#20 UF at #8 UK | Fri 11/26 1pmE SECN | Sat 11/27 1pmE SECN+

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2021 14:39:04 GMT -5 jrobinson1906 said:

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

I feel for MSU a lot.

[Deleted]

I cant believe florifa didn’t manage a set this weekend. Mary come on….

[trainermch]

Favorite part of the day, chatting it up with vb buds Hall and Leah Edmond afterward. She’s awesome. All the little kids and moms at the bus getting pics with current UF & UK players and I was whispering in their ears, do you know who this is?? Then she had a line of fans. 💙🤍It was such a good note to end on.

[passmetherock]

After just watching UK dismantle UF twice on replay, the difference in the championship winning teams is ball control. Serve, receive, passing, and defense are consistently above average. Kentucky’s first ball touches allow them to stay in system pretty much the entire match (not to mention amazzzinnng defense, serving, blocking, offense and setting). Couple that with a great setter and it makes their job so much easier.

Not just on reception but like even in transition. Instead of trying to pass the ball directly to the setter which can cause them to try and aim the ball or force the passes, UK consistently gets the ball up high over the imaginary zone 7 (which is where the setter stands) so the setter has time to adjust.

1) It looks sooo pretty when done right. 2) Like I said it looks pretty, so the defense is watching the pass that extra split second instead of getting ready to block. 3) It doesn’t even have to be a perfect pass to give the setter multiple options, it just needs to be high enough to give them time to get under the ball.

I understand a low error serve mentality too, but the serve also needs to be tough for a better block. The tougher the serve, the easier it is to set the block (hence, An ace = No block needed). The serve and receive literally starts the point, and I feel like for some teams it’s so neglected. Everyone just wants to see if the hitters can dent the floor.

Minnesota always comes to mind because it seems like they always recruit such great pieces, but can never quite make it happen. Minny always has great hitters but also isn’t really known for having the best ball handling.

Texas has improved on this. They are known for powerful hitters but not so much for a great back court. Last year was their best chance defensively with both O’Brien and Iosia. Parra was great but she just didn’t have that B1G experience that Morgan brought. Now, this year they are one of the best serving teams in the country. Still slightly worried about passing/defense breaking down in the NCAA tourney, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good kill, but something about a perfect pass or spectacular dig just really gets me fired up. People often say “offense wins matches, but defense wins tournaments”…heck YEAH! Where there’s a will there’s a way. Great defense allows for so many opportunities to be turned into points that would have otherwise been kills.

Louisville, Purdue, Wisconsin, Nebraska, are some of the other top teams that come to mind who also seem to take on this mentality that serve/receive, and passing & defense are the foundation. All 6 players on the court must be proficient in these skills first and should be able to sustain that level of play throughout the entire match. A breakdown in these skills leads to a breakdown in the game plan.

Some of those teams haven’t even won Nattys yet, but they are knocking on the door..consistently. I mean UK won the first for the SEC. Purdue also looks great rn. Wisconsin is…..idk..scareRAY. Louisville currently looks unstoppable. Even some of John Cook’s players like Kayla Banwarth and DBK are implanting this core idea into their respective programs and look how well it’s paying off for them.

I deff don’t think it all comes down to this fact alone per-say, nor am I saying this is the single key to winning a title. Of course there are other important factors, and all the pieces must fit together. Im just saying it sure does make it a heck of a lot easier. Plus, there seems to be a noticeable difference in ball control between teams that continue to win National Championships, and those that haven’t.