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Post by oldmanvb on Oct 26, 2023 8:24:59 GMT -5
Now the biggest match of the remainder of the season is the Purdue match. Particularly after looking so terrible in the first Purdue match, winning would have the double bonus of beating a top 20 team and keeping slim tournament hopes alive. I am still persuaded 13-7 in the B1G, which would probably be a 5th place finish, will get them into the tourney, despite the terrible RPI. This is not the same team that inexplicably lost to ND, Oklahoma and WSU.
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Post by inpaign on Oct 26, 2023 10:35:41 GMT -5
Whew, what a crazy match last night. That box score is insane. We looked good in sets 1, 3 and 5, bad in set 2 and straight up terrible in set 4. If we can get some consistency throughout matches, we can cause some chaos these last 9 games of the season. I was pleased with what I saw. The serving was amazing, it finally paid off. Brooke Mosher looked very solid. Nunge is still looking much better than she did earlier in the season. Burbage looked good when she took rips..she's gotta cut back on the tips. She has such a heavy arm, often she can power it through the block. Kennedy Collins was amazing, what can't she do? She was consistently getting kills, served extremely well, had a few digs (including a layout!!), and of course showed off her ability to set. Bohm was much more active offensively, and it paid off! If we can continue to serve receive well, we can keep her involved. Our serve receive was very spotty. When it was bad...it was bad. But that's not a surprise at this point in the season. Our defense is also very spotty. Barnes had one of her best games in my opinion. One thing I think we really struggle with is defending balls above our platforms. We use this sand volleyball-looking technique to redirect the ball up, but often times it goes right back over the net or, with Pan, it usually hits off her hands and heads behind her into the stands. Just an observation. I will say last night we looked like a competitive team which was nice. Looking at replays of the match, we looked like a Big Ten volleyball team finally. Also, I felt Tamas was more proactive with most of his timeouts and really halted some runs that could've gotten much worse. I'd like to recognize how amazing of a setter Haworth is, she is so underrated. and her lefty swing is lethal. Their lib was also crazy too, and only a freshman!
Looking forward, still feels like our chances of a tournament birth are slim. This Purdue game becomes crucial. With our RPI of 95, we have to move up about 50 spots in the next 9 games. Not impossible, but very difficult. You'd have to think wins over IU and Purdue in one week would help us significantly. Part of me feels like the committee would overlook a below-optimal RPI if we finished top 6 in the conference. A little insider information for you all if you didn't already know: the week of tournament selection, teams on the bubble vying for a birth can "plead their case" via their head coach. Last year Tamas explained our injury situation - of course we didn't get in, but also only had a 15-15 record. If we can stay competitive to end the year, he will absolutely have a chance to explain to the committee the situation with Jessica Nunge, and how she didn't join the team until after some of our bad losses. I'm NOT saying that will make a difference, just felt it's important that he has the opportunity to at least put an explanation to some of our bad losses. Okay, done ranting. Thanks to those that finished reading!
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Post by tophe on Oct 26, 2023 11:17:52 GMT -5
The BTN announcers made it sound like the video display could be part of the issue of why the Illini play was better in sets 1,3, and 5 than in sets 2 and 4. Any truth to this?
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 26, 2023 14:36:35 GMT -5
Whew, what a crazy match last night. That box score is insane. We looked good in sets 1, 3 and 5, bad in set 2 and straight up terrible in set 4. If we can get some consistency throughout matches, we can cause some chaos these last 9 games of the season. I was pleased with what I saw. The serving was amazing, it finally paid off. Brooke Mosher looked very solid. Nunge is still looking much better than she did earlier in the season. Burbage looked good when she took rips..she's gotta cut back on the tips. She has such a heavy arm, often she can power it through the block. Kennedy Collins was amazing, what can't she do? She was consistently getting kills, served extremely well, had a few digs (including a layout!!), and of course showed off her ability to set. Bohm was much more active offensively, and it paid off! If we can continue to serve receive well, we can keep her involved. Our serve receive was very spotty. When it was bad...it was bad. But that's not a surprise at this point in the season. Our defense is also very spotty. Barnes had one of her best games in my opinion. One thing I think we really struggle with is defending balls above our platforms. We use this sand volleyball-looking technique to redirect the ball up, but often times it goes right back over the net or, with Pan, it usually hits off her hands and heads behind her into the stands. Just an observation. I will say last night we looked like a competitive team which was nice. Looking at replays of the match, we looked like a Big Ten volleyball team finally. Also, I felt Tamas was more proactive with most of his timeouts and really halted some runs that could've gotten much worse. I'd like to recognize how amazing of a setter Haworth is, she is so underrated. and her lefty swing is lethal. Their lib was also crazy too, and only a freshman! Looking forward, still feels like our chances of a tournament birth are slim. This Purdue game becomes crucial. With our RPI of 95, we have to move up about 50 spots in the next 9 games. Not impossible, but very difficult. You'd have to think wins over IU and Purdue in one week would help us significantly. Part of me feels like the committee would overlook a below-optimal RPI if we finished top 6 in the conference. A little insider information for you all if you didn't already know: the week of tournament selection, teams on the bubble vying for a birth can "plead their case" via their head coach. Last year Tamas explained our injury situation - of course we didn't get in, but also only had a 15-15 record. If we can stay competitive to end the year, he will absolutely have a chance to explain to the committee the situation with Jessica Nunge, and how she didn't join the team until after some of our bad losses. I'm NOT saying that will make a difference, just felt it's important that he has the opportunity to at least put an explanation to some of our bad losses. Okay, done ranting. Thanks to those that finished reading! No clue about the NCAA "plead your case." I think if we beat Pur/OSU and maybe Minn we could have a shot at the tourney. Would love to see the team salvage the season.
