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Post by savannahbadger on Feb 2, 2023 7:32:42 GMT -5
I think we'll basically have the same lineups as last year with the following changes: - Booth in for Hart - TTA in the front row / Orzel in the back row - no serving subs (to account for the subs used with TTA/Orzel) BTW, we'll have the biggest/best block in the nation with Smrek & Booth blocking the opposing teams best left side. Good lord! The key to the season will be if GG can improve her passing. If so, the sky is the limit. Is it August yet? Ignoring what Smrek did against Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year.
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Post by mnwis20 on Feb 2, 2023 7:45:26 GMT -5
I think we'll basically have the same lineups as last year with the following changes: - Booth in for Hart - TTA in the front row / Orzel in the back row - no serving subs (to account for the subs used with TTA/Orzel) BTW, we'll have the biggest/best block in the nation with Smrek & Booth blocking the opposing teams best left side. Good lord! The key to the season will be if GG can improve her passing. If so, the sky is the limit. Is it August yet? Ignoring what Smrek did against Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year. I mean we saw it some last year too in addition to the national title run, but if Smrek can hit a quick out of the middle she’s basically unstoppable. She reaches so high so fast and is only facing one blocker, she’s hard to stop. With that, if she can work on her swings more out of the right she’ll be a continued really solid weapon. I can see TTA or Franklin on the right but I’m not sure I see Orzol on the right. She’s a fairly solid blocker for her height but she’s better on the left IMO.
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Post by BadgerAce42 on Feb 2, 2023 8:19:02 GMT -5
I think we'll basically have the same lineups as last year with the following changes: - Booth in for Hart - TTA in the front row / Orzel in the back row - no serving subs (to account for the subs used with TTA/Orzel) BTW, we'll have the biggest/best block in the nation with Smrek & Booth blocking the opposing teams best left side. Good lord! The key to the season will be if GG can improve her passing. If so, the sky is the limit. Is it August yet? Ignoring what Smrek did against Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year. I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season.
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Post by mnwis20 on Feb 2, 2023 9:47:01 GMT -5
Ignoring what Smrek did against Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year. I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season. Am I remembering correctly that Smrek was injured part of last year too? I mean again, going back and watching those 2021 Louisville and Nebraska games, she just shredded two very good defensive teams. If she’s healthy and getting good sets, Smrek is a force.
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Post by badgerbreath on Feb 2, 2023 9:48:53 GMT -5
Ignoring what Smrek did against Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year. I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season. She seems to need a very different ball from everyone else and that looked to be challenging to the setters. She also doesn't seem to adjust quite as well as Rettke and therefore seems to have a smaller "window" for a hittable ball than Dana. They often set her so she was forced to hit down into the block. I expect setting will improve some as it did toward the end of the year, especially in terms of adapting to specific hitters.
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Post by volleystan on Feb 2, 2023 9:50:31 GMT -5
I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season. Am I remembering correctly that Smrek was injured part of last year too? I mean again, going back and watching those 2021 Louisville and Nebraska games, she just shredded two very good defensive teams. If she’s healthy and getting good sets, Smrek is a force. Yeah setting was a big part of it, and I think Smrek was working on making her approach and swing more consistent. Hoping they keep working hard on that connection in the off-season because she can be completely dominant.
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Post by taxidea on Feb 2, 2023 10:59:26 GMT -5
I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season. She seems to need a very different ball from everyone else and that looked to be challenging to the setters. She also doesn't seem to adjust quite as well as Rettke and therefore seems to have. a smaller "window" for a hittable ball than Dana. They often set her so she was forced to hit down into the block. I expect setting will improve some as it did toward the end of the year, especially in terms of adapting to specific hitters. +1 and I couldn’t agree more about Smrek. A great deal of un-tapped potential given what I’ll describe as uninspiring performance from the setters last season. Indeed, I believe that Julia - as another example, was similarly handcuffed by this disconnect with the setters, brought on by the diverse height/contact points and approach dynamics of our hitters. I’ll leave it at that. Hopefully the connections with hitters, and the overall setting performance improves next season. Along with the passing. On Wisconsin!!
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Post by mibadger on Feb 2, 2023 11:40:00 GMT -5
I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season. She seems to need a very different ball from everyone else and that looked to be challenging to the setters. She also doesn't seem to adjust quite as well as Rettke and therefore seems to have a smaller "window" for a hittable ball than Dana. They often set her so she was forced to hit down into the block. I expect setting will improve some as it did toward the end of the year, especially in terms of adapting to specific hitters. She brutalized other teams on a quick set. I agree that her and mj struggled early and got much better later on.
