hancock's float serve, to me was very 'meh', compared to her incredible topspin serve in days of yore. I liked Drews, and then I liked Thompson even more. We got so many points against Belgium and Japan from our Opps.
How many times, especially early in the Japan match, did Foecke roll-shot an easy ball? The connection with Hancock really seemed to be off.
Who said that that Washington's front-slide is dead in international ball???!
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Post by SportyBucky on May 22, 2019 22:40:34 GMT -5
Promising start by Washington certainly. And Kingdon, for all the criticism directed against her, did score the second most points. Thompson, Tapp, Drews and Foecke also did decently well I think. Of course, a single match in the preliminary rounds does not determine the new player's long-term place on the NT. The big question now is, can new players like Washington, Thompson, Rettke, Ogbogu, Lake and others play consistently well to secure a more permanent spot on the NT? Kingdon does well until she hits better competition Where she wilts.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2019 22:42:47 GMT -5
I'm personally loving Courtney at libero! This is so weird, because against Belgium, Courtney's second balls were TERRIBLE. Very, very bad.
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Post by ironhammer on May 22, 2019 22:43:01 GMT -5
Promising start by Washington certainly. And Kingdon, for all the criticism directed against her, did score the second most points. Thompson, Tapp, Drews and Foecke also did decently well I think. Of course, a single match in the preliminary rounds does not determine the new player's long-term place on the NT. The big question now is, can new players like Washington, Thompson, Rettke, Ogbogu, Lake and others play consistently well to secure a more permanent spot on the NT? Kingdon does well until she hits better competition Where she wilts. Hehehe, I suppose you can see it that way. But can she improve that area of weakness is the core issue for her.
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Post by vbstan123 on May 23, 2019 0:14:39 GMT -5
Am I the only one who enjoys watching this young team more than the older team or... (still waiting for cuttino). Obviously not gonna be our roster but I say just sub the outsides and figure out the the second middle between Chiaka and Washington (supposing Dana won't be there because of the Wisco trip) and the US have the final roster. Also want to see carlini but with the way Hancock and Poulter performed I just don't see a spot for Lloyd in the future.
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Post by Pipe Attack on May 23, 2019 1:54:17 GMT -5
It is so exciting to see all these youngsters in action! Hopefully they can secure some good overseas contracts! With that said, it is really hard for a libero to get a contract due to foreign quotas. Teams would rather spend on outsides/opposites, middles and setters vs a libero. They can just use homegrown talent for that. Also, no leagues would support a country to have a foreign development team - so it’s best to have as many players as possible playing pro and possibly together (like say a setter and a middle). USA outsides will usually be converted to right sides (opposites) like Hodge at first, Faucette, Fawcett... so it’s also important we are able to develop those outside hitters (like Kim Hill, MBH) although lately they seem to be more the L2 type like Larson, Robinson, Courtney. Setters and middles we seem to also be doing well. Excited to see the type of player Foecke can become especially since she’s new to the scene with a lot of potential especially since we lost someone like Vansant (from last quad).
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Post by vbstan123 on May 23, 2019 2:12:46 GMT -5
also something I just noticed from rewatching (and Im just nitpicking bc this player has been so good)...but when the 2nd and 3rd set started to get close to the end, Drews lost her composure a little. Not really playing wise (even though she did make some errors at the end) but you could see on her face she looked a little panicked. There was a point in the third set when she begged Karch to challenge that she wasn't in the net, but it showed she was in the video review. After they lost the point she kinda gave an aggressive look to Karch and mouthed "I didn't think I net". Its probably no big deal but it was interesting to see her because she is one of the oldest players with the most experience on this roster and is finally in the spotlight.
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