Top 25 scores, No. 11 Hawaii 3, Cal Poly 0
1) Penn State def. Minnesota 25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 20-25, 15-12
4) Nebraska def. Iowa 25-10, 25-21, 25-18
9) Illinois def. Rutgers 25-20, 25-8, 25-16
10) BYU lost to Santa Clara 25-15, 19-25, 22-25, 20-25
15) Kansas def. TCU 25-21, 25-18, 26-24
19) Colorado State def. Boise State 19-25, 28-26, 22-25, 25-21, 15-12
20) Purdue def. Michigan State 18-25, 25-14, 26-24, 25-23
21) Minnesota lost to Penn State 22-25, 16-25, 25-19, 25-20, 12-15
22) Michigan def. Indiana 25-16, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16
23) Pacific def. Portland 25-21, 25-21, 16-25, 25-23
25) Long Beach State def. UC Irvine 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17
Same lineup for UH.
same links at Hawaiiathleteics.com
COMMENTS
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Hope they start off quick.
Crosson didn’t wait for the TTO> UH up 14-8 TO Mustangs. Manu-Olevao with 3 aces so far
Serving well. Way to start. Hope they can keep it up.
Maglio looked to get in the way of the serve-receive. goes down as an ace. Mustangs pull to 16-13. TO UH
Cal Poly with blocks of Manu-Olevao and Taylor, closes to 19-18. TO UH
Hitters facing 2 blockers on the last 2 plays.
Van Winden hits wide, it’s 22-20. TO Mustangs
Poly passing better has closed the gap.
Two blocks of Greenwald and a hitting error by Van Winden. UH wins 25-20
I’m glad the TV broadcast how Poly’s coach remarked that UH’s offense is predictable when out of system–basically go to Taylor. Easier to defend UH when that happens. The posters on this blog have mentioned that risk before. I hope the team continues to diversify. Middles set 8/36 times–not good. Taylor hitting .154. Need for others to be given a chance/step up.
Big West scores
No. 25 Long Beach State def. UC Irvine 25-18, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17
CSUN def. UC Davis, 25-16, 28-26, 23-25, 27-25
Magical Magill…
Higgins not setting well tonight IMO
10. It can be predictable. we know that. much hinges on their passing.
If you look at yesterday’s box, it was very balanced.
UH up 9-5. TO Cal Poly
Nice rally.
UH on 6-0 run. Anderson still serving 13-5. TO CP
Higgins leading all diggers.
13. tough crowd. Team hitting .333
Magill 5-0-8, Maglio 3–0-8
Savanah’s passing is allowing us to run the middle.
14. Yes, very balanced last night against a lesser opponent. Let’s see that balance against LBSU, Poly, Power 5. That’s my point–to do well against the better and the great teams. Need to develop multiple, consistent options so that Taylor is not the obvious choice.
Team is hitting .333 because they have been improvising. Nikki with a standing kill, tai with a couple tips on sets way too tight, magill with tips. Passing is not that bad, so can’t blame that. Credit Hawaii hitters. Granted, Higgins has been playing better later this set.
17. thank you for pointing that out. which means she wasn’t the setter a number of times. UH hitting .600 this set
20. What do you want me to say. they’ve become more balanced. They’ve adjusted. They knew they had to do that.
but it all hinges on passing. Agree. We’ll see what happens when that goes south
Koelsch with a step out to Mitchem. Wahine win 25-12
UH was 14-0-22 in Set 2 with 5 blocks. Magill 6-0-9, Maglio 4-0-6. Manu-Olevao 7-1-1, Taylor 6-2-15, Greeley 3-1-12. Mitchem 1-0-1.
With CP’s middles not as effective in hitting and blocking, I’d like to see Higgins get more offensive like her CP counterpart. Otherwise, I’m happy that the Higgins and M connection working very well. Thank you to the backrow crew.
Bench did a real nice job.
23. It depends on the level of the competition. You can be very balanced against lesser teams, especially if you out block and out serve them. Hard to conclude how balanced UH is until they play a really good team.
