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Post by atthebeach on May 1, 2021 13:03:34 GMT -5
You could see this one coming. ucla has improved consistently as the season has progressed. SC has not been as consistent in their progress fiddling with line ups and moving pairs. And although has been beating inferior opponents, including ucla, they have struggled in those wins more than they should. Hallgren and Halward have really struggled and the Nourse twins, although winning their matches at the 5 spot, have had to work harder for their victories last month. They were very close to losing yesterday to the Stanford pair. It will be interesting to see if SC bounces back against ucla at 4:00, assuming they beat Cal/Stanford. Will it be SC or UCLA that carries the momentum into the NCAA championship.
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Post by volley2022 on May 1, 2021 16:19:55 GMT -5
Pac-12 Championship
Mapes Beach • Los Angeles, Calif.
Contender's Bracket Final
May 1 • 12:50 p.m. PT
USC 3, Stanford 0
1. Tina Graudina/Megan Kraft vs Xolani Hodel/Sunny Villapando 21-19, 16-13 DNF
2. Julia Scoles/Sammy Slater vs Charlie Ekstrom/Maya Harvey 21-13, 21-19
3. Haley Hallgren/Hailey Harward vs Maddi Kriz/Kate Reilly 21-11, 21-13
4. Joy Dennis/Delaynie Maple vs Amelia Smith/Emmy Sharp 21-18, 21-13
5. Audrey Nourse/Nicole Nourse vs Jordan McKinney/Maddie Dailey 21-17, 12-9 DNF
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Post by volley2022 on May 1, 2021 19:10:10 GMT -5
2021 Pac-12 Championship
Mapes Beach • Los Angeles, Calif.
Championship Dual
May 1 • 4 p.m. PT • Live TV: Pac-12 Networks
USC 2, UCLA 3
1. Graudina/Kraft vs Simo/Denaburg 21-19, 21-17
2. Scoles/Slater vs Newberry/Monkhouse 21-15, 12-21, 13-15
3. Hallgren/Harward vs Van Winkle/Sparks 21-11, 15-21, 11-15
4. Dennis/Maple vs Quade/Muret 21-16, 21-16
5. Nourse/Nourse vs Powers/Whitmarsh 17-21, 21-23
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Post by southbay11 on May 1, 2021 20:59:39 GMT -5
A fair amount of misinformation in this post. It is possible that the only starters not returning next season are Joy Dennis and Haley Hallgren. It was already announced on Pac-12 broadcast yesterday that two grad students are joining the team next season (1 from Stanford, 1 from Cal) - thus, the lineup may not change that much and may not open up for “replacements”. This post assumes that players who are not paying for travel and entry fees for AVPNext events are doing nothing. False assumption. You don’t need to pay to arrange scrimmages or work on your game. You don’t improve at tournaments - you improve at practice. Plus, all of the players do not have the funds that the Nourses have access to - their international experience is a function of access to funds (how many players can afford to attend 1-star events in Cambodia, Malaysia and India). The “replacements” would likely be starting at the vast majority of other beach programs - USC is lucky to have the depth they have. Finally, there is no realistic career in beach volleyball for most of these girls. It would be beneficial for all of them to develop their non-beach professional resumes during the college off-season in addition to practicing. That's nonsense. I've seen it with my own eyes for the last ten years. The best junior players play tournaments on a regular basis. These then become the starters at the top programs. Yes, you will have a outlier here and there. The girls you describe in college that don't play much and just practice. Those are the girls on the bench. Furthermore, nobody is making a judgement here. If you want to focus on school, more power to you. I'm just describing what's going on. I know of starters that don' play much off season. Halgren for instance is the exception that proves the rule. Doesn't play much, does practice. Not near the player she could have been if she sought out competition. Again, not judging. That’s interesting. On the professional level it’s the exact opposite. These girls running around playing all these AVP nexts and tournaments never get better. The girls that train 3-4 hours a day and don’t travel around just playing are the ones that go to the top. |
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Post by atthebeach on May 1, 2021 21:04:17 GMT -5
Disappointed but not surprised. Nourse twins are struggling against good opposition, especially the ucla pair. The Nourses will be the key for SC to have a change at winning the National Championship. What seemed like a sure point from the Nourses at the 5 pair is now in doubt. The three points to win the NC will have to come from the 1, 2, 4 and 5 pairs. If we split those matches then UCLA wins the NC. I wish the 3 pair, was a factor, but they have won just once against the bruin 3 pair and it was when ucla was without Van Winkle. Hallgren seems at her worst in the clutch. The lost points on serves have to stop at Gulf Shores. The only consistent pair against the bruins have been the 2 and 4 pairs. I was impressed how Graudina and Kraft played against Simo and Dexanberg, winning both matches. They are now 2-1 against the Bruins. That's a good sign.
