|
Post by StuffU on Oct 6, 2005 11:33:25 GMT -5
I'd love to be able to watch this one on TV. Unfortunatley, the Pac 10 game of the week is the Wildcats vs. the Sundevils. All favorites aside this is a bad decision by the Pac 10 and Fox They're scheduled to show the Stanford-Washington match later in the season at UW, so I guess they didn't feel it was "fair" to the other schools of the Pac-10 to show this match as well. What I don't understand is why FSN isn't willing to show more than 1 match per week, which they then run repeats of later in the week. Why can't they just show the other matches instead of repeating the same one?? Production costs.
|
|
|
Post by chipNdink on Oct 6, 2005 12:16:14 GMT -5
Well, if FSN is too cheap to mount their own productions, then they should be willing to broadcast the school's own production for free. It certainly beats repeating a less interesting match multiple times. I'm sure Stanford would be more than willing to at least produce a student-run broadcast of the match and provide it to FSN.
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Oct 6, 2005 12:22:59 GMT -5
What a perfect seg-way to tell my story. I was at the Oasis in Menlo Park in the summer of '99 after attending one of Ruben Nieves's VB clinics. I thought I recognized Don Shaw although I didn't make too much of it. Later, he came by to say hi to the Stanford men's coaching staff. I thought I'd take an opportunity to ask him what he thought of Cal's hiring of Rich Feller. The first thing he said after I told him I was a Cal fan was, "You're a what?" Great way to start a conversation. He then went on to say, "He a fine man and a great coach. Cal is lucky to have gotten him." He then expressed his concern that Cal's relative weakness (they were 2-16 in the Pac-10 that season) and what it meant for Pac-10 opponent preparations. Frankly - Pac-10 opponents were probably loading up to prepare for Stanford and (right or wrong) didn't worry about preparing for Cal. I guess that's not a problem now. I heard this story before but the only new wrinkle you added was your mention of The Oasis.
|
|
|
Post by BearClause on Oct 6, 2005 12:43:54 GMT -5
What a perfect seg-way to tell my story. I was at the Oasis in Menlo Park in the summer of '99 after attending one of Ruben Nieves's VB clinics. I thought I recognized Don Shaw although I didn't make too much of it. Later, he came by to say hi to the Stanford men's coaching staff. I thought I'd take an opportunity to ask him what he thought of Cal's hiring of Rich Feller. The first thing he said after I told him I was a Cal fan was, "You're a what?"; Great way to start a conversation. He then went on to say, "He a fine man and a great coach. Cal is lucky to have gotten him." He then expressed his concern that Cal's relative weakness (they were 2-16 in the Pac-10 that season) and what it meant for Pac-10 opponent preparations. Frankly - Pac-10 opponents were probably loading up to prepare for Stanford and (right or wrong) didn't worry about preparing for Cal. I guess that's not a problem now. I heard this story before but the only new wrinkle you added was your mention of The Oasis. I could have sworn I always mentioned the Oasis. Man is that place a dive.
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Oct 6, 2005 12:46:48 GMT -5
Maybe I just forgot that you mentioned The Oasis before.
|
|
|
Post by StanfordFan on Oct 6, 2005 13:02:33 GMT -5
He's definitely mentioned before that it was the Oasis. Because I also remember thinking, ewww, what a dive. Maybe I just forgot that you mentioned The Oasis before.
|
|
|
Post by Wolfgang on Oct 6, 2005 14:08:29 GMT -5
I've never signed up for any clinics in the Bay Area. How are they?
I've only signed up for Marv Dunphy's clinics.
|
|
|
Post by prosem on Oct 6, 2005 14:33:08 GMT -5
Each week throughout the Pac-10 season, Pac-10.org's Women's Volleyball Columnist Cathy Nelson offers an inside look on the happenings around the Pac-10 Conference.
October 5, 2005
BATTLE OF THE UNBEATENS
The best Pac-10 action this weekend will be in the Bay Area, where undefeated and second-ranked Washington must travel to face No. 3 Stanford and No. 13 Cal, both of whom are 4-0 in league play. The Huskies have been nothing less than dominant so far this year, as they have yet to lose even a game in their 12 victories – the only team in the NCAA without a game loss this year. However, Stanford has looked equally impressive, winning 14 straight matches with its only loss to top-ranked Nebraska way back in August. And don’t forget Cal, who has six straight victories to its credit and an 11-2 overall record. Washington cannot afford to be thinking only about Stanford on this road trip, as the Golden Bears have made it clear that they are for real and they can beat anyone on their home floor.