TMO’s rising confidence is allowing her to be creative on defense and offense.
I like this rotation.
27. as I said I agree. we’ll see what happens when that happens.
Ok, is Mitchem playing that bad in practice where she can’t get any type of significant playing time? I just don’t understand. Dave is not developing his bench AT ALL this year. I know he is like this every year, but this year subs can’t get any playing time. Even Kendra’s time is lessening and lessening.
Sorry, just to add on. I know he wants to make sure we sweep, however sometimes the subs play really, really well during their time in their. He just does not seem to give them a chance to prove themselves or develop confidence.
Think Crosson doesn’t realize there is a TTO at 15. calls it at 14-10.
Magill 10-0-13
I like how well the block is working, and defense. Poly hitting nearly 200 pts. below their season average to date. I like Van Winden’s potential. She’s got 10 kills, but 7 errors and .088 hitting.
Why no Kendra tonight? makes no sense, UH will need her against teams like florida in the NCAA< team needs to get used to playing with both setters all the time.
I like Van Winden too, I wish UH offered both VW sisters.
Manu-Olevao still serving. it’s 17-10. TO SLO
31, 32, 25. Just keep this night in mind when we get to the tournament and face a Washington or USC.
36. Shoji said they looked at Adlee. She made it pretty clear she wanted to play for Cal Poly. Huge family legacy there.
35. I know. I just don’t understand. Castillo has 1 ATTEMPT in 13 matches. I really, really don’t get it.
Cal Poly has closed to 17-13. TO UH
Cal poly too good a team. Dave does want to mess with floor chemistry.
42. Honestly I don’t think they are “too good” of a team.
I wonder if this is on purpose and Dave is trying to just develop this lineup to get them as smooth as they possibly can. Playing them together for as long as possible for chemistry.
In all his years, I have never seen Dave resist playing his bench so much than this year. A part of me still wonders if Megan left because she realized it as well. Everyone can say that is not the case, but I don’t think she would say that if it was, so I think its a possibility. It’s very frustrating.
Like I said I think UH players need to get used to playing with both setters, UH will need Kendra’s block against teams with big outsides that can hit.
UH wins 25-19.
42. Nope, not buying that. It has been like this ALL YEAR so far. Not just tonight.
Im sure UH offered the one going to UCLA, that girl is GOOD, but can’t win all the recruiting battles.
43. I agree. Poly is a decent team, better than UCSB and Bakersfield, although that is not much of a compliment, I admit. I thought it was interesting that in the post-game interview, Shoji referred to next week’s road opponents as bottom-feeders. No matter how bad a team is, I rarely hear a coach publicly say so. Well, hopefully that means the subs will get a lot more playing time.
When asked about subbing in an interview Dave mentioned about not wanting to mess with the chemistry.
50. Well they need to play through it and get chemistry with both setters because we will need Kenda when we face a team with someone like Recek on the outside again.
50. Well, I’m calling it now. If Mitchem continues to get playing time like this, don’t be surprised if she transfers next year. Her dream school may not be so dreamy.
And like I said, Dave has never held back his subs like he has this year. Something is different this year. Not sure what it is, but something is different. He has always played his subs, in the third at the very least and let them really fight through it. But something is different this year.
50. that makes no sense since Annie is a guaranteed starter next year with Olivia graduating.
I have never judged a person’s happiness by her on court demeanor, or off court, but I get this feeling about Annie that she is not happy. Yes, she knows she has to catch up and everything is faster. But how is she ever going to get caught up or get used to it if she never plays. Annie just seems like she is the type of person that really wants to play and getting no playing time is going to start catching up to her. Just my opinion.
Ok don’t want to sound like a negative fan but I really think Dave is making a mistake by not playing Granato backrow for Olevao and grooming her for post season play. I think granato just has more upside in the backrow and Olevao is a serving target and seems to struggle passing wise and in turn that effects the setting.
Also play Kendra front row for Higgins. Although Higgins is getting better at connecting with the middles.
