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Post by ted_heise on Nov 4, 2021 15:10:44 GMT -5
Unless something has changed I think our 2022's are: Sophie Stephenson - 6'2" - Outside Hitter - Seattle, WA Cari Bohm - 6'4" - Middle Blocker - Ann Arbor, MI Bianca May - 5'8" - Setter - Orland Park, IL I know we have DBrown another year, after that Mosher takes over. I wonder who we have in the pipeline after that. Need some good hands and height. 5'8" setter in the Big Ten won't cut it. Lauren Stivrins (on being introduced to new setter 5' 10" Nicklin Hames): But she's so short! |
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Post by ilalum92 on Nov 4, 2021 23:25:20 GMT -5
Can anyone who watched the match give a recap? The match thread was garbage on what happened & no comments from ILL fans. Swept but sounds like we had plenty of chances to win.
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Post by exit237a on Nov 4, 2021 23:57:51 GMT -5
Can anyone who watched the match give a recap? The match thread was garbage on what happened & no comments from ILL fans. Swept but sounds like we had plenty of chances to win. Hey alum! I was at Huff and have a few takes. Nebraska beat us in the serve and pass game. They served tough *and in* and kept us out of system a bunch. As a result, we couldn't run the middles much. Kyla was not in the building- unsure of why she was absent. We missed her terminal middle quicks (when we were in system) and her block. Kennedy was effective but just couldn't feed her enough. Our serve: five service errors throughout Set 2 killed our momentum at multiple points when we had started ahead. Only had two aces on the night with nine service errors. Raina followed up her great Penn State match with another good night on the attack. She ripped a clutch "D" ball that you would've liked. The Nebraska outsides had a good night- Lexi Sun hit over .300 and Madi Kubik hit .250. Stivrins and Caffey were only okay by their standards on the attack - the Illini had a couple blocks on them that were nice. A pleasant surprise was that we kept Krause below her season average- she's been pretty terminal this season. On top of beating us in the serve/pass game, I though Nebraska was really good on defending our tip shots and otherwise digging balls, leading to transition opportunities. Bummer of a night. Gotta roll the proverbial ball under the net and get ready for a Minnesota team that's heating up. Definitely looking forward to Saturday. |
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Post by nellynel on Nov 5, 2021 6:37:57 GMT -5
Set 1 NU lead most of the way but UI got a little closer late. Set 2 was 19-19 and ended 25-20. Set 3 IU led 20-17 ended up losing 25-21. Both teams played solid defense overall it just looked like NU got better transition swings especially late and the passing broke down/NU serving stepped up late in sets. As a neutral fan the last 2 sets looked like completely different games after 20.
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Post by mosser on Nov 5, 2021 6:53:04 GMT -5
Illini passing the weak spot. Many service receptions don't make it past the 10 foot line including from Kuper. Still don't understand how there isn't a better option than Cooney in the back row, especially since she doesn't get any swings back there.
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Post by bops68 on Nov 5, 2021 9:08:55 GMT -5
Can anyone who watched the match give a recap? The match thread was garbage on what happened & no comments from ILL fans. Swept but sounds like we had plenty of chances to win. Passing, passing, and Passing again. We are not a good pass team and honestly never have been under Tamas. Nebraska is a great serving team and we are not very good passing team. To me that was the main difference. 1st set - started off horribly slow but then made a push late to make it respectable but it was too late. 2nd set - played very well and hung with them. Actually I think had a 4-5 point lead for extended period and then in the mid teens I believe Nebraska went on a 10-2 run maybe?? The rotations of Nunge and Whittington in the front killed us. They really struggled to get kills and combine that with our horrible passing and it was a recipe for disaster. When the pass was decent.......not very often..... NE camped out on Whittington with two blockers and when the pass was bad.......most of the time..... they camped out on Nunge. Nunge doesn't have enough pop in her hits so even when she got a good swing it was nothing for NE to dig her. Imagine she hit a negative number or barely over zero if I had to guess. And to top it off I think we only set Terry out of the back maybe 2 times the whole night. She would have been perfect in those rotations where we were "stuck" even for a change of pace. I think he called a time out on one of those stretches and they finally set her opposite out of the back and she got a kill to stop the bleeding. Honestly it was pretty painful to watch during those rotations in my opinion. When we weren't in those 2-3 rotations we were fine I felt and hung with them and even kept it close but when that rotation would come around again NE would make another push. 3r set - see notes on 2nd set. Pretty much identical. Decent 4 point lead for extended period then hit that rotation. I felt not having Swanson hurt us as she has been blocking really well and has become an offensive threat. Not sure where she was. She wasn't even in the gym as other said. I am still not sure on Tamas. I will say this he gets them to play hard, tough, and never quit but for being a former setter he really doesn't diversity the offense and our setting can be incredibly predicable. No idea why we don't utilize the back row attack especially when we are keeping Terry and Cooney in.....and good lord he needs to get someone in that can teach these girls how to pass. I give the girls credit. I think their improvement and later success this year has been because they have gotten good at hitting out of system sets........because we are pretty much out of system all the time. When other teams pick on your DS that is an issue. I just see the other teams in the BT reloading every recruiting class. Tamas really needs to step up recruiting in my opinion. I want to give Coach Reed some props also. We have middles that are developing offensively! Seems like we have always had great blocking middles (Bastinelli was both but a great talent) but to see the improvement in Collins, Swanson, and even Hinton since when they first came in is impressive in my opinion. |
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Post by ilalum92 on Nov 5, 2021 10:10:56 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for the recaps. Sounds like we has chances in every set but the 1st. Same issues as always, bad passing begets OOS and we need another terminal OH. Also, who has the scoop on Swanson??? It sounds like we really missed her blocking/attacking.