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Post by yodabadger on Feb 2, 2023 13:31:18 GMT -5
I think we'll basically have the same lineups as last year with the following changes: - Booth in for Hart - TTA in the front row / Orzel in the back row - no serving subs (to account for the subs used with TTA/Orzel) BTW, we'll have the biggest/best block in the nation with Smrek & Booth blocking the opposing teams best left side. Good lord! The key to the season will be if GG can improve her passing. If so, the sky is the limit. Is it August yet? Ignoring what Smrek did again'st Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year. Anna's blocking numbers may never look "great" because teams and hitters are going to do everything they can to avoid her block (e.g., set farther of the net, hit and tip around her, etc).
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Post by savannahbadger on Feb 2, 2023 14:38:58 GMT -5
I think part of it was also setting. Her and MJ improved their connection toward the end of the season. Smrek disappeared a lot in conference play when Hilley was setting. I don’t think it’s as simple as blaming MJ & Izzy.
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Post by tablealgebra on Feb 2, 2023 14:48:48 GMT -5
Ignoring what Smrek did against Louisville and Nebraska 2 years ago, can anyone really feel that great about what Smrek brings to the table? No question she’s one of the biggest blockers, but… best? Hopefully she takes a big leap forward this year, but if not… my guess is that she’s the most likely to be the odd person out. Someone else (Orzoł, Franklin, TTA) is going to have to play on the right this year. I mean we saw it some last year too in addition to the national title run, but if Smrek can hit a quick out of the middle she’s basically unstoppable. She reaches so high so fast and is only facing one blocker, she’s hard to stop. With that, if she can work on her swings more out of the right she’ll be a continued really solid weapon. I can see TTA or Franklin on the right but I’m not sure I see Orzol on the right. She’s a fairly solid blocker for her height but she’s better on the left IMO. Regarding TTA/Franklin on the right, they both have hit from the right in matches (as OH's often do when they start front right in serve receive and the opposite is front left). I have never seen Julia switch over to the right side - with her they instead run a stack in that situation and run the Opp/MB by her while the serve is coming in to get them in position to hit normally. Notably, I recall Nebraska going on a run in the 2021 national championship game in the 4th set by exploiting this and serving into that cross traffic. (summary - I agree) Smrek has such potential to be dominant, but presents problems for us because she is most comfortable hitting from the middle but we have MB's who are better defensive middle blockers than her, but also none of them this year are slide hitters (unless Devyn moves over from the RS). Thus, she ends up pushing someone else into an uncomfortable hitting position and becomes a problem in transition as well, which for a team that looks to score in transition (as we did last year) is a problem. Still though, because dominant hitters can take over a match like no other position, I think Anna gets a bit more leeway than some other players because the payoff could be so good in the end.
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Post by badgerbreath on Feb 2, 2023 15:21:28 GMT -5
Even Devyn isn't the most comfortable slide hitter we have had at UW, though you'd think with her physicality she was tailor made for the role. Dana was the dominant slide hitter in the 5-1. It used to be a real strength of badger teams.
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Post by tablealgebra on Feb 2, 2023 15:27:31 GMT -5
Even Devyn isn't the most comfortable slide hitter we have had at UW, though you'd think with her physicality she was tailor made for the role. Dana was the dominant slide hitter in the 5-1. It used to be a real strength of badger teams. I agree that Devyn is still better on the quick, but if she has to run a slide I think she looks fine. I don't recall Booth hitting many slides at all at Minnesota, and I don't feel confident with CC on her slide. But you never know - maybe they'll come back this year and crush it on the slide.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2023 16:49:35 GMT -5
Even Devyn isn't the most comfortable slide hitter we have had at UW, though you'd think with her physicality she was tailor made for the role. Dana was the dominant slide hitter in the 5-1. It used to be a real strength of badger teams. I agree that Devyn is still better on the quick, but if she has to run a slide I think she looks fine. I don't recall Booth hitting many slides at all at Minnesota, and I don't feel confident with CC on her slide. But you never know - maybe they'll come back this year and crush it on the slide. booth ran slides at minny and absolutely crushes them
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Post by pancake74 on Feb 2, 2023 17:10:24 GMT -5
I agree that Devyn is still better on the quick, but if she has to run a slide I think she looks fine. I don't recall Booth hitting many slides at all at Minnesota, and I don't feel confident with CC on her slide. But you never know - maybe they'll come back this year and crush it on the slide. booth ran slides at minny and absolutely crushes them You don't run a slide as much if you are running a 6-2 because there is always a right side player. So the slide is only an option on cross plays where the right side hitter hits out of the middle. That play can depend on the matchups you are hitting against as well as who the offensive options are and their positional strengths. The 6-2 is part of why we didn't see a lot of slides out of CC. Booth hit a lot of slides for the gophers. I would rate her quickness somewhere between Danielle and Smrek.
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