Have to wonder if the reason that Dave is leaving Mags in so much right now is that he sees her gaining so much confidence and improving at such a rapid pace that he wants to keep that going. I’m sure Mitchum will see more playing time as the season goes on.
56. He could always rest Olivia and play both Annie and Mags.
52. I don’t agree Mitchem will transfer. Maglio is just a solid M2, and has played very well lately. Mitchem and Maglio will start next year, no doubt.
54. Quite frankly, Mitchem would have been much better positioned if she got her degree in the spring and was on campus for two-a-days. She was way behind everyone else when she came in, and Maglio has shown up to play great ball. Hard to break into the starting lineup given these circumstances. She needs to focus on being the beast in practice so she forces the coaches to make a more difficult decision on starting. IMHO, she won’t start until next year, barring an injury to one of the MBs. But her upside is huge.
I think we’ve all discussed ad nauseum the lack of subs’ playing time, and our resulting frustrations. I suggest we wait until the next match at winless Fullerton before making any final conclusions. If the subs don’t get much playing time against them, then it is hard to see them getting much playing time against the better teams–everyone else–unless the starters are tanking and the coaches are desperate. Just my view.
58. I have no problem with Mags playing…at all. I just don’t understand the lack of playing time for any of the subs. Even against lower tier teams. Dave has always tried to develop his bench and let them fight through a tough game. But this year is really weird. Castillo with just 1 attempt? That might be a first for a OH reserve at this point of the year.
60. We agree vehemently on this.
Agree with Maverick. Hard to earn a starting spot coming in late. Too much competition. But her presence makes Magill and Maglio better. We are in conference now. The object is to win. We are so I have no complaints.
I could see why Cal Poly had an 8-3 record coming in. Not a great team but very competent in hitting and blocking except it could not handle what seemed to be lollipop serves. Except for Taylor and Higgins, Hawaii servers seems to stress accuracy rather than toughness (not on the receiving end, I could be wrong and misled). Relatively speaking few service errors errors tonight.
From the ‘WHO CARES’ Department:
At the start of this week – which began the Conference Season for most NCAA D1 schools – 7 teams in the nation were unbeaten. But 2 undefeateds saw their streak end. Unranked Missouri [sec] had its rug pulled out from under it by unranked St. Louis of the Atlantic-10 Conference.
And unranked (but receiving votes) San Francisco met its match against BYU (#10) in a WCC opener although BYU was upended 3-1 by unranked Santa Clara today which will mean Na Wahine will finally crack the Top 10 in Monday’s Coaches’ Poll.
Thus we are left (as of Saturday) with 5 squads with a slim but possible chance for a PERFECT SEASON:
14-0 KANSAS (#15) …. Next: 10/3 West Virginia (unranked) [Big 12] … Talk about the numerically challenged, the Big 12 has only 9 teams with Texas, Iowa St, Oklahoma, and Kansas picked to finish In that order in the Pre-Season Coaches’ Poll.
13-0 USC (#3) … Next: 9/27 (Sunday) @ Stanford (#8) [Pac-10] … Pre-season Coaches’ Poll put forth the following schools as the league’s top 5 from 1st to 5th: Stanford, ASU, Washington, Oregon, and USC.
13-0 PENN STATE (#1) … Next: 10/2 Nebraska (#4) [Big Ten] … Preseason Coaches’ Poll chose PSU, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota to finish in that order in the top 5 spots.
12-0 ARIZONA STATE (#7) … Next: 9/27 (Sunday) Oregon St (unranked) [Pac-12] … Preseason Coaches’ Poll picked Oregon St to finish 9th in the season-ending conference standings … Next next: 10/2 Stanford.
11-0 WASHINGTON (#6) … Next: 9/27 (Sunday) Colorado (unranked but receiving votes) [Pac-12] … Preseason Coaches’ Poll picked Colorado to finish 6th in league play … Next next: 10/2 UCLA and 10/4 USC
—————————-
Go Bows! Now we shall see if they are Road Warriors, which they will have to be if they are to make believers of doubters and haters that this is a legit Top 10 team.
