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Game Thread: #24 Buffs VB vs San Diego
- Thread starter AztecBuff
- Start date
That's where my volleyball knowledge comes from, that, and watching Side Out a lot in the early 90's.
Can you expound on that?
MObuff
Well-Known Member
I got the feeling that Kritza was hoping that Austin and Hayes were better passers than they actually showed tonight. Hayes had a bad night. I would hate to see her stat line. Austin tries to pass the ball as high as possible to ensure that one of her teammates can get under it if she screws up and the ball is off target. That isn't a sign of a confident player. Kritza needs to ask herself if this is the best passing unit I can put on the floor for each and every rotation.
Serve receive affects everything in a match. A bad pass pulls the setter away from the net and forces her to make a predictable set to the outside hitter. CU's best attack came from the middles. You can't set the middle hitters on a bad pass. San Diego was loading up on the outside just waiting to block Austin all night long. CU has one good passer, Cierra Simpson. One decent outside, Alexis Austin, and a bunch of middles.
Side note...hello Naghede Abu!!! She was so good that she got in the heads of San Diego hitters, and she is only playing off of instinct. Can't wait to see her once she figures everything out. You could feel the hesitation of Kritza having to sit Cuff to get Abu in the game. That's one coaching decision I am glad I don't have to make.
If it were my call, Hayes never sees the backrow. One of the freshman liberos can serve and receive for the rest of the season. A freshman should improve throughout the season faster than a upper classman, who has had a couple of seasons to better themselves. Let Hayes just focus on hitting on the outside if she is CU's only option. If Austin isn't terminating out of the backrow, she can have a seat too. Put in the other freshman libero for the set.
Big time disjointed mess.
What MOBuff wrote is pretty much what I saw last night. Hope it greats turned around today.
I'm going to take a patient approach to the season. With volleyball being the wonderful, constant momentum changing thing it is, and with match-ups against different opponents being HUGE, nothing much one way or the other can be learned in any one match, and especially not in the 1st match of the year. (Saw a note in cubuffs that this is the 3rd straight year the Buffs have opened up with a loss, and the last 2 seasons both ended up with NCAA tournament bids and (excruciatingly tough 5 set loss) Final 32 matches.)
1st, I think we need to remember who the opponent is. Although the perception of them may be dwarfed among the possible (based on preseason rankings) murderers row of matches the Buffs are playing these 1st 2 weekends against 3 top nine ranked teams, USD is, traditionally and recently, a VERY solid squad. Looking at last year's preseason schedule, I'd guess they would have probably been the Buffs 2nd or 3rd toughest non-conference opponent of the whole year (Illinois being the toughest last year, with USD being either #2 or #3 just ahead or behind Creighton). This was not even close to the Buffs probably worst non-con loss last year to the other USD (South Dakota, although even they ended up with a not horrible RPI of #92).
As MoBuff said, I'd say the back row defense is possibly the main cause for concern after (just) one night. However, this is definitely understandable to me with it being the 1st match of the year, the 1st college match EVER for the 2 freshmen defensive specialists, and a "rust busting" 1st match in ~11 months for (medical) redshirt sophomore Joslyn Hayes. Hopefully, the technical skill, individual confidence, communication and instinctive cohesion needed for good defense will (and should) improve as the season goes on.
On the plus side, also agree with MoBuff it could be exciting (again, can't tell too much from one match) if freshman Naghede Abu keeps playing/ blocking like she did last night. She tied for the team lead in blocks (4 block assists) while playing in I'd guess quite a bit less than 1/2 the points available to the rotation she ended up in. The blocking in general picked up a lot in the last 2 sets for ALL the Buffs (whether she was playing or not on the point), and that was also (coincidentally or not) when she started getting playing time. At minimum, looks to me like, if she keeps developing/ improving over the season (as all players need to do), she may this year be able to solidly fill the big blocking sub/ situational starting role that Rachel Hargis (mainly) filled last year.