Washington is as good offensively as anyone, and perhaps the best attacking team in the nation. They lead the NCAA in team hitting percentage at an incredible .423, almost 100 points higher than Nebraska, the second-ranked team. Individually, they have all five starting attackers in the top eight in the Conference in hitting percentage, and sophomore middle attacker Alesha Deesing is first in the nation, hitting .540 on the season. The reason for all this offensive success is twofold – great passing, and a terrific setter in junior All-American, Courtney Thompson. Thompson leads the nation in assists per game at 15.11 and runs an offense that gets great production from every position.
“A day doesn’t go by that I am not impressed with how Courtney approaches things,” said coach Jim McLaughlin. “She is seeing the game at a higher level.”
Similar to Cal, Washington has a very balanced attack offensively. Senior outside hitters Sanja Tomasevic and Brie Hagerty and right side Cristal Morrison have remarkably similar numbers. Morrison has 294 attempts, Tomasevic 260 and Hagerty 257. Morrison averages 4.14 kills per game, Tomasevic 4.03 and Hagerty 3.90. Add that with the highly efficient middle tandem of Deesing and Darla Myhre, who is hitting .490, there is really no way to stop the Huskies. You can only hope they will have an off-night passing, but with senior All-American libero Candace Lee anchoring the back line, they are very strong there as well. What Washington does so well, and is the key to its success, is that they do not beat themselves. They are an extremely low-error team and make teams find ways to beat them. As we have seen so far this year, that is not easily done.
Stanford is an extremely young team, with two freshmen in the starting lineup and two more receiving considerable playing time. However, the fact that both star freshmen Cynthia Barboza and Foluke Akinradewo have spent years in the USA National Team systems makes them experienced freshmen. And they have played like seasoned veterans this year, leading the Cardinal offensively as both average over four kills a game. Barboza, who recently received an ESPY for the High School Female Athlete of the year, led the team in kills in her first match in a Stanford uniform, finishing with 22 in a five-game win over Penn State. Akinradewo averaged 15 kills a game against the Oregon schools, and is hitting .415 on the year, the best by a freshman in the Pac-10 so far.
Stanford Coach John Dunning is very pleased with his team and their progress so far this season. “We have progressed really well, and I have been pleased with how well we play together, even though we are so young and don’t know each other all that well yet,” said Dunning. “We also play defense well and are very willing to hustle, which has been fun.”
They find themselves in a unfamiliar position against the Huskies, playing the role of underdog, which does not happen often at home for the No. 3 team in the nation. “We know them,” Dunning said. “They know us. We are a very different team than we were a year ago, and they are very much the same team as a year ago. They are a great team, and we know we will have to play a tremendous match to beat them.”
Stanford is solid in every aspect of the game and rank in the top three in every team statistical category but one – blocking. That is very uncharacteristic for the Cardinal, as they have led the Conference in blocking every year since 1998, with their lowest total during that time being 3.21 blocks per game. They are currently tied for seventh in the Pac-10 with 2.66 blocks per game. The loss of junior middle blocker Liz Suiter to an ankle injury to begin the season has not helped, as Suiter had one of the best blocking seasons in Cardinal history last year, finishing second all-time for single-season blocks. In addition, Stanford could put graduated senior Ogonna Nnamani by herself and allow her to block one-on-one, which the four-time All-American could certainly handle. This young group has much more to learn in terms of systems, and the blocking system is one that Stanford will be tested on this weekend.
If last year’s match in Palo Alto is any indication, this could be a contest to remember. Stanford lost the first two games, including a 30-11 drubbing, but managed to fight back to win games three and four, holding off 11 match points for Washington, and coming up with a 20-18 win in game five. These teams have faced each other six times in the past two seasons – four Conference matches and two NCAA matches - and have split those six matches. Each team has won at home in the Pac-10, and each has knocked the other out of the NCAA tournament, with Washington beating Stanford in 2003, and Stanford defeating Washington last year in the Final Four to get to the championship match. It seems we have a rivalry developing between these teams, and Stanford’s Dunning agrees.
“Whoever you play in the Pac-10 that is good, it creates a rivalry,” Dunning said. “In the past it has been UCLA and USC, but this group of players sees Washington as a rivalry match. We are very excited, and the young players’ enthusiasm rubs off on everyone else. This is one of the reasons you practice – to get to play in a match like this.”
