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Post by bbg95 on Aug 21, 2021 17:14:16 GMT -5
It looks like all the likely starters are playing together in the third set, as some have switched teams after the second set. They are: OH: Ballard-Nixon OH: Livingston MB: Eschenberg MB: Gneiting OPP: Koerber S: Bower L: Allen DS: McComber Did Stowell get hurt? No, she played the whole match. She was on the other team during the third set. |
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Post by kk1971 on Aug 21, 2021 17:31:54 GMT -5
A few thoughts from the scrimmage:
1. This is going to be a VERY good team. There won't be much that they haven't seen or experienced. With the return of TBN and Eschenberg, plus the addition of Koerber, WOW! This is a team that would be disappointed by only going to the Sweet 16. Not sure they have the explosive arm at OH from their very best years, but they are close, seasoned, and really good everywhere.
2. I am still worried about our serve receiving, which I went into the scrimmage hoping would be a bright spot. ITs always hard to know if its great serving or poor receiving, but I expected better and didn't see it. This might be our undoing against the best teams. McComber struggled early, Reinert sporadically, and even Koerber was picked on late by Bower on consecutive aces. Others struggled too, but you would expect that from them after last year.
3. Koerber is, iMO, the best player on the court. Followed by Bower and then Eschenberg. The freshmen looked like they belonged, which is all you can ask. During the 3rd set, when the likely starters were playing against the backups and the newcomers, I wanted to see who would show a spark and fight back from the losing side. On the outside, It was Callahan mostly and occasionally Stowell. Meyer looks legit at setter. Really hoping she redshirts and so we our years of outstanding setting are extended. And Bri Albright impressed me too in the middle. Lots of good new faces.
4. Our block will be stout. Gneiting looked good, but still looked to me like she was reacclimating to jumping and in speed (to be expected). As she gets rid of mission rust and gets in better shape, watch out. Escheberg is so smart, Gneiting will be awesome when she is back at top form, Llarenas looked surprisingly good to me, and Albright was a pleasant surprise.
5. Finally, I continue to be impressed with Livingston. Hard to read much into a team scrimmage, but to me it looked like she is better and more confident than last year. She will get lots of swings, I think, and will deserve them.
Walked away extremely excited for this upcoming year. Could be another really good one.
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Post by bbg95 on Aug 21, 2021 17:44:12 GMT -5
A few thoughts from the scrimmage: 1. This is going to be a VERY good team. There won't be much that they haven't seen or experienced. With the return of TBN and Eschenberg, plus the addition of Koerber, WOW! This is a team that would be disappointed by only going to the Sweet 16. Not sure they have the explosive arm at OH from their very best years, but they are close, seasoned, and really good everywhere. 2. I am still worried about our serve receiving, which I went into the scrimmage hoping would be a bright spot. ITs always hard to know if its great serving or poor receiving, but I expected better and didn't see it. This might be our undoing against the best teams. McComber struggled early, Reinert sporadically, and even Koerber was picked on late by Bower on consecutive aces. Others struggled too, but you would expect that from them after last year. 3. Koerber is, iMO, the best player on the court. Followed by Bower and then Eschenberg. The freshmen looked like they belonged, which is all you can ask. During the 3rd set, when the likely starters were playing against the backups and the newcomers, I wanted to see who would show a spark and fight back from the losing side. On the outside, It was Callahan mostly and occasionally Stowell. Meyer looks legit at setter. Really hoping she redshirts and so we our years of outstanding setting are extended. And Bri Albright impressed me too in the middle. Lots of good new faces. 4. Our block will be stout. Gneiting looked good, but still looked to me like she was reacclimating to jumping and in speed (to be expected). As she gets rid of mission rust and gets in better shape, watch out. Escheberg is so smart, Gneiting will be awesome when she is back at top form, Llarenas looked surprisingly good to me, and Albright was a pleasant surprise. 5. Finally, I continue to be impressed with Livingston. Hard to read much into a team scrimmage, but to me it looked like she is better and more confident than last year. She will get lots of swings, I think, and will deserve them. Walked away extremely excited for this upcoming year. Could be another really good one. I pretty much agree with all of this. I'm trying not to read too much into the passing based on a scrimmage, but it remains a question mark for now. I'm not particularly concerned that Koerber got aced twice by Bower, though. Bower is an outstanding server, and we have a much larger sample size from Koerber's last couple of seasons at Utah that show that she's a good passer. Mariena Hayden from UNLV will be an interesting challenge. |
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BYU 2022
Aug 21, 2021 18:04:06 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by azvb on Aug 21, 2021 18:04:06 GMT -5
I think I’ll make a trip to watch the Utah game.