I also don’t get Dave’s reluctance to use Kendra more. She is a much better blocker and her setting has improved. Higgins is quicker and covers more ground but there are times we need the big block . I thought Kalei had her best game in a while and I am very happy Dave recruited Savanna, she is really playing well. Nikki is the best D set hitter I’ve seen since Umloff. That secret weapon should take us far. Great weekend of volleyball, thank you Wahine.
#58 Agree, Annie will be one of the starting MHs next year. I don’t see her going anywhere. It would be interesting if Burns decides not to red shirt, will they consider moving Annie outside to give her more playing time. You can see that she is getting up to speed and is ready to play. Her 3 kills tonight were impressive.
65. Not to burst your post-game bubble, but Nikki’s D-set is not a secret weapon. UCLA scouted it perfectly in its win over UH. Agree that Kahakai is playing well–I think it started with the Florida match and has carried over.
52. Mitchem isn’t going anywhere. She isn’t playing poorly in practice but she is still the No. 3 middle.
Besides, she’d have to sit out if she wanted to play at a DI school and she doesn’t have that year to do so.
I supposed they could have played Mitchem instead of Magill but Magill was having a great night and Cal Poly had no answer for her.
Isn’t the point of all this to win?
They’re 12-1.
66. Don’t see them burning Burns’ redshirt year unless there is an injury to one of the MBs. She hasn’t practiced and is no where near game-ready.
kendra, kendra ,kendra
67. true it’s not a secret but no one has stopped her before or after UCLA. The Bruins did scout her well but she got off to a bad start and it wasn’t all UCLA’s digging. A couple of her first line shots went wide. Then when the rest of the OHs didn’t play well and the passing went south, the offense got predictable and Taylor wasn’t effective.
Annie may be bummed about playing time, but she’s not going anywhere.
Also, I can’t believe people are bugging about the subs not playing. Did we not see what happened earlier this season (and in recent seasons) when Shoji subbed in the third set and we almost lost matches? Shoji finally has settled in a starting line up and sub rotation. He wants to build the chemistry and in reality, the starting line up has the potential to go far, and the subs have shown preseason that they can contribute. So now it’s the team understanding their roles – starters and bench.
I get fans wanna see others play because they are deserving and it’s exciting, but this team needs to know how to dominate and play at a top 10 level.
And lastly, this is the first time in 19 years UH is not a defending conference champ. The team, and especially shoji are playing with a huge chip on their shoulder and honestly, I wanna see Hawaii establish they are the top dog, and let’s not forget majority of the BWC teams can cause trouble. UCSB and Cal Poly have played UH tough, but they just get over powered as the match goes on.
Haven’t seen a UH team since 2009 and 2010 dominate conference teams like that. Hope to see more of that this year. Those were the last two stellar UH teams IMO.
28. yes tai is parrying the ball. yesterday a one hand deflect the ball. today a one (opposite hand) attack.
52. this poster is so negative and if irc always so negative. ALWAYS.
“Well, I’m calling it now. If Mitchem continues to get playing time like this, don’t be surprised if she transfers next year. Her dream school may not be so dreamy.”
well im calling it now. counter-bachi. no way is that posters nonsense causing bachi to the way things are. go back to volleytalk where you belong. need a reminder that volleyball is NOT football as well? and you shouldnt be gambling on sports anywhere.
66. speaking of burns, is she recovering to play since it seems they are not burning her redshirt year?
68. agreed, mitchem isnt going anywhere. its just that some posters become so fanatic (obsessed rather), that their obsession is now with players bailing out on the team. that is not what a fan does, in fact, that should be considered a solicitation to desert.
68. Actually, the point is to win the national championship. The reason for all the frustration is that folks believe we can win these early conference matches and also give the subs a lot of playing time. That experience will help with playing in the post-season. Makes no sense to several of us that the coaches don’t take use the subs more against lesser competition. We’ve seen recent early post-season exits in which UH relied largely on one player. UH won’t face stiff competition until the post-season and by then it will be asking too much of the subs to bail out the first string. If UH goes 27-1 and loses in the second round again, few would consider that to be a successful season.
