Got to watch the game today against Pepperdine and just wanted to put my insight here.
Coming into today's game, I wasn't too sure what Hildebrand was going to do with the amount of talent he and the staff picked up. It was awesome to see him on the sideline walking around and this time seeing him as a head coach is awesome.
Notes: Katie Kennedy took reps in the middle and opposite. Didn't even notice Whittle being back on the roster. The only people who didn't play today were Whittle, Hayes, and Nembhard (she had a jersey on but was in sweats).
Because there were line-up changes on both sides each set, it's hard to truly grasp each team. Also, Rachel Ahrens from Pepperdine only played two sets (one set she only played front row) and she was their best hitter so take what you want with that.
OffenseSetters: Hildebrand is speeding up the offense, low and quick, something new for the Beach. Meyer played Sets 1-3 and Chavira in Set 4. It's a little hard to compare the two since Meyer played more then Chavira. The one set
Chavira played, seemed like she had a harder time connecting with her hitters with this new fast offense, but in her defense, set 4 had most of the starters out and the passing started to break down.
As for
Meyer, she is athletic and has talent. The one thing that kills me from a setters standpoint is that she doesn't square her body to the outside like a setter should. Most of that has to do with her getting the ball out of her hands as fast as she can to keep the tempo. She does set a smooth ball overall, plays good defense, and dumps on two very well. She tried to force her middles a lot, sometimes it worked, sometimes it forced them to tip or they were trapped. But overall she can get the job done and I see her as the starter in 5-1 this season.
The one thing I do worry about the with the speed is that a lot of times the hitters would fall to their knees after each attack just to avoid going under the net and to prevent injury. I hope they adjust sooner rather than later.
Hitters: I want to say this right away.
This team is not going to be known for their power but more for their consistancy. They were able to get the ball past the block with the fast offense, but not with much power so they couldn't put it away. I'd say half of their kills they were able to tool the block as the Waves couldn't close or turn their hands in on time. Not sure if this is how Hildebrand wants to keep it but he had both his outside hitters play six rotations, with only the opposite getting subbed out for a DS. I'm so used to seeing an army of liberos playing. Because he always has a back row outside there, the Beach set the back row quite a bit. Occasionally sets went too far in front or behind their head but like I said the team is still adjusting to the speed.
Morgan Chacon is by far the most consistent one out there. She did that at FSU, her all around beach game is going to have her on the floor at all times. Offensively the player I'm most impressed with was
Kennedy. She did great in the middle and at opposite. Last season she was all-conference and she continues to improve her game. She even has a slide attack now which is awesome and she probably puts the most heat on the ball.
Schwarzenbach is getting fed the ball more often than she did at Nebraska and she may not be thumping the ball, she is throwing it down on the forced sets and kept the Waves out of system.
Aside from those three,
Bacon did well in her two sets played, wasn't given the ball too often though. The second outside spot right now is between
Glenn and
Jordan. Both didn't do too great, had some kills but also some errors to go along with it. Honestly, I felt like Glenn's best swings were in rotation 1 when she swings from the right side which makes me wonder why she doesn't play opposite considering she is a lefty. Passing is both iffy too, Glenn makes a lot of movement when she passes, some were good and some were overpasses/shanks. Jordan needs more reps out there too.
Stone had a few kills and errors, needs more experience but she did have a nice bounce with no blockers up.
At opposite
O'Sullivan didn't get to produce too much, a lot of that had to do with the tempo. Half of it was with the setting, the other was with her swings. Some sets were too tight, sometimes she'd hit into the block. She has potential but they need to keep her more off the net. Even when
Kennedy was there, she had to adjust to the sets.
Williams played along the front in the last set, not as much power as I'd hope from her but she was able to tool the block for a few kills.
Serving: No one really stood out for me serving. There was no extremely tough servers. Pepperdine struggled with passing early on and one may think it's cause of tough serving from LBSU but Pepperdine adjusted and then they improved and there really was no serving pressure from the Beach. Set one killed me though, so many service errors. Meyer overall probably had 5-6 on her own.
DefenseBlocking: This team is pretty good at blocking. They were getting a lot of touches and collected a lot of blocks. You can tell when
Schwarzenbach is in the front row, she is really patrolling the net which has always been her strength.
Bacon did well too getting a lot of touches.
Sheffie had some good moments too.
Back-Row: I thought the DS/L combo of
De La Cruz/
S. Chacon were great today. Both passed well and played good defense. Because the blockers got a lot of touches, they didn't have to go diving for balls as much, they were able to sit in their base position and just dig. I'd say their second ball setting was good as well. I think this duo will do good things for the Beach. Aside as middle back defenders, there wasn't really much standout because the blocks were getting a lot of the touches.
Passing: As just mentioned the liberos passed well. M.Chacon solid in passing too. Glenn as mentioned a bit shaky and Jordan and Stone need improvement. Even with two six rotation outsides plus a Libero and a DS, they kept at three person serve receive and would hide the outside who was currently in the back row which was interesting to me considering one rotation they hide M.Chacon and kept Jordan.
Line-Ups vs Pepperdine
| Set 1 (W) | Set 2 (L) | Set 3 (W) | Set 4 (L) |
| Outside | M.Chacon | M.Chacon | M.Chacon | Jordan |
| Outside | Glenn | Jordan | Glenn | Stone |
| Opposite | O'Sullivan
(DS: S.Chacon) | O'Sullivan
(DS: S.Chacon) | Kennedy
(DS: De La Cruz) | Williams
(DS: Hoff) |
| Middle | Schwarzenbach | Schwarzenbach | Schwarzenbach | Bacon |
| Middle | Kennedy
(SS: Lopez) | Kennedy
(SS: Lopez) | Bacon
(SS: Giambi) | Sheffie
(SS: Giambi) |
| Setter | Meyer | Meyer | Meyer | Chavira |
| Libero | De La Cruz | De La Cruz | S.Chacon | S.Chacon |
Overall: Regardless of this team not really have power hitters, I think they'll be consistent enough to compete with the top teams in the conference. Their blocking and serve receive will help a lot.
If I could choose a line-up it would be this:
Outsides: M.Chacon, Glenn
Opposite: Kennedy (DS: S.Chacon)
Middles: Schwarzenbach, Bacon (SS: Lopez)
Setter: Meyer
Libero: De La Cruz