So, does Grimmer redshirt this season?
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Post by bbg95 on Aug 21, 2021 22:17:05 GMT -5
Darnell Dickson posted some observations from the scrimmage on his Twitter page. This last one is definitely true.
I actually forgot that they had upgraded the seats, but they were indeed very comfortable.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2021 2:47:09 GMT -5
My observations from the scrimmage. BYU is solid all around and will be a very competitive team this season. They had a great season this past spring and bring even more talent to the table this fall. IMO, what will keep BYU from being a final four team this season is lack of a dominant/terminal pin hitter. We need an RJP to help push us past some of the great programs throughout the country. Don't get me wrong, we have solid/steady pins but I was generally underwhelmed by their performance in the scrimmage. Kenzie Koerber is the closest thing we have to a terminal pin, but even her offensive performance was lower than I expected. Now one thing that is important to note and give credit to is the BYU block. I believe this will be an extremely good blocking team. I also think that the quality of the block was a big factor in the underwhelming offensive performance because the majority of balls at least touched the block.
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Post by kk1971 on Aug 23, 2021 9:37:50 GMT -5
My observations from the scrimmage. BYU is solid all around and will be a very competitive team this season. They had a great season this past spring and bring even more talent to the table this fall. IMO, what will keep BYU from being a final four team this season is lack of a dominant/terminal pin hitter. We need an RJP to help push us past some of the great programs throughout the country. Don't get me wrong, we have solid/steady pins but I was generally underwhelmed by their performance in the scrimmage. Kenzie Koerber is the closest thing we have to a terminal pin, but even her offensive performance was lower than I expected. Now one thing that is important to note and give credit to is the BYU block. I believe this will be an extremely good blocking team. I also think that the quality of the block was a big factor in the underwhelming offensive performance because the majority of balls at least touched the block. |
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Post by kk1971 on Aug 23, 2021 9:39:43 GMT -5
Agree on observation about the terminal pin hitter. I think that is the only piece away from this team from legitimately being a natty contender. If someone steps up, and the defense improves, though, this is not a team I would want to see if I were anyone else.
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Post by bbg95 on Aug 23, 2021 10:27:41 GMT -5
Agree on observation about the terminal pin hitter. I think that is the only piece away from this team from legitimately being a natty contender. If someone steps up, and the defense improves, though, this is not a team I would want to see if I were anyone else. It would obviously be great to have an RJP, but the team hit over .300 last year without a dominant weapon. I think the team is balanced enough with good enough setting that they don't necessarily need someone like that most of the time. It could be a problem against the Wisconsins of the world, but I still think that passing is the more pressing concern. If I could only have one or the other, I think I'd shore up the passing unit. |
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Post by bbg95 on Aug 23, 2021 10:34:22 GMT -5
My observations from the scrimmage. BYU is solid all around and will be a very competitive team this season. They had a great season this past spring and bring even more talent to the table this fall. IMO, what will keep BYU from being a final four team this season is lack of a dominant/terminal pin hitter. We need an RJP to help push us past some of the great programs throughout the country. Don't get me wrong, we have solid/steady pins but I was generally underwhelmed by their performance in the scrimmage. Kenzie Koerber is the closest thing we have to a terminal pin, but even her offensive performance was lower than I expected. Now one thing that is important to note and give credit to is the BYU block. I believe this will be an extremely good blocking team. I also think that the quality of the block was a big factor in the underwhelming offensive performance because the majority of balls at least touched the block. I thought most of the team looked fairly inefficient in the first set and to a lesser degree in the second set. However, I thought that when the starters were all playing together in the third set, they looked like a pretty well-oiled machine. And it's a scrimmage and a small sample size. I think that improving the passing is still the biggest overall concern. If they can do that, then having a dominant out-of-system weapon isn't quite as important. |
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Post by mintonetteman on Aug 23, 2021 10:35:04 GMT -5
What an enjoyable match. Seems like forever that my wife and I were able to actually go to a volleyball game of any kind. I agree that Kenzie Koerber is the most "terminal pin." She is really really good IMO. I do like having four pins (I am including Kate Grimmer on this list despite Saturday) that all have good versatility and although none are RJP level they are collectively very effective and can score consistently. You could sense Grimmer's frustration toward the end--but I take that as a positive as a strong desire to get better. I see Grimmer growing in positive ways (similar thoughts regarding Livingston from last year, I really like her growth and expect her to be better this year too). My observation from the B/W game was that Koerber will make Ballard-Nixon and Livingston a much more effective hitting duo and that as a collective offense attack we are much better than last year. Bower and the middles are so solid in what they bring. How great to have Eschenberg back. I was actually blown away at how good Gneiting looked given the time off. I did not expect that. IMO, this team's weakness is still serve receive and defense (this IMO is the missing piece and what holds this team back from being a final four team not a terminal pin). We coach around it...but it still looks like an issue. My positive on that is that there was good leadership among the players to get it right--interesting to see players themselves move the defense players in and out of the back row especially at the end (I have always believed you can watch a practice or scrimmage and the players themselves will tell you who they believe who should or sometimes more often who should not be playing back row). Shout out to my buddy from SoCal (I won't give him away on this thread)-- but he nailed the Callahan evaluation. I am excited about Meyer--physically you can tell she is a freshman, but I think she is going to be a good one. Going to be a fun year. Still waiting for my season tickets in the mail.