I think our current starters will be fine in the BIG West….If we were playing BIG Ten and Pac 12 teams on a steady diet our lineup might not match up and our weaknesses would be exposed more often. I think overall, our team’s effort and not playing down to the competition has improved from the 2nd match of Cal St. Bakersfield. There are more bodies flying around on the court and our middles are becoming more efficient. We really have a good problem but a difficult one for coach when we have great backups that would start at most D1 schools. I am very pleased with the overall play in the first 2 matches of the BIG West season….If we continue to play with that consistency we will be fine. We are 12-1 , upset Florida, and possibly moving up the polls this week….We are doing just fine and I know the Hawaii fans are just hungry and thirsty for a National Championship again!!!
There is one weapon I really love is TMO’s new serve!!
I always loved when the women jump served like Higs and Nikki but TMO’s going back to the conventional way of serving is creating many problems for opponents
Hey rapid…newsflash..you are clearly mistaking me for someone else. The only thing I have been grumbling about this year is the play time for the subs, or lack there of. I have never grumbled about or put down a player. I would love for you to find a quote of me doing so. Back up your words, tough guy.
And I don’t post on volleytalk. Never have. Loser
71. I don’t know what your definition of “stopping” Taylor is, but she hit .205 vs. UCLA, nearly 100 pts. below her current season average .301. She hit .192 against Iowa, .207 against Poly, .233 against E. Washington, .254 against Florida. Seems to me that if you use hitting pct. as a measure, she was stopped by at least three teams, one before UCLA and two after. If there is a better measure, I’m all ears.
Also, as I’ve said before, the stats are dependent in part on the level of competition. Other than Florida and UCLA, UH hasn’t played anyone in the top tier. You would expect her to do very well against the lesser teams UH is playing.
I would like to see more subs too, but I think Dave really wants the starting lineup to gel and play better as a unit. He could sub out Tai or Higgins when they are struggling, but he wants them to correct those problems on the court. As a top ten team, they should be blowing out these middle of the pack BW teams. In retrospect, letting Tai play through her problems really helped her game. She’s a lot better now, than in the beginning of the season.
I sort of hope the team stays where they are in the rankings. The higher they go, the bigger a target they become. We seem to play better when we’re the underdogs.
By the way Cindy, to be clear, I am respectfully disagreeing with some of your points, not trying to purposely attack you. Just part of the blog banter, that’s all.
Is that all you got rapid? For someone that said “ALWAYS”
How is that talking negative about her? Are you happy with her playing time? Are you happy with all the playing time the subs get? If you are, then great. But I’m not. We have a bunch of talented kids on the bench that are not being developed in game like situations. We will guarantee need them in the post season and they need to have the confidence and experience to make a difference.
Next time, since I’m always so negative, just skip my comments. I’ll return the favor.
82. +1
To all the armchair coaches out there; if you’ve ever been a coach, for real, you’d have a feeling that actually lets you know when your players are ready. I coached little league baseball, and you watch the kids and you develop this strategy when you know when they’re really ready to play. Not only on the hitting, but the fielding, the attitude, the skill sets needed to be a contributory player. Don’t you people realize that Dave doesn’t just want to throw people in just because they haven’t had any playing time?! Yeah, we have stats on what they did before, but that doesn’t add up to a hill of beans, until they show it in practice. I wouldn’t wait until a real game to show what they can do. Our trip to the NCAA tournament is at stake. Let’s just cheer for who’s there and geev um, GO BOWS!
now, now, everyone is entitled to their opinions, no matter how drama queenish like they are, and it is very, very easy to skip the more drama queenish ones. GO BOWS!
84. The only problem with your analysis is that the subs played important roles against Florida and other teams previously, with significant playing time. And now they are playing less against lesser competition.
Sorry, I meant 83, not 84.
80. not sure what you mean by not purposely attacking me.
does that mean accidentally? ‘-) banter, banter.