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Post by ilalum92 on Nov 7, 2021 2:03:44 GMT -5
Missed the MN match - caught a few glimpses of the 1st set and thought we had plenty of chances to win. Didnt see sets 2-3 but score wise looks like we crumbled. Any info on what happened? Was Swanson on the bench? Whittington had some good blocks in set 1 but seems like we miss Swansons offensive productivity. How was our passing??
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Post by bucky415 on Nov 7, 2021 3:22:00 GMT -5
Regardless, I think the Illini should win 3 more matches at the least and make the tournament, being a tough out for a pod host. So sad for Tracey Marshall to be gone way too soon! She was a very good player for the Illini and looked to have made her mark on young folks as a coach. Glad they are having a night in her memory!
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Nov 7, 2021 6:44:22 GMT -5
Trust me when I say that I know coaching football in not the same as coaching volleyball. However, there are aspects of coaching that come into play that are universal no matter what sport you are coaching. That is why I really enjoy listening to Illinois' first year football Coach Bielema's press conferences. I always pick up on a lot of his coaching pearl's of wisdom. Wisconsin fans may have a different view of Coach Bielema. He has made some late game decisions that I feel caused Illinois to lose a couple of games that perhaps we should have won. But you all know the phrase "hindsight is always 20/20!"
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Nov 7, 2021 8:16:02 GMT -5
I feel a particular obligation as an Illinois volleyball fan to give a huge shout out to our terrific young AD, Josh Whitman. A former Illinois football player, Orange & Blue courses thru his veins. I love this guy! After attending the football game at Minnesota for the 11am game, Whitman walked into Huff Gym before the 6P volleyball match had even begun. How many times have other B1G fans seen their AD at a volleyball match? After the Illini football upset of Minnesota, I know our AD had some extra bounce in his step. If only the vb teeam was able to deliver a win like they did after Illinois football had defeated Penn State. Not in the cards this time.
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Post by ilalum92 on Nov 8, 2021 20:07:38 GMT -5
RPI @ 28 this week. Strength of schedule is 19. Lets see if we can grab a win against OSU and then finish out the season all wins. Get some good momentum heading into the tourney.
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Post by notpriddy (COIF) on Nov 9, 2021 7:36:48 GMT -5
I feel a particular obligation as an Illinois volleyball fan to give a huge shout out to our terrific young AD, Josh Whitman. A former Illinois football player, Orange & Blue courses thru his veins. I love this guy! After attending the football game at Minnesota for the 11am game, Whitman walked into Huff Gym before the 6P volleyball match had even begun. How many times have other B1G fans seen their AD at a volleyball match? After the Illini football upset of Minnesota, I know our AD had some extra bounce in his step. If only the vb teeam was able to deliver a win like they did after Illinois football had defeated Penn State. Not in the cards this time. Ron Guenther was at many Illini volleyball matches. He would sit 3 rows behind me. "Guenther was athletic director at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1992 until he retired on July 1, 2011" "Guenther hired Don Hardin, 1996–2009, and Kevin Hambly, 2009–2017" [/quote) I am going to be completely honest here and admit I was never a Ron Guenther fan. Yes, I did see Guenther occasionally at volleyball matches. I cannot tell you where his seat was. I do know where AD Whitman's seat is and it is usually occupied by Whitman (and sometimes with his wife who this season seems to not be in attendance much...two very young children at home). In less he has another commitment (like a football game going on at the same time as the vb game) Whitman is at the vb matches. Because I did not know where Guenther's seat was, I cannot verify that he was frequently at volleyball matches. I do know that I watched him make an appearance at a couple of Illinois matches, and then walk out of the gym. I still see Guenther grocery shopping at Schnuck's on occasion. He even sat in front of me when we both received our covid booster shot recently. Don Hardin seems to be a great person and was probably a very good vb coach. He had perhaps the misfortune to follow Mike Hebert's great coaching stint at Illinois. The story goes that Guenther did not value Mike Hebert's great volleyball teams as much as he wanted to lift up a pretty much unsuccessful women's basketball program by hiring Teresa Grentz who was a top women's basketball coach at the time. AD Guenther was usually a very stingy AD when it came to spending money. He opened the athletic department's pocketbook to hire expensive coach Grentz. The story continues that Hebert was hurt because Grentz was getting paid this high salary (more that Hebert was making). So Hebert went on to Minnesota and continued his winning ways. AD Guenther's tenure as AD has been criticized because he would not spend money to make physical improvements in Illinois' athletic facilities. Consequently, the U of I fell badly behind other Big Ten schools. That situation has haunted Illinois to this very day. Although, AD Whitman has made great strides in athletic facility improvements. And it is continuing with huge new softball and baseball individual indoor facilities under construction simultaneously as I write this. (I still harbor hopes for a new arena for volleyball, gymnastics, and wrestling in the near future.) An interesting side note to this AD story is that Josh Whitman was mentored by Guenther when Josh was a student at UI. Illinois fans can thank Ron Guenther for our bright, young AD. |
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Post by exit237a on Nov 10, 2021 18:02:49 GMT -5
Welcome to the Illinois family, Sophie!
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Post by exit237a on Nov 10, 2021 19:58:24 GMT -5
Welcome to the Orange and Blue, Cari!
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