|
|
Post by hipsterfilth on Oct 24, 2021 16:17:27 GMT -5
They do it before every single point when Kipp is in middle front. Yeah, but I didn't notice it until one time the camera operator decided to focus in and show it. Kipp held out the "hang loose" finger sign, and the other two wrapped their pinkies around Kipp's pinkie and thumb. Yeah I didn't even notice it at all in this match, but I've watched several Stanford matches and have seen it 20+ times. |
|
|
|
Post by dokterrudi on Oct 24, 2021 17:35:01 GMT -5
Jr. Class even though vicinni and Baird red shirted
|
|
|
|
Post by alwayslearning on Oct 24, 2021 17:40:23 GMT -5
Back from the match after a detour to a friend's house. This was easily the most satisfying match of the season as a UW fan. The UCLA five-setter was more thrilling but it was just so gratifying to watch the Huskies play to their potential.
A theory I have is that UW plays tough against better teams because those teams provide a much closer approximation to what UW sees in its own gym. The height, athleticism, predictability in setting, hard hitting, etc. of a Stanford or UCLA provide a degree of comfort, if you will. Of course UW is also likely more psychologically ready for these teams. But the unpredictability and scrappiness of a Cal or ASU or Montana State, when combined with UW's often sleepy starts, can lead to less than stellar results. Just a theory.
I've seen all of UW's home games this season, with the exception of Utah. This was their best defensive effort by a mile. Everyone was on point; Stanford had a really hard time finding the floor. Cook's faith in Emoni Bush really paid dividends in the first set. I can't wait to see how she continues to develop, though I know there will be stumbles along the way. I also thought EMP had one of her best matches. She rescues so many passes during the course of a match, whether that means taking balls right off the net or running all over the court to make a hittable bump set. And you generally don't want to get into a joust with EMP.
I said before the match that the key would be UW's service pressure. I was partly right in that UW's serving game was sharp and really did have Stanford's receivers talking among themselves. But I will give credit to Stanford because, for the most part, their passing was good; they just didn't terminate very effectively. Still, UW won the serve-serve receive battle and UW isn't going to lose many matches when it does this.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the quality of UW's digging and floor defense. Last time I checked, UW was dead last in digs per set in the conference. To win the digging battle 43-28 has got to make Cook very happy. Stanford's back row D was not very impressive. Oglivie had a good first set, I thought, but seemed to disappear as the match wore on. The rest of Stanford's floor defense resembled the D that I usually complain about with UW: slow to react. I also did not expect UW to win the blocking battle so decisively, including tons of soft touches that turned into UW points.
I'm perfectly willing to concede that we did not see Stanford at its best today. This road trip is tough on teams and when you play a five-setter in Pullman on Friday, it's tough to follow up with a Sunday noon match. Baird certainly was not 100%. She actually seemed more effective out of system than in system. Miner's distribution was too heavy on Baird and too light on Kipp and Francis. Not much in the middle either.
I guess what surprised me the most was the Card's lack of swagger and/or confidence and fight. Francis showed some emotion and spark in the third set but the rest of the team looked pretty deflated. Every team is going to have subpar matches. Maybe Stanford just needed to get this out of their system and start the second half of the conference season fresh. The rematch in Maples should be a good one.
|
|
|
|
Post by huskyvolley on Oct 24, 2021 17:47:52 GMT -5
EMP had one of her best matches in her collegiate career.
Our block was incredible today, especially all the soft touches.
I think this is Drechsel's best match of the season
Hoffman is hitting middle numbers in .522, .405, .550 the last three matches
|
|
alexsi
Sophomore
I don't always play volleyball but when I .... oh, wait... I always play volleyball!
Posts: 117
|
Post by alexsi on Oct 24, 2021 18:04:07 GMT -5
Just back from the match.
UWs performance was one of the best examples of executing with excellence in every aspect of the game I’ve ever witnessed.
Lots of team members doing exactly what they are supposed to do and everyone playing their best volleyball of the year all at the same time against a very big, physical Stanford team.
What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in HecEd!
|
|
|
|
Post by redbeard2008 on Oct 24, 2021 18:04:14 GMT -5
Pretty good atmosphere/crowd today for a Sunday "noon" match.