Your point was about Taylor’s D set not being a secret. Ron’s point was that her D set was the best he’s seen since Umlauft. My point was that Taylor started off ineffective against UCLA when hitting wide early (believe at least one was in but called out by the ref). and it wasn’t just her being dug.
can we stop the name calling? some may notice that those comments have been deleted.
My comments may come off a bit strong and some may take it the wrong way. Just level setting, that’s all.
85. Thats my point too, it just doesn’t make sense that coach Shoji trusted Kendra to get the job done in the 5th set against florida and doesn’t put her in against average teams like Cal Poly. He needs to get Kendra and Taylor both the same amount of time IMO, to get the hitters used to having to hit from both setters, because in the second round a Bricio or a Scrambray will find it much easier going up against the
5′ 9 block of Higgins instead of 6′ 1 Koelsch. Also need to get Granato more reps in the backrow because UW and USC serve tough and Olevao might struggle, so just in case, get Granato game time!
I also don’t understand why Koelsch isn’t seeing more time. She was instrumental in the Florida victory. Higgins was basically relegated to being a serving sub in that match. I don’t think there’s any question whether Koelsch can run the team, so I’m curious why Shoji hasn’t played her more. And I don’t mean just to reward her for her hard work in practice or her positive attitude and presence on the court, but because she has actually proven that she deserves to be on the court. Higgins has improved, but I don’t think she’s so much better than Koelsch to nail that starting job full time.
Hmmm. Maybe Dave doesn’t use his subs often because they’re his secret weapons. Nobody saw much of Kendra until the Florida match (including Florida) and look how that turned out for us? We haven’t seen much of the slide all pre-conference (maybe 5 times in 11 matches) but Mags & Annie were killin it this weekend. My point is Dave is NO dummy. He’s been doing this for 41 years; he knows what he’s doing. Him not giving his subs more playing time means he’s got some tricks up his sleeve just in case he needs to buss them out when the team is struggling. Besides, subs get lots of experience when they play against the 11th ranked team in the nation during practice.
Yes, he is no dummy. But: Blake. Hittle. Sudduth. Olevao. He ain’t perfect, either.
Went to the game last night. Olevao’s passing was bad. do not know why Dave does not sub for her in back row. if I were opposing coach, all serves would go to her.
Also when she is in front row with Higgins, we have awful small blocking. works ok with BW teams, but what happens in NCAA with big outsides o n both sides?
OK, I apologize for making a frustrating comment regarding the possibility of Annie transferring because of lack of playing time. However, I still don’t consider this a negative comment directed towards her, as someone mentioned.
But, I don’t apologize for not wanting to see the subs get more playing time. You best believe I am cheering for who is on the court. This team is playing freaking amazing right now. However, we do need to develop the bench…period! And this is the first time I have seen Dave NOT play his bench. I’m not saying to replace starters anymore, I feel this lineup is our starting lineup. And I say anymore, because when Huff was around and Maglio wasn’t really producing, I was hoping for a Huff and Mitchem replacement.
Our bench needs game court time and it seems that they are getting lesser and lesser playing time as the season goes on. That is where my frustration is coming from. I’m not frustrated at the current starting lineup or the players. I just want these subs to get playing time because ready or not, by post season, they will need to be relied on to be game changers like they were in the Florida match and even the UCLA match to some extent.
And I don’t consider my comments “armchair coaching,” just my observation that the subs are not getting any playing time, which is not usually the way Dave has coached in previous seasons, and I have been watching his teams since the Deitre Collins days. This season he really seems to be holding back on playing his bench this year and I think it is on purpose as he is really trying to develop the starting chemistry. But still, him not playing his bench is very unusual for Dave.
#93 For as many balls that Tai had to receive – and that is virtually every ball when she was in receive rotation, I thought she did well. Yes, there were rough patches but every receiver being target all game long, has those moments. And just to be fair – same thing happened to Emily Hartong when she was in receiving rotation. Every serve went to Emily and she did shank/overpass a lot of balls – or have we forgotten already. I like the fact that Tai has improved and continues to improve, while she brings energy and leadership, as well as that pipe set, when she is in the backcourt.
one thought on subs vs. Florida. it seemed more situational. The passing wasn’t great and Koelsch can do more with tight sets because of her height.