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Post by bbg95 on Aug 23, 2021 10:44:50 GMT -5
Another thing from the scrimmage is that BYU's B team in the third set was something like:
OH: Stowell
OH: Callahan
MB: Llarenas
MB: Albright
OPP: Grimmer
S: Meyer/Hifo (I think Meyer was setting from what I remember)
L: Reinert
DS: M. Bower (she may have actually been playing libero--I can't remember)
That's a pretty solid team that could probably make the NCAA Tournament in some conferences.
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Zazu
All-American
Singin' once again in the rain, snow, hail, fog, smog, mist, haze, sun, wind, etc.
Posts: 1,536 
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Post by Zazu on Aug 23, 2021 12:24:40 GMT -5
...Still waiting for my season tickets in the mail. mintonetteman, they are doing mobile only delivery, unless you are like me and have no mobile phone. They've told me I can stop by the ticket office to have them printed. They forgot to include this tiny bit of important information in the season tickets information section on the website or in any of the phone conversations I had with them. You download them to Google Pay or Apply Pay from your account. Here's the direct link expaining how:
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Post by azvb on Aug 23, 2021 12:51:31 GMT -5
What an enjoyable match. Seems like forever that my wife and I were able to actually go to a volleyball game of any kind. I agree that Kenzie Koerber is the most "terminal pin." She is really really good IMO. I do like having four pins (I am including Kate Grimmer on this list despite Saturday) that all have good versatility and although none are RJP level they are collectively very effective and can score consistently. You could sense Grimmer's frustration toward the end--but I take that as a positive as a strong desire to get better. I see Grimmer growing in positive ways (similar thoughts regarding Livingston from last year, I really like her growth and expect her to be better this year too). My observation from the B/W game was that Koerber will make Ballard-Nixon and Livingston a much more effective hitting duo and that as a collective offense attack we are much better than last year. Bower and the middles are so solid in what they bring. How great to have Eschenberg back. I was actually blown away at how good Gneiting looked given the time off. I did not expect that. IMO, this team's weakness is still serve receive and defense (this IMO is the missing piece and what holds this team back from being a final four team not a terminal pin). We coach around it...but it still looks like an issue. My positive on that is that there was good leadership among the players to get it right--interesting to see players themselves move the defense players in and out of the back row especially at the end (I have always believed you can watch a practice or scrimmage and the players themselves will tell you who they believe who should or sometimes more often who should not be playing back row). Shout out to my buddy from SoCal (I won't give him away on this thread)-- but he nailed the Callahan evaluation. I am excited about Meyer--physically you can tell she is a freshman, but I think she is going to be a good one. Going to be a fun year. Still waiting for my season tickets in the mail. Wonder if Grimmer will redshirt? |
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Post by azvb on Aug 23, 2021 12:52:26 GMT -5
...Still waiting for my season tickets in the mail. mintonetteman, they are doing mobile only delivery, unless you are like me and have no mobile phone. They've told me I can stop by the ticket office to have them printed. They forgot to include this tiny bit of important information in the season tickets information section on the website or in any of the phone conversations I had with them. You download them to Google Pay or Apply Pay from your account. Here's the direct link expaining how: Wow-no cell phone. Do you have electricity 😉😉? |
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