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Post by hawkfan on Aug 19, 2023 19:18:18 GMT -5
Anyone attend today's scrimmage and have some info/observations to pass along?
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 19, 2023 20:00:20 GMT -5
Just got back from the scrimmage. Dennis, Darling, & Cole played well. Better than I anticipated after watching spring matches. I thought Darling actually played the best of the 3. Buettner needs to be OH1. Urquhart was outstanding in serve receive & defense. OH2 is the best fit for her game offensively. Moravec has to be on the court in some capacity. Her athleticism stands out. This is probably at the expense of Black on the right. Mateo is solid blocking and defensively but a work in progress setting wise. Worden only played backrow & served. Her serve receive was above average. The knee must be still affecting her somewhat as she didn't have much lift in hitting lines. Mateo & McSweeney struggled to connect with any consistency. The gold team played with more intensity and Moravec has a little fire to her which was nice to see. Vesty had a few nice blocks & Emily Lavin can pass. She won’t be a threat offensively but for a walk-on, played well. MB2 is a question mark. Hanson is athletic and quick.
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Post by hawkfan on Aug 19, 2023 20:26:48 GMT -5
Just got back from the scrimmage. Dennis, Darling, & Cole played well. Better than I anticipated after watching spring matches. I thought Darling actually played the best of the 3. Buettner needs to be OH1. Urquhart was outstanding in serve receive & defense. OH2 is the best fit for her game offensively. Moravec has to be on the court in some capacity. Her athleticism stands out. This is probably at the expense of Black on the right. Mateo is solid blocking and defensively but a work in progress setting wise. Worden only played backrow & served. Her serve receive was above average. The knee must be still affecting her somewhat as she didn't have much lift in hitting lines. Mateo & McSweeney struggled to connect with any consistency. The gold team played with more intensity and Moravec has a little fire to her which was nice to see. Vesty had a few nice blocks & Emily Lavin can pass. She won’t be a threat offensively but for a walk-on, played well. MB2 is a question mark. Hanson is athletic and quick. Thanks so much for this. Sounds like some positives for sure. I am very pleased to hear that about Moravec. Have been saying that for awhile here that from what I have seen and heard, she just has to be on the floor somehow. We need athleticism!! Who hit right-side other than Black? Was it Moravec, I am assuming? Or maybe Deery? Sounds like Urquhart seems to be healthy from what you are saying. If so, that is great and yes, she adds a lot in back row. Also happy about Darling. I know it was at Niagara against a very different level of competition but her defensive #s there were through the roof and I've seen some highlights where she was everywhere! Hope she is utilized, even if not as libero. And I get it about 2nd middle. Hope someone really emerges there. Again, we need athleticism so am hoping Hanson can improve quickly as she gets more time in practice and in game situations. She could be the option with the highest ceiling for us. Sorry to hear about Worden. Has to be so tough for her. And will be very interesting to see if a 6-2 is explored. We've got a week to get some things more solidified. Good crowd on hand?
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 19, 2023 20:53:32 GMT -5
Moravec played OH. There is a rotation where they hit from the right. Deery played RS for gold. Played better than I anticipated being a freshman. I don't see where else Moravec would play other than RS. She could be OH2 after Buettner but you'd be taking the best passing & defensive OH in Urquhart out & I just don't see it happening. Going off spring, Darling was probably 3rd in the ds/libero rotation. No idea if she's moved up but at the scrimmage I thought she played the best. I don't think they have enough strength at the pins to run a 5-1 but Mateo is a work in progress. Urquhart seemed fine & is so steady in serve receive. She's just not a terminal hitter & can't be expected to carry that load. Was nice to see Buettner getting some backrow attacks and they'll certainly need that if they go with 1 setter.
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Post by hawkfan on Aug 19, 2023 21:03:36 GMT -5
Moravec played OH. There is a rotation where they hit from the right. Deery played RS for gold. Played better than I anticipated being a freshman. I don't see where else Moravec would play other than RS. She could be OH2 after Buettner but you'd be taking the best passing & defensive OH in Urquhart out & I just don't see it happening. Going off spring, Darling was probably 3rd in the ds/libero rotation. No idea if she's moved up but at the scrimmage I thought she played the best. I don't think they have enough strength at the pins to run a 5-1 but Mateo is a work in progress. Urquhart seemed fine & is so steady in serve receive. She's just not a terminal hitter & can't be expected to carry that load. Was nice to see Buettner getting some backrow attacks and they'll certainly need that if they go with 1 setter. Really great analysis and points. Much appreciated.