Manu-Oleavo wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t her best night. she did get shaded out of the passing rotation.
IMHO the past two matches have gone very quickly and sometimes tough to get people in.
94. but I do disagree with this is unShoji-like and I’ve been covering them since 1981. against CSUB, especially the first night, he went with what he had, the people who hadn’t been sick and missed practice.
Sure, he might have gotten Mitchem and Koelsch in more but let’s just suppose they dropped Set 3. then people would complain that they lost a set.
They said they wanted to send a message and they did with a sweep.
95. Agree with Tai. She has made huge strides from the beginning of this year where she was really inconsistent. But since the Florida match, she has turned the corner. Had a couple bad matches and some bad moments, but still an improvement. She is being targeted constantly by the other teams, so some slack has to be given on some shanked passes. But her play has improved in the last couple weeks.
96. That is funny Cindy because that was the year I started to watch them as well. I guess we can agree to disagree on that. Because I feel in the past Dave has given his reserves more of a chance to play during the preseason or against lesser quality opponents. I still think they would have swept if Annie had played in set 3. She seems to be really catching on. The past 2 matches, every set she got she has put down with some authority, which she was doing the first few matches. So, I think she would benefit with some serious game time.
Normally, by this time of the year, the subs has had some pretty adequate playing time. Yes, he has had some players in the past that he has not played much (a name like Amanda Simmons come to mind) , even in the preseason, but this is the first time, at least that I can remember, that the reserves, collectively as a whole, see very little playing time.
#94 Cindy’s article did have Shoji saying that he was trying to send out a message to the conference and the country, that wahines are “legit” with this weekend matches. Guessing, he wanted these “statement” matches to be as clean as possible by keeping the starting unit in play. OC Sport Commentator Ryan Tsuji even hinted at it during intermission break, that Shoji is playing the reserves in set 2 because of the large lead but would not likely start or play much reserves in 3rd set, as he was trying to make a statement. Think Dave knows that Koelsch and Mitchem and others need game time – but it will be according to his goals, and not ours.
sorry, meant to say which she was NOT doing the first few matches. (regarding Annie)
#95 the reason why Tai gets so many serves is that the opposing coaches know that she is so erratic. so using the number of returns as a defense is not really answering my comment.
#101 Agree – BW coaches will target Tai based on last year’s performance but this is a new year and UH is 12-1. Part of it is the improved steadiness of Tai in backcourt. Yeah, a DS sub will likely receive and dig better. IMO, Tai brings the leadership, passion, fight, and the pipe set, that the teams really needs. It is a trade-off. I think it is worth it – similar to Brittany Howard at Stanford, not the best player but the clear vocal and emotional leader of the team.
I think Dave Shoji is not looking down the road. The next coach can worry about developing players. He wants to win the national championship this year, maybe next, while he has Nikki Taylor. The subs will play key situation roles. PT is not the priority. Well, that’s what I think.
Interesting if somewhat cynical take H-Man. Hard to argue with but it is not necessarily a bad thing. A Nikki Taylor comes along once a decade if you are lucky. It is time to go all in.
Florida loses at home to Kentucky in 4.
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=33470
new thread up for Sunday
98. then we will agree to disagree. 82-83 very veteran teams. The veterans played. 10 players used in the 82 NCAA match, 9 in the 83 match when they had 7 seniors.
87 championship match, used all 9 players on the roster. including Long who wasn’t very good.
yes, they probably would have swept if Mitchem played in Set 3. I was discussing all the reserves playing in Set 3, 3 of whom are first-year players in Mitchem, Castillo and Granato. But they wanted to get Magill in the flow after just six kills the night before and they want to keep developing Maglio.
As for the comment about Koelsch in Set 5 against Florida. Still feel that was situational, they rotated the lineup back one, Manu-Olevao the first UH server. Usually it’s Kahakai when they open on serve receive. It’s Higgins when they open on serve.