You can bet this match will be hard-fought, and the winner will have a leg up on the competition for the Pac-10 title. These two teams are not only among the best in the Pac-10, but among the best in the nation and that is what will be showcased Saturday night. What will win - Washington’s experience or Stanford’s youth? My bet would be on the Huskies, but they have not won at Stanford since the 1989 season. Can they break a 15-year losing streak in Palo Alto? We will know Saturday night.
|
|
|
Post by StanfordFan on Oct 6, 2005 14:49:05 GMT -5
Personally, I think Stanford can win if Richards, 'Luke, and Barboza are all on. It seems, just looking at stats in past games, however, that the three of them are never all "on." I think Washington probably prevails in this game simply because of experience, but all bets are off come December.
|
|
|
Post by Pirate VB Fan on Oct 6, 2005 15:14:35 GMT -5
Too bad that Cathy Nelson did not notice that Sanja is playing RS this year and Christal is play LOH, not the other way around. It really shows how well Courtney distributes the ball that the RS has numbers almost equal to the OH1 (who plays all the way around and is great from the backrow) and better than the OH2 (who only plays frontrow).
It is interesting that Sanja, while playing RS (technically, OPP), does not take the second ball when Court digs it. Darla does the setting in place of Sanja.
|
|
|
Post by chipNdink on Oct 6, 2005 15:20:19 GMT -5
(previous stuff deleted) “We know them,” Dunning said. “They know us. We are a very different team than we were a year ago, and they are very much the same team as a year ago. (rest of stuff delete) Stanford will be in for a rude awakening if they think Washington is "very much the same team as a year ago". Washington is MUCH MUCH BETTER than last year's team.
|
|
|
Post by Gorf on Oct 6, 2005 16:37:28 GMT -5
I know Washington is a very good team but I'm not convinced that they're better this year than they were last year before their injuries.
This year with Hawaii not playing up to expectations, and Arizona still being Arizona the Huskies still haven't played any true top level pponents.
If the Washington does to Stanford and Cal what they've done to all of their other opponents I'll be more inclined to think they're better this year than last year.
|
|
|
Post by seismic911 on Oct 6, 2005 16:42:35 GMT -5
I guess I don't mind if UW win this match. A timely mid-season loss to a quality opponent through a hard fought battle can do magic comes December. Just look at 2001 (to USC) and last year (to UW)!
|
|
|
Post by chipNdink on Oct 6, 2005 17:15:43 GMT -5
I know Washington is a very good team but I'm not convinced that they're better this year than they were last year before their injuries. This year with Hawaii not playing up to expectations, and Arizona still being Arizona the Huskies still haven't played any true top level pponents. If the Washington does to Stanford and Cal what they've done to all of their other opponents I'll be more inclined to think they're better this year than last year. Well, actually Cal and Stanford did NOT play Washington last year until AFTER Tomasevic was injured. Then Morrison was injured before and during the Final Four. So that ALONE makes Washington a better team than Cal and Stanford faced last year. However, there's more: Alesha Deesing has come into her own as a force in the middle for Washington. Last year, Jessica Veris played middle for Washington; and although she played very well, she's not a true middle, but a converted OH who played middle out of necessity. This year's team also has Sanja at RS, rather than OH; which means she's now often blocking opponent's strong side hitters. That certainly has helped keep opponent's hitting percentage to such low levels--besides the vastly improved serving and defense of Danka Danicic, who often does not get enough credit outside the limelight of Candace Lee. Danicic's defense has improved to such an extent that it's literally like having two liberos out on the court simultaneously most of the time. She could easily be the starting libero on most other teams.
|
|
|
Post by BearClause on Oct 6, 2005 17:57:02 GMT -5
I know Washington is a very good team but I'm not convinced that they're better this year than they were last year before their injuries. This year with Hawaii not playing up to expectations, and Arizona still being Arizona the Huskies still haven't played any true top level pponents. If the Washington does to Stanford and Cal what they've done to all of their other opponents I'll be more inclined to think they're better this year than last year. Well, actually Cal and Stanford did NOT play Washington last year until AFTER Tomasevic was injured. Then Morrison was injured before and during the Final Four. So that ALONE makes Washington a better team than Cal and Stanford faced last year. However, there's more: Alesha Deesing has come into her own as a force in the middle for Washington. Last year, Jessica Veris played middle for Washington; and although she played very well, she's not a true middle, but a converted OH who played middle out of necessity. This year's team also has Sanja at RS, rather than OH; which means she's now often blocking opponent's strong side hitters. That certainly has helped keep opponent's hitting percentage to such low levels--besides the vastly improved serving and defense of Danka Danicic, who often does not get enough credit outside the limelight of Candace Lee. Danicic's defense has improved to such an extent that it's literally like having two liberos out on the court simultaneously most of the time. She could easily be the starting libero on most other teams. Most of their starting lineup will be gone next season. Perhaps Colleymore and Mussie (is she redshirting?) will be very good in the lineup next season, but the talent that's gone won't be easily replaced, if that's possible. Top 10......maybe.
|
|