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Post by PostPrime on Aug 20, 2023 7:33:53 GMT -5
Thanks for the updates. I guess we won’t really know until the lineup is announced against Cal Poly. Sounds like there is some depth at least on the outsides. I went to the Nebraska scrimmage. Man they have talent but they are vulnerable right now. I guess everyone is this early.
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 20, 2023 12:20:36 GMT -5
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 20, 2023 18:39:28 GMT -5
I believe this will be a middle
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 21, 2023 12:22:42 GMT -5
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Post by hawkfan on Aug 21, 2023 15:23:39 GMT -5
Have watched some of her most recent highlights. Like seeing blocking and behind-the-setter attacks featured a lot in them. Looks like good pick-up for the Hawks! Welcome, Makena!
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Post by hawkfan on Aug 21, 2023 17:41:08 GMT -5
Just watched Coach Barnes' media day press conference. Couple of takeaways for me: - staff is very high on Anna Davis and her level of play right now; given that and her prior on-court collegiate experience, sounds like she may be strongly considered for M2 position as season begins; would love to see her do well - comments that Mateo will be "on the court a lot" make me think 6-2 is likely to be explored - didn't know that Vesty had been committed to Florida State prior to Iowa picking her up - hoping that McSweeney's hard work in they gym in off-season that Coach referenced will pay off for her; she herself talked at B1G media days about her focus to improve her lateral movement hawkeyesports.com/news/2023/08/19/jim-barnes-media-day-press-conference/
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 21, 2023 19:03:33 GMT -5
Have watched some of her most recent highlights. Like seeing blocking and behind-the-setter attacks featured a lot in them. Looks like good pick-up for the Hawks! Welcome, Makena! I’ve seen her club team play. They have a Bigtime Leftside. Top 10 team. Rumple plays mean and has a wicked slide swing. Great pickup. Thanks for the link. Great news about Davis in the middle. From spring Buettner is going to have a big year imo Arizona Storm is loaded with prospects. Outsides are going to Nebraska and Utah. Other middle to Oregon. Setter to South Carolina & both libero/ds to Long Beach St & TCU
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Post by PostPrime on Aug 22, 2023 15:38:00 GMT -5
Now that the scrimmage is done what are the predictions for a starting lineup? Probably will see a couple of different lineups for a few weeks.
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Post by definitelymaybe on Aug 22, 2023 16:02:01 GMT -5
Now that the scrimmage is done what are the predictions for a starting lineup? Probably will see a couple of different lineups for a few weeks. OH Buettner & Urquhart M McSweeney & Caspers RS Moravec & Black S both...6-2 L/DS Dennis and Cole with Darling getting time if either struggle I don't see much offense out of MB2 regardless of who it is. Davis doesn't have the arm speed, Hanson seems like the best athlete but needs reps, Caspers has size you are looking for but hasn't been a scoring threat yet. Interesting to see who the staff pairs the setters with. Mateo & McSweeney were not in sync at the scrimmage.
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Post by hawkfan on Aug 22, 2023 16:42:51 GMT -5
Now that the scrimmage is done what are the predictions for a starting lineup? Probably will see a couple of different lineups for a few weeks. OH Buettner & Urquhart M McSweeney & Caspers RS Moravec & Black S both...6-2 L/DS Dennis and Cole with Darling getting time if either struggle I don't see much offense out of MB2 regardless of who it is. Davis doesn't have the arm speed, Hanson seems like the best athlete but needs reps, Caspers has size you are looking for but hasn't been a scoring threat yet. Interesting to see who the staff pairs the setters with. Mateo & McSweeney were not in sync at the scrimmage. This looks accurate to me but as we are all saying, very hard to predict this early and with so many unknowns. If Moravec does play on the right, hoping she got as many reps in as possible on that side this week since she primarily hit left at the scrimmage from what was mentioned. Did Moravec play 6 rotations in scrimmage? If so, how did she look in back row? Just curious. Related to the MB2, I agree that as of right now, we don't have a lot of offensive punch available there. So given that, would think the nod should go to whomever can give us the most defense, which to me would be Davis or Hanson over Caspers from the limited info that I've seen/heard. And given Davis' on-court collegiate experience, I bet she will get that nod...at least for this early in the season. Will be interesting for sure. Random other topic: Onabanjo is playing middle at Kansas, so the thought that her not wanting to play middle may have been a significant factor in her leaving Iowa seems to be refuted there.
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