Wahine VB: Day 10 recap
Players had the morning off to do a group activity, surfing in Waikiki. Sounded like a good time was had by all.
Had some of the players come in early to shoot photos for our preview that comes out next week. Shooting the rest tomorrow.
Practice started with 30 minutes of working with the weight staff.
Opening game was ‘winners’ court’ which had Ah Mow-Santos on one side with three players and Wong on the other side with three players. The trio that won the point stayed with Ah Mow-Santos, the losing team went back to the other side and they continued the rotation.
Play started when Shoji tossed a ball onto the ‘winners’ side. Pretty funny when a couple of times the winners coming over from the side didn’t get on to the court in time for Shoji’s toss so they were considered the losing team and had to go back to the other side.
No depth chart yet. Shoji again said maybe by Friday. Maybe.
They haven’t named captains yet but likely to be Adolpho and Mendoza, the seniors.
Both setters continue to work well with the middles, shoot sets and slides.
Huff taking more swings from the 3-meter and hitting well from both pins.
Liberos-DSs all very solid passers.
Missed a little when talking with Babes Kalulu, who is an assistant at College of Southern Idaho. Getting her thoughts on Keani Passi, who played for CSI, for a story running Friday.
Learned a little more about Kalei Greeley, who enjoyed getting to the beach today. Said being in Riverside she was about an hour away from any beach.
Ended up that she is the great-niece of Jake Highland who was on the 64 US Olympic men’s volleyball team, the first time the sport was offered in the Olympics. Highland is from Papakolea but went into the Air Force has spent most of his adult life outside of Hawaii.
Cindy, loved your story on Kendra Koelsch and Gianna Guinasso. So I am looking forward to your story on Keani Passi. Hope you have more stories on the newcomers. Not only about them concerning volleyball, but more personal things, like what is their favorite food, at home and here, what they like to do outside of volleyball, etc. I feel that we as fans, will really get to know them.
It sounds like Shoji will have some really good depth, with this team, once Nikki Taylor is cleared to play. How is Tai Manu-Olevao looking, you have not really mentioned anything about her? From the small videos I have seen of her, she seemed a little disinterested, bored, no fire, like she did not want to be on the court.
Steve, you are reading way too much into brief videos. She is fine. She is not disinterested. I have mentioned her, as well as Long, Greeley, Huff, Passi.
Have said he has depth, especially at DS. Even without Taylor, he has depth at OH, albeit some of it young.
the player I’m most interested in is kalei greeley
lots of mention about huff but not much about how kalei has adjusted to wahine vball and if she’s progressed over the last week and a half.
Greeley doing well. Slowed a bit by the ankle she rolled second day of practice. She said she’s enjoying being a Wahine, everything she expected and more, is learning a lot and excited for the season to start.
I am starting to think Megan Huff has been the biggest surprise so far. To me she has been, I was thinking this would be her learning year, and would not get much playing time. But it sounds like she could get quite a bit of playing time this year.
Would be great to see the Wahine speed up the offense. The BYU blocking nightmare during last season’s regional is not easy to forget. A few conference teams are going with fast or speed sets and even Karch Kiraly has implemented a variation of it with the National Team.
I don’t think the problem was the speed of the offense, I think the previous setter just was just a bit predictable and went outside 90 percent of the time, Really hope Higgins and Koelsch make it a priority to go to the middles first even on off passes, especially with Hartong gone.
Oh boy, Volleyballfan aka Steve/Laura is already getting pyscho on poor Tai.
On boy warriorfan already getting psycho over Volleyballfan and Steve/Laura.
WF, with someone like Hartong on the court, why would you not go to her. It is like saying, Kanani Danielson is on the outside, but we are not going to her, instead I am going to set the Middle, how stupid is that.
Cindy I was reading something on Digg’n Na Wahine about Greeley’s parents. I wasn’t aware that her mom was a 3 sport athlete in HS and played basketball at UCR. Dad played football at USC and basketball at UCR also has two brothers just named to Under Radar’s watch list in football.Sounds like her and several others in this new class come from athletic families.
Also could you please ban warriorfan his obsession with trying to be a detective here is driving everyone nuts.
Well, I can’t claim to speak for “everyone” like LC is claiming to in (11), but I find his obsession with warriorfan, Digg’n Na Wahine, player’s social media accounts, “fluff” articles, and “people playing detective” to be weird and unsettling.
Munson = warriorfan.