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Post by vbkahuna on Oct 26, 2023 15:22:04 GMT -5
The BTN announcers made it sound like the video display could be part of the issue of why the Illini play was better in sets 1,3, and 5 than in sets 2 and 4. Any truth to this? Yeah, I believe that's the new "Huff Death Ray" they installed into the giant video board instead of building the new volleyball arena. Who spilled the beans?
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Post by oldmanvb on Oct 26, 2023 16:42:19 GMT -5
This is intriguing. Which end of the court were they facing in sets 2 and 4? Were they distracted watching play on the video board, or was the problem turning around to watch play?
Personally, I like the notion of distracting the opponents. Is there some software out there we could use to distort what the opponents are watching?
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Post by tophe on Oct 27, 2023 13:01:25 GMT -5
They were facing the screen in sets 2 and 4. It's possible that the backlighting from the screen could make it more difficult to track the ball well, but I honestly don't know if it's an issue. Just asking since the announcers mentioned it and said the Illini face away from the screen in set 1 for "home court advantage".
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 27, 2023 16:49:29 GMT -5
They were facing the screen in sets 2 and 4. It's possible that the backlighting from the screen could make it more difficult to track the ball well, but I honestly don't know if it's an issue. Just asking since the announcers mentioned it and said the Illini face away from the screen in set 1 for "home court advantage". When each team won a set they were facing away from the screen. I think that’s what the announcers were referencing. Did it matter in the 5th? I don’t remember who got to 8 1st, when they switched sides
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Post by exit237a on Oct 27, 2023 17:59:39 GMT -5
Great segment with Raina from BTN's At The Net:
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Post by oldmanvb on Oct 27, 2023 19:52:22 GMT -5
At one point, along with a couple of guys I played with, we believed with hard floater serves the ball moved in the opposite direction of the valve when the ball was struck. We also looked for fans, ventilations shafts and open doors thinking air movement would impact the float. Would love to know if anyone has done any research into what influences ball movement. All of our conclusions were anecdotal, generally studied over beers — probably not science based analysis, but we were persuaded.
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Post by exit237a on Oct 27, 2023 20:52:13 GMT -5
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 27, 2023 21:39:26 GMT -5
At one point, along with a couple of guys I played with, we believed with hard floater serves the ball moved in the opposite direction of the valve when the ball was struck. We also looked for fans, ventilations shafts and open doors thinking air movement would impact the float. Would love to know if anyone has done any research into what influences ball movement. All of our conclusions were anecdotal, generally studied over beers — probably not science based analysis, but we were persuaded. When I played, the jump serve was just starting to catch on 88-92. I had a wicked line drive flat serve that dipped. Seems like the flat no spin floaters move the most.
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 28, 2023 20:06:24 GMT -5
Huge win for us tonight and a great week. Beating IU & PUR should pull our RPI down to the 60-70 range. Need to beat who we should beat and win @ MINN or OSU.
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Post by Pasquale on Oct 28, 2023 20:14:04 GMT -5
Illinois currently sitting alone in fifth place in the Big Ten.
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Post by ilalum92 on Oct 28, 2023 20:37:38 GMT -5
Wow! Michigan pulls the upset in 5 over PSU.
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