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Post by volley2022 on May 2, 2021 3:30:55 GMT -5
My New Lineup  1. Tina Graudina/Megan Kraft 2. Julia Scoles/Hailey Harward 3. Haley Hallgren/Sammy Slater 4. Joy Dennis/Delaynie Maple 5. Audrey Nourse/Nicole Nourse |
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Post by vb1999 on May 2, 2021 7:57:01 GMT -5
That's nonsense. I've seen it with my own eyes for the last ten years. The best junior players play tournaments on a regular basis. These then become the starters at the top programs. Yes, you will have a outlier here and there. The girls you describe in college that don't play much and just practice. Those are the girls on the bench. Furthermore, nobody is making a judgement here. If you want to focus on school, more power to you. I'm just describing what's going on. I know of starters that don' play much off season. Halgren for instance is the exception that proves the rule. Doesn't play much, does practice. Not near the player she could have been if she sought out competition. Again, not judging. That’s interesting. On the professional level it’s the exact opposite. These girls running around playing all these AVP nexts and tournaments never get better. The girls that train 3-4 hours a day and don’t travel around just playing are the ones that go to the top. Could not agree more southbay11. Harward and Scoles played in a few tournaments with not much competition. Running around especially during COVID last year did not really mean much. The girls who are spending time training and learning while mixing in tournaments are bettering their game and coming out on top. These girls play from Fall through season which end around mid May. |
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Post by vb1999 on May 2, 2021 8:16:08 GMT -5
Disappointed but not surprised. Nourse twins are struggling against good opposition, especially the ucla pair. The Nourses will be the key for SC to have a change at winning the National Championship. What seemed like a sure point from the Nourses at the 5 pair is now in doubt. The three points to win the NC will have to come from the 1, 2, 4 and 5 pairs. If we split those matches then UCLA wins the NC. I wish the 3 pair, was a factor, but they have won just once against the bruin 3 pair and it was when ucla was without Van Winkle. Hallgren seems at her worst in the clutch. The lost points on serves have to stop at Gulf Shores. The only consistent pair against the bruins have been the 2 and 4 pairs. I was impressed how Graudina and Kraft played against Simo and Dexanberg, winning both matches. They are now 2-1 against the Bruins. That's a good sign. Not completely surprised either. Stein prepped his squad thoroughly to take on the strong players of SC. You could see this in the last two get togethers of UCLA/USC at Cal Poly and at UCLA. UCLA played crafty volleyball against the strong hard hitting SC and almost prevailed in the home match, but the Nourse twins clenched the victory. Slater struggled a bit against FSU, LSU with Tina, but they were attacking her all matches and now she had a very tough time in this Pac 12 tournament. Same with Harward and even Scoles. Agree that Halgren could have played better, but it was really only that last match that she was not strong in this weekend. Nourse's twins lost yesterday, but have won all season against some tough teams. They should not be at 5's. Stein played crafty volleyball that these SC players were not prepared to take on. Anna Collier would have had this talented team prepared and the lineup would be different. Blanton's line up was winning with Slater at 1 with Tina, except FSU and LSU with a loss to each, but they were down Scoles too. Harward at 2's with Scoles and Kraft at 3 with Halgren worked well for SC. Halgren and Kraft were a tough pair, why split them up? Why 2 good blockers at 1's and not spreading the blockers like he did most of the season when he won. Tina is amazing and anyone who plays with her will do well, Sammy was doing great with her. It was nice to see Joy Dennis play well after struggles throughout the years, they lost because Maple served out and was having a tough day. All of this being said, these girls just didn't have their best day and they are all excellent players. I do think you have to look at the coaching and the pairs that are together. Stein out-coached Blanton in many ways, especially preparation and lineup. Hope that SC comes back and wins NCAA tournament with this talented group of players! |
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Post by southbay11 on May 2, 2021 8:53:26 GMT -5
That’s interesting. On the professional level it’s the exact opposite. These girls running around playing all these AVP nexts and tournaments never get better. The girls that train 3-4 hours a day and don’t travel around just playing are the ones that go to the top. Could not agree more southbay11. Harward and Scoles played in a few tournaments with not much competition. Running around especially during COVID last year did not really mean much. The girls who are spending time training and learning while mixing in tournaments are bettering their game and coming out on top. These girls play from Fall through season which end around mid May. Exactly! Did you watch Cancun? Alix fizzles out Bc she misses practice 1/2 the time. Stockman spent months in Colorado instead of training. Who trained? April, Sarah and Kelly. Who played the best? Training is the difference. I digress but my wife has played zero Next’s, zero one stars, zero “fun” tournaments yet trains 3-4 hours a day while changing positions. She ended up top 6 three straight weeks in the champions cup after being ranked 154th and beat the #1 seed in the only 2 star available to play. Gee, I wonder why...tournament play to play is complete BS. You play a lot of crap teams for 20 min, sit around, hang out, wait 5 hours and finally have one decent match. That’s not how anyone gets better; especially kids. Why 90% come out of college and just get beaten down. You can come to Hermosa beach and have 5 unreal level quality training matches a day for free. Pay a coach. Save your travel money. |