7. the offense was quicker last year. but poor passing led to a lot of high balls to the outside because that was the only option. Koelsch probably sets a quicker ball than Higgins but not by much. The plan (hoped for) was to diversify the offense more, although Taylor was expected to take a large part of the swings. Her injury has changed the thinking for now, something that is allowing the other players to get more reps than they would have.
8. IMO, Uiato was predictable at times however the passing locked her into going to her go-to hitter which was Hartong last year, a lot of times at the 3-meter just to get the ball over. A lot of those sets were ‘bail me out’ sets, off plays, and it wasn’t always Uiato setting. Just look at the number of digs she had, which meant she was taking the first ball. Agree that the speed was not the issue because she did speed up the offense
Don’t think the priority should be to go to the middle. The priority should be to go to the person who on that play has the best chance of putting the ball down. That said, establishing the middle does open it up on the outside. As the setters get more comfortable with the offense, it’s going to allow for more options, such as the slides and combos.
VBF and his various aliases has been warned about his attacks on certain players. Posts have been deleted and the leash is short.
10. Agree with others who said Hartong was used too much. She had almost as many attempts as Taylor and Manu-Olevao combined. But she also wanted to be the go-to person. VBF, ou set the middle to open things up so that the block isn’t camped out on the person they know is going to get set: aka Hartong last season. As great as Hartong was, she still hit .294. A lot of the errors were because the block anticipated her being set, a lot of times she was the only one who had a legitimate swing. But errors also given when a player makes an attempt on the ball when there is no chance of it even making it over the net.
This season, feel there will be more balance in the offense. What they also need is more consistency from the players on the court.
I come on here to stay informed. See how the girls are coming along. But I would be lying if I didn’t find the back and forth between a few select posters somewhat amusing. Kinda makes my mornings go by a little faster.
11. Thought that info on Greeley was on her UH bio but it’s not. I’ve read it elsewhere as well.
WF has done nothing wrong and isn’t the only one using multiple user names. His obsession is no less irritating than those others have, such as using current players names as their fake email addresses.
13. actually not the same person. nice red herring, tho.
16, Cindy, WF has done nothing wrong, give me a break. WF has done nothing but attack me. The majority of my comments have been related to volleyball, right or wrong, it is my opinion, and how I see it. I do not attack other people here unless I am attacked first. If people disagree with what I have to say constructively, like cubicle does, that is OK, I have respect for those kinds of people. But to come out and just attack me personally, that is NOT OK. So where you get the idea that WF has done nothing wrong, I do not get it. If anyone should have a short leash, it should be WF, and I am not the only one saying it.
When Warriorfan sticks to volleyball everything is good I actually agree with a lot he/she says or I find it interesting but it’s this obsession with trying to be this Internet detective that is stupid. Hell if I owned a blog I would have no problem using the name as my moniker here. Stick to volleyball dude and you’ll get the respect that you seek.
18. my response was in direct response to LC’s request to have him banned for his ‘detective work.’
I’ve deleted a lot of the name calling but I may have missed some.
Some find the banter amusing. I do not.
Ok so aside from all the banter. Cindy, from your observations, does this years’s squad have what it takes to stay on top of the Big West and possibly make the big dance? of course its to early to tell, but with 9 new comers, I think you can tell if the the team will compete or it will be learning and hope for the best. Just wondering. Also, is anyone going to the Saturday Fan event to see the team scrimmage each other?
There are going to be growing pains for sure but I think if they put it all together .. and it could come later in the season … they will be on top of the Big West, may win it, and will make the NCAA tournament
Technically 9 newcomers but Passi has been with the program for a redshirt year and Magill is a seasoned DI player.
Taylor’s injury was a setback. They were building the offense around her. But as mentioned the other players are getting more reps now.
They’ve had moments of brilliance during practices, but some sloppy moments twoo.
Schedule is a good one for a young team but it will be very challenging if they’re not playing well.
And while we’re on the topic of irritating
People’s use of my observations on other sites without attribution.
They weren’t in the arena. The players did not speak to them.
don’t think it’s fair to cock-a-roach someone else’s work.
Yes, grumpy as charged.
I agree Cindy a lot of cock-a-roaches on volleytalk.
If Nikki Taylor is cleared to practice next week, then I see her starting in the 1st tournament. If Nikki is not cleared, in your opinion Cindy, who would be the starting Outside Hitters?
I agree… you wrote the articles and blog entries, observations and interviews so you should get paid and attributed.
Middles Outlook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uxtX5XJ9U8
11. I just call it like I see it.
And yes I should totally get banned for accusing you of writing a blog. How dare I do such a thing.