In Set 1, Stanford had a 4-point run to go up 14-12, but UW followed with a 6-point run of their own (with Bays serving) to go up 18-14. Stanford narrowed it to 22-21, but then gave up 3 of the next 4 points. UW hit only .222, but Stanford hit only .174. In Set 2, it was tied 23-23, then Hoffman slammed the door shut with 2 kills. Stanford hit .321, but UW hit .419 in that set. UW with 68.3 SO% vs 56.8 for Stanford. UW's passing is much improved over earlier in the season. The biggest advantage for UW was Powell (37 assists vs 25 for Miner).
|
|
|
|
Post by alwayslearning on Oct 24, 2021 18:06:57 GMT -5
Hoffman should get more love on this board. Sure, Mac May and Dani Drews are more aesthetically pleasing and hit harder. But Hoffman is just so damn smart and has so many tools in her toolbox that you just have to love how she plays the game. Let's also not forget that she's a six-rotation OH with a true all-around game. Stanford, like the majority of teams before it, generally avoided serving her today (Drechsel was more of a target). Finally, Hoffman is clutch. When you have three players who love to hit the ball on set point (Hoffman, Drechsel, and Grote), you're a lucky setter. If Claire keeps up this level of play, she should be a serious contender for conference player of the year. I'm not sure I trade her for any OH in the conference.
|
|
|
|
Post by huskyfan148 on Oct 24, 2021 18:08:40 GMT -5
Not a bad match to attend for my first-ever husky home game!
|
|
alexsi
Sophomore
I don't always play volleyball but when I .... oh, wait... I always play volleyball!
Posts: 117
|
Post by alexsi on Oct 24, 2021 18:11:41 GMT -5
Hoffman should get more love on this board. Sure, Mac May and Dani Drews are more aesthetically pleasing and hit harder. But Hoffman is just so damn smart and has so many tools in her toolbox that you just have to love how she plays the game. Let's also not forget that she's a six-rotation OH with a true all-around game. Stanford, like the majority of teams before it, generally avoided serving her today (Drechsel was more of a target). Finally, Hoffman is clutch…..If Claire keeps up this level of play, she should be a serious contender for conference player of the year. I'm not sure I trade her for any OH in the conference. Agreed. She is developing into a dominant OH. The addition of the hard sharp angle attack to her toolbox (which was on full display today) is a huge improvement and makes her much harder to defend. She’s definitely a legit PAC-12 POY contender. |
|
|
|
Post by redbeard2008 on Oct 24, 2021 18:15:48 GMT -5
Not a bad match to attend for my first-ever husky home game! Welcome to the fun! My first match was against Penn State in 2006, also very memorable. |
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Oct 24, 2021 18:20:27 GMT -5
Hoffman should get more love on this board. Sure, Mac May and Dani Drews are more aesthetically pleasing and hit harder. But Hoffman is just so damn smart and has so many tools in her toolbox that you just have to love how she plays the game. Let's also not forget that she's a six-rotation OH with a true all-around game. Stanford, like the majority of teams before it, generally avoided serving her today (Drechsel was more of a target). Finally, Hoffman is clutch. When you have three players who love to hit the ball on set point (Hoffman, Drechsel, and Grote), you're a lucky setter. If Claire keeps up this level of play, she should be a serious contender for conference player of the year. I'm not sure I trade her for any OH in the conference. Her Achilles heel so far has been her tendency to get hurt. |
|
|
|
Post by redbeard2008 on Oct 24, 2021 18:52:47 GMT -5
Hoffman should get more love on this board. Sure, Mac May and Dani Drews are more aesthetically pleasing and hit harder. But Hoffman is just so damn smart and has so many tools in her toolbox that you just have to love how she plays the game. Let's also not forget that she's a six-rotation OH with a true all-around game. Stanford, like the majority of teams before it, generally avoided serving her today (Drechsel was more of a target). Finally, Hoffman is clutch…..If Claire keeps up this level of play, she should be a serious contender for conference player of the year. I'm not sure I trade her for any OH in the conference. Agreed. She is developing into a dominant OH. The addition of the hard sharp angle attack to her toolbox (which was on full display today) is a huge improvement and makes her much harder to defend. She’s definitely a legit PAC-12 POY contender. She's just so fundamentally strong. She was hitting .311 going into the match, which is crazy good for an OH. |
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 24, 2021 19:08:01 GMT -5
Hoffman 14k .550, 11d, 3bl (contender for OPOW, 17k .405 against Cal) Drechsel 10k .333, 3bl Grote 7k .750, 5bl Bush 8k .111 UW hit .348% 12bl, 43d Baird 11k .119 Francis 9k .278 Kipp 8k .300 Stanford hit .194% 7bl, 28d One thing about Stanford is that their opponent hitting percentage is pretty high at .217. A week or so back, I was looking at the hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage of recent Final Four teams (the NCAA has the rankings for the last seven years). I concluded that your own season hitting percentage is more important than your opponents', but anything over .200 is pretty bad. Only 2020 Washington (.204) and 2016 Texas (.202) made the Final Four. At any rate, I thought that Stanford has been improving on this front as the season went along, but letting Washington hit .348 is disconcerting. |
|
|
|
Post by mikegarrison on Oct 24, 2021 19:27:13 GMT -5
letting Washington hit .348 is disconcerting. I didn't find it to be so. I rather liked it, it fact. |
|
|
|
Post by bbg95 on Oct 24, 2021 20:58:03 GMT -5
letting Washington hit .348 is disconcerting. I didn't find it to be so. I rather liked it, it fact. Lol, I'm sure you did. Just saying from a Stanford standpoint. |
|
