Post by inpaign on Nov 12, 2023 22:23:45 GMT -5
You'd think I'd be ecstatic about taking a set off the #1 team in the country, but the truth is...today's game was a huge disappointment. As ilalum92 put it best, we are so Jekyll and Hyde it's frustrating! The first two sets, we looked like a junior high team. The last two sets, we looked like a legitimate tournament team that could compete with anyone in the country. As I said before the match, I felt we matched up better with Nebraska than Wisconsin, and that proved to be true today. There's no question that Nebraska is a step above us, but if we would've played a clean match throughout, we could've kept things closer and potentially stolen one of those first two sets, just like we did the third. YES, I am proud of the girls for fighting their butts off and playing out of their mind that third (and mostly fourth) set, but it is okay to still be disappointed about those first two.
The good from today: Raina Terry per usual. Such a stud. She could be a starting pin for Nebraska but chooses to battle with us day in and day out. I respect the hell out of it. Cari Bohm is an amazing blocker - I can't wait to see her develop over her next 3 years. Mosher's top spin serve was phenomenal today. Also, Mosher's defense shouldn't be understated. Jess Nunge was on fire tooling that Nebraska block like nobody's business. Loved all of that so much.
The bad: SERVE RECEIVE. It bit us in the ass again and again throughout the match, and we allowed Nebraska to have their best serving match of the season and the first match all season where they had more aces than errors. Personally, I'd say that's more due to our serve receive than it was their serving. If I'm being honest, most of our problems today were a result of our backrow play. Lily Barry cannot serve receive....as a DS that is a skill she HAS to develop or it will be hard to ensure she gets playing time. That is on the coaches to work on developing, but us Illini fans recognize the lack of development we've seen in our back row over recent years specifically. I hate beating down on particular players because I do believe they are all trying their best, but Pan was awful today. She cannot serve receive, and her defensive skills are totally lacking. An observation I constantly make with her is that, when playing right back, she is constantly in self-protection mode instead of defense mode. Her platform is never ready, and she actually flinches and puts her hands to her face to protect herself, which is what leads to wreckless first contacts that send the ball behind her or back to the other side of the net. As a backrow player in the Big Ten, she signed up to put her body on the line - I'd really like to see someone work with her to develop that instinct to defend first, protect second. Again, COACHING. Finally, either we are terrible servers and continuously missed our zones, or we were being coached to serve Lexi Rodriguez. The amount of times Lexi received serve was stunning to watch. She puts up perfect passing numbers, and there's a reason Big Ten teams avoid her. Yet for whatever reason, we constantly challenged her. Needless to say, we lost that battle and as a result, Nebraska punished us when they were in system.
Now we sit low in the RPI needing a miracle to make the tournament. 3 of our final 4 opponents are top 100 in RPI, but it will be a long shot and we will need teams in front of us to lose. Regardless of what happens, I hope we can finish the season strong and build momentum heading into next season. I think we all see the holes Tamas needs to fill WITH THE PORTAL this offseason, and all we can do is hope he sees them and is determined to fix them just as much as we hope. Thanks for reading guys
The good from today: Raina Terry per usual. Such a stud. She could be a starting pin for Nebraska but chooses to battle with us day in and day out. I respect the hell out of it. Cari Bohm is an amazing blocker - I can't wait to see her develop over her next 3 years. Mosher's top spin serve was phenomenal today. Also, Mosher's defense shouldn't be understated. Jess Nunge was on fire tooling that Nebraska block like nobody's business. Loved all of that so much.
The bad: SERVE RECEIVE. It bit us in the ass again and again throughout the match, and we allowed Nebraska to have their best serving match of the season and the first match all season where they had more aces than errors. Personally, I'd say that's more due to our serve receive than it was their serving. If I'm being honest, most of our problems today were a result of our backrow play. Lily Barry cannot serve receive....as a DS that is a skill she HAS to develop or it will be hard to ensure she gets playing time. That is on the coaches to work on developing, but us Illini fans recognize the lack of development we've seen in our back row over recent years specifically. I hate beating down on particular players because I do believe they are all trying their best, but Pan was awful today. She cannot serve receive, and her defensive skills are totally lacking. An observation I constantly make with her is that, when playing right back, she is constantly in self-protection mode instead of defense mode. Her platform is never ready, and she actually flinches and puts her hands to her face to protect herself, which is what leads to wreckless first contacts that send the ball behind her or back to the other side of the net. As a backrow player in the Big Ten, she signed up to put her body on the line - I'd really like to see someone work with her to develop that instinct to defend first, protect second. Again, COACHING. Finally, either we are terrible servers and continuously missed our zones, or we were being coached to serve Lexi Rodriguez. The amount of times Lexi received serve was stunning to watch. She puts up perfect passing numbers, and there's a reason Big Ten teams avoid her. Yet for whatever reason, we constantly challenged her. Needless to say, we lost that battle and as a result, Nebraska punished us when they were in system.
Now we sit low in the RPI needing a miracle to make the tournament. 3 of our final 4 opponents are top 100 in RPI, but it will be a long shot and we will need teams in front of us to lose. Regardless of what happens, I hope we can finish the season strong and build momentum heading into next season. I think we all see the holes Tamas needs to fill WITH THE PORTAL this offseason, and all we can do is hope he sees them and is determined to fix them just as much as we hope. Thanks for reading guys