I appreciate Cindy’s observations.
I appreciate contributions by many who provide links and/or information that Cindy hasn’t previously posted.
In the interest of reducing/minimizing the “extra chatter”, I suggest that each of us, excluding Cinday, be limited to one (1) post each calendar day.
Thanks uhfan for the link.
Also, thanks Cindy for the information you provide. It gives me, as well as others, a sense of what the team is going through during their fall camp.
And thanks for the newsprint stories of the players. Very heartwarming and down to earth. Can’t get enough!
LC: Is this Larry Chapman or Liz Chun, former KGMB9 news sports anchor?
uhfan thanks, just a small observation, in the action in the first minute, is it me or doesn’t Greeley’s cocking of her right arm before hitting the ball reminiscent of Lily Kahumoku’s. Cindy?
Wow so just found out UCI is replacing UCLA in the outrigger tournament next season. Interesting, I wonder why.
UCI, PSU and Ohio state.
wow, interesting about ucla … well they’ve had a new coach a couple years now. maybe speraw is looking to change things up. new regime doesn’t have to honor prior regime’s traditions, i guess. if that’s even the reason … who knows… with the emphasis on “RPI” on the selection for the Final Four, maybe he’s looking to go east (although the outrigger traditionally will bring two of those east teams out here.)
October 21 & 22, 1994 , 20 years in the ssc. I know Wahine volleyball was the 1st game, but I would actually like UH to honor the 4 teams that call that home.
34 & 35: It’s not the first time UCLA wasn’t at the Outrigger Tourney. Didn’t Wilton uninvite for a year or two? Did Speraw decide not to come or did Wade decide not to invite them?
36. It’s been 20 years already?
15
its kinda like the warriorbeat, when jeezy is involved
I know k5 stopped showing UH games on Sundays but it would nice if they showed that game against San Jose State again, since Oceanic can’t show clips.
36
i remember going to games in ’94, when they started at 5. we get in line at 445, by the time we get inside, its half way through game 2. and that was before rally scoring.
24-26. not just VT but other sites. I don’ t need to get paid, I already get paid. but attribution would be nice. in some instances it would be considered plagiarism.
25. If Taylor not cleared … it all depends on what lineup they want to begin the match with, who they want serving dictates how many OHs are in at one time.
I can see Passi at OPP. Long and Manu-Olevao. But both Huff and Greeley have looked good. Huff more than decent at middle back so. … Just don’t see him starting 2 true freshmen opening night.
Ohio is going to be very good, veteran team.
29. no need to limit people to one comment a day. people have stuff to say.
30. Thanks. Been doing the features for years. Game week usually a UH feature, opponent story, UH story, not necessarily in that order. Not sure what will be expected next week but should have feature, overview of the tournament and probably something on Deitre Collins.
Just looked on Youtube. UHVoleyballFanToo has the last game in Klum and 1st game in the Special Events Arena Under Rainbow Wahine volley ’94. I’m sure the current team would like to watch Robyn 20 years ago.
Sorry its UHVolleyballFanToo.
32. hadn’t noticed that about Greeley. But she does have the same type of approach when attacking that Kahumoku had.
33. yep, Could be because UCLA is at BYU to open MPSF play Jan. 16-17. May not want to make back-to-back trips like that.
35. UCLA hasn’t always been in the Outrigger. A couple of years Scates made other plans, especially when the Bruins were coming back to Hawaii to play MPSF matches
BTW, the men do not use RPI for tournament selection.
36. UH is doing something for the 20th, not sure what.
As for men’s volleyball, Stanford has kind of ‘borrowed’ the Outrigger idea and will host BYU, Lewis and Loyola Jan. 9-10.
cindy — yup, i know it’s not a true RPI in the men’s game. which is why i put it in quotations. in the discussions i’ve seen on how the selection was done this past year, it wasn’t an RPI, but there apparently was still an RPI-like component to it (whatever that means, since the selection process is less than transparent).
42. Cindy, I am thinking Olevao, Passi, and either Greeley, or Huff, if Nikki is not available. I would be really surprised if Shoji, starts Olevao, Passi, and Long, on the Outside. That would give him only one Outside that is six feet. I do not believe Shoji would go that small on the Outside positions. I too, do not see Shoji starting 2 Freshmen on the Outside. Though he may need to on Sunday, when Olevao will not be in the lineup due to her religion. That would leave Long as the only Outside reserve. Yikes, hurry up Nikki and get cleared to play..