One thing I'm looking forward to as a fan (hopefully not a pain to the 2 young women involved)- It will be fun to see how the setting situation flows this year, and how often during the season, in individual matches, and even within individual games, Coach Kritza and company switches between the 6-2 and 5-1. I was surprised the Buffs started in the 5-1 last night, as last year I believe they started almost every match in the 6-2 (Except maybe in the preseason when they were carefully monitoring Nicole Edelman as she recovered from back surgery and getting then freshman Gabby Simpson as much college experience as possible), then went to the 5-1 in a few matches the Buffs were down in to see if that was more effective. Of course this was only one match against one team/ match-up, but last night the Buffs actually seemed to score a little better when they switched over to the 6-2 (I believe late in the 2nd set?). It was also fun as a fan to see Nicole Edelman for I believe her 1st time as a Buff, as a senior, pound the ball some as a 6 rotation right side/ setter when they DID go to the 6-2. (She looked very solid (to my admittedly very uneducated eye) when in the hitter role.) It's also a great sign that she is 100% healthy, and ready for a full season. (Based on last night, it looks like both she and Gabby Simpson had better be in great shape, as they will probably be playing almost every point the Buffs play, especially once conference starts.)
1st, I think we need to remember who the opponent is. Although the perception of them may be dwarfed among the possible (based on preseason rankings) murderers row of matches the Buffs are playing these 1st 2 weekends against 3 top nine ranked teams, USD is, traditionally and recently, a VERY solid squad. Looking at last year's preseason schedule, I'd guess they would have probably been the Buffs 2nd or 3rd toughest non-conference opponent of the whole year (Illinois being the toughest last year, with USD being either #2 or #3 just ahead or behind Creighton). This was not even close to the Buffs probably worst non-con loss last year to the other USD (South Dakota, although even they ended up with a not horrible RPI of #92).
As MoBuff said, I'd say the back row defense is possibly the main cause for concern after (just) one night. However, this is definitely understandable to me with it being the 1st match of the year, the 1st college match EVER for the 2 freshmen defensive specialists, and a "rust busting" 1st match in ~11 months for (medical) redshirt sophomore Joslyn Hayes. Hopefully, the technical skill, individual confidence, communication and instinctive cohesion needed for good defense will (and should) improve as the season goes on.
On the plus side, also agree with MoBuff it could be exciting (again, can't tell too much from one match) if freshman Naghede Abu keeps playing/ blocking like she did last night. She tied for the team lead in blocks (4 block assists) while playing in I'd guess quite a bit less than 1/2 the points available to the rotation she ended up in. The blocking in general picked up a lot in the last 2 sets for ALL the Buffs (whether she was playing or not on the point), and that was also (coincidentally or not) when she started getting playing time. At minimum, looks to me like, if she keeps developing/ improving over the season (as all players need to do), she may this year be able to solidly fill the big blocking sub/ situational starting role that Rachel Hargis (mainly) filled last year.
One thing I'm looking forward to as a fan (hopefully not a pain to the 2 young women involved)- It will be fun to see how the setting situation flows this year, and how often during the season, in individual matches, and even within individual games, Coach Kritza and company switches between the 6-2 and 5-1. I was surprised the Buffs started in the 5-1 last night, as last year I believe they started almost every match in the 6-2 (Except maybe in the preseason when they were carefully monitoring Nicole Edelman as she recovered from back surgery and getting then freshman Gabby Simpson as much college experience as possible), then went to the 5-1 in a few matches the Buffs were down in to see if that was more effective. Of course this was only one match against one team/ match-up, but last night the Buffs actually seemed to score a little better when they switched over to the 6-2 (I believe late in the 2nd set?). It was also fun as a fan to see Nicole Edelman for I believe her 1st time as a Buff, as a senior, pound the ball some as a 6 rotation right side/ setter when they DID go to the 6-2. (She looked very solid (to my admittedly very uneducated eye) when in the hitter role.) It's also a great sign that she is 100% healthy, and ready for a full season. (Based on last night, it looks like both she and Gabby Simpson had better be in great shape, as they will probably be playing almost every point the Buffs play, especially once conference starts.)