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Post by bvbfanatic on May 2, 2021 11:13:12 GMT -5
Nourse twins are struggling against good opposition, especially the ucla pair. The Nourses will be the key for SC to have a change at winning the National Championship. What seemed like a sure point from the Nourses at the 5 pair is now in doubt. ... Hallgren seems at her worst in the clutch. The lost points on serves have to stop at Gulf Shores. Agree that Halgren could have played better, but it was really only that last match that she was not strong in this weekend. Nourse's twins lost yesterday, but have won all season against some tough teams. They should not be at 5's. And the winner of the worst responsive analysis goes to ... |
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Post by vb1999 on May 2, 2021 11:13:49 GMT -5
Could not agree more southbay11. Harward and Scoles played in a few tournaments with not much competition. Running around especially during COVID last year did not really mean much. The girls who are spending time training and learning while mixing in tournaments are bettering their game and coming out on top. These girls play from Fall through season which end around mid May. Exactly! Did you watch Cancun? Alix fizzles out Bc she misses practice 1/2 the time. Stockman spent months in Colorado instead of training. Who trained? April, Sarah and Kelly. Who played the best? Training is the difference. I digress but my wife has played zero Next’s, zero one stars, zero “fun” tournaments yet trains 3-4 hours a day while changing positions. She ended up top 6 three straight weeks in the champions cup after being ranked 154th and beat the #1 seed in the only 2 star available to play. Gee, I wonder why...tournament play to play is complete BS. You play a lot of crap teams for 20 min, sit around, hang out, wait 5 hours and finally have one decent match. That’s not how anyone gets better; especially kids. Why 90% come out of college and just get beaten down. You can come to Hermosa beach and have 5 unreal level quality training matches a day for free. Pay a coach. Save your travel money. Precisely. Many times these girls do these tournaments to show boat and they really need to be training like your wife. |
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Post by tamz on May 2, 2021 11:33:39 GMT -5
Exactly! Did you watch Cancun? Alix fizzles out Bc she misses practice 1/2 the time. Stockman spent months in Colorado instead of training. Who trained? April, Sarah and Kelly. Who played the best? Training is the difference. I digress but my wife has played zero Next’s, zero one stars, zero “fun” tournaments yet trains 3-4 hours a day while changing positions. She ended up top 6 three straight weeks in the champions cup after being ranked 154th and beat the #1 seed in the only 2 star available to play. Gee, I wonder why...tournament play to play is complete BS. You play a lot of crap teams for 20 min, sit around, hang out, wait 5 hours and finally have one decent match. That’s not how anyone gets better; especially kids. Why 90% come out of college and just get beaten down. You can come to Hermosa beach and have 5 unreal level quality training matches a day for free. Pay a coach. Save your travel money. Precisely. Many times these girls do these tournaments to show boat and they really need to be training like your wife. LOL 😂😂 |
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Post by atthebeach on May 2, 2021 15:24:08 GMT -5
My New Lineup 1. Tina Graudina/Megan Kraft 2. Julia Scoles/Hailey Harward 3. Haley Hallgren/Sammy Slater 4. Joy Dennis/Delaynie Maple 5. Audrey Nourse/Nicole Nourse |
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Post by atthebeach on May 2, 2021 15:25:03 GMT -5
My New Lineup 1. Tina Graudina/Megan Kraft 2. Julia Scoles/Hailey Harward 3. Haley Hallgren/Sammy Slater 4. Joy Dennis/Delaynie Maple 5. Audrey Nourse/Nicole Nourse |
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Post by atthebeach on May 2, 2021 15:40:08 GMT -5
You beat me to it. This is exactly the line up I would use, at least against the Bruins as it maximizes SC 's chances to steal a win at one of two pairs (2 and 3) we likely have no chance of winning with the current lineup. So here's the justification.
Our 2 and 3 pairs are likely losses against ucla. Hallrgen and Harward are 1-4 against ucla and Scoles and Slater are not much better at 1-3. All the other pairs have winning records, the best being Dennis and Maple at the 4 pair with a 4-1 record.
IMO the weak links on the team have been Hallgren and Slater. It makes sense to concede the 3 pair by moving Slater down and pair Harward with Scoles. IMO, Scoles plays better with Harward than she does with Slater. If Harward and Scoles can win at the two pairs, then we only need 2 wins among the 1, 4 and 5 pairs, all of which have winning records against ucla. It's really not much of a gamble as Harward and Scoles are a familiar pair
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